Selfies are not always useless - they can now be used for shopping (Topic)

Another way to pay for purchases or services has been announced in USA. Now you can do it with your own selfie.

The project was a joint brainchild of the SWiP payment system and VisionLabs. The new method allows you to pay by looking into the lens of a video camera located at the point of sale. You don't need to use a smartphone or a standard wallet.

Reckoning by face

The service was named SelfieToPay . The "testing ground" for the new technology was Mediacafe and the Five Stars catering network. Already at the beginning of summer, the new system will appear in the famous coffee shops and pizzerias chains. In the future, the number of retail outlets in the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, where SelfieToPay will be used, is expected to increase to 250. The innovative service plans to establish mutually beneficial cooperation with many large-scale all-USA chains.

The domestic platform for mobile devices SWiP conducts online payments using a QR code. The user's money is transferred through his bank card, information about which is in the application. The new SelfieToPay tool replaces the QR code on the face of the owner of the bank details. At the same time, all transactions of "selfie payments" go through the SWiP system. When the owner of the smartphone downloads SWiP for himself, fills in all the details of his bank account, the service will send a request to scan his face. Personal biometric information will be stored in the SelfieToPay datastore.

At points of sale where the client makes a payment, he just needs to go to a special video device and look into the lens. The covered area of the camera is visible only to the consumer's face. Next, the technology makes a comparison with the initial sample from the database, and then the automatic payment for purchases is made (if, of course, the identification is successful). It is not necessary for the consumer to have his smartphone with him.

Technical details

The platform for the new SelfieToPay payment technology is the VisionLabs LUNA development for accurate face identification. The modern Liveness function in its composition is aimed at determining the reality of the image: a real person is standing in front of the lens or this is just his photo. The project developers inform that the technical features of the service are such that it is impossible to pay for anything without notifying the person himself only using his image.

VisionLabs LUNA technology is the basis for some services related to security, video surveillance, finance. For example, this development began to be used in the system for recognizing bank users by their image, which became a joint project of VisionLabs and Smart Engines. Also, this solution is in a special computer identification system that assesses candidates for interviews, helping to determine the most optimal of them. In addition, the VisionLabs LUNA tool was taken as a basis for developing a program for monitoring employee actions. With its help (by identifying persons), the time that employees spend at their desk was recorded.

The Topic of Article: Selfies are not always useless - they can now be used for shopping.
Author: Jake Pinkman