Questions and Answers
What do SenseCam images look like?
Example SenseCam images are available here. An example ‘flip-book’ movie made from a sequence of SenseCam images is available here.
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How many images does the SenseCam take?
SenseCam typically takes a picture every 30 seconds, although this is user-configurable. The maximum rate of capture is one image every 5 seconds. With a 1Gb storage card fitted inside the device, it is capable of storing over 30,000 images which in practical terms is a week or two’s worth of pictures. When the internal storage is full, the images must be downloaded to a PC.
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How long does the battery last?
The rechargeable battery in the SenseCam will run continuously for around 24 hours when it’s capturing an image every 30 seconds or so. It takes around 3 hours to recharge using a USB connection to a PC or a mains adapter.
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How do you use the sensor data?
Data is from the various sensors in the SenseCam is collected continuously and recorded on the internal storage card. SenseCam also uses information from the sensors to trigger additional image capture, beyond the ‘image every 30 seconds’ which is captured in any case. For example, if the SenseCam has been stationary for some time as a result of being put down somewhere for example, the PIR sensor will be used to detect people coming into view and this will trigger additional photos to be taken. In some applications, for example our work with patients who have memory loss conditions, simple timed-triggering may well be sufficient.
The Sensor data may also be used after the event to facilitate various types of automatic analysis of a sequence of images. A good example of this is automatic landmark generation research.
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When will SenseCam be available to the public?
SenseCam is purely a research project at the moment. We are very excited by the potential of SenseCam to help people with a variety of memory conditions, but there are a number of important questions that we still need to address before we can responsibly consider making SenseCam into a product that is available to the general public.
For example, will our initial results with an amnesic patient generalise to a wider population; how can SenseCam be most effectively used; are there any unexpected ‘knock-on’ effects? We are working hard with a number of clinicians and researchers around the world to get a clearer understanding of these issues and we will continue to present our results to the wider community as this work progresses.
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Can I obtain a SenseCam for my own use?
Unfortunately there are very few SenseCams available and we are generally unable to supply SenseCams for personal use or research purposes. If you do have a specific enquiry please send it to us at sensecam@microsoft.com and we will do our best to respond.
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Who invented SenseCam? Who works on the project?
Lyndsay Williams invented the SenseCam concept and built the early prototype devices with the help of James Srinivasan and Trevor Taylor. As the project has grown, a large number of people at Microsoft Research have been involved in various aspects of hardware and software development, evaluation and experimentation. These include Emma Berry, Georgina Browne, Alex Butler, Rowanne Fleck, Andrew Fogg, Richard Harper, Steve Hodges, Shahram Izadi, Matt Lee, Mike Massimi, Narinder Kapur, Dave Randall, Alban Rrustemi, James Scott, Abigail Sellen, Gavin Smyth and Ken Wood.
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