Method and apparatus for identifying individual

• US 6,229,907 B1
• Filed: 03/23/2000
• Issued: 05/08/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: OKI Electric Industry Company Limited
• Original Assignee: OKI Electric Industry Company Limited
• Inventors: Okano, Kenji, Kuno, Yuji
• Primary Examiner(s): MEHTA, BHAVESH M
• Application Number:
  US09/534,122
• Time in Patent Office: 411 Days
• Field of Search: 382/100, 382/110, 382/117, 348/77.78, 351/206
• US Class Current: 382/117
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/168 Feature extraction; Face representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/18 Eye characteristics, e.g. of the iris

Abstract

There is provided an individual identification system and a method thereof which are capable of identifying individuals having elliptical pupils and elliptical irises. In the individual identification system 10, the image storage unit 11 stores eye images 20, the ellipse preparation unit 12 prepares a plurality of ellipses, and the pixel addition unit 13 adds up pixels laid along circumferences of the ellipses. The ellipse selection unit 14 selects ellipses representative of the pupil 21 and the iris 22 among the plurality of ellipses based upon the sums of the pixels given by the pixel addition unit 13, whereby the parameters of the selected ellipses are output.

Claims

1. In an individual identification system which identifies individuals by comparing irises thereof, an iris detection system which detects a position of an iris laid in an eye image of an individual, the iris position detecting system comprising:

an ellipse preparation circuit preparing a plurality of ellipses related to the iris by changing a plurality of parameters of the ellipses;

a pixel value addition circuit adding values of pixels corresponding to the circumference of each ellipse to produce a pixel sum for each ellipse;

an ellipse selection circuit selecting among the plurality of ellipses an ellipse that is representative of the outline of the iris based upon pixel sums of the plurality of ellipses; and

an outline decision circuit deciding that the parameters of the selected ellipse are representative of the position of the iris.

2. An iris position detecting system as set forth in claim 1, wherein parameters for each ellipse include a center coordinate thereof, one of a line of apsides and a minor axis, a ratio of the line of apsides and the minor axis, and an inclination of one of the line of apsides and the minor axis.

3. An iris position detecting system as set forth in claim 1, wherein parameters for each ellipse include a center coordinate thereof, a line of apsides, a minor axis, and an inclination of one of the line of apsides and the minor axis.

4. An iris position detecting system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the pixel addition circuit does not add pixels corresponding to a preselected part of the circumference of each ellipse.

5. An iris position detecting system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the ellipse selection circuit makes a plurality of differences among the pixel sums for the plurality of ellipses, and selects a combination of an ellipse and another ellipse having the difference that is the largest among the plurality of differences.

6. A method of detecting a position of an iris of an individual in an eye image, the method comprising the steps of:

preparing a plurality of ellipses by changing parameters thereof in the eye image;

adding pixels of the eye image corresponding to the circumference for each ellipse to produce pixel sums for the plurality of ellipses;

selecting among the plurality of ellipses an ellipse that is representative of the outline of the iris based upon the pixels sums; and

deciding that the parameters of the selected ellipse is representative of the position of the iris.