Multiband Biometric Camera System with Iris Color Recognition

Abstract

A system and method for authenticating a user of a device. A multi-band iris scanning camera system can use near-infrared (NIR) light and / or visible wavelength (VW) light to obtain images of the iris. The camera system may first image the user to detect the user's iris color and determine whether to use NIR iris scanning or VW iris scanning based on the iris color. Furthermore, the NIR system and the VW system can be operated as an integrated camera system. To select the preferred lighting conditions for capturing the iris and perform authentication, the iris scanning camera system may take a series of images and compare the series of images to a database of anonymous iris images captured under different lighting conditions. The iris scan camera system optionally tracks eye movement to determine when to trigger an iris scan, identifies obstructions to the iris (such as eyelids and eyelashes) to implement corrective actions in iris image processing, and identifies facial features to determine whether left Eye and / or right eye imaging.

Description

[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61 / 943,104, filed February 21, 2014, entitled "Biometric Iris Scanning Method and Apparatus," which is incorporated by reference in its entirety at this. technical field [0002] Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to identifying a user of a device. More specifically, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to authenticating a user of a host device through iris recognition. Background technique [0003] Many electronic devices, such as smartphones and tablets, integrate biometric devices for user authentication purposes. For example, a biometric device may include an iris scanner and camera system that can support iris recognition functionality as well as additional functionality such as facial recognition and gesture or motion recognition. However, iris scanning systems have a number of limitations, particularly limitations related to user variability (eg, iris color...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Some of these challenges include: iris variability (e.g., a user may have an iris color of brown, blue, green, or another color); iris obstructions (e.g., eyelids, eyelashes, and images of the user may prevent access to the iris other inherent characteristics of the environment); ambient lighting (e.g., operation in full daylight or in the presence of strong sources of optical noise); motion blur (e.g., motion blur caused by controlled or involuntary saccades or other movements) ; depth of field at close range (e.g., images obtained at focal lengths smaller than expected by the camera system); additional overhead and additional space for biometric iris scanning systems; and limited field of view

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