Combined face and iris recognition system

• US 8,705,808 B2
• Filed: 03/02/2007
• Issued: 04/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gentex Corporation
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Hamza, Rida M., Phinney, Thomas, Jelinek, Jan, Jacobson, Vincent C., Determan, Gary E., Bedros, Saad, Whillock, Rand P., Kilgore, George A., Ahrens, Terry
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, BRIAN Q
• Application Number:
  US11/681,752
• Publication Number:
  US 20080075334A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,608 Days
• Field of Search: 382/115, 382117-118, 348/78, 351/209, 351/210, 351/211, 351/212, 396/18, 396/51, 396/158
• US Class Current: 382/117
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/166 using acquisition arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/19 Sensors therefor

Abstract

A system using face and iris image capture for recognition of people. The system may have wide field-of-view, medium field-of-view and narrow field-of-view cameras to capture images of a scene of people, faces and irises for processing and recognition. Matching of the face and iris images with images of a database may be a basis for recognition and identification of a subject person.

Claims

1. A subject recognition system comprising:

a wide field-of-view camera configured to locate positions and ranges of people in an area;

a medium field of view camera configured to capture images of faces of the people;

a narrow field of view camera configured to capture images of irises of the people; and

a processing system configured to receive image information from the wide field-of-view, medium field of view, and narrow field of view cameras, the processing system being configured to perform biometric identity recognition processing on image information from the wide field-of-view, medium field of view, and narrow field of view cameras,

wherein the processing system is configured to identify the individual identity of persons based upon the images of faces captured by the medium field of view camera; and

wherein the processing system is configured to identify the individual identity of persons based upon the images of irises captured by the narrow field of view camera.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a controller for driving a zoom of the narrow field of view camera.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the wide field of view camera is for estimating a distance between the cameras and the subjects.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the distance to the subject may be inferred by stereo or from a calibrated camera and anthropometric knowledge.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein a correct zoom factor of the narrow field of view is estimated for capturing iris images.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing system comprises a mechanism for storage and retrieval of images.

10. The system of claim 9 further comprising:

a mechanism for face and iris matching and/or enrolling connected to the processing system; and

an interface module connected to the mechanism for face and iris matching and/or enrolling and to the wide field of view camera, the medium field of view camera and the narrow field of view camera.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the interface module comprises an iris processor connected to the narrow field of view camera and to the mechanism for face and iris matching and/or enrolling.

12. The system of claim 10, further comprising an illumination system connected to the interface module.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the illuminator is an infrared iris illuminator.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing system may keep track of pairing face and irises belonging to a same subject of the subjects.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising a user interface, and wherein the processing system may display matched results for both a face and an iris of a subject of the subjects.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is capable of performing detection, acquisition and recognition of faces and irises at ranges out to at least five meters.

3. A biometric human recognition system comprising:

a wide field of view camera configured for initial subject detection;

a medium field of view camera configured for acquiring images of faces of subjects;

a narrow field of view camera configured for acquiring images of irises of subjects; and

a processing system configured to receive image information from the wide field of view, medium field of view, and narrow field of view cameras, the processing system being configured to perform facial identity recognition processing on image information from the medium field of view camera and iris identity recognition processing on image information from the narrow field of view camera;

wherein the processing system is configured to corroborate matched results of both the face and iris of one of the subjects.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising a user interface configured to display a scene of one or more subjects, a face of one of the one or more subjects, and an iris of the one of the one or more subjects.

5. The system of claim 3, further comprising a user interface, and wherein the processing system may display matched results for both a face and an iris of one of the subjects.

14. The system of claim 3, wherein the system is capable of performing detection, acquisition and recognition of faces and irises at ranges out to at least five meters.