面部監(jiān)控
The all-telling eye
流露一切的眼睛
Webcams can now spot which ads catch your gaze, read your mood and check your vital signs
現(xiàn)在的網(wǎng)絡(luò)攝像頭能識別抓住你眼球廣告，讀出你的想法，檢查你的生命體征。
我們知道你在想什么
IMAGINE browsing a website when a saucy ad for lingerie catches your eye. You don’t click on it, merely smile and go to another page. Yet it follows you, putting up more racy pictures, perhaps even the offer of a discount. Finally, irked by its persistence, you frown. “Sorry for taking up your time,” says the ad, and promptly desists from further pestering. Creepy. But making online ads that not only know you are looking at them but also respond to your emotions will soon be possible, thanks to the power of image-processing software and the ubiquity of tiny cameras in computers and mobile devices.
試想，你在瀏覽網(wǎng)站，突然一則挑逗的內(nèi)衣廣告抓住了你的眼球。你沒有去點它，只是笑了笑，就去看另外的網(wǎng)頁。但是它緊隨其后，提供更多的勁爆圖片，或許甚至提出打折。最終，你皺起眉頭，對其糾纏不放感到厭煩。“真抱歉占用了您的時間”，廣告說，立馬停止了繼續(xù)糾纏。這可怕！但是，制作那些不僅僅知道你在注意他們，還能對你的情緒作反應(yīng)的在線廣告很快就會成真。這多虧了圖像處理軟件的力量，以及電腦和移動設(shè)備中無處不在的小攝像頭。
Uses for this technology would not, of course, be confined to advertising. There is ample scope to deploy it in areas like security, computer gaming, education and health care. But admen are among the first to embrace the idea in earnest. That is because it helps answer, at least online, clients’ perennial carp: that they know half the money they spend on advertising is wasted, but they don’t know which half.
這些技術(shù)的使用當(dāng)然不會局限于廣告，還會擴展到安全、計算機游戲、教育和衛(wèi)生保健等廣闊領(lǐng)域中。但是廣告人是最早熱心這個創(chuàng)意的的人之一。這是因為它至少在線地幫著廣告人應(yīng)對用戶經(jīng)年累月的挑剔：他們知道他們花在廣告上的一半資金被浪費了，但是他們不知道是哪一半。
Advertising firms already film how people react to ads, usually in an artificial setting. The participants’ faces are studied for positive or negative feelings. A lot of research, some of it controversial, has been done into ways of categorising the emotions behind facial expressions. In the 1970s Paul Ekman, an American psychologist, developed a comprehensive coding system which is still widely used.
廣告公司已經(jīng)在人為情景中拍攝了人們?nèi)绾螌V告如何反應(yīng)。研究分析了被試的面孔是積極還是消極情緒。很多研究，其中一些頗有爭議，用各種方式分辨面部表情背后的情緒。上世紀(jì)七十年代，美國心理學(xué)家保羅·艾克曼(Paul Ekman)開發(fā)了一套全方位編碼系統(tǒng)，這套系統(tǒng)至今仍被廣泛使用。
Some consumer-research companies also employ goggle-mounted cameras to track eye movements so they can be sure what their subjects are looking at. This can help determine which ads attract the most attention and where they might be placed for the best effect on a web page.
一些客戶研究公司也使用帶目鏡的攝像頭來跟蹤眼動，從而確定被試在看什么。這能幫著確定哪些廣告吸引了最多的注意力，以及廣告應(yīng)該放在網(wǎng)頁何處才能達到最好的效果。
This work is now moving online. Higher-quality cameras and smarter computer-vision software mean that volunteers can work from home and no longer need to wear clunky headgear. Instead, their eyes can be tracked using a single webcam.
這項工作正在移到線上。更高質(zhì)量的照相機和更聰明的計算機視覺軟件意味著志愿者能在家里工作，而且不需要佩戴笨重的頭盔。另外，他們的眼睛可以用一個網(wǎng)絡(luò)攝像頭來跟蹤。
One of the companies doing such work, Realeyes, which is based in London, has been developing a system that combines eye-spying webcams with emotional analysis. Mihkel Jäätma, who founded the company in 2007, says that his system is able to gauge a person’s mood by plotting the position of facial features, such as eyebrows, mouth and nostrils, and employing clever algorithms to interpret changes in their alignment—as when eyebrows are raised in surprise, say. Add eye-movement tracking, hinting at which display ads were overlooked and which were studied for any period of time, and the approach offers precisely the sort of quantitative data brand managers yearn for.
做這項工作的公司之一，總部位于倫敦的真實眼(RealEyes)，已經(jīng)開發(fā)出一套系統(tǒng)來結(jié)合監(jiān)視眼鏡的網(wǎng)絡(luò)攝像頭和情緒分析。于2007年成立該公司的Mihkel Jaatma說他的系統(tǒng)通過繪制諸如眉毛、嘴和鼻孔等面部特征的位置，并使用聰明的算法解釋位置變化——比如驚訝時眉毛上揚，能夠測量一個人的情緒。加上眼動跟蹤，就能提示在任意時段哪一則廣告被忽視，哪一則廣告被仔細(xì)看過，這種手段精準(zhǔn)地提供了品牌經(jīng)理渴望的那種量化數(shù)據(jù)。
At present the system is being used on purpose-built websites with, for instance, online research groups testing the effect of various display ads. The next step is to make interactive ads. Because they can spot the visual attention given to them, as well as the emotional state of the viewer, these ads could tailor their responses.
