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SIS awarded patent for 3D image rendering for biometrics
NEWS/COMMENT ...Continued from page 3 A tender notice in the Official Journal of the European Union says the Home Office may also require ‘optional future services’ enabling remote checks, which may include biometric chip reading technology for download and biometric chip reading hardware. The tender also includes a web-based interface, data storage, biometric chip reading technology and related support services.
Facial recognition system is to replace fingerprint at South Korean Airport
A
facial recognition system will replace fingerprint recognition at Incheon Airport from next year, according to South Korean News website, Chosum Ilbo. The system scans the photo on a passport to store in a database and then takes a photo of the passport holder to make a comparison. The airport has been operating two automatic clearance gates with a facial recognition system on a trial basis since last year, and another 14 will be set up this year, reports Chosum Ilbo. The system is supplied by Samsung SDS.
research
German scientists develop wild primate facial recognition
G
erman scientists are developing a facial recognition designed to identify primates in the wild, allowing scientists to analyse video footage of wild apes more effectively. The SAISBECO (Semi-Automated Audiovisual Species and Individual Identification System for Behavioral Ecological Research and Conservation) project is a joint effort of the Fraunhofer Institutes for Integrated Circuits IIS and Digital Media Technology, and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. In the wild poor lighting and obstacles cause recognition rates to drop to 60%. To improve that, researchers are working on more algorithms that could identify individual apes based solely on individual biometric features such as the eyes, nose and mouth. 12
Biometric Technology Today
SIS awarded patent for Austin Technology 3D image rendering for Incubator to host biometrics WanderID
S
patial Integrated Systems has been awarded a US patent for a system and method for generating structured light for three-dimensional image rendering that it plans to use for applications including biometrics. Ali Farsaie, president and CEO of SIS, says, “This latest technology (3D Snapshot) represents a significant leap forward in the area of three-dimensional imaging and rendering using cost-effective equipment.” SIS plans to use the new technology for applications including biometrics, robotics navigation, reverse engineering and design prototyping.
T
actical Information Systems (TIS) has joined the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), a unit of the IC2 Institute of The University of Texas at Austin, in its IT focus area. Tactical Information Systems becomes part of the incubator after having won the Austin Chamber of Commerce award. TIS provides cloud-based biometric matching of fingerprints, palm prints, and iris and facial images. The company’s newest product, WanderID, uses facial recognition technology to identify individuals who cannot reliably communicate in case of emergency, such as Alzheimer’s patients and young children.
COMMENT Biometric Technology Today recently carried a report on the convergence of CCTV and facial recognition technologies. Research company HRC predicted the global installed base of 45m CCTV system will drive a fusion of CCTV with biometrics. In the same issue, privacy bodies were expressing deep concerns about privacy in a future where users lost control of images of themselves on Facebook. Those predictions have already begun to come true. London rioters were widely identified by CCTV, most the old fashioned way through recognition by police forces and others who knew them but some were recognised by facial recognition systems being trialled ahead of planned implementation at the 2012 London Olympics. There were concerns about vigilantism as a Google group independent of law enforcement agencies set out to match images of rioters captured on CCTV with Facebook and other social media images. Meanwhile in the US researchers at Carnegie Mellon have used an off-the-shelf face recognition system, cloud computing and publicly available information from social network sites to identify photos of strangers and gain their personal information even as far as their social security number. Anyone who has used Facebook’s automatic phototagging feature may find this a little hard to believe as its technology is far from reliable and is often amusingly inaccurate, matching genders and ages wrongly by a wide margin.
Yet as one factor among several it is a powerful tool, so much so that the other big story at the moment is the adoption of facial recognition for mobile payment authentication. So far biometric authentication for mobile payments has rested on fingerprint access to the mobile device or voice recognition at the call centre end. Increasingly as mobile devices are able to produce photographic images of their users, facial recognition is being added, with launches over the summer from USR and Facecash of a facial modality for user authentication for mobile payments. At present these are based on traditional human facial recognition but clearly there would be potential for integration with facial recognition systems. Researchers are also working on using the camera in mobile devices for remote realtime authentication using photographs of the users’ fingerprints – more information about that coming soon. Professor Brian Lovell, NICTA and The University of Queensland, Australia will discuss real-time face-in-the-crowd technology, recognition advanced enough to sift through large crowds of people, none of whom are consciously facing the CCTV cameras at the Biometrics 2011 show in London next month. Our show preview on page 11 provides a flavour of this and the many other interesting sessions at Biometrics 2011. The biometrics industry is an exciting place to be and there is a lot to share and discuss. I hope to see you there. Tracey Caldwell
September 2011
Facial recognition system is to replace fingerprint at South Korean Airport
A
facial recognition system will replace fingerprint recognition at Incheon Airport from next year, according to South Korean News website, Chosum Ilbo. The system scans the photo on a passport to store in a database and then takes a photo of the passport holder to make a comparison. The airport has been operating two automatic clearance gates with a facial recognition system on a trial basis since last year, and another 14 will be set up this year, reports Chosum Ilbo. The system is supplied by Samsung SDS.
