Facial identification techniques

• US 9,881,205 B2
• Filed: 04/06/2016
• Issued: 01/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aware Incorporated (Crowley Holdings Preferred LLC)
• Original Assignee: Aware Incorporated (Crowley Holdings Preferred LLC)
• Inventors: Gieselman, Neal Joseph, Guillory, Jonathan Isaac
• Primary Examiner(s): Liew, Alex
• Application Number:
  US15/092,328
• Publication Number:
  US 20160350586A1
• Time in Patent Office: 664 Days
• Field of Search: 382115-118
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0077 Devices for viewing the surface of the body, e.g. camera, magnifying lens
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1176 Recognition of faces
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/743 Displaying an image simultaneously with additional graphical information, e.g. symbols, charts, function plots
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7435 Displaying user selection data, e.g. icons in a graphical user interface
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7485 Automatic selection of region of interest
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/40 Software arrangements specially adapted for pattern recognition, e.g. user interfaces or toolboxes therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/945 User interactive design; Environments; Toolboxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/167 using comparisons between temporally consecutive images
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/171 Local features and components; Facial parts eye characteristics G06V40/18; Occluding parts, e.g. glasses; Geometrical relationships
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/172 Classification, e.g. identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/173 face re-identification, e.g. recognising unknown faces across different face tracks

Abstract

As the use of facial biometrics expands in the commercial and government sectors, the need to ensure that human facial examiners use proper procedures to compare facial imagery will grow. Human examiners have examined fingerprint images for many years such that fingerprint examination processes and techniques have reached a point of general acceptance for both commercial and governmental use. The growing deployment and acceptance of facial recognition can be enhanced and solidified if new methods can be used to assist in ensuring and recording that proper examination processes were performed during the human examination of facial imagery.

Claims

1. A method of providing electronically assisted facial identification for a human facial examiner comprising:

displaying, on at least one display, at least two facial images near one other, to the human facial examiner;

electronically maintaining, by a processor and storage, a predefined list of facial components to be examined by the human facial examiner when the two facial images on the at least one display are analyzed by the human facial examiner to determine whether the facial images are of different persons or of a same person;

automatically guiding the human facial examiner through the facial identification process in response to the electronically maintained list of facial components, wherein the automatic guiding includes providing one or more of instructions, guidelines and anatomical definitions to the human facial examiner; and

keeping track of which facial components have been examined by the human facial examiner.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of facial components includes one or more of:

skin, face/head outline, face/head composition, hairline or baldness pattern, forehead, eyebrows, eyes, cheeks, nose, ears, mouth, chin or jaw line, neck, facial hair, facial lines, scars, facial marks, and alterations.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising requiring the human facial examiner to complete examination of a facial component currently being examined before examination can proceed to another facial component in the list of facial components.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically synchronizing the display of the two facial images with a facial component currently being examined by the human facial examiner.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the synchronizing the display of the two facial images with the facial component currently being examined by the human facial examiner includes automatically electronically drawing attention to the current facial component in both of the facial images.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein electronically drawing attention to the current facial component in both of the facial images includes one or more of:

drawing a box around the current facial component, pointing an arrow to the current facial component, correlating the facial component to pertinent reference material, magnifying the facial component being reviewed, placing the two facial components in a way which is easier for the human facial examiner to compare, blurring the facial areas not being reviewed, and highlighting the current facial component with color.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the list of facial components on a display screen, while the two facial images are being displayed.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically and dynamically electronically displaying one or more of a description, the instructions, and drawings related to performing an examination of a facial component currently being examined by the human facial examiner, while the two facial images are being displayed.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising automatically updating the display of the one or more of a description, instructions, and drawings to correspond to the facial component currently being examined.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating an audit record containing every facial component in the list that was examined by the human facial examiner.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising requiring the human facial examiner every facial component in the list of facial components in order to complete the facial identification process.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving input from the human facial examiner that centers eye locations in each of the displayed facial images.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining a viewed status and a comparison results status for each of the facial components in the list.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically guiding the human facial examiner through the facial identification process includes examining the facial components in the predefined list of facial components sequentially.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising magnifying a facial component currently being examined in both of the displayed facial images.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable information storage medium comprising instructions, that when executed by one or more processors, cause to be performed a method comprising:

displaying, on at least one display, at least two facial images near one other for review by the human facial examiner

electronically maintaining, by a processor and storage, a predefined list of facial components to be examined when the two facial images on the at least one display are analyzed by the human facial examiner to determine whether the facial images are of different persons or of a same person; and

automatically guiding the human facial examiner through the facial identification process in response to the electronically maintained list of facial components, wherein the automatic guiding includes providing one or more of instructions, guidelines and anatomical definitions to the human facial examiner and keeping track of which facial components have been examined by the human facial examiner.

17. The media of claim 16, wherein the list of facial components includes one or more of:

skin, face/head outline, face/head composition, hairline or baldness pattern, forehead, eyebrows, eyes, cheeks, nose, ears, mouth, chin or jaw line, neck, facial hair, facial lines, scars, facial marks, and alterations.

