Facial authentication system, apparatus, method and program field

Abstract

There are provided a reader that receives one or more identifiers transmitted by one or more wireless tags of one or more users entering a wireless area located outside one end of a longitudinal direction of a gate; an acquisition part that acquires a facial feature value registered in association with each identifier received from each wireless tag; an imaging part that captures image of the user; an extraction part that extracts a facial feature value from image data generated by the imaging part; and a face collation part that receives the facial feature value extracted by the extraction part and checks whether or not the facial feature value match one or more facial feature values acquired by the acquisition part.

1 . A gate apparatus comprising:
 a processor;   a memory coupled with the processor and storing a program executable by the processor;   a reader that receives one or more facial feature values transmitted from one or more wireless apparatuses of one or more users, an individual one of the one or more wireless apparatuses holding a facial feature value of an individual user; and   a camera that captures image of the user, wherein
 the processor, based on the program stored in the memory, is configured to execute: 
   an extraction process that extracts a facial feature value from image data captured by the camera; and   a face collation process that collates the facial feature value extracted by the extraction process with the one or more facial feature values received by the reader from the one or more wireless apparatus to check whether or not there is a match.   
     
     
         2 . The gate apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the reader is configured to receive the one or more facial feature values transmitted by the one or more wireless apparatuses of the one or more users, the one or more users entering a wireless area located outside one end of a longitudinal direction of a gate but not yet entering into a lane of the gate. 
     
     
         3 . The gate apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to execute:
 an opening and closing control process that sets a gate exit in an open state or a closed state according to a result of collation by the face collation process.   
     
     
         4 . The gate apparatus according to  claim 3 , wherein the opening and closing control process sets the gate exit in an open state when the result of collation by the face collation process indicates that the facial feature value extracted by the extraction process matches any one of the one or more facial feature values received by the reader from one or more wireless apparatus of one or more users and closes the gate exit in a closed state in a closed state when there is no match. 
     
     
         5 . The gate apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the reader includes:
 a first reader that is arranged at one side along the longitudinal direction of the gate and that receives one or more facial feature values transmitted from the one or more wireless apparatus of one or more users entering the wireless area; and   a second reader provided at other side along the longitudinal direction of the gate.   
     
     
         6 . The gate apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein the second reader also is able to receive one or more facial feature values from one or more wireless apparatuses of one or more users entering a wireless area located outside a second end of the longitudinal direction of the gate,
 the first reader being also is able to receive a facial feature value of a user who moves from the second end side of the longitudinal direction of the gate to the first end side of the longitudinal direction of the gate, wherein the processor is configured to execute:   a direction control process that determines whether a moving direction of a user having the wireless apparatus is from the first end of the longitudinal direction of the gate to the second end or vice versa, based on which reader received the facial feature value, based on which reader out of the first and the second reader receive a facial feature value first.   
     
     
         7 . The gate apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein the facial feature value received from the wireless apparatus by each of a plurality of the first readers or a plurality of the second readers that are provided corresponding to each of a plurality of lanes of the gate is used in common in collation by the face collation process in the plurality of lanes of the gate. 
     
     
         8 . The gate apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to execute:
 a face detection process that detects a face from image data captured by the camera, wherein   the face collation process performs collation with the facial feature value received by the reader, from the user who is in a first front row and identified based on a size and eye-to-eye distance of the face, out of faces detected by the face detection process.   
     
     
         9 . The gate apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to execute:
 a selection control process that selects the facial feature value from among the facial feature values received by the reader based on an order in which feature values are received from the wireless apparatus or an order according to a moving direction of the user and provides the selected facial feature values to the face collation process.   
     
     
         10 . The gate apparatus according to  claim 1 , comprising
 a sensor that monitors progress of the user in a lane inside the gate, wherein the camera captures image of the user, when the sensor detects the user.   
     
     
         11 . The gate apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein the camera performs image capturing, when one of the first and the second readers receives the facial feature value transmitted from the wireless tag and the other one of the first and the second readers receives the facial feature value transmitted from the wireless apparatus. 
     
     
         12 . The facial authentication system comprising
 the gate apparatus according to  claim 1 .   
     
     
         13 . The facial authentication system according to  claim 12 , wherein the wireless apparatus stores and holds an identifier and a part of facial feature value of a user,
 a remaining part of the facial feature value of the user is registered in a data server that stores in advance the remaining part of the facial feature value of the user in association with an identifier stored in a wireless apparatus of the user, and   the reader in the gate apparatus receives the identifier and the part of the facial feature values from the wireless apparatus, wherein   the processor included in the gate apparatus is configured to execute:   an acquisition process that acquires the remaining part of the facial feature value registered in association with the identifier from the data server; and   a compositing process that composites the part of the facial feature value received by the reader part from the wireless tag and the remaining part of the facial feature value acquired by the acquisition process, wherein   the face collation process collates the facial feature value extracted by the extraction process with the facial feature values composited by the compositing process.   
     
     
         14 . A facial authentication method by a gate apparatus, the method comprising:
 receiving, by a reader, one or more facial feature values transmitted by one or more wireless apparatus of one or more users, an individual one of the one or more wireless apparatuses holding a facial feature value of an individual user;   extracting a facial feature value from an image in which the user is imaged; and   collating the extracted feature value with the one or more facial feature values received from the one or more wireless apparatus of the one or more users, to check whether or not there is a match.   
     
     
         15 . The facial authentication method according to  claim 14 , comprising
 receiving, by the reader, the one or more facial feature values transmitted by the one or more wireless apparatuses of the one or more users, the one or more users entering a wireless area located outside one end of a longitudinal direction of a gate, but not yet entering into a lane of the gate.   
     
     
         16 . A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing therein a program causing a computer to execute processing comprising:
 upon reception, by a reader, of one or more facial feature values transmitted by one or more wireless apparatus of one or more users, an individual one of the one or more wireless apparatuses holding a facial feature value of an individual user;   extracting a facial feature value from an image in which the user is imaged; and   collating the extracted feature value with the one or more facial feature values received from the one or more wireless apparatus of the one or more users, to check whether or not there is a match.   
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to  claim 16 , wherein the reader receives the one or more facial feature values transmitted by the one or more wireless apparatuses of the one or more users, the one or more users entering a wireless area located outside one end of a longitudinal direction of a gate, but not yet entering into a lane of the gate.