JPH10137219A - Iris image processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a device inexpensive and compact by omitting an illuminator for a 1st camera and enabling the use of a general camera for visible light as a 1st camera. SOLUTION: When the positions of eyes can not specified since a figure in the image of upper half body photographed by 1st cameras 1 and 2 is a silhouette, an image processing part 4 gives the information on the silhouette area in the figure to a movable control part 6, the movable control part 6 drives a movable mechanism 5, and the inside of this area is photographed by a 2nd camera 3. The image processing part 4 searches the positions of eyes from that image and applies the position information of eyes provided by that search to the movable control part 6, the movable control part 6 drives the movable mechanism 5, the eyes of the figure are photographed by the 2nd camera 3, and the image processing part 4 possesses iris images from the enlarged images of eyes provided by that photographing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an iris image acquisition device used in a personal identification system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, when performing a transaction operation using an automatic transaction device at a financial institution, accessing confidential data using a computer or the like, and when entering a facility or the like where only specific persons can enter. For example, personal identification for checking the qualification is performed.

[0003] Various personal identification techniques are currently considered or implemented. One of them is a system for identifying an individual using an iris which is a part of a human eyeball. There is. Since the iris is completed in childhood, it hardly changes throughout the life, and it is hard to be affected by the change in physique such as gaining weight and thinning. It is expected to be applied in various fields.

In this personal identification system, an iris pattern is generated by taking an image of the person who qualifies, acquiring an iris image from the image by an image processing technique and patternizing the iris image, and then registering the iris pattern. An iris pattern obtained from the image of the identified person is generated by similarly generating an iris pattern from the image of the identified person at the time of identification, and comparing the iris pattern with the registered iris pattern. It is determined whether they belong to the same person.

[0005] Therefore, in this personal identification system, a device that captures a person at the time of registration and identification to obtain an iris image is used. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a photographing unit of a conventional iris image acquisition device used in such a personal identification system. In the figure, reference numerals 101 and 102 denote first cameras for photographing the upper body (for example, a portion above the chest), and usually a camera with a wide-angle lens is used.

[0006] Reference numerals 103 and 104 denote the first camera 101.
Illuminator 103 that illuminates the shooting range of
Is provided corresponding to the first camera 101, and the illuminator 10
4 is provided corresponding to the first camera 102. 1
Reference numeral 05 denotes a second camera for photographing the eye, which is a camera with a telephoto lens, which is rotated by a movable mechanism (not shown) so that the photographing optical axis (optical axis of the lens) can be changed in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction. It has become something.

Reference numeral 106 denotes an illuminator for illuminating the photographing range of the second camera 105. The illuminator 106 also works with the second camera 105 by a movable mechanism (not shown) so that the direction of the optical axis can be changed in the horizontal and vertical directions. Has become. Next, an operation of acquiring an iris by a conventional device having such an imaging unit will be described.

First, the persons to be photographed are illuminators 103 and 1
The upper body is photographed by the first cameras 101 and 102 illuminated with 04, the distance to the person is calculated by triangulation from the images of both upper bodies, and the position of the head is specified from the upper body image Then, the position of the eye is specified from the image of the head. Subsequently, the second camera 105 is rotated so that its photographing optical axis faces the eye, and the illuminator 1 is turned on.
At 06, an enlarged image of the eye is taken by illuminating, and an iris is cut out from the image to obtain an iris image.

[0009]

However, the above-mentioned prior art has the following problems. That is,
The installation environment of the personal identification system is not necessarily limited to a place suitable for photographing a person, and may be installed in an environment disadvantageous for photographing a person. For example, when the personal identification system is applied to an automatic transaction device installed in a store or the like of a financial institution, if the front of the automatic transaction device faces a glass window having a large area, an iris image incorporated in the personal identification system The camera of the acquisition device has the shooting optical axis directed toward the glass window, so that a person standing in front of the camera receives indoor illumination light such as fluorescent light from the ceiling side, but the background is brighter than that illumination. The person becomes relatively dark, so-called backlit shooting, and the person becomes a silhouette.

When photographing under such conditions, in order to obtain an image in which the position of the eye can be specified, it is necessary to illuminate the person brightly so that the front of the person does not lose to the background. In order to avoid this, the person who receives the illumination becomes dazzling, so that in order to avoid this, an infrared camera is conventionally used as the first camera, and an illuminator that irradiates infrared rays is used, so that the device becomes expensive, and Illuminators 103 corresponding to the first cameras 101 and 102, respectively.
There is a problem that the size of the apparatus is increased due to the necessity of 104.

