Representation of objects in a volumetric frequency domain with application to face recognition

A novel method for representing 3-D objects that unifies viewer and model centered object representations is presented. A unified 3-D frequency-domain representation (called volumetric/iconic spectral signatures-V/ISS) encapsulates both the spatial structure of the object and a continuum of its views in the same data structure. The frequency-domain image of an object viewed from any direction can be directly extracted employing an extension of the projection slice theorem, where each Fourier-transformed view is a planar slice of the volumetric frequency representation. The V/ISS representation call be employed for pose-invariant recognition of complex objects such as faces. The recognition and pose estimation is based on an efficient matching algorithm in a four dimensional Fourier space. Experimental examples of pose estimation and recognition of faces are also presented