BIOMETRIC AUTHENTICATION DEVICE AND BIOMETRIC AUTHENTICATION METHOD

• US 20130259321A1
• Filed: 06/03/2013
• Published: 10/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: AOKI, Takahiro
• Granted Patent: US 9,298,965 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/115
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/141 Control of illumination
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/10 Human or animal bodies, e.g. vehicle occupants or pedestrians; Body parts, e.g. hands
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/12 Fingerprints or palmprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/14 Vascular patterns
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/72 Combination of two or more compensation controls
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/74 by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/743 Bracketing, i.e. taking a series of images with varying exposure conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/951 by using two or more images to influence resolution, frame rate or aspect ratio

Abstract

A biometric authentication device includes: a sensor which generates illumination images in which an object carrying biometric information is photographed while a light source is turned on, and a non-illumination image in which the object is photographed while the light source is turned off; a difference image generating unit which generates difference images by subtracting from a luminance value of each pixel of each illumination image a luminance value of corresponding pixel of the non-illumination image; and a biometric image generating unit which determines an integration number, based on a statistical value of luminance values of a first difference image, so that the integration number increases as an influence of luminance values of pixels included in at least one region of the first difference image due to the noise superimposed on the first difference image increases, and generates the biometric image based on the integration number of the difference images.

Claims

1. A biometric authentication device which performs biometric authentication of a user using a biometric image in which an object carrying biometric information of the user is photographed, comprising:

an illumination light source which illuminates the object;

a sensor which generates a plurality of illumination images in which the object is photographed in a state where the illumination light source is turned on, and at least one non-illumination image in which the object is photographed in a state where the illumination light source is turned off;

a difference image generating unit which generates a plurality of difference images by subtracting from a luminance value of each pixel of each illumination image a luminance value of corresponding pixel of the non-illumination image; and

a biometric image generating unit which realizes

an integration number determination function determining an integration number, based on a statistical value of luminance values of a first difference image which represents an amount of noise superimposed on the first difference image among the plurality of difference images, so that the integration number of the difference images increases as an influence of luminance values of the pixels included in at least one region of the first difference image due to the noise superimposed on the first difference image increases, and

an image integration function generating the biometric image by calculating luminance values of respective pixels of the biometric image based on a total of luminance values of the corresponding pixels of the difference images, the number of which is the integration number, among the plurality of difference images.

2. The biometric authentication device according to claim 1, wherein the integration number determination function calculates a variance of the luminance values of pixels in a region, in which the object is captured, in the first difference image as the statistical value of the luminance values, and determines the integration number so that a variance of the luminance values of pixels of the biometric image estimated from the variance of the luminance values calculated is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold.

3. The biometric authentication device according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined threshold is a variance of luminance values of pixels in the region, when an average value of luminance values of pixels in the region in the biometric image is equal to a reference average value which is an average value of luminance values of pixels in the region in the reference image which is obtained when the object is photographed in a state where the illumination light source is turned on and there is no environmental light.

4. The biometric authentication device according to claim 1, wherein the integration number determination function calculates an average value of the luminance values of pixels in a region, in which the object is captured, in the first difference image as the statistical value of the luminance values, and determines the integration number by dividing, by the average value, a reference average value which is an average value of luminance values of pixels in the region in the reference image which is obtained when the object is photographed in a state where the illumination light source is turned on and there is no environmental light.

5. The biometric authentication device according to claim 1, wherein

when an exposure time dividing number is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, the exposure time dividing number being obtained by dividing second exposure time by first exposure time, the second exposure time being for generating the biometric image by photographing the object in a state where the illumination light source is turned on and there is no environmental light when the object is located in the shortest distance of a distance range capable of photographing by the sensor, the first exposure time of the sensor being for a generation of each illumination image, the integration number determination function calculates an average value of the luminance values of pixels in a region, in which the object is captured, in the first difference image as the statistical value of the luminance values, and determines the integration number based on the average value, and

on the other hand, when the exposure time dividing number is greater than the predetermined threshold, the integration number determination function calculates a variance of the luminance values of pixels in the region, in which the object is captured, in the first difference image as the statistical value of the luminance values, and determines the integration number based on the variance of the luminance values.

6. The biometric authentication device according to claim 1, wherein

a second object is captured in the plurality of illumination images with the object,

the biometric image generating unit further realizes an object region extracting function which extracts, from the first difference image, a first object region in which the object is captured, and a second object region in which the second object is captured,

the integration number determination function determines a first integration number for the first object region based on the statistical value of luminance values of pixels in the first object region, the statistical value representing an amount of noise superimposed on the first object region, and determines a second integration number for the second object region based on the statistical value of luminance values of pixels in the second object region, the statistical value representing an amount of noise superimposed on the second object region, and

the image integration function generates the biometric image by calculating the luminance value of each pixel in the first object region in the biometric image based on a total of the luminance values between the correspondence pixels in the first object region in each of the first integration number of the difference images among the plurality of difference images, and generates a second biometric image by calculating the luminance value of each pixel in the second object region in the biometric image based on a total of the luminance values between the correspondence pixels in the second object region in each of the second integration number of the difference images among the plurality of difference images.

