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New module lets digital signage 'see'

Digital signage systems can respond to gestures or vary content based on the age and gender of the viewer, using a new Human Vision Component module released by Omron, the company announced today.

October 22, 2014

Digital signage systems can respond to gestures or vary content based on the age and gender of the viewer, using a new Human Vision Component module released by Omron, the company announced today. The module handles the complexity of seeing and recognizing faces, bodies and gestures; "all the integrator needs to do is read the data output and program the system to react appropriately," the company said.

The new Omron HVC integrates 10 key image sensing functions with a camera in a module sized 60 mm by 40 mm. Developers can detect a human face, hand or body, and implement face recognition, gender detection, age estimation, mood estimation, facial pose estimation, gaze estimation and blink estimation. In each case the module returns a value together with a degree of certainty, allowing the programmer to configure the response appropriately for each individual application. HVC is designed in a compact configuration and is designed to be easily integrated into an established system or implemented as part of a new design.

"The marketing potential of being able to gauge the audience of a digital signage presentation is enormous," Gabriel Sikorjak, European product marketing manager at Omron Electronic Components, said in the announcement. "Different content can be provided for young and older viewers, and their reaction accurately monitored. Omron's new module gives any system developer access to face- and gesture-recognition technology, without any understanding of the complexities of the underlying algorithms or the optical design. The module is a fully integrated, plug-in solution. The developer can just look at the outputs and configure the system to make appropriate decisions depending on their status."

The module is based on the Omron OKAO Vision software, a set of image-recognition algorithms used in more than 500 million digital cameras, mobile phones and surveillance robots around the world, the company said. HVC embeds OKAO on a hardware platform optimized specifically in terms of its digital and optical design for this application. HVC includes a camera and a processor, and a UART interface to control the module and read data.

Key features of the module include speed and consistency of response, and the distance over which it can take readings, Omron said. For example, HVC can capture, detect and recognize a face over a distance of 1.3 meters in 1.1 seconds and will provide a confidence level with its reading. Blink and gaze estimation takes under 1 second. The module can evaluate the subject's mood based on one of five expressions. It can also detect a human body up to 2.8 meters away and a hand at a distance of 1.5 meters. The detection angle of the module is specified as 49 degrees horizontally and 37 degrees vertically.