Recent Patents in Signal Processing (May 2018) – Face recognition

For our May 2018 issue, we cover recent patents granted in the area of face recognition.

Patent no. 9,959,455 presents a system for facial recognition comprising at least one processor; at least one input operatively connected to the at least one processor; a database configured to store three-dimensional facial image data comprising facial feature coordinates in a predetermined common plane; the at least one processor configured to locate three-dimensional facial features in the image of the subject, estimate three-dimensional facial feature location coordinates in the image of the subject, obtain the three-dimensional facial feature location coordinates and orientation parameters in a coordinate system in which the facial features are located in the predetermined common plane; and compare the location of the facial feature coordinates of the subject to images of people in the database; whereby recognition, comparison and/or likeness of the facial images is determined by comparing the predetermined common plane facial feature coordinates of the subject to images in the database. A method is also disclosed.

In patent no. 9,959,454 a face recognition device includes a processor configured to: extract a plurality of feature points of a face included in an input image; detect a first and a second feature points that are paired from among the plurality of the feature points, a third feature point that is away from a straight line that connects the first and the second feature points, and two inter-feature vectors starting from the third feature point to the respective first the second feature points; calculate a feature angle formed by the two detected inter-feature vectors; and perform face recognition based on the feature angle formed by the two inter-feature vectors included in face information that is previously set as the face targeted for recognition and based on the calculated feature angle.

In patent no. 9,940,506 a system and method for generating a descriptor for a face is provided. The descriptor is operable to generate information about a given region in a face image to enable face recognition. The descriptor provided herein is a low dimension relative to many existing descriptors providing similar face recognition accuracy. In another aspect, a system and method for face recognition is provided.

Embodiments of the invention no. 9,934,397 may involve a method, system, and computer program product for controlling privacy in a face recognition application. A computer may receive an input including a face recognition query and a digital image of a face. The computer may identify a target user associated with a facial signature in a first database based at least in part on a statistical correlation between a detected facial signature and one or more facial signatures in the first database. The computer may extract a profile of the target user from a second database. The profile of the target user may include one or more privacy preferences. The computer may generate a customized profile of the target user. The customized profile may omit one or more elements of the profile of the target user based on the one or more privacy preferences and/or a current context.

Patent no. 9,922,240 introduces a multilevel clustering for a face recognition process, where the first stage clustering is performed on each computing node, using the first x vector coefficients. From the resulting k clusters created in the first stage, a limited number of clusters are selected on which the second stage clustering is performed, using the next y vector coefficients. The search for a matching image is then limited to these selected clusters. Computational costs are reduced at the first stage clustering by using just the first x vector coefficients. Computational costs for the second stage clustering are also reduced by performing the second stage only with the limited number of clusters on a limited number of computing nodes. In this manner, the overall computational costs in the face recognition process is significantly reduced while maintaining a desired level of accuracy.

A face recognition method of the disclosure no. 9,898,648 includes configuring aggregations of feature data that include a plurality of feature data of faces and match to a plurality of personnel data; extracting from an input image a plurality of input feature data that correspond to the feature data and that is equal to or more than a critical value; comparing an aggregation of input feature data that includes the input feature data with each of the pre-stored aggregations of feature data, and selecting from the aggregations of feature data an aggregation of feature data having the greatest similarity with the aggregation of the input feature data; and identifying a person on the image based on personnel data that matches the aggregation of feature data having the greatest similarity.

In patent no. 9,875,398 a method and system in which facial image representations stored in a database are defined by facial coordinates in a plane common to other images in the database in order to facilitate comparison or likeness of the facial images by comparing the common plane facial coordinates, the common plane being determined by the locations of the eyes and mouth corners; at least one input operatively connected to the at least one processor and configured to input the corners of the eyes and mouth coordinates; the at least one processor configured to convert inputted coordinates for the corners of the eyes and mouth into estimated common plane coordinates by minimizing the error between the inputted corners of the eyes and mouth coordinates and the estimated coordinates corners of the eyes and mouth obtained from the least square estimation model of the common plane coordinates of the corners of eyes and mouth.

According to a method for providing a notification on a face recognition environment of the disclosure no. 9,864,756, the method includes obtaining an input image that is input in a preview state, comparing feature information for a face included in the input image with feature information for a plurality of reference images of people stored in a predetermined database to determine, in real-time, whether the input image satisfies a predetermined effective condition for photographing. The predetermined effective condition for photographing is information regarding a condition necessary for recognizing the face included in the input image at a higher accuracy level than a predetermined accuracy level. The method further includes providing a user with a predetermined feedback for photographing guidance that corresponds to whether the predetermined effective condition for photographing is satisfied. According to the method, a condition of a face image detected for face recognition is checked, and if there is an unsuitable element in recognizing the face, it is notified to a user such that an obstruction environment hindering the face recognition by the user is removed, for enhancing a success rate of the face recognition.

If you have an interesting patent to share when we next feature patents related to face recognition, or if you are especially interested in a signal processing research field that you would want to be highlighted in this section, please send email to Csaba Benedek (benedek.csaba AT sztaki DOT mta DOT hu).

References

Number: 9,959,455
Title: System and method for face recognition using three dimensions
Inventors: Young; Shiqiong Susan (Bethesda, MD), Ye; Jinwei (Elkton, MD)
Issued: May 1, 2018
Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army (Washington, DC)

Number: 9,959,454
Title: Face recognition device, face recognition method, and computer-readable recording medium
Inventors: Ohbitsu; Toshiro (Akishima, JP)
Issued: May 1, 2018
Assignee: Fujitsu Limited (Kawasaki, JP)

Number: 9,940,506
Title: System and method for face recognition
Inventors: Fazl Ersi; Ehsan (Toronto, CA), Tsotsos; John Konstantine (Richmond Hill, CA)
Issued: April 10, 2018

Number: 9,934,397
Title: Controlling privacy in a face recognition application
Inventors: Calo; Seraphin B. (Cortlandt Manor, NY), Ko; Bong Jun (Harrington Park, NJ), Lee; Kang-Won (Seoul, KR), Salonidis; Theodoros (Boston, MA), Verma; Dinesh C. (New Castle, NY)
Issued: April 3, 2018
Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation (Armonk, NY)

Number: 9,922,240
Title: Clustering large database of images using multilevel clustering approach for optimized face recognition process
Inventors: Asati; Somnath (Chhatarpur, IN), Eshwar; Bhavani K. (Bangalore, IN), Naganna; Soma Shekar (Bangalore, IN), Seth; Abhishek (Uttar Pradesh, IN), Tomar; Vishal (Meerut, IN)
Issued: March 20, 2018
Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation (Armonk, NY)

Title: Face recognition method
Inventors: Oh; Sang Yoon (Daejeon, KR)
Issued: February 20, 2018
Assignee: Electronics And Telecommunications Research Institute (Daejeon, KR)

Number: 9,875,398
Title: System and method for face recognition with two-dimensional sensing modality
Inventors: Young; Shiqiong Susan (Bethesda, MD)
Issued: January 23, 2018
Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army (Washington, DC)

Number: 9,864,756
Title: Method, apparatus for providing a notification on a face recognition environment, and computer-readable recording medium for executing the method
Inventors: Park; Minje (Seongnam, KR), Kim; Tae-Hoon (Seoul, KR)
Issued: January 9, 2018
Assignee: Intel Corporation (Santa Clara, CA)