7. The biometric authentication device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a storage unit which stores data concerning the registered biometric information of registered user which is registered in advance; and

a matching unit which compares the registered biometric information and the biometric information of the user based on the data and the biometric image.

8. A biometric authentication method which performs biometric authentication of a user using a biometric image in which an object carrying biometric information of the user is photographed, comprising:

generating a plurality of illumination images in which the object is photographed in a state where an illumination light source is illuminating the object, and at least one non-illumination image in which the object is photographed in a state where the illumination light source is turned off;

generating a plurality of difference images by subtracting from a luminance value of each pixel of each illumination image a luminance value of corresponding pixel of the non-illumination image;

determining an integration number, based on a statistical value of luminance values of a first difference image which represents an amount of noise superimposed on the first difference image among the plurality of difference images, so that the integration number of the difference images increases as an influence of luminance values of the pixels included in at least one region of the first difference image due to the noise superimposed on the first difference image increases;

generating the biometric image by calculating luminance values of respective pixels of the biometric image based on a total of luminance values of the corresponding pixels of the difference images, the number of which is the integration number, among the plurality of difference images; and

comparing the biometric information of the user with registered biometric information using the biometric image and data concerning the registered biometric information which is the biometric information of the registered user stored in a storage unit.

9. The biometric authentication method according to claim 8, wherein the determining the integration number calculates a variance of the luminance values of pixels in a region, in which the object is captured, in the first difference image as the statistical value of the luminance values, and determines the integration number so that a variance of the luminance values of pixels of the biometric image estimated from the variance of the luminance values calculated is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold.

10. The biometric authentication method according to claim 9, wherein the predetermined threshold is a variance of luminance values of pixels in the region, when an average value of luminance values of pixels in the region in the biometric image is equal to a reference average value which is an average value of luminance values of pixels in the region in the reference image which is obtained when the object is photographed in a state where the illumination light source is turned on and there is no environmental light.

11. The biometric authentication method according to claim 8, wherein the determining the integration number calculates an average value of the luminance values of pixels in a region, in which the object is captured, in the first difference image as the statistical value of the luminance values, and determines the integration number by dividing, by the average value, a reference average value which is an average value of luminance values of pixels in the region in the reference image which is obtained when the object is photographed in a state where the illumination light source is turned on and there is no environmental light.

12. The biometric authentication method according to claim 8, wherein

when an exposure time dividing number is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, the exposure time dividing number being obtained by dividing second exposure time by first exposure time, the second exposure time being for generating the biometric image by photographing the object in a state where the illumination light source is turned on and there is no environmental light when the object is located in the shortest distance of a distance range capable of photographing by the sensor, the first exposure time of the sensor being for a generation of each illumination image, the determining the integration number calculates an average value of the luminance values of pixels in a region, in which the object is captured, in the first difference image as the statistical value of the luminance values, and determines the integration number based on the average value, and

on the other hand, when the exposure time dividing number is greater than the predetermined threshold, the determining the integration number calculates a variance of the luminance values of pixels in the region, in which the object is captured, in the first difference image as the statistical value of the luminance values, and determines the integration number based on the variance of the luminance values.

13. The biometric authentication method according to claim 8, wherein

a second object is captured in the plurality of illumination images with the object, and the biometric authentication method further comprising:

extracting, from the first difference image, a first object region in which the object is captured, and a second object region in which the second object is captured, and wherein

the determining the integration number determines a first integration number for the first object region based on the statistical value of luminance values of pixels in the first object region, the statistical value representing an amount of noise superimposed on the first object region, and determines a second integration number for the second object region based on the statistical value of luminance values of pixels in the second object region, the statistical value representing an amount of noise superimposed on the second object region, and

the generating the biometric image generates the biometric image by calculating the luminance value of each pixel in the first object region in the biometric image based on a total of the luminance values between the correspondence pixels in the first object region in each of the first integration number of the difference images among the plurality of difference images, and generates a second biometric image by calculating the luminance value of each pixel in the second object region in the biometric image based on a total of the luminance values between the correspondence pixels in the second object region in each of the second integration number of the difference images among the plurality of difference images.

14. An image generating device which generates a biometric image in which an object carrying biometric information of the user is photographed, comprising:

an illumination light source which illuminates the object;

a sensor which generates a plurality of illumination images in which the object is photographed in a state where the illumination light source is turned on, and at least one non-illumination image in which the object is photographed in a state where the illumination light source is turned off;

a difference image generating unit which generates a plurality of difference images by subtracting from a luminance value of each pixel of each illumination image a luminance value of corresponding pixel of the non-illumination image; and

a biometric image generating unit which realizes

an integration number determination function determining an integration number, based on a statistical value of luminance values of a first difference image which represents an amount of noise superimposed on the first difference image among the plurality of difference images, so that the integration number of the difference images increases as an influence of luminance values of the pixels included in at least one region of the first difference image due to the noise superimposed on the first difference image increases, and

an image integration function generating the biometric image by calculating luminance values of respective pixels of the biometric image based on a total of luminance values of the corresponding pixels of the difference images, the number of which is the integration number, among the plurality of difference images.