Eye Detection Using Morphological and Color Image Processing

TLDR: A novel technique for eye detection using color and morphological image processing that is found to be highly efficient and accurate for detecting eyes in frontal face images.

Abstract: Eye detection is required in many applications like eye-gaze tracking, iris detection, video conferencing, auto-stereoscopic displays, face detection and face recognition. This paper proposes a novel technique for eye detection using color and morphological image processing. It is observed that eye regions in an image are characterized by low illumination, high density edges and high contrast as compared to other parts of the face. The method proposed is based on assumption that a frontal face image (full frontal) is available. Firstly, the skin region is detected using a color based training algorithm and six-sigma technique operated on RGB, HSV and NTSC scales. Further analysis involves morphological processing using boundary region detection and detection of light source reflection by an eye, commonly known as an eye dot. This gives a finite number of eye candidates from which noise is subsequently removed. This technique is found to be highly efficient and accurate for detecting eyes in frontal face images.