The latest high-tech security show in Tokyo highlights a camera that recognises one's face, age and gender.

 TOKYO, JAPAN (REUTERS) -

The latest electronic invention in hi-tech Japan - a camera that recognises one's age, face and gender.

The camera debuted at the Tokyo Security Show and showcased by electronics firm Omron, which is a leader and specialist in face recognition technology. The camera can also search and identify faces amongst a pool of pictures.

It takes seconds for the camera to identify one's age and gender. The camera compares the subject's face with millions of mug shots stored in its database.

Its "3D model fitting technology" allows it to even detect and yield information about a subject even though the photo may be blurred.

The camera was first unveiled at last year's security show, but back then, it could only categorise people into four age groups - 0 to 9, 10-19, 20 to 39 and 40 and older.

Now it can specify the age of any person within a margin of error of plus or minus one to 10 years.

"Our device is upgraded to the extent that it now can pin down, almost precisely tell any person's age by meticulously checking each one's bone structure, eye and mouth locations and pouches and wrinkles around the eyes and nose," said Masato Kawade, manager of Omron's Sensing and Control Technology Laboratory.

"It will be very useful when installed in an entrance of a shop or a restaurant as you can get detailed hourly demographic data which will be used for timely selection or display of goods and its advertisement," Kawade added.

However, he also said the camera's database only contains photos of Asian faces, limiting it to detect information for mainly Japanese, Chinese and Korean faces. It cannot correctly identify non-Asians.

The company's smile-recognition technology has been adopted in digital cameras and has became a worldwide hit.