Patent US2808908A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
Patent US6895103B2 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US6895103B2
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method for automatically locating eyes in an image
Assignee: Monument Peak Ventures LLC
•
Filing: 2001-06-19
•
Granted: 2005-05-17
•
Expires: 2021-06-19
Abstract
Abstract A digital image processing method for locating human eyes in a digital image, includes the steps of detecting a skin colored region in the image; detecting human iris color pixels in the skin colored region; forming initial estimates of eye positions using the locations of the detected iris color pixels in the skin colored region; estimating the size of each eye based on the distance between the estimated initial eye positions; forming a first search window for one eye, the center of the window being the estimated initial position for the one eye and the size of the window being proportional to the estimated size of the one eye; and employing a template to locate an eye in the first search window.
Inventors
- 👤 Shoupu Chen
- 👤 Jiebo Luo
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 09:48
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06V; G06V40/00; G06V40/10; G06V40/16; G06V40/168
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 16
Claim 1
Independent Claim
137 words
A digital image processing method for locating human eyes in a digital image, comprising the steps of: a) detecting a skin colored region in the image; b) detecting human iris color pixels in the skin colored region irrespective of the brightness of the skin colored region; c) forming initial estimates of eye positions using the locations of the detected iris color pixels in the skin colored region; d) estimating the size of each eye based on the distance between the estimated initial eye positions; e) forming a first search window for one eye, the center of the window being the estimated initial position for the one eye and the size of the window being proportional to the estimated size of the one eye; and f) employing a template to locate an eye in the first search window.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
137 words
A digital image processing method for locating human eyes in a digital image, comprising the steps of: a) detecting a skin colored region in the image; b) detecting human iris color pixels in the skin colored region irrespective of the brightness of the skin colored region; c) forming initial estimates of eye positions using the locations of the detected iris color pixels in the skin colored region; d) estimating the size of each eye based on the distance between the estimated initial eye positions; e) forming a first search window for one eye, the center of the window being the estimated initial position for the one eye and the size of the window being proportional to the estimated size of the one eye; and f) employing a template to locate an eye in the first search window.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
62 words
The method claimed in claim 1 , further comprising: g) forming a second search window for another eye; the center of the window being the estimated initial position for the other eye and the size of the window being proportional to the estimated size of the other eye; and h) employing a template to locate another eye in the second search window.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method claimed in claim 1 , further comprising the step of finding an oval shaped skin color region, and locating eyes in only the oval shaped skin color region.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
90 words
The method claimed in claim 3 , wherein the step of forming initial estimates of eye positions comprises the steps of: a) grouping the detected iris color pixels into clusters; b) finding the center of each iris color pixel cluster; c) dividing an oval region into a left-half and a right-half along a major axis of the oval region; and d) forming the initial estimates of eye positions based on the location of the centers of the clusters in relation to the left and right halves of the oval region.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
65 words
The method claimed in claim 1 , wherein the step of detecting human iris color pixels, comprises the steps of: c1) deriving probability distributions of iris and non-iris colored pixels from a number of sample images; and c2) using the derived probability distributions in a Bayes model to produce a look up table indicating the probability that a given pixel is an iris colored pixel.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
43 words
The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the step of employing a template to locate an eye in a search window comprises determining a plurality of eye locations in the search window that give a desired matching response to the template.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method as claimed in claim 6 further comprising the step of finding a best pair of eye locations, one eye location from each window.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
45 words
The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the step of finding the best pair of eye locations includes computing a plurality of figures of merit for each pair of eye locations and summing the figures of merit for each pair of eye locations.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the step of computing a plurality of figures of merit selected from the group comprising: orientation, proximity, combined matching score, proportion, profile, and evidence of mouth.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the step of computing a proximity figure of merit includes measuring the proximity of the located eyes to the estimated initial eye positions.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
59 words
The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the step of employing a template to locate an eye in a search window comprises determining a plurality of eye locations in the search window that give a desired matching response to the template, and wherein the step of computing a combined matching score includes summing up individual matching scores.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
45 words
The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the step of computing a proportion figure of merit includes providing an anthropological eye distance model, and computing a value representing the match between a distance between the located eyes with the anthropological eye distance model.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
52 words
The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the step of computing a profile figure of merit includes: providing a pre-determined model of an eye-to-eye profile; determining an actual eye to eye profile; and computing a goodness-of-fit between the actual eye to eye profile to the eye to eye model profile.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
40 words
The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the step of computing an evidence of mouth figure of merit includes: computing values representing strength and orientation of edges within a mouth window determined by a pair of eye locations.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method as claimed in claim 6 wherein the desired matching response is a local maximum matching score.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US6072892A
Cited
EP0899680A2
Cited
EP0899686A2
Cited
US5892837A
Cited
US6072893A
Cited
EP0961225A2
Cited
US6292575B1
Cited
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2008-05-16 | 2008-11-15 | 2009-05-17 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2012-05-16 | 2012-11-15 | 2013-05-17 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2016-05-16 | 2016-11-15 | 2017-05-17 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |