scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Journal ArticleDOI

Low-dimensional procedure for the characterization of human faces

01 Mar 1987-Journal of The Optical Society of America A-optics Image Science and Vision (Optical Society of America)-Vol. 4, Iss: 3, pp 519-524
TL;DR: In this article, a method for the representation of (pictures of) faces is presented, which results in the characterization of a face, to within an error bound, by a relatively low-dimensional vector.
Abstract: A method is presented for the representation of (pictures of) faces. Within a specified framework the representation is ideal. This results in the characterization of a face, to within an error bound, by a relatively low-dimensional vector. The method is illustrated in detail by the use of an ensemble of pictures taken for this purpose.
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A near-real-time computer system that can locate and track a subject's head, and then recognize the person by comparing characteristics of the face to those of known individuals, and that is easy to implement using a neural network architecture.
Abstract: We have developed a near-real-time computer system that can locate and track a subject's head, and then recognize the person by comparing characteristics of the face to those of known individuals. The computational approach taken in this system is motivated by both physiology and information theory, as well as by the practical requirements of near-real-time performance and accuracy. Our approach treats the face recognition problem as an intrinsically two-dimensional (2-D) recognition problem rather than requiring recovery of three-dimensional geometry, taking advantage of the fact that faces are normally upright and thus may be described by a small set of 2-D characteristic views. The system functions by projecting face images onto a feature space that spans the significant variations among known face images. The significant features are known as "eigenfaces," because they are the eigenvectors (principal components) of the set of faces; they do not necessarily correspond to features such as eyes, ears, and noses. The projection operation characterizes an individual face by a weighted sum of the eigenface features, and so to recognize a particular face it is necessary only to compare these weights to those of known individuals. Some particular advantages of our approach are that it provides for the ability to learn and later recognize new faces in an unsupervised manner, and that it is easy to implement using a neural network architecture.

14,562 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A face recognition algorithm which is insensitive to large variation in lighting direction and facial expression is developed, based on Fisher's linear discriminant and produces well separated classes in a low-dimensional subspace, even under severe variations in lighting and facial expressions.
Abstract: We develop a face recognition algorithm which is insensitive to large variation in lighting direction and facial expression. Taking a pattern classification approach, we consider each pixel in an image as a coordinate in a high-dimensional space. We take advantage of the observation that the images of a particular face, under varying illumination but fixed pose, lie in a 3D linear subspace of the high dimensional image space-if the face is a Lambertian surface without shadowing. However, since faces are not truly Lambertian surfaces and do indeed produce self-shadowing, images will deviate from this linear subspace. Rather than explicitly modeling this deviation, we linearly project the image into a subspace in a manner which discounts those regions of the face with large deviation. Our projection method is based on Fisher's linear discriminant and produces well separated classes in a low-dimensional subspace, even under severe variation in lighting and facial expressions. The eigenface technique, another method based on linearly projecting the image space to a low dimensional subspace, has similar computational requirements. Yet, extensive experimental results demonstrate that the proposed "Fisherface" method has error rates that are lower than those of the eigenface technique for tests on the Harvard and Yale face databases.

11,674 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The performance of the spatial envelope model shows that specific information about object shape or identity is not a requirement for scene categorization and that modeling a holistic representation of the scene informs about its probable semantic category.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose a computational model of the recognition of real world scenes that bypasses the segmentation and the processing of individual objects or regions. The procedure is based on a very low dimensional representation of the scene, that we term the Spatial Envelope. We propose a set of perceptual dimensions (naturalness, openness, roughness, expansion, ruggedness) that represent the dominant spatial structure of a scene. Then, we show that these dimensions may be reliably estimated using spectral and coarsely localized information. The model generates a multidimensional space in which scenes sharing membership in semantic categories (e.g., streets, highways, coasts) are projected closed together. The performance of the spatial envelope model shows that specific information about object shape or identity is not a requirement for scene categorization and that modeling a holistic representation of the scene informs about its probable semantic category.

