Medical technology is often seen as somehow separate from consumer electronics, usually due to the specific training required for use. A new camera technology designed to monitor your pulse, based on a video of your face, is headed for smartphones, geared specifically towards providing medically relevant information is an easy to use package.
Smartphones have been doubling as personal wellness devices for a little while now. Your smartphone can be a food diary, and exercise monitor, even a suggestion engine for specific exercises. At the same time you can use your phone for entertainment, just add headphones and you have a massive library of movies or an endless music library wherever you are. Take the idea of personal wellness one step further, and think about what could be possible if you had the ability to quickly determine your pulse or the pulse of another with your phone.
Smartphones with LED flash can use your fingertip to grab a pulse, but depending on your phone this winds up being either complicated to use or not accurate enough in an emergency situation. A tool like this is only as useful as the person trying to use it, after all. Fujitsu has recently demonstrated software that uses just a camera to measure your pulse just by watching your face for a few seconds.
Fujitsu claims that their technology can accurately report your pulse after staring at your face for just five seconds. The demonstration, done in a well lit environment with a Logitech C920 1080p webcam, is a successful proof of concept. The software measures the subtle color changes in your skin as a result of the flow of blood through the blood vessels in your face. Within a year, Fujitsu plans to make this technology available on a variety of cameras, including smartphone cameras and medical equipment.
On a smartphone, there’s a lot of potential for software like this. If you’re on a treadmill or exercise bike, you could leave this app running and use it to better measure your pulse. If you find yourself in a situation where someone is hurt, this app could offer additional information to emergency responders. This technology could also be used in the treatment of children and elderly, through a more constant form of monitoring. Fujitsu even suggests that this technology could be used in airports to monitor illness or aggressive behavior.
It’s unclear how exactly Fujitsu will make this technology available, but the potential there is really interesting. The ability to monitor our pulse is often something many people are interested in, and providing that as part of a smartphone would be a great service to provide.
[image credit: inquirer]