現(xiàn)在，測試不同廣告效果的線上研究組使用這套系統(tǒng)有目的地建起的網(wǎng)站。下一步是制作交互的廣告。因為它們能認(rèn)出投給它們的視覺注意，以及觀察著的情緒狀態(tài)，這些廣告能夠修訂它們的反應(yīng)。
As similar gimmicks become widespread, privacy concerns will invariably mount. People would need to give consent to their webcams being used in this way, Mr Jäätma admits. One way to persuade internet users to grant access to their images would be to offer them discounts on goods or subscriptions to websites.
當(dāng)相似的玩意兒廣為傳播時，對隱私的考慮必將提升。Jaatma先生承認(rèn)，人們需要同意他們的網(wǎng)絡(luò)攝像頭被如此使用。一種說服因特網(wǎng)用戶授權(quán)獲得他們圖像的方法將會是給他們提供商品折扣或網(wǎng)絡(luò)訂購。
Realeyes is also working with Kaplan, an educational-services company, on a project in Hungary which is using the system to measure how children respond to virtual games that teach them English. The hope is that by performing the same emotion-reading trick that marketers use, the type of tasks and the characters that appear in them can be made more engaging.
真實眼(Realeyes)也同教育服務(wù)公司卡普蘭(Kaplan)合作一個匈牙利的項目，項目使用該系統(tǒng)測量孩子如何對教授他們英語的虛擬游戲進行反應(yīng)。項目希望市場營銷人員使用相同的情緒理解工具，把不同的任務(wù)類型及其特點變得更加迷人。
The technology would make computer games more engaging, too. Sony, for one, thinks that reading players’ emotions with webcams would let software pick up on their subconscious behaviour and change the game in ways that would enhance the experience. The company claims that in the future it will be possible to have something like a detective game in which the camera can read players’ faces and measure their heart rates in order to have a stab at deciding which ones are lying.
這項技術(shù)也能是電腦游戲更吸引人。比如索尼認(rèn)為通過攝像頭理解玩家的情緒將讓軟件獲取他們的潛意識行為，并將游戲變得能夠增強體驗。該公司宣稱將來它將生產(chǎn)類似偵探游戲的東西，利用攝像機能識別玩家的臉且能測量他們的心跳 從而嘗試決定誰在撒謊。
In fact, webcams that monitor a person’s heart rate are soon to appear. Instead of sticking sensors onto the skin, Philips has developed a vital-signs camera system which the Dutch company says can measure heart and respiration rates extremely accurately. To calculate the heart rate the camera detects tiny changes in the colour of the skin. These changes, imperceptible to the human eye, occur as the heart pumps blood through the body. The person’s breathing rate is measured by detecting the rise and fall of his chest. The firm will soon launch an app for Apple’s iPad 2 which will allow people to measure their own heart and breathing rates using the two webcams in that device.
實際上，能夠監(jiān)控個人心率的網(wǎng)絡(luò)攝像頭很快就會出現(xiàn)。與在皮膚上粘貼傳感器不同，飛利浦開發(fā)了一款生命體征攝像系統(tǒng)，據(jù)稱能夠非常準(zhǔn)確地測量心率和呼吸頻率。攝像頭探測皮膚顏色的微小變化來計算心率。這些人類眼睛無法知覺的變化發(fā)生在心臟將血液泵向全身的時候。個人的呼吸頻率通過探測他的胸部起伏來測量。飛利浦將很快開發(fā)一款蘋果Ipad2的應(yīng)用，使人們能夠使用設(shè)備中兩個攝像頭來測量他們的心率和呼吸頻率。
Philips is developing the technology as a contactless system to keep a virtual eye on hospital patients, such as newborn babies, who might find conventional monitors distressing. The company is also eyeing anxious parents who always want to know what their tots are up to, as well as anxious coaches and their athletes. Advertising firms will, no doubt, be just as keen to measure heartbeats, especially for ads designed to get pulses racing. Those who find it all smacks of Big Brother can turn their webcams off. If you are playing online poker, that is probably a wise idea.飛利浦正在開發(fā)一項遙控系統(tǒng)技術(shù)用虛擬眼照管醫(yī)院病人——比如可能覺得傳統(tǒng)監(jiān)視儀很煩惱的新生嬰兒。該公司也關(guān)注總是想知道他們的孩子的情況的焦慮父母，還有焦慮的教練和他們的運動員們。廣告公司無疑也將熱心測量心跳，尤其是要設(shè)計那些為了讓人心動的廣告。 那些覺得這樣有點“老大哥”意思的人，關(guān)上他們的攝像頭就好。如果你在線上打牌，這可能是一個明智的想法。