research
German scientists develop wild primate facial recognition
G
erman scientists are developing a facial recognition designed to identify primates in the wild, allowing scientists to analyse video footage of wild apes more effectively. The SAISBECO (Semi-Automated Audiovisual Species and Individual Identification System for Behavioral Ecological Research and Conservation) project is a joint effort of the Fraunhofer Institutes for Integrated Circuits IIS and Digital Media Technology, and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. In the wild poor lighting and obstacles cause recognition rates to drop to 60%. To improve that, researchers are working on more algorithms that could identify individual apes based solely on individual biometric features such as the eyes, nose and mouth. 12
Biometric Technology Today
SIS awarded patent for Austin Technology 3D image rendering for Incubator to host biometrics WanderID
S
patial Integrated Systems has been awarded a US patent for a system and method for generating structured light for three-dimensional image rendering that it plans to use for applications including biometrics. Ali Farsaie, president and CEO of SIS, says, “This latest technology (3D Snapshot) represents a significant leap forward in the area of three-dimensional imaging and rendering using cost-effective equipment.” SIS plans to use the new technology for applications including biometrics, robotics navigation, reverse engineering and design prototyping.
T
actical Information Systems (TIS) has joined the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), a unit of the IC2 Institute of The University of Texas at Austin, in its IT focus area. Tactical Information Systems becomes part of the incubator after having won the Austin Chamber of Commerce award. TIS provides cloud-based biometric matching of fingerprints, palm prints, and iris and facial images. The company’s newest product, WanderID, uses facial recognition technology to identify individuals who cannot reliably communicate in case of emergency, such as Alzheimer’s patients and young children.
COMMENT Biometric Technology Today recently carried a report on the convergence of CCTV and facial recognition technologies. Research company HRC predicted the global installed base of 45m CCTV system will drive a fusion of CCTV with biometrics. In the same issue, privacy bodies were expressing deep concerns about privacy in a future where users lost control of images of themselves on Facebook. Those predictions have already begun to come true. London rioters were widely identified by CCTV, most the old fashioned way through recognition by police forces and others who knew them but some were recognised by facial recognition systems being trialled ahead of planned implementation at the 2012 London Olympics. There were concerns about vigilantism as a Google group independent of law enforcement agencies set out to match images of rioters captured on CCTV with Facebook and other social media images. Meanwhile in the US researchers at Carnegie Mellon have used an off-the-shelf face recognition system, cloud computing and publicly available information from social network sites to identify photos of strangers and gain their personal information even as far as their social security number. Anyone who has used Facebook’s automatic phototagging feature may find this a little hard to believe as its technology is far from reliable and is often amusingly inaccurate, matching genders and ages wrongly by a wide margin.
Yet as one factor among several it is a powerful tool, so much so that the other big story at the moment is the adoption of facial recognition for mobile payment authentication. So far biometric authentication for mobile payments has rested on fingerprint access to the mobile device or voice recognition at the call centre end. Increasingly as mobile devices are able to produce photographic images of their users, facial recognition is being added, with launches over the summer from USR and Facecash of a facial modality for user authentication for mobile payments. At present these are based on traditional human facial recognition but clearly there would be potential for integration with facial recognition systems. Researchers are also working on using the camera in mobile devices for remote realtime authentication using photographs of the users’ fingerprints – more information about that coming soon. Professor Brian Lovell, NICTA and The University of Queensland, Australia will discuss real-time face-in-the-crowd technology, recognition advanced enough to sift through large crowds of people, none of whom are consciously facing the CCTV cameras at the Biometrics 2011 show in London next month. Our show preview on page 11 provides a flavour of this and the many other interesting sessions at Biometrics 2011. The biometrics industry is an exciting place to be and there is a lot to share and discuss. I hope to see you there. Tracey Caldwell
September 2011