Since the illuminator 106 always illuminates the eye directly regardless of the brightness of the person's background, it is necessary to use infrared rays so as not to give glare.
As the camera 105, an infrared camera is used. The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and has as its object to reduce the cost and size of the device.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention provides a first camera for visible light for photographing the upper body of a person, a second camera for infrared light for photographing the eye of a person, and a photographing range of the camera. An eye illuminator having an illuminator for illuminating the camera with infrared rays, and having an imaging optical axis of a second camera variable in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction, and processing an upper body image captured by the first camera. When the position of the eye of the person can be identified from the image of the upper body, the position information is given to the eye photographing unit, and the eye of the person is photographed by the second camera,
When the position of the eye of the person cannot be specified from the image of the upper body, information on the area of the silhouette of the person is given to the eye photographing unit, and the inside of the area is photographed by the second camera. , And the position information of the eye obtained by the search is given to the eye photographing unit, and the second camera is used to photograph the eye of the person, and the eye obtained by these photographing is obtained. And an image processing unit for acquiring an iris image from the enlarged image.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an iris image acquiring apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an eye photographing section in FIG. In the figure, reference numerals 1 and 2 denote first cameras (video cameras) for photographing the upper body of a person (for example, a portion above the chest), which use a general visible light camera with a wide-angle lens.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a second camera (video camera) for photographing an eye portion, which uses an infrared camera with a telephoto lens. The second camera 3 captures an image together with the first and second cameras 1 and 2. It is connected to an image processing unit 4 for processing an image. Reference numeral 5 denotes a movable mechanism.
Is rotated in the horizontal and vertical directions on the rear side to change the photographing optical axis (optical axis of the lens) in the horizontal and vertical directions.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a movable control unit. The movable control unit 6 operates based on position information sent from the image processing unit 4.
Is controlled. Reference numeral 7 denotes an illuminator for irradiating infrared rays, which is formed in a ring shape so as to surround a lens portion of the second camera 3 as shown in FIG. The second camera 3 is set so as to be spot-illuminated so as to be coaxial with the photographing optical axis 3.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a filter that transmits only infrared light, is formed in a disk shape, and is disposed so as to face the lens unit of the second camera 3 and the illuminator 7. The filter 8 and the illuminator 7 are assembled integrally with the second camera 3, so that when the second camera 3 is moved by the movable mechanism 5, the illuminator 7 and the filter 8 follow the movement. The second camera 3, the movable mechanism 5, the movable control unit 6, the illuminator 7, and the filter 8 constitute an eye photographing unit.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. First, the upper body of a person coming to the apparatus is photographed by the first cameras 1 and 2 at the same time, and the photographed image of the upper body is sent to the image processing unit 4. FIGS. 3 and 4 are views showing an example of a photographed person image. FIG. 3 shows a dark background of a person, and various parts such as eyes, nose and mouth of the face are clearly shown by indoor lighting such as a fluorescent lamp from a ceiling or the like. FIG. 4 shows a case where the background of the person is bright and the person is in a silhouette.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the respective parts such as the eyes, the nose, and the mouth of the face can be clearly confirmed, the image processing unit 4 performs the triangulation from the images of both upper bodies of the fixed cameras 1 and 2 to the person. Is calculated, the position of the head is specified from one image, the position of the eye is specified from the image of the head, and the position information is output to the movable control unit 6.

The movable controller 6 drives the second camera 3 based on the distance and coordinates specified by the position information so that the optical axis of the second camera 3 is directed to the eye. At this time, the illuminator 7 and the filter 8 also rotate together with the second camera 3 and face the eye, so that the illuminator 7 illuminates the eye with infrared light via the filter 8 and the second camera 3 To take an enlarged image of the eye.

The photographed magnified image of the eye is processed by an image processing unit 4.
The iris is cut out from the enlarged image of the eye by the image processing unit 4 to obtain an iris image. On the other hand, when the person is in a silhouette as shown in FIG.
Calculates the distance to the person from the upper body images of both the first cameras 1 and 2 by triangulation. However, since parts such as eyes, nose and mouth are often not known, in such a case, Outputs to the movable control unit 6 information on the silhouette area and an instruction to shoot from above the area.

Thus, the movable control unit 6 drives the movable mechanism 5 based on the information on the silhouette area so that the photographic optical axis of the second camera 3 is directed to the upper part of the silhouette area. Thereafter, illumination is performed by the illuminator 7 through the filter 8, and the second camera 3 is photographed by the movable mechanism 5 while moving the photographing optical axis from the upper part to the lower part of the silhouette area.

