Facial recognition system

A facial recognition system is a computer application for automatically identifying or verifying a person from a digital image or a video frame from a video source. One of the ways to do this is by comparing selected facial features from the image and a facial database. It is typically used in security systems and can be compared to other biometrics such as fingerprint or eye iris recognition systems

Some facial recognition algorithms identify faces by extracting landmarks, or features, from an image of the subject's face. For example, an algorithm may analyze the relative position, size, and/or shape of the eyes, nose, cheekbones, and jaw. These features are then used to search for other images with matching features. Other algorithms normalize a gallery of face images and then compress the face data, only saving the data in the image that is useful for face detection. A probe image is then compared with the face data. One of the earliest, successful systems is based on template matching techniques applied to a set of salient facial features, providing a sort of compressed face representation.

Criticisms

Face recognition is not perfect and struggles to perform under certain conditions. Ralph Gross, a researcher at the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute, describes one obstacle related to the viewing angle of the face: "Face recognition has been getting pretty good at full frontal faces and 20 degrees off, but as soon as you go towards profile, there've been problems. Critics of the technology complain that the London Borough of Newham scheme has, as of 2004, never recognized a single criminal, despite several criminals in the system's database living in the Borough and the system having been running for several years. "Not once, as far as the police know, has Newham's automatic facial recognition system spotted a live target." This information seems to conflict with claims that the system was credited with a 34% reduction in crime - which better explains why the system was then rolled out to Birmingham also.

Future

A possible future application for facial recognition systems lies in retailing. A retail store (for example, a grocery store) may have cash registers equipped with cameras, the cameras would be aimed at the faces of customers, so pictures of customers could be obtained. The camera would be the primary means of identifying the customer, and if visual identification failed, the customer could complete the purchase by using a PIN (personal identification number). After the cash register had calculated the total sale, the face recognition system would verify the identity of the customer and the total amount of the sale would be deducted from the customer's bank account. Hence, face-based retailing would provide convenience for retail customers, since they could go shopping simply by showing their faces, and there would be no need to bring debit cards, or other financial media. Wide-reaching applications of face-based retailing are possible, including retail stores, restaurants, movie theaters, car rental companies, hotels, etc.