A novel Bayesian shape model for facial feature extraction

This paper presents a novel application of the Bayesian shape model (BSM) for facial feature extraction. First, a full-face model is designed to describe the shape of a face, and the PCA is used to estimate the shape variance of the face model. Then, the BSM is applied to match and extract the face patch from input face images. Finally, using the face model, the extracted face patches are easily warped or normalized to a standard view. Applications of this facial feature extraction algorithm include face recognition, face video coding and retrieval, face animation and multimedia.