Bid Goodbye To Passwords. Hello Mobile Face Recognition Software

Lengthy, complicated, and forgettable passwords and PIN numbers to log onto Internet sites from mobile phones will soon be a thing of the past as scientists from The University of Manchester have developed a face tracking software for mobile phones that can track your facial features in real-time. As the mobile face tracking software contiues to be developed, eventually it will be able to tell who the user is, where they are looking and even how they are feeling.

Face tracking software is already used in laptops, webcams and the Xbox 360 Kinect but this is the first time the technology is being used with such sophistication in mobile devices such as smartphones.

"Existing mobile face trackers give only an approximate position and scale of the face, our model runs in real-time and accurately tracks a number of landmarks on and around the face such as the eyes, nose, mouth and jaw line."

"A mobile phone with a camera on the front captures a video of your face and tracks twenty-two facial features. This can make face recognition more accurate, and has great potential for novel ways of interacting with your phone.'' said Dr Phil Tresadern, lead researcher on the mobile face tracker project.

Originally intended as part of a face and voice-verification system for access to mobile internet applications such as email, social networking and online banking, alternative uses for the device could include fun applications that, for instance, attach virtual objects to the user's face as they move around.

The face tracking software, built on 20 years of research at the University, has been demonstrated on a Nokia N900 for the EU-funded "Mobile Biometrics" (MoBio) project.



For further information about the mobile face tracker project visit: http://www.mobioproject.org