With its ability to extract various types of information from face images and provide optimized services and interfaces for individual persons, OKAO Vision has tremendous potential to expand the range of services offered by digital equipment, automobiles and public information systems. These services include security control, protection of personal information, and interfaces that are tailored to a specific age group. But these are just a few examples. OKAO Vision can be used in countless different ways to add enjoyment and convenience to people's lives.

Everyone wants to look attractive in a photo, especially women who may be concerned about wrinkles and blemishes. OKAO Vision's automatic facial picture adjustment technology makes this possible for anyone. Since it can precisely detect each part of your face, the technology is capable of adjusting the skin color of your facial image while keeping your eyes and nose sharp, for example. It can also correct the problem of facial blurring caused by blending into the background or against skin-color clothing. Regardless of the original skin color, anyone's skin color can be adjusted in a way that best fits each individual and creates an attractive photo. Such technology has been used in an application software supplied with Canon's PIXMA inkjet printer series. Very soon this technology will be implemented in digital cameras, making it much easier for anyone to take professional-quality photos.

Automatic skin color adjustment makes faces look more attractive in a photo.

DPE shops provide photo development and digital photo print services in 45 minutes. OKAO Vision's automatic facial picture adjustment technology is employed by Noritsu Koki, the worldwide market leader for minilab systems used at DPE shops. Supported by its ability to precisely locate faces, OKAO Vision can automatically adjust skin color to look attractive even for under- or over-exposed photos or those taken against backlight.

But there's a lot more you can do with photos than just hang them on your wall. For example, OMRON Entertainment Co., Ltd. provides a content distribution service that employs facial images for cellular phone users. Dubbed "OKAO Net," this service can locate entertainers who look like you or estimate what your child will look like based on a photo taken with a camera-equipped cellular phone. These services have proved to be very popular.

OMRON Entertainment Co., Ltd., which was involved in the entertainment business (encompassing development and sales of industrial game machines and prizes for commercial game machines and the provision of mobile content), was transferred to Furyu Holdings Corporation on April 1, 2007.

Game centers and other locations often have photo sticker print machines, and in fact, OMRON's OKAO Vision began with the development of a caricature sticker print machine. This machine became a huge hit due to its unique ability to extract the features of an individual's face, then draw and print a caricature on a sticker. Even today, this machine remains extremely popular with the introduction of new versions that let you beautify your face to look like a fashion model, or that allow you to put cosmetics on a facial image.

OKAO Vision has many advantages over face image sensing technologies from other companies. Above all, its compactness and high speed are core strengths that enhance its potential for the implementation of various services. No one would be surprised to know that a high-performance PC can offer similar sensing technologies, but OMRON is the only company at present that makes it possible to incorporate advanced face sensing technology into a single-chip configuration. For this reason, OKAO Vision technologies can be embedded in many more different types of machines, equipment and devices.

Masato Kawade, senior manager in charge of vision sensing at OMRON's Sensing Technology Laboratory, remarked, "Our face sensing technology, OKAO Vision, is now being used not just for security but for many other applications. In fact, this technology enables potential applications in virtually any area in which people interact with machines. It would be very satisfying to see OKAO Vision incorporated into many more types of equipment in the future-even TVs or refrigerators-with the ability to deliver services, functions and interfaces optimized for each one of us." Satoshi Hosoi from the Sensing Technology Laboratory added, "It's amazing to see what human beings are capable of in terms of recognition. People can even recognize a person from behind. So I sometimes think that the face recognition technology we are working on is far from perfect compared to human capabilities. I hope that some day machines incorporating this technology can actually bring people closer together and make their lives more fulfilling." With such lofty ambitions, OMRON researchers continue working on new research to further advance the field of face sensing technology.

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