6,882 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper presents work on computing shape models that are computationally fast and invariant basic transformations like translation, scaling and rotation, and proposes shape detection using a feature called shape context, which is descriptive of the shape of the object.
Abstract: We present a novel approach to measuring similarity between shapes and exploit it for object recognition. In our framework, the measurement of similarity is preceded by: (1) solving for correspondences between points on the two shapes; (2) using the correspondences to estimate an aligning transform. In order to solve the correspondence problem, we attach a descriptor, the shape context, to each point. The shape context at a reference point captures the distribution of the remaining points relative to it, thus offering a globally discriminative characterization. Corresponding points on two similar shapes will have similar shape contexts, enabling us to solve for correspondences as an optimal assignment problem. Given the point correspondences, we estimate the transformation that best aligns the two shapes; regularized thin-plate splines provide a flexible class of transformation maps for this purpose. The dissimilarity between the two shapes is computed as a sum of matching errors between corresponding points, together with a term measuring the magnitude of the aligning transform. We treat recognition in a nearest-neighbor classification framework as the problem of finding the stored prototype shape that is maximally similar to that in the image. Results are presented for silhouettes, trademarks, handwritten digits, and the COIL data set.

6,693 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide an up-to-date critical survey of still-and video-based face recognition research, and provide some insights into the studies of machine recognition of faces.
Abstract: As one of the most successful applications of image analysis and understanding, face recognition has recently received significant attention, especially during the past several years. At least two reasons account for this trend: the first is the wide range of commercial and law enforcement applications, and the second is the availability of feasible technologies after 30 years of research. Even though current machine recognition systems have reached a certain level of maturity, their success is limited by the conditions imposed by many real applications. For example, recognition of face images acquired in an outdoor environment with changes in illumination and/or pose remains a largely unsolved problem. In other words, current systems are still far away from the capability of the human perception system.This paper provides an up-to-date critical survey of still- and video-based face recognition research. There are two underlying motivations for us to write this survey paper: the first is to provide an up-to-date review of the existing literature, and the second is to offer some insights into the studies of machine recognition of faces. To provide a comprehensive survey, we not only categorize existing recognition techniques but also present detailed descriptions of representative methods within each category. In addition, relevant topics such as psychophysical studies, system evaluation, and issues of illumination and pose variation are covered.

6,384 citations

References
More filters
Book
01 Jan 1972
TL;DR: This completely revised second edition presents an introduction to statistical pattern recognition, which is appropriate as a text for introductory courses in pattern recognition and as a reference book for workers in the field.
Abstract: This completely revised second edition presents an introduction to statistical pattern recognition Pattern recognition in general covers a wide range of problems: it is applied to engineering problems, such as character readers and wave form analysis as well as to brain modeling in biology and psychology Statistical decision and estimation, which are the main subjects of this book, are regarded as fundamental to the study of pattern recognition This book is appropriate as a text for introductory courses in pattern recognition and as a reference book for workers in the field Each chapter contains computer projects as well as exercises

10,526 citations

Book
01 Jan 1955

2,083 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
12 Apr 1976
TL;DR: The utility and effectiveness of these transforms are evaluated in terms of some standard performance criteria such as computational complexity, variance distribution, mean-square error, correlated rms error, rate distortion, data compression, classification error, and digital hardware realization.
Abstract: A tutorial-review paper on discrete orthogonal transforms and their applications in digital signal and image (both monochrome and color) processing is presented. Various transforms such as discrete Fourier, discrete cosine, Walsh-Hadamard, slant, Haar, discrete linear basis, Hadamard-Haar, rapid, lower triangular, generalized Haar, slant Haar and Karhunen-Loeve are defined and developed. Pertinent properties of these transforms such as power spectra, cyclic and dyadic convolution and correlation are outlined. Efficient algorithms for fast implementation of these transforms based on matrix partitioning or matrix factoring are presented. The application of these transforms in speech and image processing, spectral analysis, digital filtering (linear, nonlinear, optimal and suboptimal), nonlinear systems analysis, spectrography, digital holography, industrial testing, spectrometric imaging, feature selection, and patter recognition is presented. The utility and effectiveness of these transforms are evaluated in terms of some standard performance criteria such as computational complexity, variance distribution, mean-square error, correlated rms error, rate distortion, data compression, classification error, and digital hardware realization.

928 citations

Book
01 Jan 1975

328 citations