Passage permission determination system, pass-permission determination method, and program

Abstract

The present invention contributes to providing a passage permission determination system, a passage permission determination method, and a program that can shorten the time required to authenticate a person to be authenticated. [Solution] An information processing device performs a face matching process, and if there is a user whose result of the face matching process satisfies a second criterion, it sends an authority determination request to a determination device, and if it receives an authority determination result and the result of the face matching process satisfies the first criterion, it sends information indicating successful face matching and the authority determination result, and if it receives an authority determination result and the result of the face matching process does not satisfy the first criterion, it sends information indicating unsuccessful face matching and the authority determination result, and if the received authority determination result indicates that the user has authority and if it receives information indicating successful face matching, the gate device determines to allow the user to pass through the gate device, and if the authority determination result indicates that the user has authority and it receives information indicating unsuccessful face matching, it reserves the determination.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a passage permission determination system, a passage permission determination method, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] In stations, offices, and the like, there are areas where the entry of people other than certain people is restricted. Gates are installed at the entrances and exits of such areas, and the entry of people who pass through the gates to enter the area and the exit of people who pass through the gates to leave the area are managed. For example, ticket gates are installed at the entrances and exits of stations, and the entry of people into the station premises is managed by the ticket gates depending on whether or not they have a ticket.

[0003] In recent years, facial recognition ticket gates that use facial recognition technology to determine whether or not a person can pass through the ticket gate have been considered.

[0004] Patent Document 1 describes a system including an issuing device that issues a ticket, a server device, and a ticket gate that performs ticket examination processing. In the system of Patent Document 1, the issuing device issues ticket information in response to an operation input by a user, acquires a first face image of the user, and controls the server device to transmit the acquired first face image to the server device, the server device controls the first face image received from the issuing device to be distributed to the ticket gate, and the ticket gate stores the first face image distributed from the server device, acquires a second face image of a user passing through the ticket gate, compares the second face image with the first face image, and controls to allow the user to pass if it is determined that the first face image and the second face image match. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] JP 2012-79157 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] However, there is room for consideration on how to shorten the time required to authenticate a person to be authenticated (for example, a user using a station).

[0007] Non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure contribute to providing a pass permission determination system, a pass permission determination method, and a program that can reduce the time required to authenticate a person to be authenticated. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] A passage permission determination system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a first information processing device and a gate device, and determines whether or not a user identified by the face matching process is authorized to pass through the gate device based on a face matching process based on a face image of the user and an authority determination process for determining whether or not the user identified by the face matching process is authorized to pass through the gate device. The first information processing device performs a first face matching process, and when there is a user whose result of the first face matching process satisfies a second criterion, transmits an authority determination request to a determination device requesting the authority determination process, and when it receives an authority determination result indicating the result of the authority determination process from the determination device and when the result of the first face matching process for the user satisfies a first criterion that is higher than the second criterion, the first information processing device performs the face matching process. The gate device transmits information indicating success and the authority determination result to the gate device, and if the authority determination result is received from the determination device and the result of the first face matching process for the user does not satisfy the first criterion, transmits information indicating face matching failure and the authority determination result to the gate device, and if the received authority determination result indicates that the user has the authority and if the gate device receives information indicating face matching success, it determines to allow the user to pass through the gate device, and if the received authority determination result indicates that the user has the authority and if the gate device receives information indicating face matching failure, it determines to reserve the decision on whether to allow the user to pass through the gate device.

[0009] A passing permission determination method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is a passing permission determination method in a passing permission determination system having a processor and a memory, which determines whether or not a user identified by the face matching process can pass through a gate device based on a face matching process based on a face image of the user and an authority determination process that determines whether or not the user identified by the face matching process has the authority to pass through the gate device, and the processor determines to allow the user to pass through the gate device when the result of the authority determination process for the user whose result of the first face matching process meets a first criterion indicates that the user has the authority, and determines to reserve the decision on whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device when the result of the authority determination process for the user whose result of the first face matching process does not meet the first criterion and meets a second criterion indicates that the user has the authority.

[0010] A program according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is a program that executes a pass permission determination method in a pass permission determination system having a processor and a memory, which determines whether or not a user identified by the face matching process is authorized to pass through a gate device, based on a face matching process based on a face image of the user and an authority determination process that determines whether or not the user identified by the face matching process has the authority to pass through the gate device, and causes the processor to execute a process to determine that the user should be allowed to pass through the gate device if the result of the authority determination process for the user for whom the result of a first face matching process meets a first criterion indicates that the user has the authority, and to determine that the decision on whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device should be withheld if the result of the authority determination process for the user for whom the result of the first face matching process does not meet the first criterion and meets a second criterion indicates that the user has the authority.

[0011] A passage permission determination system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure has a first information processing device, a second information processing device different from the first information processing device, and a gate device, and determines whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device based on a face matching process based on a face image of a user and an authority determination process that determines whether or not the user identified by the face matching process has the authority to pass through the gate device, wherein the first information processing device performs a face matching process, and when a result of the face matching process satisfies a predetermined criterion, transmits an authority determination request requesting the authority determination process to a determination device, transmits at least one of first cache information indicating that the first information processing device will send the authority determination request to the determination device, or an authority determination result indicating the result of the authority determination process received from the determination device, to the second information processing device, transmits the result of the face matching process and the authority determination result received from the determination device to the gate device, and the gate device determines whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device based on the result of the face matching process and the authority determination result.

[0012] In addition, these comprehensive or specific aspects may be realized by a system, an apparatus, a method, an integrated circuit, a computer program, or a recording medium, or may be realized by any combination of a system, an apparatus, a method, an integrated circuit, a computer program, and a recording medium. Effect of the Invention

[0013] Non-limiting examples of the present disclosure can reduce the time required to authenticate a subject of authentication.

[0014] Further advantages and benefits of an embodiment of the present disclosure will become apparent from the specification and drawings, in which such advantages and / or benefits are provided by some of the embodiments and features described in the specification and drawings, respectively, but not necessarily all of which are provided to obtain one or more identical features. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1]A diagram showing an example of a conventional facial recognition ticket gate system. [Diagram 2] A sequence diagram showing an example of the operation of a conventional face recognition ticket gate system [Diagram 3] A diagram showing an example of the relative positions of people passing through a facial recognition ticket gate [Figure 4] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of the relationship between the position of a user relative to a face recognition ticket gate and the result of face recognition processing; [Diagram 5] FIG. 1 shows a system configuration according to a first embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a ticket gate determination cache table according to the first embodiment; [Figure 7A] A flowchart showing an example of a process flow of a face authentication server according to the first embodiment. [Figure 7B] A flowchart showing an example of a process flow of a face authentication server according to the first embodiment. [Figure 7C] A flowchart showing an example of a process flow of a face authentication server according to the first embodiment. [Figure 8A] A sequence diagram showing an example of the operation of the face recognition ticket gate system according to the first embodiment. [Figure 8B] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of determining whether or not to allow passage based on a face matching result; [Figure 9] FIG. 1 shows a system configuration according to a second embodiment. [Figure 10A] A flowchart showing an example of a process flow of a face authentication server according to a second embodiment. [Figure 10B] A flowchart showing an example of a process flow of a face authentication server according to a second embodiment. [Figure 10C] A flowchart showing an example of a process flow of a face authentication server according to a second embodiment. [Figure 11] A sequence diagram showing an operation example 1 of the face recognition ticket gate system according to the second embodiment. [Figure 12] A sequence diagram showing an operation example 2 of the face authentication ticket gate system 2 according to the second embodiment. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a variation of the use of the ticket gate determination cache table. [Figure 14]FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a system configuration according to a variation of the second embodiment. [Figure 15] FIG. 13 shows a system configuration according to a third embodiment. [Figure 16] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a ticket gate determination cache table according to the third embodiment. [Figure 17] A sequence diagram showing an operation example 1 of the face recognition ticket gate system according to the third embodiment. [Figure 18] A sequence diagram showing an operation example 2 of the face recognition ticket gate system according to the third embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this specification and the drawings, components having substantially the same functions are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

[0017] (Embodiment 1) <Knowledge that led to this disclosure> At the entrances and exits of stations in a railway network, ticket gates are installed to manage the entry and exit of people using the station into the station premises. If the ticket gate determines that a person passing through the ticket gate to enter the station premises or a person passing through the ticket gate to leave the station premises is a person who is permitted to pass through the ticket gate, the ticket gate performs control to allow the person to pass through. Also, if the ticket gate determines that a person passing through the ticket gate to enter the station premises or a person passing through the ticket gate to leave the station premises is a person who is not permitted to pass through, the ticket gate performs control to not allow the person to pass through.

[0018] In a ticket gate, control for allowing a person to pass includes, for example, at least one of door control for opening a door provided in the passage of the ticket gate that prevents a person from passing through, display control for displaying an indication that passage is permitted, and voice control for outputting a sound indicating that passage is permitted. Control for not allowing a person to pass includes, for example, at least one of door control for closing a door provided in the passage of the ticket gate that prevents a person from passing through, display control for displaying an indication that passage is not permitted, and voice control for outputting a sound indicating that passage is not permitted.

[0019] In recent years, facial recognition ticket gates that use facial recognition technology to determine whether or not a person can pass through the ticket gate have been considered. In the following, a person who is about to pass through a facial recognition ticket gate may be referred to as a user of the facial recognition ticket gate or simply as a user.

[0020] In the face recognition process in a face recognition ticket gate, a user is identified by taking a picture of the user's face, detecting a face image (a region in which the face is present cut out from the photographed image) that includes the user's face from the photographed image (face detection), and performing face recognition based on the detected face image. In the face recognition process, a decision is made as to whether or not the identified user can pass through the face recognition ticket gate based on a ticket or other item held by the identified user.

[0021] In the following, the determination of whether or not a user can pass through a facial recognition ticket gate based on the passenger ticket held by the user may be referred to as a ticket gate determination or a ticket gate determination process. The ticket gate determination process corresponds to an example of an authority determination process that determines whether or not a user has the authority to pass through a facial recognition ticket gate (an example of a gate device).

[0022] Capturing an image including a user's face, detecting the face from within the captured image, and authenticating the face based on the detected face image are performed by a facial recognition ticket gate and / or a facial recognition server in the facial recognition ticket gate system.

[0023] The ticket gate determination process is generally performed centrally by a device provided separately from the face recognition ticket gate and the face recognition server. Therefore, after the user is identified by face recognition, information about the user is sent to the device performing the ticket gate determination process, and a response from the ticket gate determination process is awaited. In the following, the device performing the ticket gate determination process may be referred to as a ticket gate determination device.

[0024] Below, a configuration example and an operation example of a face recognition ticket gate system including a face recognition ticket gate, a face recognition server, and a ticket gate determination device will be described.

[0025] <Conventional configuration example> 1 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional face recognition ticket gate system 9. The face recognition ticket gate system 9 shown in FIG.

[0026] The facial recognition ticket gate system 9 shown in FIG. 1 identifies the person attempting to pass through the facial recognition ticket gate 92, and determines whether the identified person is permitted to pass through the facial recognition ticket gate 92.

[0027] A person who wishes to use the facial recognition ticket gate system 9 shown in FIG. 1 registers information in advance. For example, a person who wishes to use the facial recognition ticket gate system 9 registers an image including his / her face (hereinafter, a facial image) and personal information (e.g., name, etc.) in the management server 91. Hereinafter, a person who registers information in the management server 91 will be referred to as a registrant. Note that personal information does not need to be registered in the management server 91. For example, when a facial image and ticket information linked to the facial image are registered, facial recognition and ticket gate determination are possible. Here, the ticket information includes information regarding whether or not the registrant is permitted to pass through the facial recognition ticket gate 92.

[0028] Information about the registrant is stored in the management server 91. The information about the registrant includes a facial image of the registrant, personal information about the registrant, and information about whether the registrant is permitted to pass through the face authentication ticket gate 92.

[0029] In the face recognition ticket gate system 9, by referring to the information registered in the management server 91, if the user is included in the registered persons, it is possible to identify which of the registered persons the user is.

[0030] <Conventional operation example> Next, the process in which face authentication processing is executed for a user at the face authentication ticket gate 92, until the user passes through the face authentication ticket gate 92, will be described with reference to FIG.

[0031] FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the operation of a conventional face recognition ticket gate system.

[0032] When a user of the face recognition ticket gate 92 approaches the entrance of the face recognition ticket gate 92, a camera installed in the face recognition ticket gate 92 takes an image of the user.

[0033] The face recognition ticket gate 92 detects the face image of the user from the captured image, and transmits information requesting face matching to the face recognition server 90 based on the detected face image (S101). Hereinafter, the information requesting face matching will be referred to as a face matching request. For example, the face matching request includes the detected face image of the user (or features extracted from the face image of the user).

[0034] The face authentication server 90 performs face matching based on the face matching request (S102).

[0035] In face matching, the face authentication server 90 identifies a registrant corresponding to the user by comparing the face image of the user included in the face matching request with the face images of the registrants registered in the management server 91. For example, the face authentication server 90 calculates a matching score indicating the similarity between the face image of the user and the face image of the registrant. The higher the similarity, the higher the matching score. The matching score may be calculated between the face image of the user and the face image of the registrant, or may be calculated between the feature amount of the face image of the user and the feature amount of the face image of the registrant. Then, in face matching, a matching score between the face image of the registrant and the face image of the registrant is calculated for each registrant. In other words, each matching score is associated with a registrant.

[0036] In face matching, if the largest of the calculated matching scores is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold, the face authentication server 90 determines that the registrant corresponding to the largest matching score corresponds to the user. The authentication threshold may be a threshold for ensuring that the matching score is sufficiently high and that the registrant corresponds to the user. On the other hand, if the largest of the calculated matching scores is less than the authentication threshold, the face authentication server 90 determines that the registrant corresponding to the user is not identified.

[0037] In the example of FIG. 2, the face matching result shows that the matching score is less than the authentication threshold.

[0038] The face recognition server 90 transmits a face matching response indicating that the matching score was below the authentication threshold, that is, a face matching response indicating that face matching was not successful ("Face Matching Response (NG)" in Figure 2) to the face recognition ticket gate 92 (S103).

[0039] In the example of FIG. 2, since the face matching response indicates that face matching has not been successful, the face recognition ticket gate 92 transmits a face matching request again to the face recognition server 90 (S104).

[0040] The face authentication server 90 performs face matching based on the face matching request (S105).

[0041] In the example of FIG. 2, the face matching result indicates that the matching score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold.

[0042] If the matching score is greater than or equal to the authentication threshold, the facial recognition server 90 sends a ticket gate determination request to the ticket gate determination device 93 to request a determination of whether or not the registered person corresponding to the user is permitted to pass through the facial recognition ticket gate 92 (S106).

