Iris recognition system and method

• US 20060165266A1
• Filed: 01/26/2005
• Published: 07/27/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gentex Corporation
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Hamza, Rida M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,756,301 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/117
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/18 Eye characteristics, e.g. of the iris

Abstract

An identification method includes acquiring an image of an eye, approximating the center of the pupil, using the approximated center of the pupil as the origin of a polar coordinate system, segmenting the image of an iris portion of the eye along a radial at an angle, and normalizing a number of data points from the iris portion along the radial at an angle.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

acquiring an image of an eye;

approximating the center of the pupil;

using the approximated center of the pupil as the origin of a polar coordinate system;

segmenting the image of an iris portion of the eye along a radial at an angle; and

normalizing a number of data points from the iris portion along the radial at an angle.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising analyzing data points from the iris portion of the radial at an angle to generate an iris signature associated with the data points from the iris portion.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising comparing the iris signature to a previously generated reference iris signature.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein generating an iris signature further comprises encoding the data points from the iris portion.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising comparing the encoded iris signature to a previously generated and encoded reference iris signature.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein approximating the center of the pupil further comprises:

identifying the pupil of the eye as a blob region; and

finding the center of mass of the blob region.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprises:

determining the radial distance between the center of mass of the blob region and a boundary of a pupil at a plurality of angles; and

adjusting from the center of mass to a center of the pupil, wherein the center of the pupil is selected to minimize differences in the radial distance between the center of the pupil and the boundary of the pupil at the plurality of angles.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein segmenting the image of an iris portion of the eye along a radial at an angle, and normalizing a number of data points from the iris portion along the radial at an angle occur substantially simultaneously.

9. The method of claim 4 wherein encoding the data points from the iris portion includes:

generating a bit-wise template representing image data associated with the iris portion; and

weighting a number of most significant bits associated with the data points from the iris portion.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein acquiring an image of an eye includes acquiring an image where the iris is deformed.

11. A method comprising:

acquiring an image of an eye that includes an iris and a pupil;

establishing an origin of a polar coordinate system within the pupil of the image; and

segmenting the image of an iris portion of the image along a radial, the radial having an endpoint at the origin.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the iris portion of the image is substantially non circular.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein a substantial portion of the iris portion of the image is occluded.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising processing information related to the iris portion of the image using a one dimensional analysis.

15. The method of claim 11 further comprising processing information related to the image of the eye is localized to the portion of the image around the iris and the pupil.

16. The method of claim 11 further comprising processing information related to the iris portion of the image independent of a location of the center of the iris.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein segmenting the image of an iris portion of the image along a radial is done in a polar domain before detecting a border of the iris.

18. The method of claim 11 further comprising analyzing a number of data points from the iris portion of the radial to generate an iris signature associated with the data points from the iris portion.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising comparing the iris signature to a previously generated reference iris signature.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein generating an iris signature further comprises encoding the data points from the iris portion.

21. The method of claim 18 further comprising normalizing a number of data points from the iris portion along the radial at an angle.

22. A method comprising:

acquiring an image of an eye that includes an iris and a pupil;

establishing an origin of a polar coordinate system within the pupil of the image; and

radially segmenting the iris portion of the image along a plurality of radials, each of the plurality of radials having an endpoint at the origin.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising normalizing a number of data points from the iris portion along each of the plurality of radials.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein radially segmenting the iris portion of the image along a radial, and normalizing a number of data points from the iris portion along the radial occurs substantially simultaneously for a particular radial.

25. The method of claim 22 further comprising creating a identifier from a set of data associated with the iris portion of an image from one or more of the plurality of radials.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein creating an identifier includes generating a bit-wise template representing an image of the iris portion along one or more of the plurality of radials.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein creating an identifier includes weighting selected portions of a set of data associated with the iris portion of an image from one or more of the plurality of radials.

28. The method of claim 22 wherein establishing an origin of a polar coordinate system within the pupil of the image includes substantially centering the origin within the pupil of the image.

29. An apparatus comprising:

an image generator for generating an image of an eye that includes at least a portion of an eye including a portion of a pupil, a portion of an iris and a portion of the sclera; and

a polar segmentation module for segmenting the portion of the iris from an image produced by the image generator.

30. The apparatus of claim 29 further comprising an polar coordinate origin generator for determining an origin for at least one radial used by the polar segmentation module.

31. The apparatus of claim 29 further comprising a data extraction and normalization module for determining a portion of at least one radial that is associated with the iris, extracting data from the portion and normalizing the data.

32. The apparatus of claim 31 further comprising an encoding module for encoding data from the data extraction and normalization module.

33. The apparatus of claim 32 further comprising;

a storage module for storing previously obtained encoded data; and

a comparator module for comparing a currently encoded data from the encoding module.

34. The apparatus of claim 31 further comprising;

a storage module for storing previously obtained data; and

a comparator module for comparing a currently obtained data from the data extraction and normalization module to previously obtained data.

35. A machine-readable medium that provides instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

acquiring an image of an eye that includes an iris and a pupil;

establishing an origin of a polar coordinate system within the pupil of the image; and

segmenting the image of an iris portion of the image along a radial, the radial having an endpoint at the origin.

36. The machine-readable medium of claim 35 wherein acquiring an image of an eye that includes an iris and a pupil includes acquiring an image wherein the iris portion of the image is substantially non circular.

37. The machine-readable medium of claim 35 wherein acquiring an image of an eye that includes an iris and a pupil includes acquiring an image wherein a substantial portion of the iris portion of the image is occluded.

38. The machine-readable medium that provides instructions of claim 35 that, when executed by a machine, further cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

analyzing a number of data points from the iris portion of the radial; and

generating an iris signature associated with the data points from the iris portion.

39. The machine-readable medium of claim 38 wherein generating an iris signature further comprises encoding the data points from the iris portion.

40. The machine-readable medium that provides instructions of claim 38 that, when executed by a machine, further cause the machine to perform operations comprising normalizing a number of data points from the iris portion along the radial at an angle.

41. The machine-readable medium that provides instructions of claim 38 that, when executed by a machine, further cause the machine to perform operations comprising comparing the iris signature to a previously generated reference iris signature.