18. The media of claim 16, further comprising requiring the human facial examiner to complete examination of a facial component currently being examined before examination can proceed to another facial component in the list of facial components.

19. The media of claim 16, further comprising automatically synchronizing the display of the two facial images with a facial component currently being examined by the human facial examiner.

20. The media of claim 19, wherein the synchronizing the display of the two facial images with the facial component currently being examined by the human facial examiner includes automatically electronically drawing attention to the current facial component in both of the facial images.

21. The media of claim 20, wherein electronically drawing attention to the current facial component in both of the facial images includes one or more of:

drawing a box around the current facial component, pointing an arrow to the current facial component, correlating the facial component to pertinent reference material, magnifying the facial component being reviewed, placing the two facial components in a way which is easier for the human facial examiner to compare, blurring the facial areas not being reviewed, and highlighting the current facial component with color.

22. The media of claim 16, further comprising displaying the list of facial components on a display screen, while the two facial images are being displayed.

23. The media of claim 16, further comprising automatically and dynamically electronically displaying one or more of a description, the instructions, and drawings related to performing an examination of a facial component currently being examined by the human facial examiner, while the two facial images are being displayed.

24. The media of claim 23, further comprising automatically updating the display of the one or more of a description, instructions, and drawings to correspond to the facial component currently being examined.

25. The media of claim 16, further comprising generating an audit record containing every facial component in the list that was examined by the human facial examiner.

26. The media of claim 16, further comprising requiring the human facial examiner to examine every facial component in the list of facial components in order to complete the facial identification process.

27. The media of claim 16, further comprising receiving input from the human facial examiner that centers eye locations in each of the displayed facial images.

28. The media of claim 16, further comprising maintaining a viewed status and a comparison results status for each of the facial components in the list.

29. The media of claim 16, wherein the automatically guiding the human facial examiner, through the facial identification process includes examining the facial components in the predefined list of facial components sequentially.

30. The media of claim 16, further comprising magnifying a facial component currently being examined in both of the displayed facial images.

31. A facial identification system to automatically assist with performing a facial identification process comprising:

at least one display and graphics processing unit that cooperate to display at least two facial images near one other;

a processor and storage in electrical communication that electronically maintain a predefined list of facial components to be examined when the two facial images on the at least one display are analyzed by a human facial examiner to determine whether the facial images are of different persons or of a same person; and

a facial component list manager that automatically guides the human facial examiner through the facial identification process in response to the electronically maintained list of facial components, wherein the automatic guiding includes providing one or more of instructions, guidelines and anatomical definitions to the human facial examiner and keeping track of which facial components have been examined by human facial examiner.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the list of facial components includes one or more of:

skin, face/head outline, face/head composition, hairline or baldness pattern, forehead, eyebrows, eyes, cheeks, nose, ears, mouth, chin or jaw line, neck, facial hair, facial lines, scars, facial marks, and alterations.

33. The system of claim 31, further comprising a facial component auditor that requires the human facial examiner to complete examination of a facial component currently being examined before examination can proceed to another facial component in the list of facial components.

34. The system of claim 31, wherein the graphics processing unit automatically synchronizes the display of the two facial images with a facial component currently being examined by the human facial examiner.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the synchronizing the display of the two facial images with the facial component currently being examined by the human facial examiner includes automatically electronically drawing attention to the current facial component in both of the facial images.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein electronically drawing attention to the current facial component in both of the facial images includes one or more of:

drawing a box around the current facial component, pointing an arrow to the current facial component, correlating the facial component to pertinent reference material, magnifying the facial component being reviewed, placing the two facial components in a way which is easier for the human facial examiner to compare, blurring the facial areas not being reviewed, and highlighting the current facial component with color.

37. The system of claim 31, wherein the facial component list manager displays the list of facial components on a display screen, while the two facial images are being displayed.

38. The system of claim 31, further comprising automatically and dynamically electronically displaying one or more of a description, the instructions, and drawings related to performing an examination of a facial component currently being examined by the human facial examiner, while the two facial images are being displayed.

39. The system of claim 38, further comprising a facial component verifier that automatically updates the display of the one or more of a description, instructions, and drawings to correspond to the facial component currently being examined.

40. The system of claim 31, further comprising an audit report module in electrical communication with the processor to generate an audit record containing every facial component in the list that was examined by the human facial examiner.

41. The system of claim 31, further comprising a facial component auditor that requires the human facial examiner to examine every facial component in the list of facial components in order to complete the facial identification process.

42. The system of claim 31, further comprising an I/O device that receives input from the human facial examiner that centers eye locations in each of the displayed facial images.

43. The system of claim 31, further comprising a facial component auditor that maintains in the storage a viewed status and a comparison results status for each of the facial components in the list.

44. The system of claim 31, wherein the automatically guiding the human facial examiner through the facial identification process includes examining the facial components in the predefined list of facial components sequentially.

45. The system of claim 31, further comprising a magnifier module that magnifies a facial component currently being examined in both of the displayed facial images.