Fujitsu has introduced a technological innovation in health, allowing a person to assess and monitor his heartbeat in a few seconds. A useful smartphone application in terms of telehealth.
On March 18, the Fujitsu Company introduced at the “General Conference of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers” (Japan), a technology to measure a person’s pulse rate in real time using a built-in camera or webcam in a smartphone or tablet.
By using a natural and chemical phenomenon, the technology is able to evaluate facial images captured by the camera and integrated in the mobile terminal, and to analyze them. In fact, the human face undergoes variations of lights that are caused by the absorption of green lights by hemoglobin composing the blood flow in our body.
Source image http://www.fujitsu.com/img/PR/2013/20130318-01b.jpg
The principle of this technology developed by Fujitsu, is to film the person’s face using the camera, and the observed brightness changes will allow the device to count the heartbeats. The device automatically selects the times when the person is immobile to record its measurements, and determines in 5 seconds the person’s pulse.
According to the manufacturer, this innovation in e-health should be commercialized this year and enable people (including person-risk) to help them monitor their heart rate. Eventually, Fujitsu intends to develop this service by offering people to record data, store and track their health online. This could lead to online assessments and analyzes of the physical conditions of a person, and help her anticipate and take preventive action to protect its health.
To learn more about this technology: http://www.fujitsu.com/global/news/pr/archives/month/2013/20130318-01.html
