Everyone’s got a webcam, and no one is using them to the full potential that the technology currently possesses.\u00c2\u00a0 People generally think of them as nothing more than a camera, allowing them to have a face-to-face conversation with family members a thousand miles away or record videos that will ruin their prospects of becoming respected voices in the conservative movement at some point in the future.\u00c2\u00a0 However, their true potential lies in their use as another\u00c2\u00a0input device, like a keyboard or mouse or, to some extent, a microphone.\u00c2\u00a0 The EyeToy for the PS2 showed that a video camera could be used as a controller and Microsoft’s Project Natal promises to extend that concept.<\/p>\n
For this project, however, I don’t plan to try to implement direct control.\u00c2\u00a0 Instead, I’m going to focus on passive facial recognition.\u00c2\u00a0 I want to make a distinction between face detection and face recognition.\u00c2\u00a0 Detection is what your digital\u00c2\u00a0camera does, where it says “The thing in this box is likely to be a face”.\u00c2\u00a0 It doesn’t say whose face it is, just that it’s a face.\u00c2\u00a0 I want to do facial recognition, which will determine whose face it is.\u00c2\u00a0 With this, the computer will be able to know who is looking at its screen and adjust what it displays on the screen accordingly.<\/p>\n
While I could do something constructive and useful, like using this system to display messages of interest for a specific person on a common display screen, my ultimate goal is the Minority Report model of displaying targeted advertising to people as they walk by my cube.\u00c2\u00a0 CHA-CHING!<\/p>\n