'The digital doorkeeper'-automatic face recognition with the computer

The problem of automatic face recognition is investigated. A multiresolution representation of the scene is scanned with a matched filter based on local orientation for the reliable localization of human faces. For the identification of the faces, two complementary strategies are used. At low resolution, the three most important features of a face (head, eye pairs, and nose/mouth/chin) are compared with the contents of a database. At high resolution, the precise location of several landmark features is determined, and this geometrical description is used for comparisons in a 62-dimensional vector space. These algorithms were used in an experimental access control system-the digital doorkeeper-to investigate its performance under realistic conditions. Without screening for spectacles, beards. changing hairstyle, etc. a recognition rate of 90% among known persons was achieved. At a recognition rate of 60% for known persons, less than 3% of unknown persons were wrongly admitted.<
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