[0043] The ticket gate determination device 93 performs ticket gate determination based on the ticket gate determination request (S107). In the example of Fig. 2, the result of the ticket gate determination is that the user who is the subject of the ticket gate determination is a person who is permitted to pass through.

[0044] The ticket gate determination device 93 transmits a ticket gate determination response indicating that the person subject to the ticket gate determination is a person permitted to pass through ("Ticket gate determination response (OK)" in FIG. 2) to the face authentication server 90 (S108).

[0045] Based on the ticket gate determination response, the face authentication server 90 transmits a face matching result indicating that the person subject to the ticket gate determination is a person permitted to pass through ("Face matching result (OK)" in FIG. 2) to the face authentication ticket gate 92 (S109).

[0046] When passing through a facial recognition ticket gate as described above, in order for a user wishing to pass through the facial recognition ticket gate to be able to do so without slowing down, it is necessary to complete facial authentication of the user before the user enters the facial recognition ticket gate, and to notify the facial recognition ticket gate that the user can pass through the facial recognition ticket gate.

[0047] In the facial recognition processing in a facial recognition ticket gate, it is desirable for the series of steps described above to be processed quickly so that users attempting to pass through the facial recognition ticket gate can do so without slowing down.

[0048] 10 shows an example of the relationship between face recognition processing and the passage of a user.

[0049] Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the positional relationship of people passing through a face recognition ticket gate. Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the face recognition ticket gate as seen from above, and shows the position of a certain person entering through the entrance of the face recognition ticket gate.

[0050] The face matching start point shown in FIG. 3 corresponds to the point at which face matching starts.

[0051] The matching result display start point corresponds to the point at which display of the user's face matching results starts.

[0052] The match NG result display start point corresponds to the point at which a display starts to indicate that face matching was unsuccessful as a result of face matching of the user. If the display to indicate that face matching was unsuccessful cannot start at this point, there is a possibility that the user will enter the ticket gate entrance.

[0053] The limit of photography corresponds to the limit position where the camera can photograph the user. The camera cannot photograph the user in an area closer to the exit of the facial recognition ticket gate than this position. Note that a state where the camera cannot photograph the user may correspond to a state where the user's face is not fully included in the image captured by the camera, or a state where the image captured by the camera cannot perform face matching with sufficient accuracy.

[0054] The no-ticket-passage detection point corresponds to the point at which it is detected that a user who is not authorized to pass through the facial recognition ticket gate (hereinafter, a no-ticket user) is attempting to pass through the facial recognition ticket gate.

[0055] If users cannot be notified whether they can pass through before entering the facial recognition ticket gate, this could increase users' psychological resistance.

[0056] In order to improve the passing performance of a facial recognition ticket gate, it is desirable for the facial recognition server to obtain the ticket gate judgment result as early as possible and transmit the result to the facial recognition ticket gate.

[0057] As a user approaches a face recognition ticket gate, the size of the face image in the image captured of the user tends to gradually increase.

[0058] In some cases, such as when the size of a face image is small, the calculated matching score when face matching is performed is lower than the authentication threshold, and the authentication accuracy of face recognition is insufficient. However, in such cases, even if the matching score is low, the matching candidate often matches the user.

[0059] Therefore, in the first embodiment, even if the matching score is less than the authentication threshold at the start of face authentication, a ticket gate determination is performed in advance.

[0060] For example, even if the matching score is less than the authentication threshold at the start of facial recognition, if the matching score is equal to or greater than the ticket gate determination threshold that is set separately from the authentication threshold, a ticket gate determination is first performed for the matching candidate corresponding to the matching score that is equal to or greater than the ticket gate determination threshold.

[0061] For example, when the matching score is equal to or greater than the ticket gate determination threshold, before a matching score equal to or greater than the authentication threshold appears, a ticket gate determination is performed for a matching candidate corresponding to the matching score equal to or greater than the ticket gate determination threshold. In other words, when the matching score is equal to or greater than the ticket gate determination threshold, a ticket gate determination is performed for a matching candidate corresponding to the matching score equal to or greater than the ticket gate determination threshold without waiting for a matching score equal to or greater than the authentication threshold.

[0062] If the matching score is less than the authentication threshold, the matching candidate corresponding to the matching score less than the authentication threshold is not determined to be the user, but a ticket gate determination can be requested at an early stage after the user enters the facial recognition ticket gate, and the result can be obtained.

[0063] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the relationship between the position of a user relative to a face recognition ticket gate and the result of face recognition processing.

[0064] Fig. 4 shows four examples of user positions, (1) to (4). As the user approaches the facial recognition ticket gate, the user's position moves from position (1) to positions (2), (3), and (4) in that order. Fig. 4 also shows examples of captured images at each of positions (1) to (3) and examples of matching scores obtained by facial recognition based on the captured images.

[0065] Among the four positions, position (1) corresponds to the position where the user is farthest from the facial recognition ticket gate. At position (1), the size of the user's facial image (for example, the size of the face frame surrounding the facial image) in the image captured by the camera is not large enough to obtain sufficient authentication accuracy. Therefore, in the facial recognition process based on the image captured at position (1), a matching score of "600" is calculated.

[0066] Position (2) corresponds to a position closer to the facial recognition ticket gate than position (1). At position (2), the size of the user's facial image in the image captured by the camera (for example, the size of the face frame surrounding the facial image) is large enough to ensure sufficient recognition accuracy. Therefore, in the facial recognition process based on the image captured at position (2), a matching score of "800" is calculated.

[0067] Here, an example is given in which the ticket barrier determination threshold is "580" and the authentication threshold is "760".

[0068] In this example, the matching score at the position (1) is less than the authentication threshold but is equal to or greater than the ticket gate determination threshold. In the first embodiment, when the user is present at the position (1), a ticket gate determination request is transmitted to the ticket gate determination device.

[0069] The matching score at position (2) is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold. In the first embodiment, the ticket gate determination request is sent to the ticket gate determination device when the user is at position (1), so the ticket gate determination request does not need to be sent to the ticket gate determination device when the user is at position (2). The ticket gate determination result has already been obtained when the user is at position (2).

[0070] Position (3) is closer to the facial recognition ticket gate than position (2) and corresponds to the entrance of the facial recognition ticket gate. By the time the user reaches position (3), the facial recognition process has returned a result of authentication OK, and the ticket gate determination process has returned a result of ticket gate determination OK. Therefore, when the user reaches position (3), the facial recognition ticket gate displays a message to the user indicating that passage is permitted, and performs control corresponding to the permission of passage (for example, control to open a door installed to block passage). Because passage is permitted at position (3), the user can move to position (4) without slowing down and pass through the facial recognition ticket gate.

[0071] As illustrated in FIG. 4, in this embodiment 1, even if the matching score is less than the authentication threshold at the start of face authentication, the ticket gate judgment is performed in advance, and the result of the ticket gate judgment can be obtained in advance, thereby reducing the time required to authenticate the person to be authenticated.

[0072] Next, the system configuration and processing flow according to the first embodiment will be described.

[0073] <System Configuration Example According to First Embodiment> Fig. 5 is a diagram showing a system configuration according to the first embodiment. The face recognition ticket gate system 1 shown in Fig. 5 includes a face recognition server 10, a management server 11, a face recognition ticket gate 12, a ticket gate determination device 13, and a ticket gate determination cache table 14. The face recognition server 10 corresponds to an example of an information processing device (for example, a computer such as a PC having a processor and memory). At least one of the management server 11, the face recognition ticket gate 12, and the ticket gate determination device 13 may include a computer such as a PC having a processor and memory or an information processing device.

[0074] The face authentication server 10 and the face authentication ticket gate 12 are connected to each other by wire or wirelessly. The management server 11, the face authentication server 10, and the ticket gate determination device 13 are connected to each other by wire or wirelessly. The ticket gate determination cache table 14 may be included in the face authentication server 10.

[0075] The facial recognition ticket gate system 1 shown in FIG. 5 identifies the person attempting to pass through the facial recognition ticket gate 12, and determines whether the identified person is permitted to pass through the facial recognition ticket gate 12.

[0076] A person who wishes to use the face recognition ticket gate system 1 shown in Fig. 5 registers information in advance. For example, a person who wishes to use the face recognition ticket gate system 1 registers a facial image including his / her own face and personal information (e.g., name, etc.) in the management server 11. Hereinafter, a person who registers information in the management server 11 will be referred to as a registrant.

[0077] Information about the registrant is stored in the management server 11. The information about the registrant includes a facial image of the registrant, personal information about the registrant, and information about whether the registrant is permitted to pass through the face authentication ticket gate 12.

[0078] In the face recognition ticket gate system 1, the face recognition server 10 refers to information registered in the management server 11, and if the user is included in the registered persons, it is possible to identify which of the registered persons the user is.

[0079] The face recognition ticket gate 12 includes a face matching request processing unit 121, a ticket gate control unit 122, and a communication unit 123. The face matching request processing unit 121 and the ticket gate control unit 122 may be collectively referred to as a processing unit or a processor.

[0080] When the user reaches the face matching start point, the face matching request processing unit 121 controls a camera (omitted in FIG. 5) mounted on the face recognition ticket gate 12 to capture an image including the user's face. The face matching request processing unit 121 detects the user's face image from the captured image, and transmits a face matching request to the face authentication server 10 based on the detected face image. For example, the face matching request includes the detected face image of the user (or a feature amount extracted from the user's face image), identification information for identifying the face recognition ticket gate 12 (for example, a face recognition ticket gate ID), and entry / exit direction information. The entry / exit direction information may be information indicating from which direction the user is going to enter the face recognition ticket gate. For example, the face matching request processing unit 121 starts transmitting a face matching request from the face matching start point. However, the face matching request does not have to be started from the face matching start point.

[0081] The ticket gate control unit 122 controls the face recognition ticket gate 12 based on the face matching result transmitted from the face recognition server 10 described later. For example, the ticket gate control unit 122 controls the opening and closing of a door (omitted in FIG. 5) that is provided in a passage of the face recognition ticket gate 12 and blocks passage through the passage. For example, the ticket gate control unit 122 controls the door to be in an open state when the user is a person permitted to pass through the face recognition ticket gate 12, and controls the door to be in a closed state when the user is not a person permitted to pass through the face recognition ticket gate 12.

[0082] For example, the ticket gate control unit 122 controls a display unit, an audio output unit, etc., which are omitted in Fig. 5, to provide information to a user of the face recognition ticket gate 12. For example, information indicating whether or not the user is a person permitted to pass through the face recognition ticket gate 12 may be provided to the user.

[0083] The face recognition ticket gate 12 repeats image capture, face detection, and sending of a face matching request while the face matching result received from the face recognition server 10 is "face recognition NG" (the score obtained as a result of face matching is equal to or lower than the authentication threshold). For example, if the number of times that the face recognition ticket gate 12 receives a face matching result indicating "face recognition NG" exceeds a prescribed number (e.g., an integer equal to or greater than 1) or if the number of times that the face recognition ticket gate 12 repeats image capture, face detection, and sending of a face matching request exceeds a prescribed number, the face recognition ticket gate 12 may stop sending the face matching request and treat the user as "face recognition NG."

[0084] The face authentication server 10 includes a face matching processing unit 101, a request processing unit 102, a result generating unit 103, and a communication unit 104. The face matching processing unit 101, the request processing unit 102, and the result generating unit 103 may be collectively referred to as a processing unit or a processor.

[0085] The face matching processing unit 101 performs face matching based on the face matching request and sets the subject of ticket gate determination. The request processing unit 102 judges whether or not to make a ticket gate determination request for the set subject of ticket gate determination, and transmits the ticket gate determination request based on the judgment. The result generating unit 103 generates the face matching result based on the ticket gate determination response to the ticket gate determination request and / or the ticket gate determination cache table 14.

[0086] In face matching, the face matching processing unit 101 identifies a registrant corresponding to the user by comparing the face image of the user included in the face matching request with the face images of the registrants registered in the management server 11. For example, the face matching processing unit 101 calculates a matching score indicating the similarity between the face image of the user and the face image of the registrant. The matching score may be calculated between the face image of the user and the face image of the registrant, or between the feature amount of the face image of the user and the feature amount of the face image of the registrant. Then, in face matching, a matching score between the face image of the registrant and the face image of the registrant is calculated for each of the registrants. In other words, a registrant is associated with each matching score.

[0087] In face matching, if the largest matching score among the calculated matching scores is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold, face matching processing unit 101 determines that the registrant corresponding to the largest matching score corresponds to the user. If the matching score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold, face matching processing unit 101 sets the registrant corresponding to the matching score equal to or greater than the authentication threshold as the person subject to ticket gate determination. Hereinafter, the registrant corresponding to the matching score equal to or greater than the authentication threshold may be referred to as the "first registrant." The first registrant is the registrant determined to be the user in face matching.

[0088] On the other hand, when the matching score is less than the authentication threshold, the face matching processing unit 101 determines whether or not there is a matching score equal to or greater than the ticket gate determination threshold among the calculated matching scores. The ticket gate determination threshold is a value less than the authentication threshold. When there is a matching score equal to or greater than the ticket gate determination threshold, the face matching processing unit 101 sets the registrant corresponding to the matching score equal to or greater than the ticket gate determination threshold as a person to be subject to ticket gate determination. The registrant corresponding to the matching score equal to or greater than the ticket gate determination threshold and less than the authentication threshold may be referred to as a "second registrant." The second registrant is a registrant who has not been determined to be a user in face matching but who has a high possibility of being a user.

[0089] The second registrant may be one person or multiple people. For example, when there are multiple matching scores that are equal to or greater than the ticket gate determination threshold and less than the authentication threshold, the second registrant may be the registrant corresponding to the largest matching score among the multiple matching scores. Alternatively, the second registrant may be the registrant corresponding to the top N (N is an integer of 2 or more) of the multiple matching scores that are equal to or greater than the ticket gate determination threshold and less than the authentication threshold, or the second registrant may be the registrant corresponding to all of the multiple matching scores that are equal to or greater than the ticket gate determination threshold and less than the authentication threshold.

[0090] The request processing unit 102 requests a ticket gate determination for the set subject of ticket gate determination based on the set subject of ticket gate determination and the state of the ticket gate determination. The request processing unit 102 generates a ticket gate determination request requesting a ticket gate determination for the set subject of ticket gate determination, and transmits the ticket gate determination request to the ticket gate determination device 13 via the communication unit 104. The ticket gate determination request includes any one of identification information (e.g., authentication ID) for identifying the set subject of ticket gate determination, information on the installation location of the face recognition ticket gate (e.g., the ticket gate of a station) obtained from the face recognition ticket gate ID, and information indicating the direction of entry of the user into the face recognition ticket gate.

