Face recognition based on nearest linear combinations

This paper proposes a novel pattern classification approach, called the nearest linear combination (NLC) approach, for eigenface based face recognition. Assume that multiple prototypical vectors are available per class, each vector being a point in an eigenface space. A linear combination of prototypical vectors belonging to a face class is used to define a measure of distance from the query vector to the class, the measure being defined as the Euclidean distance from the query to the linear combination nearest to the query vector (hence NLC). This contrasts to the nearest neighbor (NN) classification where a query vector is compared with each prototypical vector individually. Using a linear combination of prototypical vectors, instead of each of them individually, extends the representational capacity of the prototypes by generalization through interpolation and extrapolation. Experiments show that it leads to better results than existing classification methods.