Full metadata record
DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributorDepartment of Electronic and Information Engineeringen_US
dc.creatorJian, Muwei-
dc.identifier.urihttps://theses.lib.polyu.edu.hk/handle/200/7723-
dc.languageEnglishen_US
dc.publisherHong Kong Polytechnic University-
dc.rightsAll rights reserveden_US
dc.titleImage-processing techniques for robust face recognitionen_US
dcterms.abstractCurrent face-recognition algorithms can achieve a highly accurate performance under controlled conditions, such as unchanged light sources, frontal-view pose, no occlusion, neutral facial expression, etc. Face recognition has a wide range of applications, however it still has many technical and challenging issues to be solved, in particular when the faces under consideration have a very low resolution, different illumination conditions, arbitrary poses and are under occlusions. In order to achieve robust face recognition, we have investigated efficient techniques to solve some typical challenging problems for robust face recognition. First, among the facial features, the eyes play the most important role in face recognition and face hallucination. Most of the existing facial-feature detection and localization algorithms cannot work accurately when the faces are rotated or under poor lighting conditions. Therefore, in this research, an efficient algorithm for eye detection in face images is proposed. As the eye region always has the most variations in a face image, our algorithm uses a wavelet-based salient map, which can detect and reflect the most visually meaningful regions for coarse eye detection. With the aid of a pose-adapted eye template -which can handle eye regions with large rotation and pose variations, accurate eye positions can be localized. Furthermore, the position of the nose and mouth can be determined by considering both the saliency values in the salient map and the detected eye positions as geometric references. Second, face images under different illuminations represent a challenge for face recognition. In this research, we have discussed an efficient scheme for illumination compensation and the enhancement of face images. Our illumination model is universal; it does not require the assumption of a single-point light source. Thus, it circumvents and overcomes the limitations of the Lambertian model. The proposed approach can learn the average representations of face images under changing illuminations so as to compensate or enhance the face images, and also to eliminate the effect of different and uneven illuminations, while retaining the intrinsic properties of the face surface. Our experiments have provided promising results, demonstrating that our proposed methods are effective.en_US
dcterms.abstractThird, in order to achieve robust face recognition and to make face-recognition systems capable of identifying people at very low resolution, super-resolution (SR) technology is investigated. In this thesis, we first introduce facial-image super-resolution, which is also called face hallucination. In this research, an efficient mapping model is first proposed for face hallucination. Since we can observe and prove that the singular values of an image at one resolution, represented by singular value decomposition (SVD), have approximately linear relationships with their counterparts at other resolutions, the estimation of the corresponding singular values of the high-resolution (HR) face images becomes more reliable. From the signal-processing viewpoint, this can effectively preserve and reconstruct the dominant information in the reconstructed HR face images. The mapping scheme can be viewed as a "coarse-to-fine" estimation of HR face images. Compared to other, state-of-the-art algorithms, experiments have shown that our proposed face-hallucination scheme is practicable and effective. Fourth, a framework based on singular value decomposition (SVD) for performing both face hallucination and recognition simultaneously is also proposed. Conventionally, low-resolution (LR) face recognition is carried out by super-resolving the LR input face first, and then performing face recognition to identify the input face. By considering face hallucination and recognition simultaneously, the accuracy of both hallucination and recognition can be improved. In our algorithm, each face image is represented by using SVD. For each LR input face, the corresponding LR and high-resolution (HR) face-image pairs can then be selected from the face gallery. With the aid of face recognition, using the selected LR-HR pairs, the estimation of the mapping functions for interpolating the two matrices in the SVD representation of the corresponding HR face image can be more accurate. All these techniques can be integrated with both existing and new face recognition algorithms so as to achieve a robust and good performance level.en_US
dcterms.extentxvi, 133 pages : illustrations ; 30 cmen_US
dcterms.isPartOfPolyU Electronic Thesesen_US
dcterms.issued2014en_US
dcterms.educationalLevelAll Doctorateen_US
dcterms.educationalLevelPh.D.en_US
dcterms.LCSHHuman face recognition (Computer science)en_US
dcterms.LCSHImage processing.en_US
dcterms.LCSHHong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertationsen_US
dcterms.accessRightsopen accessen_US

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
b27628504.pdfFor All Users3.91 MBAdobe PDFView/Open


Copyright Undertaking

As a bona fide Library user, I declare that:

  1. I will abide by the rules and legal ordinances governing copyright regarding the use of the Database.
  2. I will use the Database for the purpose of my research or private study only and not for circulation or further reproduction or any other purpose.
  3. I agree to indemnify and hold the University harmless from and against any loss, damage, cost, liability or expenses arising from copyright infringement or unauthorized usage.

By downloading any item(s) listed above, you acknowledge that you have read and understood the copyright undertaking as stated above, and agree to be bound by all of its terms.

Show simple item record

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://theses.lib.polyu.edu.hk/handle/200/7723