Method and apparatus for aligning and comparing images of the face and body from different imagers

Claim 1

A method for aligning anatomical images taken from first and second different spectral bands, comprising the steps of (a) identifying minutiae in a first anatomical image which are dependent upon the first spectral band thereof, said first spectral band comprising a visual band; (b) identifying minutiae in a second anatomical image which are dependent upon the second spectral band thereof, said second spectral band comprising an infrared band; (c) identifying coincident minutiae which occur in said first and second anatomical images and which correspond to characteristic features of the anatomical images; and (d) morphing one anatomical image to the other anatomical image to overlay the coincident minutiae, whereby the anatomical images are in alignment.

Claim 2

A method for aligning anatomical images taken from first and second different spectral bands, comprising the steps of (a) identifying minutiae in a first anatomical image which are dependent upon the first spectral band thereof, said first spectral band comprising a visual band; (b) identifying minutiae in a second anatomical image which are dependent upon the second spectral band thereof, said second spectral band comprising an infrared band; (c) identifying coincident minutiae which occur in said first and second anatomical images and which correspond to characteristic features of the anatomical images; and (d) morphing one anatomical image to the other anatomical image to overlay the coincident minutiae, whereby the anatomical images are in alignment.

Claim 4

A method for identifying an unknown person from a first anatomical image taken in a first spectral band by comparing it with a plurality of second anatomical images of known persons taken in a second different spectral band and stored in a database, said first and second spectral bands comprising visual and infrared bands, comprising the steps of (a) identifying minutiae in each anatomical image which are dependent upon the spectral band thereof; (b) identifying coincident minutiae which occur in the anatomical images and which correspond to a characteristic feature of the images; (c) overlaying the coincident minutiae by morphing said first anatomical image onto each of said second anatomical images, (d) selecting one of said second anatomical images requiring the least morphing as the most likely matching anatomical image from said database and eliminating the remaining second anatomical images; and (e) comparing the degree of morphing with a threshold to determine whether the match is sufficient to identify the unknown person as one from the database.

Claim 5

A method for identifying an unknown person from a first anatomical image taken in a first spectral band by comparing it with a plurality of second anatomical images of known persons taken in a second different spectral band and stored in a database, said first and second spectral bands comprising visual and infrared bands, comprising the steps of (a) identifying minutiae in each anatomical image which are dependent upon the spectral band thereof; (b) identifying coincident minutiae which occur in the anatomical images and which correspond to a characteristic feature of the images; (c) overlaying the coincident minutiae by morphing said first anatomical image onto each of said second anatomical images, (d) selecting one of said second anatomical images requiring the least morphing as the most likely matching anatomical image from said database and eliminating the remaining second anatomical images; and (e) comparing the degree of morphing with a threshold to determine whether the match is sufficient to identify the unknown person as one from the database.

Claim 13

A method for identifying an unknown person from a first image taken in one spectral band by comparing it with a plurality of second images of known persons taken in a different spectral band and stored in a database, comprising the steps of (a) identifying minutiae in each image which are dependent upon the spectral band thereof; (b) identifying coincident minutiae which occur in the images and which correspond to a characteristic feature of the images; (c) overlaying the coincident minutiae by morphing said first image onto each of said second images; (d) selecting one of said second images requiring the least morphing as the most likely matching image from said database; (e) comparing the degree of morphing with a threshold to determine whether the match is sufficient to identify the unknown person as one from the database; (f) selecting those second images which have a degree of morphing within the threshold as possible matches to the first image; (g) establishing exclusion zones for the second images; (h) determining whether any features of the first image extend into the exclusion zones of the second images when they are aligned and overlaid; (i) discarding from further consideration any second images whose exclusion zones are violated by the first image; (j) considering any remaining second images as possible candidates for matching the first image; (k) rank ordering the possible candidates by the degree of morphing required; (l) adjusting the rank to accommodate multiple second images of the same person; (m) establishing a set of anatomical rules which govern the relative location of minutiae from the two spectral bands; (n) testing each of the possible candidates against each of the rules applied to the first image; (o) eliminating from further consideration any candidate which violates any rule; (p) assessing the number of remaining candidates; (q) adding additional anatomical rules if a further reduction is required; (r) testing each remaining candidate against the added rules; (s) rank ordering the possible candidates by the degree of morphing required; and (t) adjusting the rank to accommodate multiple second images of the same person.

Claim 14

A method for identifying an unknown person from a first image taken in one spectral band by comparing it with a plurality of second images of known persons taken in a different spectral band and stored in a database, comprising the steps of (a) identifying minutiae in each image which are dependent upon the spectral band thereof; (b) identifying coincident minutiae which occur in the images and which correspond to a characteristic feature of the images; (c) overlaying the coincident minutiae by morphing said first image onto each of said second images; (d) selecting one of said second images requiring the least morphing as the most likely matching image from said database; (e) comparing the degree of morphing with a threshold to determine whether the match is sufficient to identify the unknown person as one from the database; (f) selecting those second images which have a degree of morphing within the threshold as possible matches to the first image; (g) establishing exclusion zones for the second images; (h) determining whether any features of the first image extend into the exclusion zones of the second images when they are aligned and overlaid; (i) discarding from further consideration any second images whose exclusion zones are violated by the first image; (j) considering any remaining second images as possible candidates for matching the first image; (k) rank ordering the possible candidates by the degree of morphing required; (l) adjusting the rank to accommodate multiple second images of the same person; (m) establishing a set of anatomical rules which govern the relative location of minutiae from the two spectral bands; (n) testing each of the possible candidates against each of the rules applied to the first image; (o) eliminating from further consideration any candidate which violates any rule; (p) assessing the number of remaining candidates; (q) adding additional anatomical rules if a further reduction is required; (r) testing each remaining candidate against the added rules; (s) rank ordering the possible candidates by the degree of morphing required; and (t) adjusting the rank to accommodate multiple second images of the same person.