NEC’s Image Recognition Technology –Use Cases for Industry
Lars Distelrath, Head of Sales DACH/BeNeLux
NEC Deutschland GmbH
Wirtschaftstag Japan, 27. Mai 2019

Agenda•••••NEC Corporation Overview
NEC’s Initiatives in Image Recognition
Introduction “FoT” Technology
GAZIRU – NEC’s Image Recognition ServiceSummary & References

NEC Corporation Overview
Leading social value innovator

As of March, 2019

Provides telecommunications, Public solutions,Enterprise business solutions

Tokyo, Japan● 119 years of brand success● 109,390 employees worldwide● EUR ~23 billion net sales● Headquarter:303 consolidated subsidiaries● Business activities in 169 countries and territories● World’s Top 100 global technology leaders (2018 Thomson●Reuters)●3© 2019 NEC Deutschland GmbHFortune Global 500 company

NEC’s Initiatives in Image Recognition and AI
Wealth of specific knowledge acquired over the past fifty years
1960

2000

1980

OCR/
Fingerprint
Character Identification
recognition

AI
Visualization,Analysis,
Prescription

NEC technicaljournal onAI (1986)

Facialrecognition

Heterogeneous
mixture learning
Autonomous &RAPID
adaptive control
Machine learning
Predictive robust(Deep Learning)
optimization
framework

SX-2NEAC-2201 ACOS Series

Earth Simulator

SX-ACE

AuroraComputer

Network

4Crossbar
Digital switchingswitchboard system, NEAX61© 2019 NEC Deutschland GmbHIoTMicrowave radio SDN/NFV
Pasolink (NW Virtualization)

Submarine
Cable system

5G

What’s “Fingerprint of Things (FoT)” recognition technology?
Fingerprint of Things (FoT) is created based on
microscopic surface patterns of objects.
„Fingerprint of Things (FoT)“ recognition technology is capable of thehigh-accuracy recognition of every individual piece of uniformly
manufactured industrial products.

FoT▌ Even parts like bolts made from same
metal mold have different surface
patterns▌ 10,000 bolts made from the same mold:
Validity of FoT identification: 100 ％▌ Even usual smartphone cameras are able
to check the patterns and match withones stored in databases.

5© 2019 NEC Deutschland GmbHAdvantage▌The FoT technology achieves individual recognition of various objects
without using traditional ID tags like RFID, 2D-barcode or other tags
● traditional ID tags like barcodes or others could even not be used with small objects….

▌Enables use of IoT to store &retrieve „individual“ relateddata like● type of material, dimensions of object,production date, manufacturer etc.

▌FoT can significantly contribute to improve manufacturing & logistics
processes
6© 2019 NEC Deutschland GmbH“FoT” Traceability in Supply Chain Management
Customer Site

Factory Production Line
Process １
cameraProcess２
came

raProcess
３
came

ra

1001

Material
Supplier １
1002

Supplier ２

Raw Material

Components

Parts

Products

1. In manufacturing industry, there is an increasing trend to collect and analyse thebig data of the history of manufacturing and using objects• connect those results to production innovations
and maintenance & inspection services.

2. Provide traceability for raw material, components and parts throughout the production process• FoT tracks “things”, even those too small to be tagged or numbered7© 2019 NEC Deutschland GmbH“FoT” Traceability in Supply Chain Management
Customer Site

Factory Production Line
Process １
cameraProcess２
came

raProcess
３
came

ra

1001

Material
Supplier １
1002

Supplier ２

Raw Material

Components

PartsProducts

3. Value chain management for manufacturing, logistics, sales and customer support• Providing traceability during the manufacturing process and after delivery tocustomers• Catalogues raw material and parts data in a manufacturing process database• When issues are detected, raw material or parts in the same lot can be identifiedeasily
8© 2019 NEC Deutschland GmbHGAZIRU – NEC’s Image Recognition Service▌GAZIRU – image recognition engine & service that can identify
various types of images acquired by snapping a recognition target
with a smartphone▌Applicable Image Types for Recognition● Two Dimensional objects within e.g. print media or on TV/Signage Screens● Three Dimensional objects e.g. automobile,animals / plants or food▌Identify an object instantly frommassive data of up to 1 million

9© 2019 NEC Deutschland GmbHGAZIRU – Use Cases
1. Japan Trading Company. e.g. for high-end used goods, uses GAZIRU
service engine to identify counterfeit goods• System compares Logos, Colours and dimensions and determines if an item is likely to be acounterfeit good.

2. One of Japan’s leading advertising companies uses GAZIRU service anddisplays detailed information on photos taken e.g. from magazines withthe built-in cameras of smartphones.
• match new pictures with image data thatwas previously registered on the cloudor within a device.
• Information returned not only can depend onobject itself but also on GPS data ortime when and where the picture wastaken.

3. Usage for electronic manuals
10© 2019 NEC Deutschland GmbH

Summary & References▌Concept of the Fingerprint of Things identification system● https://youtu.be/SBJHFUjqEUQ▌NHK World – Japan● Fighting Fake Goods with AI• https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/videos/20190416140426750/• NEC‘s service GAZIRU described from 1:20 min on▌NEC Technical Journal● Individual Recognition Based on the Fingerprint of Things Expands theApplications of IoT● https://www.nec.com/en/global/techrep/journal/g16/n01/160120.html

11© 2019 NEC Deutschland GmbH