Chinese scientists can identify you by your walk

[cirr]

Chinese scientists can identify you by your walk

2017-10-10 14:28

CGTN Editor: Mo Hong'e

Gait recognition system. (CCTV Photo)

A new biometric identification technology developed by Chinese scientists allows the identification of people by the way they walk, without the need to look at their faces.

The gait recognition system includes a camera that is functional within a distance of 50 meters from its target and capable of identifying a specific person just by analyzing how they carry themselves, according to researchers from the Automation Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

The technology presents multiple advantages.

Huang Yongzhen, an associate researcher from CAS, said technology using iris recognition needs its target to be no further than 30 cm from the lens, while face recognition technology can work at a distance of up to five meters. But the newly-developed system can operate within a much longer range, and at faster speeds.

Detection time is reduced to less than 200 milliseconds, faster than the time it takes an eye to blink (between 300 to 400 milliseconds).

The new technology can also identify a person without their active cooperation. Even if they walk past the surveillance camera hiding their face, gait recognition algorithm can still unveil their identity.

Gait recognition can also estimate the density of large populations, as it incorporates real-time people counting technology. It is able to detect up to 1,000 people within an area of 1,000 square meters. The technique could be widely used in the fields of security and public transport, among others.

China is currently at the forefront of gait recognition technology worldwide, CAS has said.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/10-10/276456.shtml

 

[cirr]

China enters era of facial recognition

2017-10-10 14:40

CGTN Editor: Mo Hong'e

Longmen Grottoes in central China's Henan Province is the country's first scenic spot using the facial recognition system for entry. (CGTN Photo)

Machines are getting smarter, as they now recognize people's faces.

With rapid advancement in China, facial recognition technology has been part of people's daily lives. One scans his face as a quick way of identity authentication, when it comes to payment systems, login systems, security checks, etc.

Guangzhou South Railway Station is the busiest in southwestern China. During the "golden week" National Day holiday from October 1 to October 8, average daily trips at the station reached half a million. But thanks to the facial recognition machines, ticket checking has become a simpler process.

In southern Guangdong province, residents have an electronic edition of their Exit-Entry Permits for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macao. To apply for or renew a visa endorsement of travelling to the two regions, one can finish the process at home with a phone camera for facial recognition.

Guangdong now is the only province in China where such online services are available.

Fed up with lining up in front of the strobe and showing a boarding pass to the ground staff? Now, it's not the case anymore at Nanyang airport in central China's Henan Province, where China's first Intelligent Boarding System was introduced earlier this year.

After taking a photo at security check, passengers can pass through boarding gates by having their faces scanned.

But wait, what if three faces are shown on the screen at a time?

A UNESCO World Heritage site, Longmen Grottoes in central China's Henan Province, is the country's first scenic spot using the facial recognition system for entry. Through the grottoes' mini app on WeChat, visitors can buy an electronic ticket and create a pass by taking a head photo.

As artificial intelligence advances, it's expected that people will see more of this smart services throughout the country.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/10-10/276464.shtml

Banks recognize new technology prospects

2017-10-10 09:50

China Daily Editor: Wang Zihao

Financial players are facing another round of competition along with the daily comparisons of their figures and graphs－the application of facial recognition.

With increasing attention being paid to the utilization of technology in the financial sector, financial players tend to advance their business with new technology such as facial recognition, not only to gain more customers, but more importantly to offer more possibilities.

"Facial recognition, which has long been used in social networks, has already become a technology mature enough to be utilized in the financial sector," said Yang Tao, assistant director of the Institute of Finance and Banking at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"It is a wave which all kinds of financial units are trying to catch up with at present, as the technology does enhance their ability to reach more customers."

Integrated with more technologies being applied in the financial sector, such as big data and blockchain, facial recognition will gain a greater role, Yang added.

HSBC Holdings PLC, a British multinational banking and financial services holding company, recently launched facial recognition on its mobile banking platform in China, branding itself as the first foreign bank to offer facial recognition for payments in China.

The newly added biometric authentication allows customers to transfer up to 50,000 yuan ($7,515) per day to new payees by combining facial recognition with their passwords on HSBC's China's mobile banking app, and frees them from the physical security devices required for such transactions.

HSBC regards it as a move to promote its mobile payment business in China, one of the world's most new-tech receptive countries.

"Digital technology is rapidly evolving and customers are now able to bank more simply, quickly and in the most secure way possible," said Andrew Connell, retail banking and wealth management head of Digital for Asia Pacific & Innovation and Partnerships at HSBC.

"We see a huge growth opportunity in the adoption of technology for retail banking, not just in China but across the Asia-Pacific region and around the world."

Facial recognition ensures that a real person is in front of the camera instead of a picture, which makes it much more secure than fingerprint recognition. According to the data from HSBC, the error rate for facial recognition would be around one in a million, while that for fingerprints is around one in 50,000.

HSBC is not the only bank promoting this technology in China. With the technology already mature enough to be put into practice, many banks are now using it as an assistive method to authenticate the identities of customers, such as China Merchants Bank, which has equipped its automated teller machines with a facial recognition system.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/10-10/276388.shtml

 

[AndrewJin]

China's efforts on this new technological revolution are mind-bloggingly crazy.