[0091] When the set target of ticket gate determination is a first registrant, the ticket gate determination for the first registrant has not been completed, and the ticket gate determination for the first registrant is not currently in progress, the request processing unit 102 generates a ticket gate determination request that requests a ticket gate determination for the first registrant. In this case, the ticket gate determination request includes an authentication ID that identifies the first registrant. When the set target of ticket gate determination is a second registrant, the ticket gate determination for the second registrant has not been completed, and the ticket gate determination for the second registrant is not currently in progress, the request processing unit 102 generates a ticket gate determination request that requests a ticket gate determination for the second registrant. In this case, the ticket gate determination request includes an authentication ID that identifies the second registrant.

[0092] If the set target of ticket gate determination is a first registrant and the ticket gate determination of the first registrant has been completed or the ticket gate determination of the first registrant is in progress, the request processing unit 102 does not generate a ticket gate determination request requesting a ticket gate determination for the first registrant. Also, if the set target of ticket gate determination is a second registrant and the ticket gate determination of the second registrant has been completed or the ticket gate determination of the second registrant is in progress, the request processing unit 102 does not generate a ticket gate determination request requesting a ticket gate determination for the second registrant.

[0093] The request processor 102 may update the ticket barrier determination cache table 14 based on the ticket barrier determination request.

[0094] The result generation unit 103 receives, via the communication unit 104, a ticket gate determination response indicating whether or not the person subject to the ticket gate determination is a person permitted to pass through the face recognition ticket gate 12. The ticket gate determination response includes an authentication ID that identifies the person subject to the ticket gate determination, and the result of the ticket gate determination (e.g., whether or not to pass). The result generation unit 103 determines whether or not the person subject to the ticket gate determination is a person permitted to pass through the face recognition ticket gate 12 based on the received ticket gate determination response and / or the ticket gate determination cache table 14, and generates a face matching result that indicates the determination result for the person subject to the ticket gate determination.

[0095] For example, when the subject of the set ticket gate judgment is a first registered person and the first registered person is a person permitted to pass through the facial recognition ticket gate 12, the result generation unit 103 generates a face matching result indicating that the ticket gate judgment was successful (e.g., “OK”).

[0096] For example, if the subject of the set ticket gate judgment is a first registered person and the first registered person is not a person permitted to pass through the facial recognition ticket gate 12, the result generation unit 103 generates a face matching result indicating that the ticket gate judgment was not successful (e.g., “NG”).

[0097] On the other hand, when the set subject of ticket gate judgment is a second registered person, the result generation unit 103 does not need to determine whether the subject of ticket gate judgment (i.e., the second registered person) is a person permitted to pass through the facial recognition ticket gate 12.

[0098] For example, the result generating unit 103 may generate a face matching result indicating that the judgment is pending when it cannot determine whether or not the person subject to the ticket gate judgment is a person permitted to pass through the face recognition ticket gate 12. Note that the case where it cannot be determined whether or not the person subject to the ticket gate judgment is a person permitted to pass through the face recognition ticket gate 12 includes a case where a ticket gate judgment response has not been received.

[0099] The result generation unit 103 transmits the face matching result to the face recognition ticket gate 12 via the communication unit 104.

[0100] The result generating unit 103 may update the ticket gate determination cache table 14 based on the ticket gate determination response.

[0101] The communication unit 104 is an interface that transmits signals including information to be provided to other devices included in the face recognition ticket gate system 1 (for example, the management server 11, the face recognition ticket gate 12, the ticket gate determination device 13, and the ticket gate determination cache table 14). The communication unit 104 is also an interface that receives signals including information provided from other devices included in the face recognition ticket gate system 1. The communication unit 104 may be divided into a transmission unit that performs signal transmission processing and a reception unit that performs signal reception processing.

[0102] In the face recognition server 10 of this embodiment 1, even if the calculated matching score is less than the authentication threshold, if a matching score that is equal to or greater than the ticket gate judgment threshold is included in the calculated matching scores, a ticket gate judgment is requested for the registered user (i.e., the second registered user) corresponding to the matching score that is equal to or greater than the ticket gate judgment threshold.

[0103] When the face authentication server 10 transmits a ticket gate determination request for a registered person determined to correspond to the user (i.e., the first registered person) (in other words, when the largest matching score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold), the face authentication server 10 receives a ticket gate determination response indicating whether or not the person subject to the ticket gate determination (in other words, the first registered person) is a person permitted to pass through. In this case, the face authentication server 10 transmits to the face authentication ticket gate 12 a face matching result indicating whether or not the person subject to the ticket gate determination is a person permitted to pass through, based on the ticket gate determination response.

[0104] When the face authentication server 10 requests a ticket gate determination for a registrant corresponding to a matching score equal to or greater than the ticket gate determination threshold (in other words, when the largest matching score is less than the authentication threshold), the face authentication server 10 receives a ticket gate determination response indicating whether or not the subject of the ticket gate determination (in other words, the second registrant) is a person permitted to pass through. In this case, the face authentication server 10 updates the ticket gate determination cache table 14 by storing information indicating whether or not the subject of the ticket gate determination is a person permitted to pass through in the ticket gate determination cache table 14.

[0105] The ticket gate determination device 13 includes a ticket gate determination processing unit 131 and a communication unit 132. The ticket gate determination processing unit 131 may be referred to as a processing unit or a processor.

[0106] The ticket gate determination processing unit 131 performs ticket gate determination for a person who is a subject of ticket gate determination indicated by the acquired ticket gate determination request via the communication unit 132. The ticket gate determination processing unit 131 performs ticket gate determination based on, for example, information on the ticket of each registered person stored in an external device (for example, the management server 11).

[0107] If it is determined as a result of the ticket gate judgment that the person subject to the ticket gate judgment is a person permitted to pass through the facial recognition ticket gate 12, the ticket gate judgment processing unit 131 transmits a ticket gate judgment response indicating that the person subject to the ticket gate judgment is a person permitted to pass to the facial recognition server 10 via the communication unit 132. If it is determined as a result of the ticket gate judgment that the person subject to the ticket gate judgment is not a person permitted to pass through the facial recognition ticket gate 12, the ticket gate judgment processing unit 131 transmits a ticket gate judgment response indicating that the person subject to the ticket gate judgment is not a person permitted to pass to the facial recognition server 10 via the communication unit 132.

[0108] The ticket gate determination results are stored in the ticket gate determination cache table 14. An example of the ticket gate determination cache table will be described below.

[0109] <Example of ticket gate determination cache table> An example of the ticket barrier determination cache table in the first embodiment will now be described with reference to FIG.

[0110] Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a ticket gate determination cache table in the first embodiment. As shown in Fig. 6, the ticket gate determination cache table stores information based on the ticket gate determination cache information acquired by the face authentication server 10. Each entry (each row) of the ticket gate determination cache table may be referred to as a record. The ticket gate determination cache table includes a plurality of records generated based on the acquired ticket gate determination cache information. One record is associated with one piece of ticket gate determination cache information.

[0111] The ticket barrier determination cache information includes a source server ID, access state information, an authentication ID, and a ticket barrier determination result.

[0112] The source server ID is identification information for identifying the face recognition server that transmitted the ticket gate determination cache information (hereinafter, may be referred to as the source server). As shown in Fig. 6, when the system includes only one face recognition server 10, the source server of the ticket gate determination cache information is one, so the source server ID may be omitted.

[0113] The access status information indicates the access status related to the ticket gate determination. For example, the access status at the stage when the face authentication server 10, which is the source server, transmits a ticket gate determination request to the ticket gate determination device 13 and has not yet received a ticket gate determination response is "accessing". For example, the access status at the stage when the source server transmits a ticket gate determination request to the ticket gate determination device and has received a ticket gate determination response is "determination result received". The access status information indicates whether the access status related to the ticket gate determination is "accessing" or "determination result received".

[0114] The authentication ID is identification information that identifies the person who is the subject of ticket barrier judgment.

[0115] The ticket gate judgment result indicates the result of the ticket gate judgment. For example, if it is determined that the user who is the subject of the ticket gate judgment is permitted to pass through the ticket gate, the ticket gate judgment result indicates "ticket gate judgment OK", and if it is determined that the user who is the subject of the ticket gate judgment is not permitted to pass through the ticket gate, the ticket gate judgment result indicates "ticket gate judgment NG". Note that if the access status regarding the ticket gate judgment is "accessing", the ticket gate judgment result may be blank.

[0116] Each record in the ticket barrier determination cache table includes a reception date and time, a validity flag, a source server ID, access status information, an authentication ID, and a ticket barrier determination result.

[0117] The reception date and time indicates the date and time when the ticket barrier determination cache information was received (for example, the date and time in seconds).

[0118] The validity flag indicates whether the record is valid or not. For example, if a predetermined validity time has passed since the reception date and time, the record is determined to be invalid. For example, the validity time of the record is about 5 seconds. Information regarding the validity time may be stored in a registry. The face recognition server 10, which manages the ticket gate determination cache table 14, invalidates the record based on the validity time.

[0119] The source server ID, the access state information, the authentication ID, and the ticket gate determination result correspond to the source server ID, the access state information, the authentication ID, and the ticket gate determination result included in the ticket gate determination cache information, respectively.

[0120] For example, when ticket gate determination cache information is received, the source server ID, access status information, authentication ID, and ticket gate determination result contained in the ticket gate determination cache information are associated with the reception date and time when the ticket gate determination cache information was received and a validity flag, and stored as a single record.

[0121] The ticket gate determination cache table 14 is updated when ticket gate determination cache information is received. The case where ticket gate determination cache information is received corresponds to the case where a certain face recognition server transmits a ticket gate determination request or the case where a certain face recognition server 10 receives a ticket gate determination response.

[0122] The data structure of the ticket barrier determination cache table 14 is not particularly limited, but may be, for example, a ring-structured table.

[0123] For example, the number of records included in the ticket gate determination cache table 14 may be limited. The number of records may be determined based on the size, number, and validity time of the facial recognition ticket gate. For example, if there is one facial recognition ticket gate connected to the facial recognition server and the validity time of the record is about 5 seconds, the number of people who can pass through the facial recognition ticket gate is at most about 5 people. In such a case, the number of records may be limited to about 10. The maximum number of records is registered in a registry. The facial recognition server that manages the ticket gate determination cache table manages the number of records so that it is equal to or less than the registered maximum number.

[0124] It should be noted that the more facial recognition ticket gates connected to the facial recognition server, the more records are included in the ticket gate determination cache table 14. For example, if the number of records included in the ticket gate determination cache table 14 is represented as K1 (K1 is an integer equal to or greater than 1) and the number of facial recognition ticket gates is represented as K2 (K2 is an integer equal to or greater than 1), K1 can be expressed as K1=K2×validity time of record÷passage time. For example, if the validity time of the record is 5 seconds and the passage time is 1 second, K1=K2×5.

[0125] <Processing example of face recognition server in embodiment 1> Next, an example of the flow of processing in the face authentication server according to the first embodiment will be described.

[0126] 7A, 7B, and 7C are flowcharts showing an example of the flow of processing by the face authentication server according to the first embodiment.

[0127] The face recognition server 10 determines whether or not a face matching request has been received from the face recognition ticket gate 12 (S201). If a face matching request has not been received (NO in S201), the flow returns to S201.

[0128] When a face matching request is received (YES in S201), the face authentication server 10 calculates a matching score as face matching processing based on the face matching request (S202). The matching score is calculated for each registrant.

[0129] The face authentication server 10 determines whether the matching score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold (S203). For example, the face authentication server 10 determines whether the largest matching score among the calculated matching scores is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold.

[0130] If the matching score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold (YES in S203), the face recognition server 10 sets the registrant corresponding to the matching score equal to or greater than the authentication threshold (hereinafter, may be referred to as the first registrant) as the person to be judged for the ticket gate judgment (S204). The first registrant is the registrant who is judged to correspond to the user as a result of face matching. Then, the flow continues to S208 in FIG. 7B.

[0131] If the matching score is not equal to or greater than the authentication threshold (NO in S203), the face recognition server 10 determines whether the matching score is equal to or greater than the ticket barrier determination threshold (S205). For example, the face recognition server 10 determines whether any of the calculated matching scores is equal to or greater than the ticket barrier determination threshold.

[0132] If the match score is not equal to or greater than the ticket barrier determination threshold (NO in S205), the face recognition server 10 transmits a face matching result indicating NG to the face recognition ticket barrier (S207). Then, the flow returns to S201.

[0133] If the matching score is equal to or greater than the ticket barrier determination threshold (YES in S205), the face recognition server 10 sets the registrant corresponding to the matching score equal to or greater than the ticket barrier determination threshold (hereinafter, may be referred to as the second registrant) as the person to be judged for the ticket barrier determination (S206). The second registrant includes registrants who are highly likely to be the user. Then, the flow continues to S217 in FIG. 7C. Note that the matching score corresponds to an example of the result of the face matching process. Furthermore, the case where the matching score is equal to or greater than the ticket barrier determination threshold corresponds to an example of the case where the result of the face matching process satisfies the second criterion. Furthermore, the case where the matching score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold corresponds to an example of the case where the result of the face matching process satisfies the first criterion that is higher than the second criterion.

[0134] As shown in Fig. 7B, after S204, the face authentication server 10 judges whether the ticket gate judgment of the first registrant is completed or not (S208). For example, the face authentication server 10 refers to the ticket gate judgment cache table, and when a record that matches the authentication ID of the first registrant exists and the ticket gate judgment result of the record exists, the face authentication server 10 judges that the ticket gate judgment of the first registrant is completed.

[0135] If the ticket gate determination of the first registrant is not completed (NO in S208), the face authentication server 10 judges whether or not the ticket gate determination of the first registrant is being performed (S209). For example, the face authentication server 10 refers to the ticket gate determination cache table, and if there is a record that matches the authentication ID of the first registrant and there is no ticket gate determination result for that record (or if it indicates that access is being performed), it judges that the ticket gate determination of the first registrant is being performed.

[0136] If the first registrant's ticket gate determination is in progress (YES in S209), the face authentication server 10 transmits a face matching result indicating that the determination is pending to the face authentication ticket gate (S210). Then, the flow proceeds to S212.

[0137] If the first registrant's ticket gate determination is not in progress (NO in S209), the face authentication server 10 transmits a ticket gate determination request for requesting a ticket gate determination for the first registrant to the ticket gate determination device (S211). Then, the flow proceeds to S212. As described above, the ticket gate determination process corresponds to an example of an authority determination process that determines whether or not a user has the authority to pass through a face authentication ticket gate (an example of a gate device), and the ticket gate determination request corresponds to an example of an authority determination request that requests an authority determination process.

[0138] The face authentication server 10 judges whether or not the ticket gate determination response has been received (S212). Note that the ticket gate determination response corresponds to an example of an authority determination result indicating the result of the authority determination process.

[0139] If the ticket barrier determination response has not been received (NO in S212), the face recognition server 10 determines whether or not a face matching request has been received (S213).

[0140] When the face authentication server 10 receives a face matching request (YES in S213), the flow proceeds to S202 in FIG. 7A.

