Days after Samsung revealed that their new Galaxy S3 smartphone will have face sensing built into the camera, Microsoft has registered a patent for “emotion” sensing software that will identify the gender of a person using the deviceThe new patent that was approved by the US patents office in March refers to software that identifies each person in front of a camera using new face-recognition software.
The Microsoft software tracks a person emotional response to media, such as games and videos, in order to better target advertising to whoever is watching, claims Microsoft.
Samsung has not said whether their new software will be linked with an advertising delivery system.
What they have revealed is that the new smartphone has built-in face-tracking and voice control allowing for what Samsung claims, is a more ‘natural’ control system. Other innovations include an intelligent lock system, that keeps the screen ‘awake’ when the phone’s camera senses eyes watching it, rather than turning it off.
Observers claim that a lot of new devices–including the new Apple iPhone 5–may do more than allow you to play games and make calls; they will track your emotions, age, gender and deliver advertising.
In addition to using the Kinect to track a person’s emotions, the patent also outlines how the company could use a “social network” to better target ads.
The Puget Sound Business Journal said that a targeted advertisement is provided to a user based on the multimedia content viewed by the user, the user’s identification information and the user’s emotional response,” the company wrote in the patent abstract.
Microsoft is using similar technology in their Kinect Xbox 360 gaming console and is pushing for an integration of its computing and gaming systems into other devices including new Windows 8 smartphones, PCs and TVs.
Microsoft has made it clear they want to sell ads in the future, a move that could bring them into conflict with partners like Foxtel.
Microsoft has described in the past that “The goal of advertisers is to keep a viewer’s attention focused on a commercial or advertisement, but often the viewer is engaged in other activities during the commercial to avoid watching the commercial. Viewers often do not pay attention to advertisements because the ads are not personal, relevant or even relatable to the viewers.”
This new technology, it professes, is the solution.
