Person recognizing apparatus which can reduce time and year changing effects and method therefor

• US 6,608,914 B1
• Filed: 12/11/1998
• Issued: 08/19/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Yamaguchi, Osamu, Fukui, Kazuhiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Ahmed, Samir
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bali, Vikkram
• Application Number:
  US09/209,281
• Time in Patent Office: 1,712 Days
• Field of Search: 382/115-119, 382/124, 382/181, 382/190, 382/191, 382/192, 382/209, 382/219, 382/220, 235/380, 235/382, 235/382.5, 340/825.3, 340/825.31, 340/825.34, 713/182, 713/186, 902/3-6
• US Class Current: 382/118
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/16 Human faces, e.g. facial parts, sketches or expressions

Abstract

Configuration is made by a feature pattern extracting section 12 for extracting a feature obtainable from a person, a subspace calculating section 14 for calculating a subspace from the feature pattern, a recognition section 16 for effecting recognition using the subspace, a registered information holding section 18 for holding a plurality of the subspaces, and a registered information updating section 20 for updating the registered information using the subspaces. When identifying a person, the effect of aging change is reduced by suppressing time and year changes and keeping the recognition rate high.

Claims

1. A person recognizing apparatus, comprising:

a feature pattern extracting means for extracting a feature pattern obtainable from at least one person to be recognized;

a recognition information calculating means for calculating recognition information containing at least one subspace corresponding to each of said at least one person to be recognized, from the calculation amount extracted by said feature pattern extracting means;

a registered information holding means for holding recognition information corresponding to each of said at least one person to be recognized, as registered recognition information;

a recognizing means for recognizing the person by using recognition information calculated by said recognition information calculating means or a feature pattern extracted by said feature pattern extracting means and the registered recognition information held in said registered information holding means;

a registered information updating means for updating the registered recognition information held in said registered information holding means by using at least one of first, second and third updating methods, said first updating method being to update the subspace included in said registered recognition information corresponding to each of said at least one person to be recognized by use of the recognition information calculated by said recognition information calculating means or the feature pattern extracted by said feature pattern extracting means, said second updating method being to combine a new subspace with said subspace by use of the recognition information and the feature pattern, and said third updating method being to add a subspace having been used in the recognition.

2. A person recognizing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said registered information updating means includes

an update determining means for determining a predetermined method as to update of the registered recognition information by said registered information holding means, and

an update information creating means for creating new registered recognition information based on the update method determined by said update determining means by using the recognition information calculated by said recognition information calculating means or the feature pattern extracted by aid feature pattern extracting means.

3. A person recognizing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

said registered information holding means holds the registered recognition information in multiple manner concerning one objective person or one group, and

said recognizing means recognizes with using registered recognition information in multiple manner concerning the one objective person or the one group in said registered information holding means.

4. A person recognizing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

said update determining means selects recognition information to be updated among the recognition information calculated by said recognition information calculating means based on a predetermined rule, and

said update information creating means including an update information creating means for creating new registered recognition information by using the selected recognition information by said update determining means.

5. A person recognizing means according to claim 2, wherein

said update determining means determines an update condition based on a time of registering or updating the registered recognition information used by said recognizing means, and

said update information creating means including an update information creating means for creating new registered recognition information based on the update condition determined by said update determining means.

6. A person recognizing apparatus, comprising:

a feature pattern extracting means for extracting a feature pattern obtainable from a person to be recognized;

a recognition information calculating means for calculating recognition information containing at least a subspace from the calculation amount extracted by said feature pattern extracting means;

a registered information holding means for holding multiple recognition information as registered recognition information;

a recognizing means for recognizing the person by using recognition information calculated by said recognition information calculating means or a feature pattern extracted by said feature pattern extraction means and the registered recognition information held in said registered information holding means, wherein said recognizing means makes recognition using a method of calculating a similarity value;

a registered information updating means for updating the registered recognition information concerning the person held in said registered information holding means by using the recognition information calculated by said recognition information calculating means or the feature pattern extracted by said feature pattern extracting means, wherein said registered information updating means includes

an update determining means for determining a predetermined method as to update of the registered recognition information by said registered information holding means wherein said update determining means selects recognition information to be updated among the recognition information calculated by said recognition information calculating means based on a predetermined rule, and said update determining means uses another method of calculating a similarity value different from the method of calculating a similarity value by said recognizing means, and

an update information creating means for creating new registered recognition information based on the update method determined by said update determining means by using the recognition information calculated by said recognition information calculating means or the feature pattern extracted by said feature pattern extracting means wherein said update information creating means includes means for creating new registered recognition information by using the recognition information selected by said update determining means.

