Exploring Texture Transfer Learning via Convolutional Neural Networks for Iris Super Resolution

Increasingly, iris recognition towards more relaxed conditions has issued a new super-resolution field direction. In this work we evaluate the use of deep learning and transfer learning for single image super resolution applied to iris recognition. For this purpose, we explore if the nature of the images as well as if the pattern from the iris can influence the CNN transfer learning and, consequently, the results in the recognition process. The good results obtained by the texture transfer learning using a deep architecture suggest that features learned by Convolutional Neural Networks used for image super-resolution can be highly relevant to increase iris recognition rate.