[0141] If the face authentication server 10 has not received a face matching request (NO in S213), the flow returns to S212.

[0142] When the ticket gate determination of the first registrant is completed (YES in S208), or when a ticket gate determination response to the ticket gate determination request of the first registrant is received (YES in S212), the face authentication server 10 determines whether or not the ticket gate determination of the first registrant is OK (S214). In other words, in this case, the face authentication server 10 determines whether or not to permit the first registrant to pass through the face authentication ticket gate. This determination is made, for example, based on the ticket gate determination result of a record that matches the authentication ID of the first registrant in the ticket gate determination cache table, or the ticket gate determination result of the first registrant indicated by the received ticket gate determination response.

[0143] If the first registrant's ticket gate judgment is OK (YES in S214), the face authentication server 10 transmits a face matching result indicating OK to the face authentication ticket gate (S215), and the flow ends.

[0144] If the first registrant's ticket gate judgment is NG (NO in S214), the face authentication server 10 transmits a face matching result indicating NG to the face authentication ticket gate (S216), and the flow ends.

[0145] As shown in Fig. 7C, after S206, the face authentication server 10 judges whether the ticket gate judgment of the second registrant is completed or not (S217). For example, the face authentication server 10 refers to the ticket gate judgment cache table, and when a record that matches the authentication ID of the second registrant exists and the ticket gate judgment result of the record exists, the face authentication server 10 judges that the ticket gate judgment of the second registrant is completed.

[0146] If the ticket gate determination of the second registrant is not completed (NO in S217), the face authentication server 10 judges whether the ticket gate determination of the second registrant is in progress (S218). For example, the face authentication server 10 refers to the ticket gate determination cache table, and if there is a record that matches the authentication ID of the second registrant and there is no ticket gate determination result for that record (or if it indicates that access is in progress), it judges that the ticket gate determination of the second registrant is in progress.

[0147] If the ticket gate determination of the second registrant is being performed (YES in S218), the face authentication server 10 transmits a face matching result indicating that the determination is pending to the face authentication ticket gate (S219). Then, the flow proceeds to S221.

[0148] If the ticket gate determination for the second registrant is not being performed (NO in S218), the face authentication server 10 transmits a ticket gate determination request for requesting ticket gate determination for the second registrant to the ticket gate determination device (S220). Then, the flow proceeds to S221.

[0149] The face authentication server 10 judges whether or not a ticket barrier judgment response has been received (S221).

[0150] When the face recognition server 10 receives the ticket gate determination response (YES in S221), the face recognition server 10 updates the ticket gate determination cache table (S222). Then, the flow proceeds to S223.

[0151] If the ticket gate determination response has not been received (NO at S221), after S222, or if the ticket gate determination for the second registrant has been completed (YES at S217), the face authentication server 10 determines whether or not a face matching request has been received (S223).

[0152] When the face authentication server 10 receives a face matching request (YES in S223), the flow proceeds to S202 in FIG. 7A.

[0153] If the face authentication server 10 has not received a face matching request (NO in S223), the flow returns to S221.

[0154] <Operation Example of First Embodiment> Next, the process in which face authentication processing is executed on a user of the face authentication ticket gate 12 and the user passes through the face authentication ticket gate 12 will be described with reference to FIG. 8A.

[0155] FIG. 8A is a sequence diagram showing an example of the operation of the face authentication ticket gate system 1 according to the first embodiment.

[0156] When a user of the face recognition ticket gate 12 approaches the entrance of the face recognition ticket gate 12, a camera installed in the face recognition ticket gate 12 takes an image of the user.

[0157] The face recognition ticket gate 12 transmits a face matching request to the face recognition server 10 (S301).

[0158] The face authentication server 10 performs face matching based on the face matching request (S302). In the example of Fig. 8A, the face matching result shows that the matching score is less than the authentication threshold but is equal to or greater than the ticket barrier determination threshold.

[0159] If the matching score is equal to or greater than the ticket gate determination threshold, the face recognition server 10 transmits a ticket gate determination request for the subject corresponding to the matching score equal to or greater than the ticket gate determination threshold to the ticket gate determination device 13 (S303).

[0160] Meanwhile, the face recognition ticket gate 12 again transmits a face matching request to the face recognition server 10 (S304).

[0161] The face authentication server 10 performs face matching based on the face matching request (S305). In the example of Fig. 8A, the face matching result shows that the matching score is less than the authentication threshold but is equal to or greater than the ticket barrier determination threshold.

[0162] In the example of FIG. 8A, since a ticket gate determination request has been made to the ticket gate determination device 13 for a subject corresponding to a matching score equal to or greater than the ticket gate determination threshold, the face recognition server 10 determines to suspend the ticket gate determination for the face matching request (S306).

[0163] Based on the judgment in S306, the face recognition server 10 transmits a face matching result indicating that the ticket gate judgment is pending and that the face recognition is "facial recognition NG" ("Facial Matching Result (Judgment Pending, Face Recognition NG)" in FIG. 8A) to the face recognition ticket gate 12 (S307). Note that in the example of FIG. 8A, the face matching result in S305 is that the matching score is less than the authentication threshold, so the face matching result in S307 includes information indicating "facial recognition NG". In the example of FIG. 8A, the result of the ticket gate judgment for the subject of the ticket gate judgment has not been received prior to S307, so the face matching result in S307 includes information indicating "judgment pending".

[0164] The ticket gate determination device 13 performs ticket gate determination based on the ticket gate determination request (S308). In the example of Fig. 8A, as a result of the ticket gate determination, it is determined that the subject of the ticket gate determination is a person who is permitted to pass through.

[0165] The ticket gate determination device 13 transmits a ticket gate determination response indicating that the person subject to the ticket gate determination is a person permitted to pass through ("Ticket gate determination response (OK)" in FIG. 8A) to the face authentication server 10 (S309).

[0166] The face recognition ticket gate 12 again transmits a face matching request to the face recognition server 10 (S310). For example, the face recognition ticket gate 12 transmits a face matching request again based on the face matching result of S307 indicating "face recognition NG".

[0167] The face authentication server 10 performs face matching based on the face matching request (S311). In the example of Fig. 8A, the face matching result shows that the matching score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold.

[0168] Since the face recognition server 10 has received the ticket gate judgment response indicating the result of the ticket gate judgment for the subject corresponding to the matching score equal to or greater than the authentication threshold, the face recognition server 10 performs ticket gate judgment based on the received ticket gate judgment response (S312). In the example of FIG. 8A, the subject corresponding to the matching score equal to or greater than the authentication threshold matches the subject of the ticket gate judgment, and it is judged that the subject of the ticket gate judgment is a person permitted to pass through. Note that a judgment based on the received ticket gate judgment response may be referred to as a "cache judgment". Also, a judgment that the subject of the ticket gate judgment is a person permitted to pass through corresponds to a "ticket gate judgment OK". Also, a judgment that the subject of the ticket gate judgment is not a person permitted to pass through corresponds to a "ticket gate judgment NG".

[0169] Then, the face recognition server 10 transmits a face matching result indicating that the person subject to the ticket gate judgment is a person permitted to pass through to the face recognition ticket gate 12 (S313) ("Face matching result (with judgment, face recognition OK)" in FIG. 8A)). Note that in the example of FIG. 8A, the face matching result in S311 is that the matching score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold, so the face matching result in S313 includes information indicating "face recognition OK". In the example of FIG. 8A, in S312, the subject corresponding to the matching score equal to or greater than the authentication threshold matches the person subject to the ticket gate judgment, and it was determined that the person subject to the ticket gate judgment is a person permitted to pass through, so the face matching result in S313 includes the result of the ticket gate judgment, as indicated by "with judgment" in FIG. 8A.

[0170] As described above, if the result of the face matching in S302 is that the matching score is less than the authentication threshold but is equal to or greater than the ticket gate determination threshold, the face recognition server 10 transmits a ticket gate determination request to the ticket gate determination device 13 as shown in S303. This causes the ticket gate determination of a registrant corresponding to a matching score that is less than the authentication threshold and equal to or greater than the ticket gate determination threshold to be performed in advance before a matching score equal to or greater than the authentication threshold is calculated, thereby shortening the time required for performing ticket gate determination after a matching score equal to or greater than the authentication threshold is calculated, and shortening the time required for face recognition processing.

[0171] As illustrated in FIG. 8A, the face recognition ticket gate 12 acquires a face matching result from the face recognition server 10. The face matching result includes a judgment result regarding the matching score. The face matching result may also include a result of the ticket gate judgment. The judgment result regarding the matching score indicates, for example, "face recognition OK" when the matching score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold, indicates "face recognition NG" when the matching score is equal to or greater than the ticket gate judgment threshold and less than the authentication threshold, and indicates "face recognition NG" when the matching score is less than the authentication threshold. The result of the ticket gate judgment indicates any one of "ticket gate judgment OK", "ticket gate judgment NG", and "ticket gate judgment pending". Note that, when the matching score is less than the authentication threshold, the face matching result does not include the result of the ticket gate judgment. In other words, even if the judgment result regarding the matching score included in the face matching result is face recognition NG, when the matching score is equal to or greater than the ticket gate judgment threshold and less than the authentication threshold, the face matching result includes the result of the ticket gate judgment. On the other hand, when the judgment result for the matching score included in the face matching result is face recognition NG and the matching score is less than the ticket gate judgment threshold, the face matching result does not include the result of the ticket gate judgment.

[0172] The face recognition ticket gate 12 determines whether or not the user is allowed to pass through the face recognition ticket gate 12 based on the acquired face matching result, and performs control regarding whether or not the user is allowed to pass through depending on the determination.

[0173] Fig. 8B is a diagram showing an example of a determination of whether or not passage is permitted based on a face matching result. Fig. 8B shows a determination result of whether or not passage is permitted that is associated with the face matching result and the ticket gate determination result.

[0174] As shown in FIG. 8B, when the matching score for a certain user is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold and the result of the ticket gate judgment is OK, the face recognition ticket gate 12 judges that the user is "OK to pass through." Then, the face recognition ticket gate 12 performs control to allow the user to pass through. Note that a case where a certain user is "OK to pass through" corresponds to a case where it is judged that the user is a person permitted to pass through. In addition, the control to allow the user to pass through includes at least one of the following controls: opening the door of the face recognition ticket gate 12, outputting a sound indicating that passage has been permitted, and displaying a message indicating that passage has been permitted.

[0175] As shown in FIG. 8B, when the matching score for a certain user is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold and the result of the ticket gate judgment is NG, the face recognition ticket gate 12 judges that the user is "NG to pass." Then, the face recognition ticket gate 12 performs control to not let the user pass. Note that a case where a certain user is "NG to pass" corresponds to a case where it is judged that the user is not a person permitted to pass. In addition, the control to not let the user pass includes at least one of the following: a control to close the door of the face recognition ticket gate 12, a control to output a sound indicating that the user is not permitted to pass, and a control to display a message indicating that the user is not permitted to pass.

[0176] As shown in Fig. 8B, if the matching score for a certain user is equal to or greater than the ticket gate judgment threshold and less than the authentication threshold, and the ticket gate judgment result is OK, the facial recognition ticket gate 12 judges to suspend the passage of the user. Then, the facial recognition ticket gate 12 performs control to suspend the passage of the user. Note that suspending the passage of a certain user corresponds to suspending the judgment of whether the user can pass through and waiting for the next face matching result to be obtained. In addition, the control to suspend the passage of the user includes control to keep the door of the facial recognition ticket gate 12 open if it is open, and to keep it closed if it is closed.

[0177] 8B, when the matching score for a certain user is equal to or greater than the ticket gate judgment threshold and less than the authentication threshold, and the result of the ticket gate judgment is NG, the face recognition ticket gate 12 judges to suspend the passage of the user. Then, the face recognition ticket gate 12 performs control to suspend the passage of the user.

[0178] 8B, when the matching score for a certain user is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold, or equal to or greater than the ticket gate judgment threshold and less than the authentication threshold, and the result of the ticket gate judgment is to reserve, the face recognition ticket gate 12 determines to reserve the passage of the user. Then, the face recognition ticket gate 12 performs control to reserve the passage of the user.

[0179] 8B, when the matching score for a certain user is less than the ticket barrier determination threshold, the face recognition ticket barrier 12 determines that the corresponding user is “not allowed to pass.” Then, the face recognition ticket barrier 12 performs control to not allow the corresponding user to pass.

[0180] As described with reference to FIG. 8B, the face recognition ticket gate 12 determines whether or not the user is allowed to pass based on the face matching result, and performs control according to the determination result.

[0181] Note that Figure 8B indicates that "ticket gate determination pending" includes cases where a ticket gate determination is being requested by another facial recognition server, but the cases where a ticket gate determination is requested by another facial recognition server will be explained in embodiment 2 described below.

[0182] In the above-described example, the face recognition ticket gate 12 determines whether or not a user is allowed to pass through and performs control according to the determination result, but the present disclosure is not limited to this.

[0183] For example, the face authentication server 10 may determine whether or not a user can pass through the face authentication ticket gate 12. In this case, the face authentication server 10 may transmit information indicating whether or not the user can pass through to the face authentication ticket gate 12, and the face authentication ticket gate 12 may control whether or not the user can pass through based on the information indicating whether or not the user can pass through.

[0184] Alternatively, the face recognition server 10 may determine whether or not a user can pass through the face recognition ticket gate 12, and control the face recognition ticket gate 12 according to the determination result. In this case, the face recognition ticket gate 12 performs operations such as opening and closing the door, outputting audio, and displaying messages under the control of the face recognition server 10.

[0185] (Embodiment 2) In the first embodiment, a face recognition ticket gate system including one face recognition server is exemplified. On the other hand, in a large-scale face recognition ticket gate system, it is desirable to simultaneously perform a large number of face matching processes, so that multiple face recognition servers are included in the face recognition ticket gate system.

[0186] In such a face recognition ticket gate system, the face recognition ticket gate selects a face recognition server to which to send a face matching request depending on the load state of the face recognition server.

[0187] The method of selecting the facial recognition server to which the facial matching request is to be sent is not particularly limited, but for example, a method of using a load balancing device to control access from the facial recognition ticket gate to the facial recognition server, or a method in which the facial recognition ticket gate itself selects the facial recognition server, etc. are being considered.

[0188] In each face recognition server, when the face matching result is equal to or exceeds the ticket gate determination threshold, a ticket gate determination request is sent individually.

[0189] When each face recognition server transmits a ticket gate determination request, the ticket gate determination device may receive ticket gate determination requests for the same user from multiple face recognition servers. In this way, when the ticket gate determination device receives multiple ticket gate determination requests for the same user, it ends up performing ticket gate determination multiple times for the same user, which increases unnecessary processing.

