Internal report, IR-INI 96-05, Institut für Neuroinformatik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany, 15 pages (1996) (bibtex, paper.ps.gz, paper.ps.gz, sourceCode.tar.gz)

Face recognition by dynamic link matching.

Laurenz Wiskott and Christoph von der Malsburg


Abstract: We present here a system for invariant and robust recognition of objects from camera images. The system aspires both to be a model for biological object vision (at least an ontogenetically early form of it) and to be at the cutting edge of technological achievement. Our model is based on the principles of temporal feature binding and dynamic link matching. Objects are stored in the form of two-dimensional aspects. These are competitively matched against current images. During the matching process, complete matrices of dynamic links between the image and all models are refined by a process of rapid self-organization, the final state connecting only corresponding points in image and object models. As data format for representing images we use local sets (``jets'') of Gabor-based wavelets. We have tested the performance of our system by having it recognize human faces against data bases of more than one hundred images. The system is invariant with respect to retinal position, and it is robust with respect to head rotation, scale, facial deformation and illumination.
The source code for this model is available by anonymous ftp and respective simulation instructions are given in this report.

Keywords: neural networks, dynamic link matching, face recognition, translation invariance, window of attention


Relevant Project:


December 8,1998, Laurenz Wiskott, http://www.neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/PEOPLE/wiskott/