Facial image quality assessment

• US 8,254,647 B1
• Filed: 04/16/2012
• Issued: 08/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Nechyba, Michael Christian, Sipe, Michael Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Jingge
• Application Number:
  US13/448,113
• Time in Patent Office: 134 Days
• Field of Search: 382115-118
• US Class Current: 382/118
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/993 Evaluation of the quality of the acquired pattern
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/142 using hand-held instruments; Constructional details of the instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/165 using facial parts and geometric relationships
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/67 by interactive indications to the user

Abstract

In general, this disclosure describes techniques for assessing image quality of captured facial images. An example method includes capturing an image, generating a facial detection confidence score based in part on a likelihood that a representation of at least a portion of a face is included in the image, generating a facial landmark detection confidence score based at least in part on a likelihood that representations of facial landmarks are accurately identified in the image, and generating a geometric consistency score based at least in part on a difference between a point of intersection between a nose base and a line segment that passes through each eye and a midpoint of the line segment. The method also includes generating an image quality score based in part on a combination of the confidence scores, and the consistency score, and classifying an image quality based on the image quality score.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

capturing, by a camera of a mobile computing device, an image;

generating, by the mobile computing device, a facial detection confidence score based at least in part on a likelihood that a representation of at least a portion of a face is included in the image;

generating, by the mobile computing device, a facial landmark detection confidence score based at least in part on a likelihood that representations of facial landmarks are accurately identified in the image;

generating, by the mobile computing device, a geometric consistency score based at least in part on a difference between a point of intersection between a nose base and a line segment that passes through each eye and a midpoint of the line segment in the image;

generating, by the mobile computing device, an image quality score based at least in part on a combination of the facial detection confidence score, the facial landmark detection confidence score, and the geometric consistency score; and

classifying, by the mobile computing device, a quality of the image based at least in part on the image quality score.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the facial detection confidence score indicates a lower amount of confidence as an absolute value of a yaw angle of the user'"'"'s face included in the image increases.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the facial landmark detection confidence score indicates a lower amount of confidence as an absolute value of a yaw angle of the user'"'"'s face included in the image increases.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the facial landmarks comprise at least the nose base and each eye.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the geometric consistency score indicates a lower amount of consistence as a yaw angle of the user'"'"'s face included in the image increases or that the representations of facial landmarks have not been located accurately.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

rejecting the image when the image is classified as a poor quality image.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

outputting, by the mobile computing device, an indication that the image was classified as a poor quality image.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

outputting, by the mobile computing device, recommended actions to increase the quality of the image.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the face is a first face, the method further comprising:

responsive to the image being classified as a good quality image;

retrieving, by the mobile computing device, a template that includes at least a portion of a second face;

aligning representations of the first face with the second face based at least in part on the facial landmarks of the image and facial landmarks of the template;

comparing the representations of the first face and the second face in order to determine if the representation of the first face matches the representation of the second face; and

authenticating the user based on the comparison.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

authenticating the user and granting the user access to the resources of the mobile computing device when the representation of the first face and the representation of the second face are determined to match.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises:

denying the user access to the resources of the mobile computing device when the representations of the first face and the second face are determined not to match.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises:

presenting the user with an alternative authentication method to access the resources of the mobile computing device when the representations of the first face and the second face are determined not to match.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, by the computing device, the image as a template when the image is classified as a good quality image.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the image is classified as a good quality image, the method further comprising:

determining that an amount of pitch of the face in the image is greater than a threshold amount of pitch; and

reclassifying the image as a poor quality image.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the facial detection confidence score, the facial landmark detection confidence score, the geometric consistency score, and the image quality score are propagated using an application programming interface (API).

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

outputting, by the mobile computing device, the image.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

outputting, by the mobile computing device, indications of locations of each eye and the nose base of the image.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the image is classified as a good quality image, the method further comprising:

determining that an absolute value amount of yaw of the face in the image is greater than a threshold amount of yaw; and

reclassifying the image as a poor quality image.

19. A mobile computing device, comprising:

at least one camera configured to capture an image; and

at least one processor configured to;

generate a facial detection confidence score based at least in part on a likelihood that a representation of at least a portion of a face is included in the image;

generate a facial landmark detection confidence score based at least in part on a likelihood that representations of facial landmarks are accurately identified in the image;

generate a geometric consistency score based at least in part on a difference between a point of intersection between a nose base and a line segment that passes through each eye and a midpoint of the line segment in the image;

generate an image quality score based at least in part on a combination of the facial detection confidence score, the facial landmark detection confidence score, and the geometric consistency score; and

classify a quality of the image based at least in part on the image quality score.

20. A tangible computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for causing at least one processor of a mobile computing device to perform operations comprising:

capturing, with a camera of the mobile computing device, an image;

generating a facial detection confidence score based at least in part on a likelihood that a representation of at least a portion of a face is included in the image;

generating a facial landmark detection confidence score based at least in part on a likelihood that representations of facial landmarks are accurately identified in the image;

generating a geometric consistency score based at least in part on a difference between a point of intersection between a nose base and a line segment that passes through each eye and a midpoint of the line segment in the image;

generating an image quality score based at least in part on a combination of the facial detection confidence score, the facial landmark detection confidence score, and the geometric consistency score; and

classifying a quality of the image based at least in part on the image quality score.