[0190] Depending on the specifications of the ticket gate determination device, when a ticket gate determination request for the same user is received consecutively, the second and subsequent determination results may be considered to be an error. For example, in a method in which, when a ticket gate determination based on a ticket gate determination request is judged to be OK, the ticket gate is considered to have been passed through at the same time and charging processing is performed, and the second ticket gate determination request is treated as multiple entries and / or multiple exits, resulting in an error (e.g., NG) as the ticket gate determination.

[0191] In order to prevent multiple ticket gate determination requests from being sent to the ticket gate determination device and to avoid unnecessary processing, it is desirable for the ticket gate determination information generated by the ticket gate determination cache function to be shared by each face recognition server.

[0192] Therefore, in the second embodiment, when a certain face authentication server (e.g., face authentication server #1) sends a ticket gate determination request, face authentication server #1 is provided with a function to notify other face authentication servers that face authentication server #1 is sending a ticket gate determination request. Also, in the second embodiment, when a certain face authentication server (e.g., face authentication server #1) receives a ticket gate determination result, face authentication server #1 is provided with a function to notify other face authentication servers of the received ticket gate determination result. Hereinafter, these notification functions are referred to as mutual notification functions.

[0193] <System Configuration Example According to Second Embodiment> Fig. 9 is a diagram showing a system configuration according to the second embodiment. In Fig. 9, the same components as those in Fig. 5 are given the same reference numerals, and descriptions thereof may be omitted. The face recognition ticket gate system 2 shown in Fig. 9 has a plurality of face recognition servers 20 (face recognition servers 20-1 to 20-3), a management server 11, a plurality of face recognition ticket gates 12, and a ticket gate determination device 13. Each of the plurality of face recognition servers 20 has a ticket gate determination cache table 14.

[0194] The multiple facial recognition servers 20, management server 11, multiple facial recognition ticket gates 12, and ticket gate determination device 13 shown in FIG. 9 are connected to each other via a network (e.g., the Internet). Note that the connection between the devices is not limited to a connection via a network. A device may be directly connected to another device by wire or wirelessly. Also, in FIG. 9, the number of facial recognition ticket gates 12 and the number of facial recognition servers 20 are each three, but in the present disclosure, the number of facial recognition ticket gates 12 and the number of facial recognition servers 20 are not limited to three.

[0195] The difference from the system configuration according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 5 is that the multiple face authentication servers 20 are connected to each other and communicate with each other via a network, and that the multiple face authentication servers 20 have the above-mentioned mutual notification function. For example, when one face authentication server 20 (e.g., face authentication server 20-1) transmits a ticket gate determination request, the face authentication server 20-1 is provided with a function to notify the other face authentication servers 20-2 and 20-3 that the face authentication server 20-1 is transmitting the ticket gate determination request. Also, in the second embodiment, when one face authentication server (e.g., face authentication server #1) receives a ticket gate determination result, the face authentication server #1 is provided with a function to notify the other face authentication servers of the received ticket gate determination result.

[0196] The face authentication server 20 includes a face matching processing unit 101, a request processing unit 102, a result generating unit 103, a table updating unit 201, and a communication unit 104. The face matching processing unit 101, the request processing unit 102, the result generating unit 103, and the table updating unit 201 may be collectively referred to as a processing unit or a processor.

[0197] The table update unit 201 transmits and receives ticket gate determination cache information and updates the ticket gate determination cache table based on the ticket gate determination cache information by using a mutual notification function. For example, the table update unit 201 transmits ticket gate determination cache information to other face authentication servers 20 via the communication unit 104. In addition, the table update unit 201 receives ticket gate determination cache information from other face authentication servers 20 via the communication unit 104. The table update unit 201 updates the ticket gate determination cache table 14 based on the ticket gate determination cache information.

[0198] The ticket gate determination cache table 14 in the present embodiment 2 may be the same as that in the embodiment 1. However, in the present embodiment 2, the ticket gate determination cache table 14 is updated by the ticket gate determination cache information received from the face authentication server 20.

[0199] <Processing example of face recognition server in embodiment 2> Next, an example of the flow of processing in the face authentication server according to the second embodiment will be described.

[0200] 10A, 10B, and 10C are flowcharts showing an example of the process flow of the face authentication server 20 according to the second embodiment. In the process flow of the face authentication server 20 according to the second embodiment, the same processes as those in the process flow of the face authentication server 10 according to the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof may be omitted. For example, the process flow of FIG. 10A is the same as that of FIG. 7A in the first embodiment. The process flows of S204 and thereafter and S206 and thereafter in FIG. 10A are different between the first embodiment and the second embodiment. The process flows of S204 and thereafter and S206 and thereafter in FIG. 10A in the second embodiment will be described below.

[0201] As shown in FIG. 10B, after S204, the face authentication server 20 determines whether or not ticket barrier determination cache information has been received from another face authentication server 20 (S401).

[0202] When the ticket gate determination cache information is received (YES in S401), the face recognition server 20 updates the ticket gate determination cache table (S402).

[0203] If no ticket gate determination cache information has been received (NO in S401), or after S402, the face authentication server 20 judges whether or not the ticket gate determination of the first registrant has been completed (S403). For example, the face authentication server 20 refers to the ticket gate determination cache table, and if a record that matches the authentication ID of the first registrant exists and the ticket gate determination result of that record exists, it judges that the ticket gate determination of the first registrant has been completed. Note that the ticket gate determination cache table here may include ticket gate determination cache information acquired from other face authentication servers 20.

[0204] If the ticket gate determination of the first registrant is not completed (NO in S403), the face authentication server 20 determines whether or not the ticket gate determination of the first registrant is in progress (S404). For example, the face authentication server 20 refers to the ticket gate determination cache table, and if there is a record that matches the authentication ID of the first registrant and there is no ticket gate determination result for that record (or if it indicates that access is in progress), it determines that the ticket gate determination of the first registrant is in progress. Note that the ticket gate determination cache table here may include ticket gate determination cache information acquired from another face authentication server 20.

[0205] If the first registrant's ticket barrier determination has been completed (YES in S403), the flow proceeds to S214. The processes from S214 onwards are the same as those in the first embodiment, and therefore the explanation will be omitted.

[0206] If the first registrant's ticket gate determination is in progress (YES in S404), the face authentication server 20 transmits a face matching result indicating that the determination is pending to the face authentication ticket gate (S210). Then, the flow proceeds to S212.

[0207] If the ticket gate determination for the first registrant is not being performed (NO in S404), the face authentication server 20 transmits a ticket gate determination request for requesting ticket gate determination for the first registrant to the ticket gate determination device (S211).

[0208] The face authentication server 20 transmits ticket gate determination cache information indicating that the ticket gate determination is being executed ("Ticket gate determination cache information (accessing)") to the other face authentication servers 20 (S405). Then, the flow proceeds to S212.

[0209] The face authentication server 20 judges whether or not a ticket barrier judgment response has been received (S212).

[0210] When a ticket gate determination response is received (YES in S212), the face recognition server 20 transmits ticket gate determination cache information indicating the result of the ticket gate determination ("ticket gate determination cache information (determination result)") to other face recognition servers (S406). Then, the flow proceeds to S214. The process from S214 onwards is the same as in the first embodiment, so the description will be omitted.

[0211] If the ticket barrier determination response has not been received (NO in S212), the face authentication server 20 determines whether or not a face matching request has been received (S213).

[0212] When the face authentication server 20 receives a face matching request (YES in S213), the flow proceeds to S202 in FIG. 10A.

[0213] If a face matching request has not been received (NO in S213), the face authentication server 20 determines whether or not ticket barrier determination cache information has been received from another face authentication server 20 (S407).

[0214] If the ticket gate determination cache information has been received (YES in S407), the flow returns to S402.

[0215] If the ticket barrier determination cache information has not been received (NO in S407), the flow returns to S212.

[0216] As shown in FIG. 10C, after S206, the face authentication server 20 determines whether or not ticket barrier determination cache information has been received from another face authentication server 20 (S408).

[0217] When the ticket gate determination cache information has been received (YES in S408), the face recognition server 20 updates the ticket gate determination cache table (S409).

[0218] If the ticket gate determination cache information has not been received (NO in S408), or after S409, the face authentication server 20 determines whether or not the ticket gate determination of the second registrant has been completed (S410). For example, the face authentication server 20 refers to the ticket gate determination cache table, and if a record that matches the authentication ID of the second registrant exists and the ticket gate determination result of that record exists, it determines that the ticket gate determination of the second registrant has been completed.

[0219] If the ticket gate determination of the second registrant is not completed (NO in S410), the face authentication server 20 determines whether or not the ticket gate determination of the second registrant is in progress (S411). For example, the face authentication server 20 refers to the ticket gate determination cache table, and if there is a record that matches the authentication ID of the second registrant and there is no ticket gate determination result for that record (or if it indicates that access is in progress), it determines that the ticket gate determination of the second registrant is in progress.

[0220] If the ticket gate determination of the second registrant is being performed (YES in S411), the face authentication server 20 transmits a face matching result indicating that the determination is pending to the face authentication ticket gate (S219). Then, the flow proceeds to S221.

[0221] If the ticket gate determination for the second registrant is not being performed (NO in S411), the face authentication server 20 transmits a ticket gate determination request for requesting ticket gate determination for the second registrant to the ticket gate determination device (S220).

[0222] The face authentication server 20 transmits ticket gate determination cache information indicating that the ticket gate determination is being executed ("Ticket gate determination cache information (accessing)") to the other face authentication servers 20 (S412). Then, the flow proceeds to S221.

[0223] The face authentication server 20 judges whether or not a ticket barrier judgment response has been received (S221).

[0224] When the ticket gate determination response is received (YES in S221), the face recognition server 20 updates the ticket gate determination cache table (S222).

[0225] The face authentication server 20 transmits ticket gate determination cache information indicating the determination result of the ticket gate determination ("ticket gate determination cache information (determination result)") to other face authentication servers (S413). Then, the flow proceeds to S223.

[0226] If the ticket gate determination response has not been received (NO at S221), after S413, or if the ticket gate determination for the second registrant has been completed (YES at S410), the face authentication server 20 determines whether or not a face matching request has been received (S223).

[0227] If the face authentication server 20 receives a face matching request (YES in S223), the flow proceeds to S202 in FIG. 10A.

[0228] If a face matching request has not been received (NO in S223), the face authentication server 10 determines whether or not ticket barrier determination cache information has been received from another face authentication server 10 (S414).

[0229] If the ticket gate determination cache information has been received (YES in S414), the flow returns to S409.

[0230] If the ticket barrier determination cache information has not been received (NO at S414), the flow returns to S221.

[0231] <Operation Example 1 of Embodiment 2> Next, an operation example 1 of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

[0232] FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing a first operation example of the face authentication ticket gate system 2 according to the second embodiment.

[0233] When a user of the face recognition ticket gate 12 approaches the entrance of the face recognition ticket gate 12, a camera installed in the face recognition ticket gate 12 takes an image of the user.

[0234] The face recognition ticket gate 12 transmits a face matching request to the face recognition server 10 (S501).

[0235] The face authentication server 20-1 (hereinafter, face authentication server #1) performs face matching based on the face matching request (S502). In the example of Fig. 11, the face matching result shows that the matching score is less than the authentication threshold but is equal to or greater than the ticket barrier determination threshold.

[0236] If the matching score is equal to or greater than the ticket gate determination threshold, the face recognition server 20 transmits a ticket gate determination request to the ticket gate determination device 13 (S505).

[0237] The face authentication server #1 transmits ticket gate determination cache information ("ticket gate determination cache information (accessing)" in FIG. 11) indicating that the face authentication server #1 is making a ticket gate determination request to the face authentication server #2 (S503). In addition, the face authentication server #1 transmits the ticket gate determination cache information (accessing) to the face authentication server #3 (S504).

[0238] The ticket gate determination device 13 performs ticket gate determination based on the ticket gate determination request (S506). In the example of Fig. 11, the result of the ticket gate determination is that the subject of the ticket gate determination is a person who is permitted to pass through.

[0239] The ticket gate determination device 13 transmits a ticket gate determination response indicating that the person subject to the ticket gate determination is a person permitted to pass through ("Ticket gate determination response (OK)" in FIG. 11) to the face authentication server #1 (S507).

[0240] Then, the face recognition server #1 transmits a face matching result indicating that the person subject to the ticket gate judgment is a person permitted to pass through ("Face matching result (with judgment, face recognition NG)" in FIG. 11) to the face recognition ticket gate 12 (S508). Note that in the example of FIG. 11, the face matching result in S502 is that the matching score is less than the authentication threshold, so the face matching result in S508 includes information indicating "face recognition NG." Also, in the example of FIG. 11, a ticket gate judgment response indicating that the person subject to the ticket gate judgment is a person permitted to pass through is received in S507, so the face matching result in S508 includes the result of the ticket gate judgment, as indicated by "with judgment."

[0241] Furthermore, facial authentication server #1 transmits to facial authentication server #2 ticket gate determination cache information indicating that facial authentication server #1 has acquired a ticket gate determination response ("Ticket gate determination cache information (determination result)" in FIG. 11) (S509). Furthermore, facial authentication server #1 transmits the ticket gate determination cache information (determination result) to facial authentication server #3 (S510). The ticket gate determination cache information here includes information indicating that the subject of the ticket gate determination is a person permitted to pass through.

[0242] Next, the face recognition ticket gate 12 transmits a face matching request to the face recognition server #3 (S511).

[0243] The face authentication server #3 performs face matching based on the face matching request (S512). In the example of Fig. 11, the face matching result shows that the matching score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold value.

[0244] Since the face authentication server #3 has received the ticket gate judgment cache information indicating the result of the ticket gate judgment for the subject corresponding to the matching score equal to or higher than the authentication threshold, the face authentication server #3 performs the ticket gate judgment based on the received ticket gate judgment cache information (S513). In the example of Fig. 11, the subject corresponding to the matching score equal to or higher than the authentication threshold matches the subject of the ticket gate judgment, and it is determined that the subject of the ticket gate judgment is a person who is permitted to pass through.

[0245] Then, the face recognition server #3 transmits a face matching result ("Face matching result (with judgment, face recognition OK)" in FIG. 11) indicating that the subject of the ticket gate judgment is a person permitted to pass to the face recognition ticket gate 12 (S514). In the example of FIG. 11, the face matching result in S512 is that the matching score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold, so the face matching result in S514 includes information indicating "face recognition OK". In the example of FIG. 11, the subject corresponding to the matching score equal to or greater than the authentication threshold in S513 matches the subject of the ticket gate judgment, and it was determined that the subject of the ticket gate judgment is a person permitted to pass, so the face matching result in S514 includes the result of the ticket gate judgment, as indicated by "with judgment".

[0246] As described above, by sharing the ticket gate determination cache information between the face authentication servers 20 as shown in FIG. 11, the process of the face authentication server 20 transmitting a ticket gate determination request can be reduced, and the time required for face authentication processing can be reduced.