7. A person recognizing method comprising:

a feature pattern extracting step for extracting a feature pattern obtainable from at least one person to be recognized;

a recognition information calculating step for calculating recognition information containing at least one subspace corresponding to each of said at least one person to be recognized, from the calculation amount extracted by said feature pattern extracting step;

a registered information holding step for holding recognition information corresponding to each of said at least one person to be recognized, as registered recognition information;

a recognizing step for recognizing the person by using recognition information calculated by said recognition information calculating step or a feature pattern extracted by said feature pattern extracting step and the registered recognition information held in said registered information holding step;

a registered information updating step for updating the registered recognition information held in said registered information holding step by using at least one of first, second and third updating methods, said first updating method being to update the subspace included in said registered recognition information corresponding to each of said at least one person to be recognized by use of the recognition information calculated by said recognition information calculating step or the feature pattern extracted by said feature pattern extracting step, said second updating method being to combine a new subspace with said subspace by use of the recognition information and the feature pattern, and said third updating method being to add a subspace having been used in the recognition.

8. A person recognizing method according to claim 7, wherein said registered information updating step includes

an update determining step to determine a predetermined method as to update of the registered recognition information by said registered information holding step, and

an update information creating step to create new registered recognition information based on the update method determined by said update determining step by using the recognition information calculated by said recognition information calculating step or the feature pattern extracted by aid feature pattern extracting step.

9. A person recognizing method according to claim 7, wherein

said registered information holding step holds the registered recognition information in multiple manner concerning one objective person or one group, and

said recognizing step recognizes with using registered recognition information in multiple manner concerning the one objective person or the one group in said registered information holding step.

10. A person recognizing method according to claim 8, wherein

said update determining step selects recognition information to be updated among the recognition information calculated by said recognition information calculating step based on a predetermined rule, and

said update information creating step including an update information creating step to create new registered recognition information by using the selected recognition information by said update determining step.

11. A person recognizing method according to claim 9, wherein

said update determining step determines an update condition based on a time of registering or updating the registered recognition information used by said recognizing step, and

said update information creating step including an update information creating step for creating new registered recognition information based on the update condition determined by said update determining step.

12. A person recognizing method, comprising:

a feature pattern extracting step to extract a feature pattern obtainable from a person to be recognized;

a recognition information calculating step to calculate recognition information containing at least a subspace from the calculation amount extracted by said feature pattern extracting step;

a registered information holding step to hold multiple recognition information as registered recognition information;

a recognizing step to recognize the person by using recognition information calculated by said recognition information calculating step or a feature pattern extracted by said feature pattern extracting step and the registered recognition information held in said registered information holding step, wherein said recognizing step makes recognition using a method of calculating a similarity value;

a registered information updating step to update the registered recognition information concerning the person held in said registered information holding step by using the recognition information calculated by said recognition information calculating step or the feature pattern extracted by said feature pattern extracting step, wherein said registered information updating step includes

an update determining step to determine a predetermined method as to update of the registered recognition information by said registered information holding step, wherein said update determining step selects recognition information to be updated among the recognition information calculated by said recognition information calculating step based on a predetermined rule and said update determining step uses another method of calculating a similarity value different from the method of calculating a similarity value by said recognizing step, and

an update information creating step to create new registered recognition information based on the update method determined by said update determining step by using the recognition information calculated by said recognition information calculating step or the feature pattern extracted by said feature pattern extracting step, wherein said update information creating step includes creating new registered recognition information by using the selected recognition information by said update determining step.

13. A person recognizing program stored on a computer readable medium, comprising:

a feature pattern extracting function for extracting a feature pattern obtainable from at least one person to be recognized;

a recognition information calculating function for calculating recognition information containing at least one subspace corresponding to each of said at least one person to be recognized, from the calculation amount extracted by said feature pattern extracting function;

a registered information holding function for holding recognition information corresponding to each of said at least one person to be recognized, as registered recognition information;

a recognizing function for recognizing the person by using recognition information calculated by said recognition information calculating function or a feature pattern extracted by said feature pattern extracting function and the registered recognition information held in said registered information holding function; and

a registered information updating function for updating the registered recognition information held in said registered information holding function by using at least one of first, second and third updating methods, said first updating method being to update the subspace included in said registered recognition information corresponding to each of said at least one person to be recognized by use of the recognition information calculated by said recognition information calculating function or the feature pattern extracted by said feature pattern extracting function, said second updating method being to combine a new subspace with said subspace by use of the recognition information and the feature pattern, and said third updating method being to add a subspace having been used in the recognition.