NEW YORK - Fashion retailer Forever 21 opened its new 90,000 square foot flagship store in New York City’s iconic Times Square in style on June 25th. The store features several interactive displays including a giant 61 feet high real-time digital billboard created by digital communication firm space that uses an AVT Prosilica GX1910 GigE camera.

The Prosilica GX1910 is a two megapixel HD resolution camera capable of running 240MB/s through its dual Gigabit Ethernet interface, making it the fastest GigE Vision camera in the world. Camera features include 3-axis lens control and a thermal management enclosure.

The camera sits on top of the 61 feet high digital billboard built by LED digital display specialist D3 LED and looks down at the crowd feeding image data to the application. The billboard uses computer vision technology to first identify people looking at the billboard and, in near real-time, builds a composite image of the crowd for use in the simulation. The simulation involves “giant” onscreen models that interact with the crowd by taking Polaroid snaps of onlookers before displaying the photo on the screen, or who pick-up shoppers to toss them under a hat or in their shopping bags.

The technology, borrowed from government and security surveillance, also allows the computer to differentiate people from inanimate objects, and to pick and prioritize Forever 21 shoppers carrying their distinctive yellow store bags.