"Face-It" punched in the nose!
and NEC AFIS win - (Brought over from AOL)
Subject: Finally, a little good news
Date: Sun, Dec 21, 1997 22:21 EST
From: Tursillo
Message-id: <19971222032100.WAA00148@ladder01.news.aol.com>
I've been hearing so much about retinal, iris and facial scanning that it was becoming a little discouraging. Below is an article from PCWorld which finally takes a slap at facial recognition.
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Face Recognition Falls Flat on Its ...
by Glenn McDonald, PC World
December 19, 1997
FaceIt PC 3.0, the "next-generation" face-recognition security package aimed at the consumer market, does not bode well for the future of the genre. Despite some potentially great new features, the $149 package has a very fundamental hang-up: It can't place your face.
I tested a shipping version of the software, which requires a Windows-compatible video capture system with a brand-new Connectix QuickCam 2. I found myself locked out of my own system much of the time.
When you first install FaceIt, it takes several still pictures of your face and "memorizes" your features. You then set access privileges: You can lock your system or encrypt certain files and directories. When you want in, the software displays the scene as picked up by the QuickCam and zeroes in on your head with a vaguely disturbing red circle. If it doesn't recognizes you, you don't get access to your system. (You can set a password override as
well.)
Unfortunately, even with the most liberal recognition setting, FaceIt rudely refused to recognize me most of the time. The program would often eventually recognize my face as long as I kept moving my head around (it's hard to keep your dignity in this process, by the way). But other times, it flat out refused access.
Bumping up the video resolution helped some, but any significant change in appearance--like a hat or a different light source--baffled it completely. That's too bad, because FaceIt can do some very cool stuff, such as monitoring your desk while you're away: It takes a picture of anyone who stops at your desk, time-stamps the image, and automatically posts it to a remote Web site.
FaceIt also has a friendly side. There's a nifty video-messaging tool that uses your camera as a motion detector and launches a video greeting when someone enters your workspace. That person can then send you an e-mail, complete with picture, directly from the FaceIt screen saver.
But without reliable face recognition, FaceIt not really a useful a security option. Looks like Big Brother will have to wait.
Subject: Re: SI: IDX board...Just Lurking
Date: Mon, Dec 22, 1997 08:33 EST
From: CAnas832
Message-id: <19971222133300.IAA02477@ladder02.news.aol.com>
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 22, 1997--
NEC Technologies Selected To Provide Automated Fingerprint
Identification System
NEC Technologies Inc., a pioneer and world leader in the development, marketing and implementation of Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) technology for law enforcement, today announced plans to begin installation of a new AFIS system for the Providence, R.I. Police Department.
The NEC AFIS21 system will maintain the existing 40,000 fingerprint records and fully support the department's criminal identification needs in the future.
"It has always been my objective to bring the most advanced technology available to the Providence Police Department and the recent acquisition of the NEC AFIS accomplishes that goal," said Providence Police Chief Urbano Prignano. "Having our own database enables the department to solve more crimes from latents and enhances our ability to utilize latent print evidence without having an identifiable suspect," he added.
The Providence Police Department AFIS system includes three NEC LS-21 live scan workstations. Installed in the Department's men's cellblock, women's detention area, and Bureau of Criminal Identification, the LS-21 workstations capture fingerprint images electronically, thus yielding sharper images for better fingerprint records. Electronic transmission of the records can be initiated from the LS-21 units to the department's central AFIS, with
future communication capability to the department's criminal history database and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The department's AFIS also includes NEC's FMP-5 fingerprint matching processor. The FMP-5 is designed to conduct high-speed matching with a massive parallel processing architecture. The built-in NEC proprietary matching algorithm achieves the highest accuracy rate available in the industry. This processor's matching units are among the fastest in the industry, each capable of conducting up to 3,200 fingerprint comparisons per second.
The Providence Police Department's NEC AFIS system will also be able to access that of the neighboring Connecticut State Police, which currently maintains approximately 1.2 million tenprint records. Criminal activity has been traced between the two jurisdictions and access to each database increases the chance of investigation resolution.
Installation of the Providence AFIS system is scheduled for completion by March of 1998.
NEC is recognized as the industry leader in Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems, latent identifications, and large (greater than one million records) networked AFIS systems. Based in Washington, D.C., NEC Technologies' AFIS Division markets AFIS products for law enforcement and jail management; commercial finger imaging products for vertical markets, including social services, access control, immigration and motor vehicles; and
HealthID finger imaging products for the healthcare market. The company installed its first law enforcement AFIS in North America at the San Francisco Police Department in 1983, and its first HealthID system in LaPorte Hospital, Ind., in 1995. The more than 50 NEC law enforcement AFIS systems installed worldwide contain fingerprints on more than 50 million subjects. These systems have solved more crimes using latent prints than all other
AFIS systems in the world combined. Information about NEC's AFIS products can be found on the Web at nec.com or by contacting Chris Warner, product manager for NEC AFIS at 888-AFIS-NEC.
NEC Technologies Inc.
Headquartered in Itasca, Ill., NEC Technologies, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of computer peripherals and other technology products for the North American market. Award-winning product lines include MultiSync(R) desktop and presentation monitors, MultiSync portable LCD projectors and fixed-installation CRT projectors, SuperScript(TM) printers, MultiSpin(R) CD-ROM readers and Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS). NEC
Technologies Inc. is a subsidiary of NEC Corp. Information on the company and its products can be obtained by calling 800-NEC-INFO or on the Web at nec.com.
CONTACT:
NEC Technologies AFIS Division
Shirley Chen, 888/AFIS-NEC
chen@necafis.com |