[0247] <Operation Example 2 of Embodiment 2> Next, a second operation example of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

[0248] Fig. 12 is a sequence diagram showing an operation example 2 of the face authentication ticket gate system 2 according to the embodiment 2. In Fig. 12, the same processes as those in Fig. 11 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof may be omitted.

[0249] Figure 12 shows a case in which, in Figure 11, the facial recognition ticket gate 12 sends a face matching request to the facial recognition server #2 between the time when the facial recognition server #1 sends a ticket gate determination request and the time when the ticket gate determination device 13 sends a ticket gate determination response (between S505 and S507).

[0250] For example, before the ticket barrier determination device 13 transmits a ticket barrier determination response (before S507), the face recognition ticket barrier 12 transmits a face matching request to the face recognition server #2 (S601).

[0251] The face authentication server #2 performs face matching based on the face matching request (S602). In the example of Fig. 12, the face matching result shows that the matching score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold.

[0252] In the example of FIG. 12, the ticket gate determination cache information received in S503 indicates that a ticket gate determination request for a subject corresponding to a matching score equal to or greater than the authentication threshold has been made to the ticket gate determination device 13. Therefore, the face authentication server #2 determines to reserve the ticket gate determination for the face matching request based on the ticket gate determination cache information (S603). The determination here corresponds to a determination based on the ticket gate determination cache information or a determination by a cache function. Note that, as in S603, the face authentication server #2 reserves the ticket gate determination for the face matching request based on the ticket gate determination cache information indicating that the face authentication server #1 has made the ticket gate determination request, which corresponds to "ticket gate determination reservation" in FIG. 8B when a ticket gate determination is being requested by another face authentication server.

[0253] Based on the judgment in S603, face recognition server #2 transmits a face matching result indicating that the ticket gate judgment is to be reserved ("Face matching result (judgment pending, face recognition OK)" in FIG. 12) to the face recognition ticket gate 12 (S604). Note that in the example of FIG. 12, the face matching result in S602 is that the matching score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold, so the face matching result in S604 includes information indicating "face recognition OK". In the example of FIG. 12, the result of the ticket gate judgment for the subject of the ticket gate judgment has not been received, so the face matching result in S604 includes information indicating "judgment pending".

[0254] In the example of Figure 12, after S604, the ticket gate determination device 13 sends a ticket gate determination response ("Ticket gate determination response (OK)" in Figure 12) indicating that the person subject to the ticket gate determination is a person permitted to pass through to the face authentication server #1 (S507).

[0255] Since the face recognition server #1 has received the ticket gate judgment response indicating the result of the ticket gate judgment for the subject corresponding to the matching score equal to or greater than the authentication threshold, the face recognition server #1 performs the ticket gate judgment based on the received ticket gate judgment response (S605). In the example of Fig. 12, the subject corresponding to the matching score equal to or greater than the authentication threshold matches the subject of the ticket gate judgment, and the subject of the ticket gate judgment is judged to be a person permitted to pass through.

[0256] Then, the face recognition server #1 transmits a face matching result indicating that the subject of the ticket gate judgment is a person permitted to pass through to the face recognition ticket gate 12 (S606) ("Face matching result (with judgment, face recognition OK)" in FIG. 12). Note that in the example of FIG. 12, the face matching result in S502 is that the matching score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold, so the face matching result in S606 includes information indicating "face recognition OK". In the example of FIG. 12, in S605, the subject corresponding to the matching score equal to or greater than the authentication threshold matches the subject of the ticket gate judgment, and it was determined that the subject of the ticket gate judgment is a person permitted to pass through, so the face matching result in S606 includes the result of the ticket gate judgment, as indicated by "with judgment" in FIG. 12.

[0257] Steps from S509 onwards are the same as those in FIG.

[0258] As described above, by sharing the ticket gate determination cache information between the face authentication servers 20 as shown in Fig. 12, the process of the face authentication server 20 sending a ticket gate determination request can be reduced, and the time required for face authentication processing can be reduced. For example, in Fig. 12, if the face authentication server 20-1) is waiting for a ticket gate determination response to the ticket gate determination request and another face authentication server 20-2 receives a face matching request, the face authentication server 20-2 does not send the ticket gate determination request and reserves the ticket gate determination, so that the process of sending the ticket gate determination request can be reduced and the time required for face authentication processing can be reduced.

[0259] <Variation 1 of the second embodiment> As described above, the face authentication server 20 can reduce the time required for face authentication processing by using the ticket gate determination cache table. Examples of using the ticket gate determination cache table are not limited to the above examples. Below, as application examples of the ticket gate determination cache table, a variation of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 13.

[0260] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a variation in the use of the ticket barrier determination cache table.

[0261] 13 shows two facial recognition ticket gates (facial recognition ticket gate #A and facial recognition ticket gate #B) and user X and user Y who are about to pass through one of the two facial recognition ticket gates. By way of example, user X moves along arrow a, and user Y moves along arrow b. (1), (3), and (4) attached to arrow a indicate stages along the way of user X's movement, and (2) and (5) attached to arrow b indicate stages along the way of user Y's movement.

[0262] At stage (1), user X approaches facial recognition ticket gate #A in an attempt to pass through it. At stage (1), facial recognition ticket gate #A detects the face of user X and transmits a facial recognition request including a facial image of user X to the facial recognition server. If the facial recognition score calculated in the facial recognition process based on the facial recognition request including the facial image of user X is equal to or greater than a ticket gate determination threshold, the facial recognition server transmits a ticket gate determination request for user X to the ticket gate determination device. Then, the facial recognition server records in the ticket gate determination cache table that it has made a ticket gate determination request for user X and is currently accessing the ticket gate.

[0263] Next, in stage (2), user Y attempts to pass through facial recognition ticket gate #A and approaches facial recognition ticket gate #A in a manner that blocks the progress of user X. In stage (2), facial recognition ticket gate #A detects the face of user Y and sends a facial recognition request including a facial image of user Y to the facial recognition server. If the facial recognition score calculated in the facial recognition process based on the facial recognition request including the facial image of user Y is equal to or greater than the ticket gate judgment threshold, the facial recognition server sends a ticket gate judgment request for user Y to the ticket gate judgment device. Then, the facial recognition server records in the ticket gate judgment cache table that it has made a ticket gate judgment request for user Y and is currently accessing the ticket gate.

[0264] Next, in stage (3), because user X is blocked by user Y and prevented from entering facial recognition ticket gate #A, user X attempts to enter facial recognition ticket gate #B next to facial recognition ticket gate #A. In stage (3), facial recognition ticket gate #B detects the face of user X and transmits a facial recognition request including a facial image of user X to the facial recognition server. If the facial recognition score calculated in the facial recognition process based on the facial recognition request including the facial image of user X is equal to or greater than the ticket gate judgment threshold (or equal to or greater than the authentication threshold), the facial recognition server searches the ticket gate judgment cache table and recognizes that user X is currently accessing the ticket gate judgment. In this case, the facial recognition server does not transmit a ticket gate judgment request for user X to the ticket gate judgment device, but transmits a face matching result indicating that judgment is pending to facial recognition ticket gate #B.

[0265] If the facial recognition server has received the ticket gate judgment result for user X at stage (3), the ticket gate judgment cache table records that the ticket gate judgment result has been received for user X. If the facial recognition score calculated in the facial recognition process based on the facial recognition request including the facial image of user X is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold, and the ticket gate judgment cache table records that the ticket gate judgment result has been received for user X, the facial recognition server transmits the face matching result including the ticket gate judgment result to facial recognition ticket gate #B.

[0266] At stage (4), user X approaches face recognition ticket gate #B more than at stage (3). At stage (4), if the face recognition server has received the ticket gate judgment result for user X, the ticket gate judgment cache table records that the ticket gate judgment result for user X has been received. At stage (4), face recognition ticket gate #B detects the face of user X and transmits a face recognition request including the face image of user X to the face recognition server again. When the face recognition score calculated in the face recognition process based on the face recognition request including the face image of user X is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold, the face recognition server searches the ticket gate judgment cache table and recognizes that the ticket gate judgment result for user X has been received. In this case, the face recognition server transmits the face matching result including the ticket gate judgment result to face recognition ticket gate #B without transmitting the ticket gate judgment request for user X to the ticket gate judgment device.

[0267] At stage (5), user Y approaches face recognition ticket gate #A more closely than at stage (2). At stage (5), face recognition ticket gate #A detects the face of user Y and again transmits a face recognition request including the face image of user Y to the face recognition server. The face recognition server searches the ticket gate determination cache table if the face recognition score calculated in the face recognition process based on the face recognition request including the face image of user Y is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold. At stage (5), if the face recognition server receives the ticket gate determination result for user Y and it is recorded in the ticket gate determination cache table that the ticket gate determination result for user Y has already been received, the face recognition server transmits the face matching result including the ticket gate determination result to face recognition ticket gate #A without transmitting the ticket gate determination request for user Y to the ticket gate determination device.

[0268] In this way, even if User X is about to proceed to facial recognition ticket gate #A but is cut off by User Y, causing User X to change course to another facial recognition ticket gate, facial recognition ticket gate #B, by referring to the ticket gate determination cache table, a rapid ticket gate determination result can be obtained, enabling User X to pass through smoothly.

[0269] For example, when approaching a facial recognition ticket gate from an oblique direction, there is not enough time available for face matching processing. However, with this method, a ticket gate determination is made in advance when the person approaches another facial recognition ticket gate, shortening the response time and allowing the person to pass through the facial recognition ticket gate more smoothly.

[0270] <Variation 2 of the second embodiment> 9 shows an example in which the multiple face recognition servers 20 each have a ticket gate determination cache table, but the present disclosure is not limited to this. The face recognition ticket gate system may have a device that consolidates the functions of the ticket gate determination cache table, and the multiple face recognition servers 20 may be connected to the device to refer to the ticket gate determination cache information.

[0271] Fig. 14 is a diagram showing a system configuration according to a variation of the second embodiment. In Fig. 14, the same components as those in Fig. 9 are given the same reference numerals, and the description thereof may be omitted. The face authentication server 20 shown in Fig. 9 includes a ticket gate determination cache table 14, but the face authentication ticket gate system 3 shown in Fig. 14 includes a ticket gate determination cache device 35 instead of the ticket gate determination cache table 14.

[0272] The ticket barrier determination cache device 35 includes the above-mentioned ticket barrier determination cache table 14, a processing unit, and a communication unit (not shown in FIG. 14).

[0273] The processing unit updates the ticket gate determination cache table based on the ticket gate determination cache information acquired from the face authentication server 30 via the communication unit.

[0274] 9 (e.g., the face matching processing unit 101, the request processing unit 102, the result generating unit 103, and the table updating unit 201) updates the ticket gate determination table inside the face authentication server 20, and transmits ticket gate determination cache information to other face authentication servers 20. On the other hand, the processing units (e.g., the face matching processing unit 101, the request processing unit 102, the result generating unit 103, and the table updating unit 201) of the face authentication server 30 shown in FIG. 14 transmits ticket gate determination cache information to the ticket gate determination cache device 35.

[0275] The configuration shown in FIG. 14 enables the ticket gate determination cache information to be consolidated into one, thereby reducing the amount of data communicated between face recognition servers.

[0276] (Embodiment 3) In the first and second embodiments, an example in which the face authentication server includes a ticket gate determination cache table has been described, but the present disclosure is not limited to this. In the third embodiment, an example in which the face authentication ticket gate includes a ticket gate determination cache table will be described.

[0277] In an example where the facial recognition ticket gate includes a ticket gate determination cache table, the time required for facial recognition processing can be reduced by combining it with tracking of user movement.

[0278] For example, in the third embodiment, when the face matching result of a user is OK and the user is permitted to pass through the face recognition ticket gate, the face recognition ticket gate tracks the movement of the user.

[0279] While tracking a user, the user is managed by a same person determination function. In the same person determination function, a same person determination is performed to determine whether a person detected at a certain time T and a person detected at a time other than the time T (for example, the time next to the time T) are the same person. The same person determination function can be realized by using a publicly known technology of object tracking or person tracking based on an image. If the user makes an unnatural movement while being tracked and it is determined that the user is not the same person in the same person determination, there are cases where face recognition is required again. In such a case, the face recognition ticket gate resends the face matching request, and the face recognition server again transmits the ticket gate determination request to the ticket gate determination device. When such a face matching request is resent and the ticket gate determination request is resent, it takes time to transmit the face matching result. On the other hand, in a case where face recognition is required again because the user makes an unnatural movement while being tracked, even if it is determined that the user is not the same person in the same person determination, it is highly likely that the user is the same person.

[0280] Therefore, in the third embodiment, when the same person determination function determines that the user is not the same person, the face recognition ticket gate transmits a face matching request including the authentication ID of the user who has been tracked as the same person. The authentication ID is identification information (e.g., an identification number) associated with each user to identify them. In the following, a face matching request including an authentication ID is referred to as a face matching request with an expected ID.

[0281] The face recognition server that receives the face matching request with the expected ID executes face matching processing. If the result obtained by face matching indicates that the face recognition score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold, and the authentication ID of the registered person corresponding to the face recognition score matches the authentication ID included in the face matching request with the expected ID, the face recognition server does not transmit a ticket gate judgment request to the registered person corresponding to the face recognition score, and transmits the face matching result to the face recognition ticket gate. The face matching result transmitted here includes only the face matching result, and may not include the result of the ticket gate judgment. In addition, the threshold value compared with the face recognition score here may be a ticket gate judgment threshold instead of the authentication threshold.

[0282] In addition, if the authentication ID of a registered person corresponding to the face recognition score does not match the authentication ID included in the face matching request with expected ID, the face recognition server sends a ticket gate determination request.

[0283] The facial recognition ticket gate that receives the facial matching result in response to the expected ID-attached facial matching request references the internal ticket gate judgment cache table for the ticket gate judgment result already related to the user ID and obtains the information. The facial recognition ticket gate then displays a guidance screen according to the information content.

[0284] Since the response to the face matching with predicted ID (face matching result) does not need to include ticket gate determination result information, the amount of data transmitted during communication can be reduced, enabling a faster response, thereby shortening the time required for face recognition processing.

[0285] <System Configuration Example According to Third Embodiment> Fig. 15 is a diagram showing a system configuration according to the third embodiment. In Fig. 15, the same components as those in Fig. 5 are given the same reference numerals, and descriptions thereof may be omitted. The face recognition ticket gate system 4 shown in Fig. 15 includes a face recognition server 10, a management server 11, a plurality of face recognition ticket gates 42, and a ticket gate determination device 13.

[0286] The facial recognition ticket gate 42 includes a tracking processing unit 424 and a ticket gate determination cache table 425 in addition to the components of the facial recognition ticket gate 12 shown in FIG.

