Face recognition for enhanced security. Cognitec Systems - the face recognition company
FaceVACS : Face Recognition Technology FaceVACS Face Recognition Technology Cognitec s patented FaceVACS technology has been developed and refined since 1995. Actually, it has been proven that FaceVACS technology is best in class. The FaceVACS technology has been made to safely recognize persons independent of variances that appear to human faces. FaceVACS technology handles pose, mimic, aging variance as well as variances coming from a new hairdo, glasses or temporary lighting changes. The independency can never be 100% based on the nature of biometrics, however algorithmic leadership, optimizing and fine tuning over a very long period caused the best of class variance independency, i.e. caused the excellent verification and identification results. Performance, i.e. the accuracy and reliability of the recognition engine, is key to the quality of face recog-nition systems. The Face Recognition Vendor Test 2002 (www.frvt.org) initiated by the US Government has tested systems of 10 vendors (including Cognitec) in one of the largest evaluations performed so far. Results published in March 2003 have confirmed the industry-leading performance of our FaceVACS technology. Any kind of image data source is used for input, it is either a still image,a video stream or a connection to a face image database. Normalization: Based on the found face and eyes positions, the image is scaled, rotated and finally presented at fixed size. Preprocessing: Standard techniques applied like histogram equalization, intensity normalization. Face Finder Preprocessor Feature extraction The images are analyzed to determine the position and size of one or more faces. The eyes centers are located and marked. Images including eyes positions are taken as Primary Facial Data. Characteristics of the face are extracted and represented as a vector in n-dimensional space, where similarity of faces is the distance of two vectors. The vectors represent the Secondary Facial Data and are used for fast comparisons. Comparison Secondary Facial Data can be stored in a central database or on a token storage device, like a smartcard. RESULT In case the Secondary Facial Data is stored on a smartcard, only verification is possible. IDENTIFICATION MODE: The presented data is used to scan a database for most similar faces. The most similar reference data is taken as an evidence of the person's identity. VERIFICATION MODE: The presented facial data is compared to data read from the database or token. Based on the similarity threshold the identity is confirmed. 2
FaceVacs -SDK: Software Development Kit for integrators FaceVACS -SDK Software Development Kit for integrators Applications Cognitec's Face Recognition SDK delivers face recognition to a broad range of applications and allows to use this innovative technology as a biometric authentication model. FaceVACS -SDK uses modern techniques of programming with consistent, logically clear programming interfaces. It covers the basic functions (use cases) of Enrollment, Verification, Identification and defines abstractions to support user defined applications. Additionally, FaceVACS - SDK supports the finding of human faces and eyes in images.. Based on the proven FaceVACS face recognition technology. State of the art face recognition API for easy integration of biometric technology into a broad range of applications. Support for biometric operations: enrollment, verification and identifications from image streams (live video) and image collections (image databases). C++ interface to support modern paradigms of software development. Abstract interfaces to support easy adaptation to various video streaming hardware and databases. Detailed documentation including API reference and user guide. Fully documented examples illustrating the main use cases and providing hints how to create customized implementations. Suite of tools to perform biometric evaluations on data residing in SQL databases: e.g. generation of identification match lists and similarity matrix data. Applications for face recognition technology can be found in many government and industry areas because this technology is the most convenient and natural way of recognizing people, and at the same time it is one of the most reliable biometric methods. FaceVACS -SDK allows the integration of this technology into devices and software systems wherever authentication or identification of persons is required. Cognitec provides complete solutions for physical access control, time & attendance, border control, database scanning, and video surveillance, described on the following pages. Examples of other application areas include access to computers, networks, and software systems; access to mobile devices; check-in and boarding at airports; access to self-service terminals like ATM s; etc. Some of these applications are being developed by our partners using FaceVACS -SDK. 3
FaceVacs -Entry: Edition Access Control FaceVACS -Entry Edition Access Control FaceVACS -Entry adds face recognition to conventional access control systems. At the access point, the face of every person is captured by a video camera, the facial features are extracted and compared with the stored features. Only if they match, access is permitted. For high security areas, a combination with card terminals is possible, so that each card can only be used by its owner. Flexible communication interfaces enable easy integration into existing access control or time & attendance systems. Terminals with FaceVACS -Entry can be networked together, so that after central enrolment, the face data are distributed automatically to all terminals. In addition, visual control by security personnel is supported. All facial images taken by the terminal can be stored in a log for later visual inspection via a standard browser.. Based on the proven FaceVACS face recognition technology. Recognition time of less than a second. Easy integration into existing access control systems. Combination with card readers, keypads, and cameras of many manufacturers. Modular software architecture allows distribution of functions within the network. Visual control is possible at predefined events. Online and offline enrolment. Logging of events including facial images. Live check for high fraud protection. 4
FaceVacs -Entry: Edition Border Control FaceVACS -Entry Edition Border Control The capabilities of FaceVACS -Entry allow to apply the software to border control systems as well. There is a fast increasing demand from immigration and customs organizations to automate the border control process, at the same time ensuring secure checking of travel documents, and verifying the identity of the passport holder by a biometric system. The ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) has validated face recognition as the best suited biometric method for this type of application and is setting standards for storing and using biometrics with travel documents. FaceVACS -Entry seamlessly integrates into existing border control systems. It helps to check travelers securely and efficiently. The biometric similarity grade can be fine tuned to optimize the balance between automatic processing by the system and the delegation to border control officers for further inspection. Specifically for frequent travelers with strong biometric information stored on their travel documents or airline cards, the border crossing procedure becomes more convenient and faster.. Based on the proven FaceVACS face recognition technology. Recognition time of less than a second. Easy integration into existing border control infrastructure. Easy integration of travel document readers. Interface to proven watch-list monitoring systems available. Modular software architecture allows distribution of functions within the network. Visual control is possible at predefined events. Logging of events including facial images, if required. Supports encryption of templates for privacy reasons. Supports digital signature of templates. 5
FaceVacs -DBScan: Photograph matching in large databases FaceVACS -DBScan Photograph matching in large databases A common problem with databases of facial images is that the same person may have duplicate entries with different photos of the same face and under different names. FaceVACS - DBScan can help to identify these duplicates. Images from different sources can be very quickly compared to the images stored in the database, resulting in a match list of the most similar faces. Beyond the high inspection throughput of the software that runs on standard hardware, the face recognition quality is key. The excellent inspection and matching results fit to the user s growing requirements and reduce the operational cost to a minimum.. Based on the proven FaceVACS face recognition technology. Outstanding speed of 500.000 matches per second on a single standard Intel processor. Scalable to networked configurations of computers. Flexible and comfortable match list handling that allows sorting, rearranging, browsing, filtering and more. Interactive enrollment. Batch mode enrollment. Trusted image authorization support. Face image quality management. Management of multiple face images per person. Interactive enrollment inspection and failure correction to improve the reference base quality. Extensible and flexible management of additional person related data. Auditable configurable journal for revision purposes and for general usage/quality reports. 6
FaceVacs -Alert: Computer-assisted video surveillance FaceVACS -Alert Computer-assisted video surveillance An important application area for automatic face recognition is the comparison of faces against data stored in a database. Like this, unwanted persons or persons listed in a database can be identified in video images. The video camera used for this purpose could be mounted hidden at the entrance of a sports stadium or in an airport. A wide-angle lens could cover a large range of view. All faces visible will be automatically detected and their facial features matched against the database. If the similarity with an entry is large enough, a quiet alarm can be issued. At a surveillance monitor, the found entries can be compared visually with the live image. All events are logged so that they can also be evaluated later.. Automatic face tracking. Detection of multiple faces in a crowd. Easy integration into video surveillance systems. Support of IQEye3 camera with integrated face finder. Highlighting of match lists on surveillance monitors. Threshold for identification and match list length. Enrollment from scanned-in photo. Enrollment from recorded video. Enrollment from live camera. Enrollment from image database. 7
About Cognitec Systems Cognitec Systems GmbH, based in Dresden, Germany, develops and markets the well-established and world-leading FaceVACS face recognition software. Cognitec s software experts have been developing face recognition technology since 1995. This software technology is able to recognize persons in video images or on photos from their characteristic facial features. In various independent evaluation tests, FaceVACS has proven to be one of the leading products on the market. Industry and government customers use FaceVACS for physical access control since 1996. The installation of the SmartGate system at Sydney International Airport in 2002 was a major step towards a solution for automatic border control using Cognitec s software. Software companies all over the world have started developing applications using our software development kit. Cognitec s technology and products build upon the extensive knowledge of our scientists and software engineers who have been working with face recognition systems for years. We make this knowledge available to our customers in order to apply face recognition to your problems. We also offer to customize our products to special needs. Technical support for our customers is an essential part of our offering. We at Cognitec are focused on face recognition technology and application. Our commitment is to deliver the best performance available on the market. Cognitec Systems GmbH, March 2003, rev. 01 For further information please visit www.cognitec.com All trademarks not explicitly mentioned here are the properties of their respective owners. or contact Cognitec Systems GmbH An der Flutrinne 12 D-01139 Dresden info@cognitec.com phone: +49-351- 8 62 92-0 fax: +49-351-8 62 92-10