Face authentication apparatus, face authentication method, and entrance and exit management apparatus

• US 20070291998A1
• Filed: 08/31/2006
• Published: 12/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Takizawa, Kei, Hasebe, Mitsutake
• Application Number:
  US11/513,268
• Publication Number:
  US 20070291998A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/118
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/254 involving subtraction of images
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/62 relating to a temporal dimension, e.g. time-based feature extraction; Pattern tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/169 Holistic features and representations, i.e. based on the facial image taken as a whole
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/37 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voice recognition

Abstract

A face authentication unit includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire an image including at least the face of a moving person, a face detection unit configured to detect a face region candidate of the person from the image acquired by the acquisition unit, and to detect a face region from the detected face region candidate, a face recognition unit configured to recognize an image of the face region detected by the face detection unit and registered face information which is stored in advance, and an authentication unit configured to authenticate the person based on the recognition result of the face recognition unit.

Claims

1. A face authentication apparatus comprising:

an acquisition unit configured to acquire an image including at least a face of a moving person;

a face detection unit configured to detect a face region candidate of the person from the image acquired by the acquisition unit, and to detect a face region from the detected face region candidate;

a face recognition unit configured to recognize an image of the face region detected by the face detection unit and registered face information which is stored in advance; and

an authentication unit configured to authenticate the person based on the recognition result of the face recognition unit.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the face recognition unit calculates similarity between the image of the detected face region and the registered face information by recognizing the image of the detected face region and the registered face information, and

the authentication unit compares the calculated similarity with a determination threshold, and determines based on the comparison result whether or not the person is a pre-registered person.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, which further comprises:

a flow line extraction unit configured to extract a flow line of the person;

a comparison unit configured to compare the flow line extracted by the flow line extraction unit with a reference flow line which is set in advance; and

a determination threshold change unit configured to change the determination threshold based on the comparison result of the comparison unit.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, which further comprises:

a reference flow line update unit configured to update the reference flow line based on the flow line extracted by the flow line extraction unit when the authentication unit determines that the person is a pre-registered person.

5. The apparatus according to claim 2, which further comprises:

a moving velocity measuring unit configured to measure a moving velocity of the person; and

a determination threshold change unit configured to change the determination threshold based on the moving velocity measured by the moving velocity measuring unit.

6. The apparatus according to claim 2, which further comprises:

a flow line extraction unit configured to extract a flow line of the person; and

an interchange determination unit configured to associate the flow line extracted by the flow line extraction unit with a person determination result of the face recognition unit, and to determine interchange of persons based on the flow line associated with the person determination result.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the face detection unit comprises:

a first face detection unit configured to detect a face region candidate of the person from the image acquired by the acquisition unit; and

a second face detection unit configured to detect a face region from the face region candidate detected by the first face detection unit, and

the face recognition unit recognizes a predetermined number of face region images detected by the second face detection unit with the registered face information.

8. A face authentication method comprising:

acquiring an image including at least a face of a moving person;

detecting a face region candidate of the person from the acquired image, and detecting a face region from the detected face region candidate;

recognizing an image of the detected face region and registered face information which is stored in advance; and

authenticating the person based on the recognition result.

9. The method according to claim 8, which further comprises:

calculating similarity between the image of the detected face region and the registered face information by recognizing the image of the detected face region and the registered face information; and

comparing the calculated similarity with a determination threshold, and determining based on the comparison result whether or not the person is a pre-registered person.

10. The method according to claim 9, which further comprises:

extracting a flow line of the person;

comparing the extracted flow line with a reference flow line which is set in advance; and

changing the determination threshold based on the comparison result.

11. The method according to claim 10, which further comprises:

updating the reference flow line based on the extracted flow line when it is determined that the person is a pre-registered person.

12. The method according to claim 9, which further comprises:

measuring a moving velocity of the person; and

changing the determination threshold based on the measured moving velocity.

13. The method according to claim 9, which further comprises:

extracting a flow line of the person; and

associating the extracted flow line with a person determination result, and determining interchange of persons based on the flow line associated with the person determination result.

14. The method according to claim 8, which further comprises:

recognizing a predetermined number of face region images obtained by detecting the face region with the registered face information.

15. An entrance and exit management apparatus comprising:

an acquisition unit configured to acquire an image including at least a face of a moving person;

a face detection unit configured to detect a face region candidate of the person from the image acquired by the acquisition unit, and to detect a face region from the detected face region candidate;

a face recognition unit configured to recognize an image of the face region detected by the face detection unit and registered face information which is stored in advance;

an authentication unit configured to authenticate the person based on the recognition result of the face recognition unit; and

a gate control unit configured to control to open or close an entrance and exit gate based on the authentication result of the authentication unit.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the face recognition unit calculates similarity between the image of the detected face region and the registered face information by recognizing the image of the detected face region and the registered face information, and

the authentication unit compares the calculated similarity with a determination threshold, and determines based on the comparison result whether or not the person is a pre-registered person.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, which further comprises:

a flow line extraction unit configured to extract a flow line of the person;

a comparison unit configured to compare the flow line extracted by the flow line extraction unit with a reference flow line which is set in advance; and

a determination threshold change unit configured to change the determination threshold based on the comparison result of the comparison unit.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17, which further comprises:

a reference flow line update unit configured to update the reference flow line based on the flow line extracted by the flow line extraction unit when the authentication unit determines that the person is a pre-registered person.

19. The apparatus according to claim 16, which further comprises:

a moving velocity measuring unit configured to measure a moving velocity of the person; and

a determination threshold change unit configured to change the determination threshold based on the moving velocity measured by the moving velocity measuring unit.

20. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the face detection unit comprises:

a first face detection unit configured to detect a face region candidate of the person from the image acquired by the acquisition unit; and

a second face detection unit configured to detect a face region from the face region candidate detected by the first face detection unit, and

the face recognition unit recognizes a predetermined number of face region images detected by the second face detection unit with the registered face information.