Using built-in cameras in PCs or smartphones, a new technology to be presented this week by Fujitsu Laboratories can measure pulse in as little as five seconds using built-in cameras in PCs or smartphones.

It works by measuring variations in the brightness of the person’s face thought to be caused by the flow of blood. It is based on the characteristic of hemoglobin in blood, which absorbs green light. It requires no special hardware and can measure pulse rate simply by pointing a camera at a person’s face for as little as five seconds. It also automatically chooses moments when the person’s body and face are relatively still to minimize the effects of irrelevant data on measurements.

Fujitsu believes that this technology has a wide range of potential uses, including health monitoring and maintenance as well as security applications.

Details of this technology are being presented at the 2013 General Conference of the Institute of Electronics, Information, and Communication Engineers, opening March 19 in Gifu, Japan.

This is part of the Fujitsu’s vision of a “Human Centric Intelligent Society”, making it possible for people to use smartphones or tablets, or a computer at work or at home, to track their health, collect the resulting data, upload it to the cloud, and perform real-time analyses to provide individualized services for their personal needs.