At this time, the movable mechanism 5 moves, for example, the second camera 3 so that the photographic optical axis draws a vertical or horizontal zigzag locus. The image photographed by the second camera 3 is sent to the image processing unit 4, and the image processing unit 4 searches for an eye in the image. In the image in this case, since the lens of the second camera 3 is a telephoto lens and the angle of view is narrow, and the shooting range is illuminated by the illuminator 7, the image does not become dark. Based on the fact that the reflection of the light generated on the surface of the eye is the brightest point, find the bright point, or find a characteristic of the shape of the eye, such as the presence of a white eye around the iris, This can be performed by using shape recognition such as a horizontally long shape.

When the eye is searched, the image processing unit 4 outputs the position information of the eye to the movable control unit 6. The movable control unit 6 drives the second camera 3 based on the distance and the coordinates specified by the position information so that the optical axis of the second camera 3 is directed to the eye. An enlarged image of the eye is taken.

The photographed magnified image of the eye is processed by an image processing unit 4.
The iris is cut out from the enlarged image of the eye by the image processing unit 4 to obtain an iris image. In the above-described embodiment, when the person is in a silhouette, the silhouette area of the person is sequentially photographed from the top while moving the optical axis of the second camera and the optical axis of the illuminator to search for the eye. Since the iris is acquired from the searched eye image, it is not necessary to provide an illuminator for the first camera, and a general camera for visible light can be used as the first camera. The cost and size of the device can be reduced.

In addition, since the optical axis of the illuminator is made coincident with the optical axis of the photographic device of the second camera, and the illuminator is assembled to the second camera, the control of the illuminator and the second camera is common. In addition, since the position of the eye is searched from the image captured by the second camera and the iris is cut out, the processing can be simplified and the processing speed can be increased.

Next, another embodiment will be described.
In the above-described embodiment, when the person is in silhouette, the silhouette area of the person is sequentially photographed from the top while moving the optical axis of the illuminator and the lens of the second camera 7 to search for the eyes, Although the iris image has been acquired, an area to be photographed by the second camera 7 can be specified by the image processing unit 4, and an embodiment in that case will be described.

In the case where the person in the image photographed by the first camera 1 or 2 is silhouetted as shown in FIG. 4, in this embodiment, the head and neck of the person silhouetted by the image processing unit 4 are used. , The shoulder is detected, and the area of the head including the eye is specified. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a case where the area is specified, and a hatched portion indicated by A indicates an area including the eye.

After specifying the area A including the eye as described above, the image processing section 4 sends the area A to the movable control section 6.
And an instruction to shoot the area A are output. Thereby, the movable control unit 6 drives the movable mechanism 5 so that the optical axis of the second camera 3 is directed to the area A. Thereafter, illumination is performed by the illuminator 7 via the filter 8, and the second camera 3 is moved by the driving mechanism 5 so that the photographing optical axis draws, for example, a zigzag locus in the area. Camera 3 shoots the inside of the area.

The image photographed by the second camera 3 is sent to the image processing unit 4, and the image processing unit 4 searches for an eye in the image in the same manner as described above. When the eye is searched, the image processing unit 4 outputs position information of the eye to the movable control unit 6. The movable control unit 6 drives the second camera 3 based on the distance and the coordinates specified by the position information so that the optical axis of the second camera 3 is directed to the eye. An enlarged image of the eye is taken.

The photographed enlarged image of the eye part is transmitted to the image processing unit 4.
The iris is cut out from the enlarged image of the eye by the image processing unit 4 to obtain an iris image. According to the embodiment described above, the head is detected from the silhouette of the person in the upper body image captured by the first camera, and the area including the eye portion in the head is specified. Since the area photographed by the second camera for searching for the eye from the photographed image is smaller than that of the above-described embodiment, the search time can be reduced. Thus, an iris image can be acquired faster.

When the apparatus according to each of the above-described embodiments is applied to a personal identification system incorporated in an automatic transaction apparatus of a financial institution, the iris image acquisition apparatus uses the iris image acquisition apparatus to identify a user when using the automatic transaction apparatus. The position information of the specified eye part is recorded on the user's card or center system, and the search for the eye part is performed based on the position information to be recorded on this card or center system at the next use. Since the area is further reduced, it is possible to acquire an iris image at a higher speed.

Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the second camera 3 is rotated by the movable mechanism 5 so that the optical axis of the lens can be changed in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, as shown in FIG. It is also possible to configure. That is, FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing another example of the eye photographing unit. In this eye photographing unit, the reflection mirrors 10 and 11 are arranged between the second camera 3 and the filter 9 for cutting visible light. Then, the reflecting mirror 11 is rotated in the horizontal and vertical directions by a movable mechanism (not shown) controlled by the variable control unit 6 shown in FIG. The iris image can be obtained in the same manner as in each of the above-described embodiments even when such an eye photographing unit is used.

In addition, the configuration can be changed. For example, in each of the above-described embodiments, two first cameras 1 and 2 are used for triangulation.
If the distance measuring means using infrared rays or the like is used, the first cameras 1 and 2 can be used.
May be omitted to make one.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a person in an image photographed by the first camera is in a silhouette, the photographing optical axis of the second camera and the optical axis of the illuminator are moved. Since the eye area is searched by sequentially photographing the silhouette area or the specific area of the head of the person, and an iris image is obtained from the searched eye image, an illuminator is provided for the first camera. There is no necessity, and a general camera for visible light can be used as the first camera, so that the effect of reducing the price and size of the apparatus can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an eye photographing unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image when a person is photographed.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image when a person is photographed.

FIG. 5 is a diagram that specifies an area in a person image;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing another example of the eye photographing unit.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 1st camera 3 2nd camera 4 Image processing unit 5 Movable mechanism 6 Movable control unit 7 Illuminator 8, 9 Filter 10, 11 Reflection mirror

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A first light source for visible light for photographing an upper body of a person.
A camera, a second infrared camera for photographing the eye of a person, and an illuminator for illuminating a photographing range of the camera with infrared rays, and the photographing optical axes of the second camera are horizontally and vertically. A variable eye photographing unit, and processing the upper body image photographed by the first camera, and when the position of the eye of the person can be identified from the upper body image, the position information is photographed by the eye. And when the position of the eye of the person cannot be specified from the upper body image, the information of the area of the silhouette of the person in the image of the upper body is given to the eye. Give to the imaging unit, let the second camera image the area, search for the position of the eye from the image, give the position information of the eye obtained by the search to the eye imaging unit, The second camera is used to move the eye of a person Is a shadow, the iris image acquisition apparatus characterized by comprising an image processing unit for acquiring an iris image from the enlarged image of an eye portion obtained by these imaging. 2. A first light source for visible light for photographing the upper body of a person.
A camera, a second infrared camera for photographing the eye of a person, and an illuminator for illuminating a photographing range of the camera with infrared light; and a photographing optical axis of the second camera and an optical axis of the illuminator. An eye photographing unit capable of being changed in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, and processing the image of the upper body taken by the first camera, and when the position of the eye of the person can be identified from the image of the upper body, the The position information is given to the eye photographing unit, and the eye of the person is photographed by the second camera. When the position of the eye of the person cannot be specified from the image of the upper body, the head of the person in the image of the upper body is determined. Detecting the silhouette of the part, specifying the area of the detected head that includes the eye, providing the information of the specified area to the eye photographing unit, and photographing the area with the second camera And search for the position of the eye from the image The position information of the eye obtained by the search is given to the eye photographing unit, the second camera is used to photograph the eye of the person, and the iris image is obtained from the enlarged image of the eye obtained by these photographing. An iris image acquisition device comprising an image processing unit for acquiring. 3. The iris image acquisition device according to claim 1, wherein the photographing optical axis of the second camera and the optical axis of the illuminator are set to be coaxial, and the illuminator is connected to the second camera. An iris image acquisition device characterized by being assembled. 4. The iris image acquisition device according to claim 3, wherein the second camera is rotated in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction, so that an imaging optical axis of the second camera and an optical axis of the illuminator are set in the horizontal direction and the illuminator. An iris image acquisition device characterized by being variable in a vertical direction. 5. The iris image acquisition device according to claim 3, wherein a reflection mirror is provided in front of the second camera, and the reflection mirror is rotated in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction to capture an image of the second camera. An iris image acquisition device, wherein an optical axis and an optical axis of an illuminator are changed in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction. 6. The iris image acquisition device according to claim 1, wherein said iris image acquisition device is provided in a personal identification system incorporated in an automatic transaction device of a financial institution, and said user is used when said automatic transaction device is used. The position information of the iris image obtained from the image of the user is recorded in one of the user's card and the center system connected to the automatic transaction device, and the second camera is used by the registered position information at the next use of the automatic transaction device. An iris image acquisition device, characterized in that an image of an eye is photographed with the iris.