Japan is testing a billboard that can tell the difference between male and female faces - and display appropriate ads accordingly. The system is running now in subway stations around Tokyo, CNET writes. A consortium of 11 railway companies launched a one-year pilot project to test the signs. Its aim, according to CNET, is to collect data on what sorts of people look at which ads at what times of day.

Advances in digital signs have been steadily moving towards this goal: for the last few years, manufacturers have been experimenting with technology that can 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. When it goes prime time is an open question, dependent on the results of such tests as the one in Japan.

Other examples:

• Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. are working on this concept, envisioning a new generation of so-called 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).

These products would come equipped with Intel's latest chips, cameras, specialized software from Microsoft and other embedded technologies - as well as the hardware and software specifications for a standard platform to be developed. The point would be to hand off the actual manufacturing to OEMs, such as HP or NCR Corp.

• Tava Touchpoins, a Vancouver-based company, is introducing digital media screens in grocery stores and other retail chains that will get shoppers' attention using biometric technology. The screens, which enable Tava to target consumers at the point of sale with ads - and also will use sensors and biometric face readers to conduct market research - is already in select Whole Foods stores. It uses audience-measurement technology - sensors and automated biometric face detection tools - 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.

• NEC Electronics Corp., has also 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.