Method and apparatus for robustly collecting facial, ocular, and iris images

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for standoff facial and ocular acquisition. Embodiments of the invention address the problems of atmospheric turbulence, defocus, and field of view in a way that minimizes the need for additional hardware. One embodiment of a system for acquiring an image of a facial feature of a subject includes a single wide field of view sensor configured to acquire a plurality of images over a large depth of field containing the subject and a post processor coupled to the single sensor and configured to synthesize the image of the facial feature from the plurality of images.

1 .- 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A system for acquiring an image of a facial feature of a subject, the system comprising:
 a memory comprising instructions that, when executed by a hardware processor of the system, implement a subject tracker that is configured to track the subject and determine that the subject has entered a field of view;   a detector coupled to the subject tracker, wherein the detector is configured to acquire a set of telescopic low resolution images of a depth of field in the field of view and comprising at least a portion of the subject in response to a determination by the subject tracker that the subject has entered the field of view; and   a post processor coupled to the detector, wherein the post processor is configured to create the image of the facial feature from the set of telescopic low resolution images by selecting a range of sequential low-resolution images of the set of telescopic low resolution images based on the subject being within a threshold of focal quality and fusing the selected range of images.   
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the detector comprises a low resolution sensor and the image of the facial feature is of high resolution. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the detector is a single imaging sensor. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein a field of view of the detector is at least ten inches by ten inches. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 24 , wherein the field of view is covered by no less than one thousand pixels by one thousand pixels. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the detector includes a sensor that operates at a frame rate of greater than several hundred Hertz. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein a resolution of the plurality of images is less than a resolution of the image of the facial feature. 
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the detector's focus is swept over the depth of field to generate the plurality of images of the depth of field containing the subject. 
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the enhancing at least the depth of field and the field of view comprises image region segmentation and fusion to extend the depth of field in a super-resolved version of the image of the facial feature relative to individual depths of field in the plurality of images. 
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the enhancing at least the depth of field and the field of view comprises mitigating turbulence in the plurality of images. 
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the enhancing at least the depth of field and the field of view comprises denoising the plurality of images. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the generation of the plurality of images of the depth of field containing the subject includes saving the plurality of images as a burst of images having a low resolution relative to the image of the facial feature that is synthesized from the plurality of images. 
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 32 , wherein the saving is triggered by a gaze detection technique operating in conjunction with a facial detection technique. 
     
     
         34 . The system of  claim 21 , further comprising a Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser illumination source for illumination of the subject, wherein generation of the plurality of images of the depth of field containing the subject includes using the Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser illumination source. 
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the generation of the plurality of images of the depth of field includes determining an approximate angular location and range of the subject containing biometric features. 
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 35 , further comprising a stereo camera configured to perform passive scene monitoring to perform the determination of the approximate angular location.