Advances in digital signs are rapidly growing, with the latest generation of products able to make judgments of the people standing before them - such as their age or what item of clothing would best suit them based on their body type.

The latest development comes from NEC Electronics Corp., which has designed digital signs that can track the age, gender and number of pedestrians that walk by them - and then use that information to obtain demographic information, which the company says is a first for the industry.  The data is then provided to the advertisers, who get better metrics on their targeted audience, writes the Wall Street Journal.

"For sponsors, they'll know which ads to display at what times and place," says Takeshi Yamamoto, vice president of NEC Corp. of America's IT software group.

Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. are also working on similar capabilities - a new generation of smart signs that can recognize the age, gender and height of people in front of them. These digital signs could also serve as on-the-spot providers of raw analytics, conveying back to retailers what products and images have received the most attention on the store floor (via the Wall Street Journal).

The technology would allow advertisers to tailor and customize ads in entirely new ways with accompanying mirrors and image analysis technology that can figure out a person's size and then show only ads of clothes that would flatter or fit the person. Other features could send a coupon for a product that the shopper touched on the screen to his or her smartphone.

Tava Touchpoins, a Vancouver-based company, is deploying digital media screens in grocery stores and other retail chains that use sensors and biometric face readers to conduct market research and audience-measurement technology to count shoppers who look at screens.

A measurement system provides audience analytics that break down how long people look, and parse the audience numbers by such things as time of day and gender.