Image analysis – Applications – Personnel identification
Reexamination Certificate
1995-04-05
2001-06-26
Patel, Jay (Department: 2623)
Image analysis
Applications
Personnel identification
C180S272000, C180S287000, C340S426110, C701S001000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06252978
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a device for protecting a motor vehicle against unauthorized use by third parties, by means of a driving-authorization detection arrangement which takes person-specific features into account.
Devices which protect against unauthorized use by third parties and prevent vehicle starting are known, in which at least one piece of vehicle equipment required for driving is adjusted, when the vehicle is parked, to a state which disables the starting of the vehicle. The disabled state can be cancelled by means of a vehicle authorization signal that can be triggered only by means of a code signal of an authorizing, user-end key unit. Such disabling arrangements suffer, however, from the problem that an unauthorized person can forcibly gain authorization by stealing the authorizing key unit or threatening the authorized person to reveal the authorizing code. Devices for protecting against use by third parties of the type mentioned at the beginning attempt to overcome this problem by closely associating the driving authorization criterion with the identity of the authorized person.
Such a device for protecting against use by third parties is described in the German Patent Document DE-OS 35 14 241 A1, in which an image of a grooved area of the driver's skin (in particular a finger tip), is recorded using a video camera. For this purpose, the camera is focused onto the surface of an exterior viewing screen, and the area of skin is placed on the screen and illuminated from the camera side when the image is recorded. The information on the grooved skin structure thus obtained is compared in an identification unit with an item of stored desired grooved skin structure information. If correspondence is detected a driving authorization signal is generated which actuates a disabling circuit that otherwise disables a piece of equipment required to operate the vehicle (for example, steering lock, ignition or fuel supply unit). The execution of a detection process is required for each subsequent successful start of the vehicle. In order to increase security against manipulation in the case of an attempt to bring about a successful detection process by using a photograph of the respective skin area of the authorized user, there is provision for an image to be recorded under different lighting conditions and for evaluation of the shadow structures which vary in such a case.
However, the security of this system is limited in that an unauthorized person can obtain unlimited future driving authorization by, for example, forcing the authorized person to provide him with a copy of the respective skin groove structure with which he can make a plastic copy to be used subsequently to achieve driving authorization. Additionally, this system requires additional action on the part of the driver before the vehicle starts in the form of the positioning of the skin area on the viewing screen, which makes the starting process less convenient.
To identify a specific person, in addition to taking finger prints, it is also known to compare an image of the eye (for example, of the iris and pupil area or of the area of the cornea), and compare it with corresponding stored image information. For this purpose, the person to be tested has to look into a scanning device such as provided, for example, in the laid-open publication WO 86/05018 or the magazine article “Aufeinen Blick [with one look]” in Funkschau 1/1987, page 34. Yet another identification arrangement compares an image of a facial area which is compared with stored image information by means of an image processing unit on the basis of a neuronal network. This arrangement can identify an individual even in the case of slightly changed image information, for example as a result of a slightly different posture of the head, changed hairstyle or different facial expression. See the newspaper report “Fingerabdruck wird zum Schlüfssel [finger prints become the key]” in VDI Nachrichten No. 3, 22.01.1993, page 13, and the article “Distortion Invariant Object Recognition in the Dynamic Link Architecture” by M. Lades et al. in IEEE, TRANS. ON COMP., Vol. 42, No. 3, March 1993, page 300.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,329 discloses a device for detecting the position of a vehicle driver, in which the face of the driver is illuminated and the light reflected back from it is received and evaluated in order to determine the three-dimensional position of the driver. The purpose of this device is to automatically adjust to the particular driver, certain adjustable vehicle elements, such as the rearview mirror, air vents etc. Thus, in this publication, only the position of the facial area of the driver is monitored in space, without object-detecting image analysis of the facial area.
An object of the present invention is to provide a device for protecting a vehicle against use by third parties, which permits reliable detection of an authorized driver, is comparatively manipulation-proof and is convenient.
This problem is solved according to the invention, by means of a device which utilizes image analysis of an area of the face for driving authorization detection. Such image analysis of facial features is sufficiently functionally reliable for this purpose, given the currently available object detection systems which are neuronal networks, since the image processing of such an object detection system is capable of recognizing the area of the face even in the case of a somewhat changed external appearance (for example changed posture of the head, different glasses and different facial expression), and is also capable of reliably distinguishing the area of a face from corresponding areas of faces of other persons. In particular, it is expedient to include the region of the eyes, nose and mouth in the analyzed area of the face.
The high selectivity of such a facial area detection system provides at the same time a high degree of protection against manipulation, since it is virtually impossible for an unauthorized person to produce a satisfactory copy of an authorizing area of a face. Additionally, the device is extremely convenient, since the suitable positioning of the camera which records the images eliminates the need for any actions on the part of the driver in order to verify driving authorization. Instead, the detection process proceeds completely automatically, without the driver having to devote his attention to it detection at all. That is, the driver can activate the vehicle and keep it operating, without being disturbed by the detection of driving authorization.
Parallel to the detection of driving authorization by image analysis of an area of a driver's face, further conventional security devices may also be provided within the entire system of the device for protecting against use by third parties. In particular systems may be provided for detecting access authorization, such as a mechanical and/or an electronic key with electronic access authorization coding.
One embodiment of the invention further increases security against manipulation by detecting the thermal radiation of the facial area, so that, for example, even an externally identical mask copy of the authorizing facial area does not lead to a driving authorization signal being generated.
Increased security against manipulation is also offered by another embodiment of the invention in which, when an authorized driver is actually seated at the steering wheel of the vehicle while driving it, the images of the facial area are successively recorded. Such images are never completely identical because of the different posture of the head and facial expression, and the vehicle, in this case, is not disabled. If, on the other hand, an unauthorized person attempts to feed manipulated image information into the image processing unit, the device is able to recognize this image information which is present in unchanged form, as manipulated input information and, in response, to disable the vehicle to prevent further use. Moreover, since it i
Crowell & Moring , L.L.P.
Daimler-Chrysler AG
Patel Jay
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