Grant of US Patent

Seeing Machines Limited 27 June 2006 27 June 2006 SEEING MACHINES LIMITED ('Seeing Machines' or 'the Company') GRANT of US PATENT Seeing Machines Limited (AIM : SEE), a leading developer of advanced computer based imaging software systems, was advised on 26 June 2006 that the US Patent and Trademark Office had on 9 May 2006 granted a United States Patent to the Company as follows: US 7,043,056 'Facial image processing system', Edwards, T. et al. Abstract: A method of determining an eye gaze direction of an observer is disclosed comprising the steps of: (a) capturing at least one image of the observer and determining a head pose angle of the observer; (b) utilising the head pose angle to locate an expected eye position of the observer, and (c) analysing the expected eye position to locate at least one eye of the observer and observing the location of the eye to determine the gaze direction. This patent provides the foundation of the Company's core technology for head and face tracking. This technology is one aspect of the unique solutions offered by the Company for reliable and robust measurements of eye gaze direction in difficult real-world environments. It is therefore a crucial aspect of building tools and applications that work in the real world. Dr Nick Cerneaz, Chief Executive, commented: 'This is a tremendously important patent for the Company, as it protects one of the core innovations of the Company's research efforts. It is the basis of a good portion of our commercial success to date and indeed our future planning. We have a pipeline of product opportunities aiming to exploit this capability and knowing that the technology has been protected in the important US market is highly encouraging.' Details of the patent can be found here: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/ nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm& r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7043056.PN.&OS=PN/7043056&RS=PN/7043056 Enquiries: Seeing Machines Limited Insinger de Beaufort Parkgreen Communications Nick Cerneaz, CEO Simon Fox Justine Howarth / Victoria Thomas +61 (0) 2 6125 6501 +44 (0) 20 7190 7018 +44 (0) 20 7493 3713 www.seeingmachines.com About Seeing Machines Seeing Machines is an award winning Technology Company which focuses on vision based human machine interfaces. Formed in 2000 in Canberra, Australia, Seeing Machines' purpose is to commercialise its computer-vision across a range of industries and applications. Seeing Machines deliver advanced computer vision solutions for researches and developers in human factors, transportation safety, computer human interaction, robotics, medical research and psychology. The flagship product faceLABTM provides an automated and contact-free gaze and head tracking technology, it solves the problem of observing human behaviour naturally, non-intrusively and with a high degree of accuracy and usability. faceLABTM is a computer vision system that is able to measure the orientation and position of a human head, as well as detect blinks and estimate gaze-direction. It achieves all of this completely visually through a stereo camera system connected to advanced image processing software, with no attachments required on the subject. The product is designed to allow human factors researchers and designers assess the interaction of an operator in an environment and this finds application in designing operator environments, such as cockpits for cars, trucks, trains, and aeroplanes for instance, and other industrial design applications, as well as medical and psychological research situations. The technology also has application in monitoring automobile drivers and if it detects drowsiness or that the driver is distracted and their attention has been diverted from the road, an alarm can be raised to alert the driver to either pull over and rest in the case of drowsiness or to pay more attention to the road. faceLABTM works in real-time, enabling the behaviour of a subject to be tracked. This technology is paving the way in promoting safer driving conditions and works to enhance the driving experience and to eliminate accidents caused through driver drowsiness or distraction. There are many different sectors that can benefit from this revolutionary software, for which it has been developed, including: automotive; academic research; medicine/healthcare; defence; autostereoscopy (next generation displays); sport; and games. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange