Face recognition from face profile using dynamic time warping

Most of the current profile recognition algorithms depend on the correct detection of fiducial points and the determination of relationships among these fiducial points. Unfortunately, some features such as concave nose, protruding lips, flat chin, etc., make detection of such points difficult and unreliable. Also, the number and position of fiducial points vary when expression changes even for the same person. In this paper, a curvature-based matching approach is presented, which does not require the extraction of all the fiducial points, but uses information contained in the profile. The scale space filtering is used to smooth the profile and then the curvature of the filtered profile is computed. Using the curvature value, the fiducial points, such as nasion and throat can be reliably extracted using a fast and simple method. Then a dynamic time warping method is applied to match the face profile portion from nasion to throat based on the curvature value. Experiments are performed on two profile face image databases. Recognition rates and conclusion are presented and discussed.