Robust 2D face recognition under different illuminations using binarized partial face features: Towards protecting ID documents

Biometric recognition techniques have been widely employed in numerous applications, such as access control, identity check etc. In this paper we propose a method for protecting personal identity documents against forgery by using 2D face image on the ID document. The main components of this method includes detection of the face image from the document, extracting features from partial face images and converting the extracted features to binary feature vectors using Local Gradient Increasing Pattern (LGIP) approach. The binary feature vectors are concatenated to form a binary template which can be encoded and stored on the ID document in the form of a 2D bar code. This 2D bar code will be used to authenticate the ownership of the ID document. The face recognition method is evaluated using FRGC and FERET databases. The results show that this method can efficiently authenticate an ID document on the basis of the face image and the method can also be used to retrieve a subject from a database of images. The method is proved to be robust even if an ID document is scanned under different illuminations conditions. A report on document authentication where the face image is damaged is also presented.