[0287] When the tracking processing unit 424 acquires the face matching result, it updates the ticket barrier determination cache table 425 based on the face matching result. In addition, the tracking processing unit 424 uses the same person determination function to determine whether the user corresponding to the detected face image is the same as the user whose face matching result is OK. For example, the user corresponding to the detected face image is a user detected from an image taken after receiving the face matching result. When the tracking processing unit 424 determines that the user corresponding to the detected face image is not the same as the user whose face matching result is OK, it generates a face matching request with predicted ID. Here, the generated face matching request with predicted ID includes at least the detected face image (and the feature amount of the face image) and the authentication ID of the user whose face matching result is OK.

[0288] When the face matching processing unit 101 of the face authentication server 10 in FIG. 15 acquires a face matching request with an expected ID, it calculates a matching score indicating the degree of similarity between the face image of the user included in the face matching request with the expected ID and the face image of the registrant. When the largest matching score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold, the face matching processing unit 101 compares the authentication ID of the registrant corresponding to the largest matching score with the authentication ID (expected ID) included in the face matching request with the expected ID. When the two authentication IDs match, the face matching processing unit 101 decides to omit the ticket gate determination request. In this case, the result generating unit 103 of the face authentication server 10 in FIG. 15 transmits a face matching result including an authentication ID that matches the expected ID to the face authentication ticket gate 42, without including a ticket gate determination result. The face matching result here indicates that the expected ID and the authentication ID match.

[0289] The tracking processing unit 424 obtains a face matching result that does not include the ticket gate determination result, but includes an authentication ID that matches the expected ID, and thereby determines that the user for whom the face matching result is OK is the same user corresponding to the detected face image.

[0290] <Example of ticket gate determination cache table> An example of the ticket barrier determination cache table 425 in the third embodiment will now be described with reference to FIG.

[0291] Fig. 16 is a diagram showing an example of the ticket gate determination cache table 425 in the present embodiment 3. As shown in Fig. 16, the ticket gate determination cache table 425 stores information based on the ticket gate determination cache information acquired by the face authentication ticket gate 42. The ticket gate determination cache table 425 includes a plurality of records generated based on the acquired ticket gate determination cache information. One record is associated with one piece of ticket gate determination cache information.

[0292] The ticket gate determination cache information is generated based on the face matching result acquired from the face authentication ticket gate 42. The ticket gate determination cache information includes an authentication ID and a ticket gate determination result.

[0293] The authentication ID is identification information that identifies the user who is the subject of ticket barrier judgment.

[0294] The ticket gate judgment result indicates the result of the ticket gate judgment. For example, if it is determined that the user who is the subject of the ticket gate judgment is permitted to pass through the ticket gate, the ticket gate judgment result indicates "ticket gate judgment OK", and if it is determined that the user who is the subject of the ticket gate judgment is not permitted to pass through the ticket gate, the ticket gate judgment result indicates "ticket gate judgment NG". Note that if the access status regarding the ticket gate judgment is "accessing", the ticket gate judgment result may be blank.

[0295] Each record in the ticket gate determination cache table includes a reception date and time, a validity flag, an authentication ID, and a ticket gate determination result.

[0296] The reception date and time indicates the date and time when the ticket barrier determination cache information was received (for example, the date and time in seconds).

[0297] The validity flag indicates whether the record is valid or not. For example, if a predetermined validity time has passed since the reception date and time, the record is determined to be invalid. For example, the validity time of the record is about 5 seconds. Information regarding the validity time may be stored in a registry. The face recognition ticket gate that manages the ticket gate determination cache table invalidates the record based on the validity time.

[0298] The authentication ID and the ticket gate determination result correspond to the authentication ID and the ticket gate determination result included in the ticket gate determination cache information, respectively.

[0299] For example, when ticket gate determination cache information is received, the authentication ID and ticket gate determination result contained in the ticket gate determination cache information are associated with the reception date and time when the ticket gate determination cache information was received and a validity flag, and are stored as a single record.

[0300] The data structure of the ticket gate determination cache table is not particularly limited, but may be, for example, a ring structure table.

[0301] For example, the number of records included in the ticket gate determination cache table may be limited. The number of records may be determined based on the size, number, and validity time of the facial recognition ticket gate. For example, if the validity time of a record is about 5 seconds, the number of people who can pass through the facial recognition ticket gate is about 5 people at most. In such a case, the number of records may be limited to about 10. The maximum number of records is registered in a registry. The facial recognition server that manages the ticket gate determination cache table manages the number of records so that it is equal to or less than the registered maximum number.

[0302] <Operation Example 1 of Third Embodiment> Next, an operation example 1 of the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

[0303] FIG. 17 is a sequence diagram showing a first operation example of the face authentication ticket gate system 4 according to the third embodiment.

[0304] When a user of the face recognition ticket gate 42 approaches the entrance of the face recognition ticket gate 42, a camera installed in the face recognition ticket gate 42 takes an image of the user.

[0305] The face recognition ticket gate 42 transmits a face matching request to the face recognition server 10 (S701).

[0306] The face recognition server 10 performs face matching based on the face matching request (S702). In the example of Fig. 17, the face matching result is that the matching score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold. Note that, although the matching score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold in Fig. 17, the matching score may be equal to or greater than the ticket barrier determination threshold.

[0307] If the matching score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold, the face recognition server 10 transmits a ticket gate determination request to the ticket gate determination device 13 (S703).

[0308] The ticket gate determination device 13 performs ticket gate determination based on the ticket gate determination request (S704). In the example of Fig. 17, the result of the ticket gate determination is that the subject of the ticket gate determination is a person who is permitted to pass through.

[0309] The ticket gate determination device 13 transmits a ticket gate determination response ("ticket gate determination response" in FIG. 17) indicating that the person subject to the ticket gate determination is a person permitted to pass through to the face authentication server 10 (S705).

[0310] The face recognition server 10 transmits the face matching result to the face recognition ticket gate 42 (S706). The face matching result includes the authentication ID of the person who is the subject of ticket gate judgment (ID=1234 in FIG. 17). Also, in the example of FIG. 17, the face matching result in S702 is that the matching score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold, so the face matching result in S706 includes information indicating "face recognition OK". Also, in the example of FIG. 17, a ticket gate judgment response indicating that the person who is the subject of ticket gate judgment is a person permitted to pass is received in S705, so the face matching result in S706 includes the result of ticket gate judgment, as indicated by "with judgment" in FIG. 17.

[0311] The face recognition ticket gate 42 stores the acquired face matching result in the ticket gate determination cache table (S707).

[0312] The face recognition ticket gate 42 performs tracking using the same person determination function (S708). In the example of Fig. 17, the same person determination function determines that the person is not the same person at a certain point in time (S709).

[0313] If it is determined that the person is not the same person, the face recognition ticket gate 42 transmits a face matching request with the predicted ID attached ("face matching request with predicted ID" in FIG. 17) to the face recognition server 10 (S710). In the example of FIG. 17, the attached predicted ID is ID=1234.

[0314] The face authentication server 10 performs face matching based on the face matching request with the expected ID (S711). In the example of Fig. 17, the face matching result determines that the ID of the specific person whose matching score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold is 1234. That is, in the example of Fig. 17, the expected ID of the face matching request with the expected ID matches the ID of the person identified by the face matching. In this case, the ticket gate determination request for the ID is made in S703, and the ticket gate determination response is received in S705, so the face authentication server 10 does not make a ticket gate determination request.

[0315] The face recognition server 10 transmits the face matching result to the face recognition ticket gate 42 without making a ticket gate judgment request (S712). Note that the face matching result does not include the ticket gate judgment result. The ID included in the face matching result transmitted here is ID=1234.

[0316] The face recognition ticket gate 42 continues tracking using the same person determination function (S713).

[0317] In the above example, in S711, the face authentication server 10 first performs face matching and determines whether the ID of a specific person obtained as a result of face matching matches the expected ID of the face matching request with the expected ID, but the present disclosure is not limited to this. For example, a person matching the expected ID may be identified first, and face matching may be performed for the identified person. For example, the face authentication server 10 may identify a person matching the expected ID of the face matching request with the expected ID from among registered users, and perform face matching between the face image of the identified person and the face image included in the face matching request with the expected ID. In this case, face matching is performed one-to-one with the face images, so that the face matching can be performed at a high speed.

[0318] <Operation Example 2 of Embodiment 3> Next, a second operation example of the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

[0319] Fig. 18 is a sequence diagram showing an operation example 2 of the face authentication ticket gate system 4 according to the embodiment 3. In Fig. 18, the same processes as those in Fig. 17 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof may be omitted.

[0320] Fig. 18 shows an example in which the facial recognition ticket gate 42 in Fig. 17 stores the face matching result acquired in S706 in the ticket gate determination cache table (after S707) and then transmits ticket gate determination cache information to another facial recognition ticket gate 42. Note that the facial recognition ticket gate #A in Fig. 18 corresponds to the facial recognition ticket gate 42 in Fig. 17, and the facial recognition ticket gate #B acquires the ticket gate determination cache information from the facial recognition ticket gate #A.

[0321] Specifically, the facial recognition ticket gate #A stores the facial matching result acquired in S706 in the ticket gate determination cache table (after S707), and then transmits the ticket gate determination cache information to the facial recognition ticket gate #B (S801).

[0322] The face recognition ticket gate #B stores the acquired ticket gate determination cache information in a ticket gate determination cache table (S802).

[0323] Next, the face recognition ticket gate #B transmits a face matching request with the predicted ID attached ("face matching request with predicted ID" in FIG. 18) to the face recognition server 10 (S803). In the example of FIG. 18, the attached predicted ID is ID=1234.

[0324] The face authentication server 10 performs face matching based on the face matching request with the expected ID (S804). In the example of Fig. 18, the face matching result determines that the ID of the specific person whose matching score is equal to or greater than the authentication threshold is 1234. That is, in the example of Fig. 18, the expected ID of the face matching request with the expected ID matches the ID of the person identified by the face matching. In this case, the ticket gate determination request for the ID is made in S703, and the ticket gate determination response is received in S705, so the face authentication server 10 does not make a ticket gate determination request.

[0325] The face recognition server 10 transmits the face matching result to the face recognition ticket gate #B without making a ticket gate judgment request (S805). Note that the face matching result does not include the ticket gate judgment result. The ID included in the face matching result transmitted here is ID=1234.

[0326] As described above, in the third embodiment, when the face matching result of the user is OK and the user is permitted to pass through the face recognition ticket gate, the face recognition ticket gate tracks the movement of the user. In the third embodiment, in a case where the user is tracked and it is determined that the user is not the same person in the same person determination, and face recognition is required again, the face recognition ticket gate makes a ticket gate determination by referring to the ticket gate determination cache table, and can complete the face recognition process without making a ticket gate determination request to the ticket gate determination device again, thereby shortening the time required for the face recognition process.

[0327] In each of the above-described embodiments, instead of arranging the face recognition server centrally so as to connect to face recognition ticket gates at a plurality of stations, the face recognition server may be arranged on a station-by-station basis, or the configuration of the face recognition server may be mounted inside the face recognition ticket gate. For example, when the performance of an information processing device (e.g., a PC) and / or a processor (e.g., a GPU) included in the information processing device improves and becomes inexpensive and versatile, the face recognition server may be arranged on a station-by-station basis, or the configuration of the face recognition server may be mounted inside the face recognition ticket gate.

[0328] However, if the facial recognition server is installed inside the facial recognition ticket gate, the facial recognition servers inside the facial recognition ticket gates installed at the same ticket gate may share cache information.

[0329] <Summary of the embodiment> A passage permission determination system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a first information processing device and a gate device, and determines whether or not a user identified by the face matching process is authorized to pass through the gate device based on a face matching process based on a face image of the user and an authority determination process for determining whether or not the user identified by the face matching process is authorized to pass through the gate device. The first information processing device performs a first face matching process, and when there is a user whose result of the first face matching process satisfies a second criterion, transmits an authority determination request to a determination device requesting the authority determination process, and when it receives an authority determination result indicating the result of the authority determination process from the determination device and when the result of the first face matching process for the user satisfies a first criterion that is higher than the second criterion, the first information processing device performs the face matching process. The gate device transmits information indicating success and the authority determination result to the gate device, and if the authority determination result is received from the determination device and the result of the first face matching process for the user does not satisfy the first criterion, transmits information indicating face matching failure and the authority determination result to the gate device, and if the received authority determination result indicates that the user has the authority and if the gate device receives information indicating face matching success, it determines to allow the user to pass through the gate device, and if the received authority determination result indicates that the user has the authority and if the gate device receives information indicating face matching failure, it determines to reserve the decision on whether to allow the user to pass through the gate device.

[0330] In this passage permission determination system, if the authority determination result indicates that the user does not have the authority and if information indicating the face matching was successful is received, the gate device determines not to allow the user to pass through the gate device, and if the authority determination result indicates that the user does not have the authority and if information indicating the face matching was unsuccessful is received, it determines to reserve the decision on whether to allow the user to pass through the gate device.

[0331] In this passage permission determination system, when the result of a second face matching process performed before receiving the authority determination result of the user satisfies the second criterion, the first information processing device transmits information indicating that the authority determination process is on hold and the result of the second face matching process to the gate device, and when the gate device receives the information indicating that the authority determination process is on hold, it determines to suspend the determination of whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device.

[0332] In this passage permission determination system, the first information processing device stores the authority determination result of the user who does not satisfy the first criterion when the result of the first face matching process for the user satisfies the second criterion, and if the result of the second face matching process performed after the first face matching process satisfies the first criterion, it transmits information indicating the success of the face matching and the stored authority determination result to the gate device without sending the authority determination request to the determination device, and the gate device determines to allow the user to pass through the gate device when the received authority determination result indicates that the user has the authority and when it receives information indicating the success of the face matching.

[0333] This pass permission determination system further includes a second information processing device different from the first information processing device, and the first information processing device transmits to the second information processing device first cache information indicating that the first information processing device will transmit the rights determination request to the determination device.

[0334] In this passage permission determination system, if the second information processing device performs a third face matching process after receiving the first cache information and before receiving the authority determination result from the first information processing device, it transmits the result of the third face matching process and information indicating that the authority determination process is on hold to the gate device, and if the gate device receives the information indicating that the authority determination process is on hold, it determines to reserve the decision on whether to allow the user to pass through the gate device.

[0335] This pass permission judgment system further includes a second information processing device different from the first information processing device, and the first information processing device transmits to the second information processing device the rights judgment result that the first information processing device received from the judgment device.

[0336] In this passage permission determination system, when the second information processing device performs a third face matching process after receiving the authority determination result from the first information processing device, it transmits the result of the third face matching process and the authority determination result received from the first information processing device to the gate device, and the gate device determines whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device based on the result of the third face matching process and the authority determination result received from the first information processing device.

