Personal authentication apparatus and personal authentication method

Abstract

A personal authentication apparatus comprises an input unit configured to input image data; a face detection unit configured to detect a face region of a person included in the image data input by the input unit, and to detect feature data from the detected face region; a facial expression determination unit configured to determine a facial expression from the face region detected by the face detection unit; a storage unit configured to store feature data used to authenticate a person in correspondence with respective facial expressions of a plurality of faces; a selection unit configured to select feature data corresponding to the facial expression determined by the facial expression determination unit from the storage unit; and an authentication unit configured to authenticate a person by comparing the feature data of the face region detected by the face detection unit, and the feature data selected by the selection unit.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A personal identification apparatus comprising:
 a first determination unit configured to determine a facial expression from a face region of a person included in input image data of a plurality of frames   a second determination unit configured to determine a face region of an identical person from a plurality of face regions by comparing information of the plurality of face regions included in the image data of the plurality of frames;   an identification unit configured to identify a person by comparing feature data of a face region of which a facial expression is determined by the first determination unit and feature data for identifying a person stored in advance in a storage unit; and   a registration unit configured to store feature data in the storage unit as feature data corresponding to another facial expression of the identical person when the feature data of the other facial expression of the identical person, which has not been stored yet in the storage unit, is detected from the face region of the person determined and identified as the identical person in image data of a first frame prior to a second frame from the face region included in image data of the second frame.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the first determination unit calculates a change amount of feature data from image data of plurality of successive frames and determines a facial expression based on the change amount. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the identification unit identifies a person for each of a plurality of image data, which are used by the first determination unit in the facial expression determination, and determines a final identification result based on respective identification results. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus according to  claim 3 , wherein the identification unit determines the final identification result by setting a weight of the identification result of a face region determined as a smile face by the first determination unit to be smaller than that of the identification result of a face region determined as another facial expression. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus according to  claim 4 , wherein the other facial expression is a blankness face. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a unit configured to notify that feature data corresponding to a facial expression determined by the first determination unit is not stored in the storage unit. 
     
     
         7 . A personal identification method to be executed by a personal identification apparatus which includes:
 a first determination unit configured to determine a facial expression from a face region of a person included in input image data of a plurality of frames; and   a second determination unit configured to determine a face region of an identical person from a plurality of face regions by comparing information of the plurality of face regions included in the image data of the plurality of frames,   the method comprising:   a step of identifying a person by comparing feature data of a face region of which a facial expression is determined by the first determination unit and feature data for identifying a person stored in advance in a storage unit; and   a step of storing feature data in the storage unit as feature data corresponding to another facial expression of the identical person when the feature data of the other facial expression of the identical person, which has not been stored yet in the storage unit, is detected from the face region of the person determined and identified as the identical person in image data of a first frame prior to a second frame from the face region included in image data of the second frame.   
     
     
         8 . A camera for capturing an image comprising:
 a first determination unit configured to determine a facial expression from a face region of a person included in captured image data of a plurality of frames;   a second determination unit configured to determine a face region of an identical person from a plurality of face regions by comparing information of the plurality of face regions included in the image data of the plurality of frames;   an identification unit configured to identify a person by comparing feature data of a face region of which a facial expression is determined by the first determination unit and feature data for identifying a person stored in advance in a storage unit; and   a registration unit configured to store feature data in the storage unit as feature data corresponding to another facial expression of the identical person when the feature data of the other facial expression of the identical person, which has not been stored yet in the storage unit, is detected from the face region of the person determined and identified as the identical person in image data of a first frame prior to a second frame from the face region included in image data of the second frame.   
     
     
         9 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute the personal identification method according to  claim 7 .