Image analysis – Applications – Personnel identification
Reexamination Certificate
1997-06-20
2002-08-06
Patel, Jayanti K. (Department: 2723)
Image analysis
Applications
Personnel identification
Reexamination Certificate
active
06430306
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The field of the invention relates to systems and methods for data processing and more particularly to systems and methods that employ facial recognition to manage databases containing images of individuals.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Computerized databases can be adapted to store many different kinds of data, including sounds, images and text. This flexibility allows database designers to construct databases that have data records that organize and store information in several different formats, such as text and sound and thereby to provide database systems that are more particularly suited to the application at hand.
In one common example, government agencies and businesses use computer databases to store information about select individuals into data records that include demographic data stored as text information and a picture of the individual stored as a digitally encoded image. Therefore, a State Department of Motor Vehicles, can create a database of registered drivers that includes a data record for each registered driver. Each data record can store text information, such as the driver's name and address, and image information, such as a digitally encoded picture of the driver. The Department of Motor Vehicles can maintain this record, and continually update the contents as the driver's history and data change.
Although computer databases provide an efficient way to store image and text data, they generally fail to provide any way to search or sort the image information stored therein. This inability is particularly burdensome if the image information is the most reliable or complete information in the data record.
Moreover, this inability prevents an operator from automatically searching through the database to find a particular image of a person. Accordingly, to search the images in a database, the operator must call up each data record and view that record's stored image. This is such a time consuming and labor intensive process, that image searches of large databases is practically impossible. Consequently, there is little to prevent a person from registering multiple times with an agency, such as the Registry of Motor Vehicles, or a State Welfare Department, by providing fraudulent demographic data during each registration.
Moreover, the quality and characteristics of the images stored in the database can vary widely. For example, the grey scale of any two images can be markedly different. These variations make it more difficult for an operator to compare stored images.
Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide improved systems and methods for maintaining databases that store image information as part of a data record.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide systems and methods that can efficiently employ image information to control the entry of data into a database.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide improved systems and methods for storing image information in a normalized format within a database.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent by following the description of certain embodiments of the present invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides systems and methods that employ facial recognition to create, maintain and use databases that store data records of individuals. In particular, the present invention provides systems and methods that are adapted to employ select facial recognition techniques to analyze a picture of a person's face. These select facial recognition techniques generate a set of values, hereinafter referred to as a “projection signal”, that, as a set, are descriptive of the analyzed picture image and provide for highly compact storage of the critical identity characteristics of a person's face. The generated projection signal can be stored as a data field in a data record that is associated with the individual depicted in the picture. This data record can also include demographic data fields for organizing information, such as address information, social security numbers, and other identifying information with the image information. The invention provides systems and methods that are adapted to work with data records that include data fields of descriptive image information, and to provide systems that can search, compare and sort data records according to image information recorded therein.
To this end, systems and methods are described for creating and employing databases that have data records which contain image information of a person's face. These database systems and methods are adapted for efficiently storing, sorting, and comparing data records as a function of the image of a person's face.
In one embodiment of the invention, systems are provided for manufacturing identification cards, such as driver's licenses, military identification cards, welfare identification cards, pistol permits and other photo-identification cards. The systems are adapted for performing a select principal component analysis facial recognition technique. The facial recognition technique employed by the present invention allows, in one use, the systems to police the manufacture of identification cards to eliminate issuing multiple cards under different names to a single applicant.
These systems generally include an image acquisition element, such as a video camera or a photographic camera and a scanner, that generates a digitized picture of the applicant's face. A vector memory stores a plurality of eigenvectors defining a multi-dimensional image space. A data processor, such as a conventional workstation, is configured to project the digitized picture onto the multi-dimensional image space, to encode the picture as a weighted function of the plural eigenvectors. An image database couples to the data processor to provide storage for a database of known projection signals each being representative of a weighted set of the eigenvectors associated with an image of a specific person's face. A demographic database stores a number of data records wherein each data record is associated with a respective one of the stored projection signals and the individual whose image is represented thereby. Each data record also includes an identification signal for identifying that particular data record.
Typically, the data processor includes a recognition program element that is adapted for recognizing a person. Generally, the recognition program element compares the generated projection signal against the projection signals stored in the system. As the projection signals represent the image of a person's face, similar projection signals are likely to represent the same person or a person with a similar appearance. Therefore, the program element is adapted to determine whether the generated projection signal is substantially representative of one or more of the stored projection signals and to indicate if a match is detected.
In a further embodiment, the recognition program element includes a text query element for comparing text information with the identification signals stored in the data records. The text query element compares, sorts and orders data records as a function of text signals, such as demographic data, stored in the data records. In an optional configuration, the recognition program element employs the text query element to identify a subset of data records as a function of select demographic data. In a subsequent operation, the recognition program element operates on the subset of data records to determine whether the generated projection signal is substantially representative of one of the stored projection signals.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, these systems include a location device that searches through the acquired picture to identify a portion of the picture that contains an image of a person's face. For example, in a picture that depicts a person standing in front of a wall in a police line up, the location device will ignore the backgrou
Slocum Lee G.
Weider Yona
Lahive & Cockfield LLP
LAU Technologies
Patel Jayanti K.
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