[0337] A passing permission determination method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is a passing permission determination method in a passing permission determination system having a processor and a memory, which determines whether or not a user identified by the face matching process can pass through a gate device based on a face matching process based on a face image of the user and an authority determination process that determines whether or not the user identified by the face matching process has the authority to pass through the gate device, and the processor determines to allow the user to pass through the gate device when the result of the authority determination process for the user whose result of the first face matching process meets a first criterion indicates that the user has the authority, and determines to reserve the decision on whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device when the result of the authority determination process for the user whose result of the first face matching process does not meet the first criterion and meets a second criterion indicates that the user has the authority.

[0338] In this method for determining whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device, the processor reserves the decision on whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device, and if the result of the second face matching process for the determined user satisfies the first criterion, determines to allow the user to pass through the gate device without performing the authority determination process.

[0339] A program according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is a program that executes a pass permission determination method in a pass permission determination system having a processor and a memory, which determines whether or not a user identified by the face matching process is authorized to pass through a gate device, based on a face matching process based on a face image of the user and an authority determination process that determines whether or not the user identified by the face matching process has the authority to pass through the gate device, and causes the processor to execute a process to determine that the user should be allowed to pass through the gate device if the result of the authority determination process for the user for whom the result of a first face matching process meets a first criterion indicates that the user has the authority, and to determine that the decision on whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device should be withheld if the result of the authority determination process for the user for whom the result of the first face matching process does not meet the first criterion and meets a second criterion indicates that the user has the authority.

[0340] In this program, the processor is caused to execute a process of determining to allow the user to pass through the gate device without performing the authority determination process when the result of a second face matching process for the user for whom it has been determined that the decision on whether to allow the user to pass through the gate device should be withheld satisfies the first criterion.

[0341] A passage permission determination system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure has a first information processing device, a second information processing device different from the first information processing device, and a gate device, and determines whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device based on a face matching process based on a face image of a user and an authority determination process that determines whether or not the user identified by the face matching process has the authority to pass through the gate device, wherein the first information processing device performs a face matching process, and when a result of the face matching process satisfies a predetermined criterion, transmits an authority determination request requesting the authority determination process to a determination device, transmits at least one of first cache information indicating that the first information processing device will send the authority determination request to the determination device, or an authority determination result indicating the result of the authority determination process received from the determination device, to the second information processing device, transmits the result of the face matching process and the authority determination result received from the determination device to the gate device, and the gate device determines whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device based on the result of the face matching process and the authority determination result.

[0342] A passing permission determination system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes an information processing device and a first gate device, and determines whether or not a user can pass through the first gate device based on a face matching process based on a face image of a user and an authority determination process that determines whether or not the user identified by the face matching process has the authority to pass through the gate device. The information processing device transmits an authority determination request to a determination device to request the authority determination process for a user identified by the first face matching process, and transmits to the first gate device a result of the first face matching process, an authority determination result indicating the result of the authority determination process received from the determination device, and a first determination result including identification information of the user. The first gate device transmits to the first gate device an authority determination request to a determination device to request the authority determination process for a user identified by the first face matching process, and transmits to the first gate device a result of the first face matching process, an authority determination result indicating the result of the authority determination process received from the determination device, and an identification information of the user. The determination result is registered in a cache table, and if it is determined based on the first determination result that the user should be allowed to pass through the first gate device, the user is tracked based on an image captured of the user, and if the tracking fails, the identification information of the user registered in the cache table and a face matching request including the image are transmitted to the information processing device, and the information processing device identifies a person included in the image by a second face matching process based on the face matching request, and if the identification information of the user and the identification information of the person match, the result of the second face matching process is transmitted to the first gate device, and the first gate device continues tracking the user based on the result of the second face matching process.

[0343] This passage permission determination system further includes a second gate device, wherein the first gate device transmits the first determination result to the second gate device, and the second gate device stores the first determination result received from the first gate device in a cache table of the second gate device.

[0344] A passing permission determination method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is a passing permission determination method in a passing permission determination system having a processor and a memory, which determines whether or not a user identified by the face matching process has authority to pass through the gate device, based on a face matching process based on a face image of the user and an authority determination process that determines whether or not the user identified by the face matching process has authority to pass through the gate device, wherein the processor registers in a cache table an authority determination result indicating the result of the authority determination process for the user identified by the first face matching process, and a first determination result including identification information of the user, and when it is determined based on the first determination result that the user should be allowed to pass through the first gate device, tracks the user based on an image captured of the user, and when the tracking fails, identifies a person included in the image by a second face matching process, and when the identification information of the user registered in the cache table matches the identification information of the person, continues tracking the user based on the result of the second face matching process.

[0345] The present disclosure can be realized in software, hardware, or software in conjunction with hardware.

[0346] Each functional block used in the description of the above embodiments may be partially or entirely realized as an LSI, which is an integrated circuit, and each process described in the above embodiments may be partially or entirely controlled by one LSI or a combination of LSIs. The LSI may be composed of individual chips, or may be composed of one chip that includes some or all of the functional blocks. The LSI may have data input and output. Depending on the degree of integration, the LSI may be called an IC, a system LSI, a super LSI, or an ultra LSI.

[0347] The method of integration is not limited to LSI, and may be realized by a dedicated circuit, a general-purpose processor, or a dedicated processor. Also, after LSI manufacturing, a programmable FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) or a reconfigurable processor that can reconfigure the connections and settings of circuit cells inside the LSI may be used. The present disclosure may be realized as digital processing or analog processing.

[0348] Furthermore, if a new integrated circuit technology that can replace LSI appears due to the progress of semiconductor technology or a derivative technology, it is possible to integrate the functional blocks using that technology. The application of biotechnology is also a possibility.

[0349] The present disclosure may be implemented in any type of apparatus, device, or system having a communication function (collectively referred to as a communication apparatus). The communication apparatus may include a radio transceiver and processing / control circuitry. The radio transceiver may include a receiver and a transmitter, or both as functions. The radio transceiver (transmitter and receiver) may include a radio frequency (RF) module and one or more antennas. The RF module may include an amplifier, an RF modulator / demodulator, or the like. Non-limiting examples of communication devices include telephones (e.g., cell phones, smartphones, etc.), tablets, personal computers (PCs) (e.g., laptops, desktops, notebooks, etc.), cameras (e.g., digital still / video cameras), digital players (e.g., digital audio / video players), wearable devices (e.g., wearable cameras, smart watches, tracking devices, etc.), game consoles, digital book readers, telehealth and telemedicine devices, communication-enabled vehicles or mobile conveyances (e.g., cars, airplanes, boats, etc.), and combinations of the above devices.

[0350] Communications Equipment includes, but is not limited to portable or mobile equipment, non-portable or fixed equipment, devices and systems of any kind, such as smart home devices (appliances, lighting equipment, smart meters or metering devices, control panels, etc.), vending machines and any other "Things" that may exist on an Internet of Things (IoT) network.

[0351] In recent years, in the field of IoT (Internet of Things) technology, CPS (Cyber ​​Physical Systems) is a new concept that creates new added value by linking information between physical space and cyber space. This CPS concept can also be adopted in the above-mentioned embodiment.

[0352] That is, as a basic configuration of a CPS, for example, an edge server located in a physical space and a cloud server located in a cyberspace can be connected via a network, and processing can be distributed and processed by the processors installed in both servers. Here, each processing data generated in the edge server or the cloud server is preferably generated on a standardized platform, and the use of such a standardized platform can improve the efficiency of building a system including a variety of sensors and IoT application software.

[0353] Communications include data communications via cellular systems, wireless LAN systems, communications satellite systems, etc., as well as data communications via combinations of these.

[0354] A communications apparatus also includes devices, such as controllers and sensors, connected or coupled to a communications device that performs the communications functions described in this disclosure, such as controllers and sensors that generate control and data signals used by the communications device to perform the communications functions of the communications apparatus.

[0355] The communication apparatus also includes infrastructure facilities, such as base stations, access points, and any other apparatus, device, or system that communicates with or controls the various apparatuses listed above, but are not limited to these.

[0356] Although various embodiments have been described above with reference to the drawings, it goes without saying that the present disclosure is not limited to such examples. It is clear that a person skilled in the art can come up with various modified or amended examples within the scope of the claims, and it is understood that these also naturally belong to the technical scope of the present disclosure. In addition, the components in the above-mentioned embodiments may be arbitrarily combined within the scope of the disclosure.

[0357] Although specific examples of the present disclosure have been described in detail above, these are merely examples and do not limit the scope of the claims. The technology described in the claims includes various modifications and alterations of the specific examples exemplified above. [Industrial Applicability]

[0358] An embodiment of the present disclosure is suitable for a face recognition system. [Explanation of symbols]

[0359] 1, 2, 3, 4, 9 Face recognition ticket gate system 10, 20, 30, 90 Face Recognition Server 11, 91 Management Server 12, 42, 92 Face recognition ticket gates 13, 93 Ticket gate detection device 14 Ticket gate determination cash table 35 Ticket gate check cash device

Claims

1. A pass permission determination system having a first information processing device and a gate device, the pass permission determination system determining whether or not a user can pass through the gate device based on a face matching process based on a face image of the user and an authority determination process determining whether or not the user identified by the face matching process has authority to pass through the gate device, The first information processing device includes: performing a first face matching process, and when a user whose result of the first face matching process satisfies a second criterion is present, transmitting an authority determination request to a determination device to request the authority determination process; when receiving an authority determination result indicating a result of the authority determination process from the determination device, and when the result of the first face matching process for the user satisfies a first criterion that is higher than the second criterion, transmitting information indicating a success of face matching and the authority determination result to the gate device; when receiving the authority determination result from the determination device and when the result of the first face matching process for the user does not satisfy the first criterion, transmitting information indicating a face matching failure and the authority determination result to the gate device; The gate device includes: if the received authority determination result indicates that the user has the authority and if information indicating the face matching was successful is received, determining to allow the user to pass through the gate device; if the received authority determination result indicates that the user has the authority and if information indicating a failure in the face matching has been received, determine to reserve a decision on whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device; Passage permission determination system.

2. The gate device includes: if the authority determination result indicates that the user does not have the authority and if the face matching has been successful, determine not to allow the user to pass through the gate device; if the authority determination result indicates that the user does not have the authority and if information indicating a failure of the face matching is received, determine to reserve a decision on whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device; The passage permission determination system according to claim 1 .

3. The first information processing device, when a result of a second face matching process performed before receiving the authority determination result of the user satisfies the second criterion, transmitting information indicating that the authority determination process is pending and the result of the second face matching process to the gate device; The gate device includes: when receiving information indicating that the authority determination process is on hold, determining to hold off on determining whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device; The passage permission determination system according to claim 1 .

4. The first information processing device, storing the result of the first face matching process for the user satisfying the second criterion and the result of the authority determination for the user not satisfying the first criterion; When a result of a second face matching process performed after the first face matching process satisfies the first criterion, transmitting information indicating the success of the face matching and the stored result of the rights determination to the gate device without transmitting the rights determination request to the determination device; The gate device includes: if the received authority determination result indicates that the user has the authority and if information indicating the face matching was successful is received, determine to allow the user to pass through the gate device. The passage permission determination system according to claim 1 .

5. Further comprising a second information processing device different from the first information processing device, The first information processing device, transmitting, to the second information processing device, first cache information indicating that the first information processing device transmits the rights determination request to the determination device; The passage permission determination system according to claim 1 .

6. The second information processing device is when a third face matching process is performed after receiving the first cache information and before receiving the rights determination result from the first information processing device, transmitting a result of the third face matching process and information indicating that the rights determination process is pending to the gate device; The gate device includes: when receiving information indicating that the authority determination process is on hold, determining to hold off on determining whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device; The passage permission determination system according to claim 5 .

7. Further comprising a second information processing device different from the first information processing device; The first information processing device, transmitting the rights determination result received by the first information processing device from the determination device to the second information processing device; The passage permission determination system according to claim 1 .

8. The second information processing device is When a third face matching process is performed after receiving the authority determination result from the first information processing device, the result of the third face matching process and the authority determination result received from the first information processing device are transmitted to the gate device; The gate device includes: determining whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device based on a result of the third face matching process and the authority determination result received from the second information processing device; The passage permission determination system according to claim 7.

9. A method for determining whether or not a user is permitted to pass through a gate device, the method comprising: a process for determining whether or not a user is permitted to pass through a gate device, the process being based on a face matching process based on a face image of the user; and an authority determination process for determining whether or not the user identified by the face matching process is authorized to pass through the gate device, the method comprising the steps of: The processor, determining that the user is allowed to pass through the gate device when a result of the authority determination process for the user for whom a result of the first face matching process satisfies a first criterion indicates that the user has the authority; when the result of the first face matching process does not satisfy the first criterion and the result of the authority determination process for the user who satisfies the second criterion indicates that the user has the authority, determine to reserve the decision on whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device; Passage permission determination method.

10. The processor, When a result of the second face matching process for the user for whom it has been determined that the determination as to whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device is to be withheld satisfies the first criterion, the authority determination process is not performed and the user is allowed to pass through the gate device. The method for determining whether or not a passage is permitted according to claim 9.

11. A program for executing a passing permission determination method for determining whether or not a user can pass through a gate device, based on a face matching process based on a face image of the user and an authority determination process for determining whether or not the user identified by the face matching process has the authority to pass through the gate device, in a passing permission determination system having a processor and a memory, the program comprising: The processor, determining that the user is allowed to pass through the gate device when a result of the authority determination process for the user for whom a result of the first face matching process satisfies a first criterion indicates that the user has the authority; when the result of the first face matching process does not satisfy the first criterion and the result of the authority determination process for the user who satisfies the second criterion indicates that the user has the authority, determine to reserve the decision on whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device; A program that executes a process.

12. The processor, when a result of the second face matching process for the user for whom it has been determined that the determination as to whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device should be withheld satisfies the first criterion, it is determined that the user should be allowed to pass through the gate device without performing the authority determination process. The program according to claim 11, which causes processing to be executed.

13. A pass permission determination system having a first information processing device, a second information processing device different from the first information processing device, and a gate device, the pass permission determination system determining whether or not a user specified by the face matching process is allowed to pass through the gate device based on a face matching process based on a face image of the user and an authority determination process determining whether or not the user specified by the face matching process is authorized to pass through the gate device, The first information processing device, performing a face matching process, and if a result of the face matching process satisfies a predetermined criterion, transmitting an authority determination request to a determination device to request the authority determination process; Transmitting at least one of first cache information indicating that the first information processing device transmits the rights decision request to the determination device or a rights decision result indicating a result of the rights decision process received from the determination device to the second information processing device; Transmitting the result of the face matching process and the authority determination result received from the determination device to the gate device; The gate device includes: determining whether or not to allow the user to pass through the gate device based on a result of the face matching process and a result of the authority determination; Passage permission determination system.

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