Fujitsu Laboratories Limited announced that it has developed a technology to measure a person's pulse in real time using a built-in camera or webcam in a PC, smartphone or tablet.
According to the company’s press release, Fujitsu Laboratories has developed a technology that detects a person's pulse by measuring variations in the brightness of the person's face thought to be caused by the flow of blood. It is based on the characteristic of hemoglobin in blood, which absorbs green light. It requires no special hardware and can measure pulse rate simply by pointing a camera at a person's face for as little as five seconds. It also automatically chooses moments when the person's body and face are relatively still to minimize the effects of irrelevant data on measurements. This technology has a wide range of potential uses, including health monitoring and maintenance as well as security applications.
Details of this technology are being presented at the 2013 General Conference of the Institute of Electronics, Information, and Communication Engineers, opening March 19 in Gifu, Japan.
