英國公司研發貴賓人臉識別技術

The technology ensures that staff members can offer a more personalized service - and don't unwittingly miss out on potentially lucrative sales - by flagging up famous or wealthy big spenders.

The Sunday Times reports that the system, created by Cambridge-based company NEC IT Solutions, works by scanning the faces of customers as they enter a store and checking them against a database.

The staff can then be alerted via computer, iPad or smartphone - along with details such as clothes size, favorite buys and spending history.

The system is currently being tried out in unnamed designer boutiques and hotels in the UK, the US and the Far East. Previously, the company has designed software to help identify terrorists and criminals for security services.

'We're trialling the system in general retail, which would include hotels and anything where the public are walking in,' NEC IT Solutions vice president explained to the paper.

'The luxury end of the market is quite interested in it - they're interested in VIPs.'

De Silva also added that they've addressed privacy concerns and found that most high-profile customers would be 'quite happy to have their information available because they want a quicker service, a better-tailored service or a more personally tailored service'.

But some shoppers are fighting back against unwanted surveillance.

The New York Times reports that Nordstrom had been testing technology that would allow them to track customers' Wi-Fi signals from their smartphones. This allowed the company to analyse how long a shopper spent in a particular area and to track shopper movements, as well as how many people that walked past the store decided to enter.

But the retailer reportedly stopped the pilot in May after customer complaints became too numerous. Other stores, however, continue to experiment with using new technology to target customers.

Synqera, a start-up in St. Petersburg, Russia, is selling software for checkout devices or computers that tailors marketing messages to a customer’s gender, age and mood, measured by facial recognition.

'If you are an angry man of 30, and it is Friday evening, it may offer you a bottle of whiskey,' said Ekaterina Savchenko, the company’s head of marketing.據美國媒體21日報道，日前一家英國IT公司聲稱研發出一項貴賓身份識別技術，能夠通過分析人臉數據，確認身份，並根據其歷史記錄提供相應服務。

據稱，這項技術由NEC IT Solutions公司研發，已經在美國、英國以及遠東地區等一系列高級商場與酒店投入測試。

相關軟件通過分析顧客進入商場大門攝像頭拍攝下來的視頻片段，測量人臉數據並創建一系列名爲“人臉模板”的數字代碼，並將其與數據庫資料比對。

在零售情境下，顧客人臉的數據庫通常有名人與貴賓之分。如果顧客人臉信息在數據庫中得到確認，該軟件會通過電腦、iPad或智能手機向員工發送一條提醒信息，提供該顧客的衣着號碼，喜愛產品以及購物歷史等信息。

近期測試表明，即便顧客佩戴太陽鏡、帽子或圍巾，甚至面部毛髮、年齡、體重以及髮色等都不會影響到該系統的準確性。

據悉，該公司已經開始提供相似軟件用於安全領域，協助辨認恐怖分子與罪犯。但與此同時，相關業界人士表達了對隱私問題的擔憂。

該公司副總裁克里斯德席爾瓦表示隱私問題已經得到解決，稱大部分高端顧客很喜歡這項快捷而量身定做的服務。