NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories has developed a new kind of television technology and experience where a TV presents programs or information displays adjusted to how people are viewing the screen. Though it stops short of reading our minds, it has the potential to read our faces to check how engaged we appear.

UTAN (User Technology Assisted Navigation) can understand who is watching the TV via face-recognition technology, determining, for example, if a family is watching or if it is a child by himself or herself. It can then change the channel or program depending on the viewer’s preferences.

It goes further by monitor images of the viewer through a mounted camera. It then estimates how interested they appear in the current program, even if there is more than one viewer. This is possible by scanning faces for movement or expressions, and comparing with a set norm (there is a camera mounted under the TV set to take pictures of the viewers). If concentration or attention seems low, UTAN can suggest alternative programs by sending this information to a tablet computer. Future improvements the makers hope to add include being able to monitor facial and emotional responses in more detail, such as laughter, sadness, anger and so on.

The UTAN system is still very much under development, but was recently publicly showcased at the expo Open House 2011 in May. Likely a final product or commercial form of the system would involve connectivity to a user’s personal tablet or phone, or would come with its own special tablet serving both as a platform to browse the recommendations, as well as utilize as a general remote controller or program guide (essentially replacing other auxiliary TV devices).

There has been progress and fanfare made about gesture-controlled TV and 3D viewing experiences, but the actual viewing process also can become more intuitive in the future, with our devices knowing what we want to watch even before we feel the need to reach out and actively browse ourselves. Combine this system with gesture controls and even an interface for the recommendations that is intangible (e.g. projected in front of you), then watching TV would become the ultimate coach potato experience.