ES2276637A1 - Iris color determination method for identifying people or animals involves performing varying stages of analysis to obtained image of iris to determine exact color and shade and define color code - Google Patents

Abstract

An iridoscopic camera obtains the image of the iris of a person or animal. The image undergoes varying stages of analysis to determine the exact color and shade and define the precise color code of the iris in a reproducible manner.

Description

Procedure for obtaining colors from of the iris

The present specification refers to, as its title indicates, to a procedure for obtaining colors to from the iris that allows its exact coding for both personal or animal identification applications, such as for any type of industrial applications, characterized in that part of an image obtained with an iridoscopic camera, to subsequently perform an image analysis in several phases which allows you to determine the exact colors with their nuances, obtaining a color code that defines perfectly and of a Reproducible way the color of the iris.

The iris is the most anterior part of the uvea of the eye and consists of a disc-shaped pigmented membrane, perforated in the center by the pupillary hole. Histologically the iris is formed by a stroma and a pigmented epithelium in its back face, which determines the eye color of each individual depending on the quantity and quality of melanin.

The iris contains pigmented cells in grade variable, which have elongated extensions. The role of pigmented cells in the eye is to eliminate light rays deviated In the iris they are responsible for their color, and therefore the eye color The amount of melanocytes in the stroma Determine variations in eye color. If there are few melanocytes, the color is blue, because it derives from the light reflected by the pigment of the cells on the posterior surface of the iris. TO as the amount of stromal melanocytes increases, the color it changes from blue to gray, green, brown and black tones with its Different nuances In albinos, in whom the pigment is missing or It is scarce, the iris appears pink due to its abundant irrigation.

The procedure presented solves the technical problem of the distinction of iris colors, with their exact nuances There is currently no method through which to make a classification that picks up the colors and shades concrete that predominates in the iris of the eyes. Nowadays, the color of the iris is mainly classified by means of the simple visual appreciation, which catalogs the colors of the iris in function of elementary colors (for example "green eyes" or "brown" eyes or "eyes blue-green ", or by affinities subjective (for example "sea green", "ash gray", "honey brown", "sky blue"). This type of classification It is widely used worldwide, even in documents officers or personal records, to define the coloration of the iris of people or animals (eg dogs or cats), in order to define your external appearance as well as possible. However, this classification presents many problems, causing frequent identifying errors, mainly due to its subjectivism and to the lack of precision and scientific rigor in the classification. Do not all blue eyes are the same, as there are many ranges of blue, and what some people consider blue eyes for another person can clearly be gray eyes.

Some alternative methods of identifying people by means of the iris are known, as set out in the Spanish Patent with application number 200300424 " Biometric identification system of people by iris analysis ", in European Patent 92921735 " Identification system Biometric personnel based on the analysis of the iris "or in the same European Patent 01274188," Recognition of the iris pattern and alignment of the iris ", but these procedures use biometric identification systems only based on measures and formal characteristics of the iris, trying to codify its shape and its possible irregularities, which implies a problem of enormous complexity and possible inaccuracies or indefinitions in the result.

Likewise, procedures such as that described in US6829374, which protects a method for measure changes and variations in eye color in a certain time interval, with special emphasis on statistical procedure and measurement of deviations, but it has the inconvenient that its main interest is the variation of value, not its absolute value, in addition to the measurements are made in a partial area, which can introduce inaccuracies. further This procedure is specialized in measuring the changes that are produced in the iris by the passage of time in affected individuals for eye diseases or in patients treated with some type of  medication, not being specifically applicable to obtain the iris color for industrial or identifying use.

We can also find procedures such as  claimed in US6233395, which it shares with the previous one measurement in a restricted area, not across the iris, with the inaccuracies that entails, in addition to comparing irises of a same individual for the purpose of determining the effects of diseases and medications in your iris. This method has the inconvenience of being very specific for applications pharmacological and toxicological, as well as monitoring of patients treated with anti-glaucoma medication, not being specifically applicable to obtain the color of the iris for industrial or identifying use.

Psychologists claim that color produces a emotional effect on people. To such an extent the color is important that this is used as a tool in certain healing processes (technique called chromotherapy). Likewise there is a technical need to get the exact definition and objective of the color of eyes, with the purpose of applying said color to any industrial processes, such as: elaboration, coloring or dyeing of everyday objects, well be it a garment, a frame of glasses, an eye shadow ... with the iris color thus obtained.

To solve the problem in the as for the definition of the color of the iris, it has devised the procedure of obtaining colors from the iris object of the present invention; which consists in obtaining of the colors that form a polychrome base such as the iris of the eye (both of a person and an animal), defining them clearly and without possibility of error, in a reproducible way to subsequently apply these colors industrially.

The procedure consists of three parts main, performed sequentially, being the last optional:

a - Capturing a color photographic image of the iris, preferably using an iridoscopic camera or iridoscope, with digital connection to send the image to a computer system.

b - Image analysis and determination of exact colors with their nuances, obtaining a color code that perfectly and reproducibly define the color of the iris, preferably using a computer system by means of a specific software, although it can also be done manual.

c - If you wish to express such color in a specific industrial application, and depending on the color code obtained, the dyes, dyes, etc. are chosen. appropriate for your use (for example, tinting clothes by means of a digital textile printer).

Part b of image analysis for color determination comprises a series of phases sequential processing:

Phase 1 - Conversion of the original image (in color) in a grayscale image, since at the time of processing an image is easier to obtain the outline of the iris.

Phase 2 - Application to the image of a filter Gaussian to soften it by eliminating atypical pixels.

Phase 3 - Detection of contour points, for example using Canny's algorithm, so that the process of Iris detection is faster and more efficient.

Phase 4 - Location of the iris from contour obtained, for example using the Hough transform circular.

Phase 5 - Once the exact contour is located of the iris, it is superimposed on the original color image and apply Gaussian techniques to normalize colors.

Phase 6 - It is taken as the representative color of the the one with the highest frequency (statistical fashion) or an average of same from the histogram of the image. As a result get a color code, preferably using the model RGB color up to 48 bits.

The RGB color model is a standard widely known in the computer and industrial field that uses an additive model in which the colors red, green and blue They are combined in different ways to create other colors. For indicate in what proportion each color is mixed a value is assigned in the range of natural numbers (0-65536) to each of the primary colors so that the value 0 (minimum) means that it does not intervene in the mixture and 65536 (maximum) that intervene as much as possible. The higher each value, the understand that it brings more intensity to the mix. This values they always occur in the order red, green, blue (corresponding to the acronym RGB, Red-Green-Blue in English). For example, black corresponds to the RGB code (0,0,0) on White to RGB (65536, 65536, 65536) Red to RGB (65536.0.0) and the Yellow to RGB (65536, 65536.0).

This procedure of obtaining colors to starting from the iris that is presented, provides multiple advantages over the systems available today, being the most important which allows an exact classification of the colors of the eyes, attending to the urgent need to describe so reliable the "eye color of the individual" data on the files personnel who require it, for example an identification card,  a descriptive sheet of a model, etc.

It also has a great advantage in the field animal, allowing to specify the section "eye color", both in the characteristic documentation of the animals (mandatory in many countries), as in the contests where describe the ideal patterns of the races according to physical and aesthetic parameters, among which frequently It includes eye color.

We must not forget to also highlight the great advantage that favors its use to color or dye objects of daily use according to the color of the eyes, thus being able to associate the binomial between eye colors and object colors. Examples of These objects can be T-shirts, necklaces, scarves, curtains, glasses frames, etc ...

To better understand the purpose of this invention, an embodiment has been shown in the attached drawing preferential practice of the procedure of obtaining colors to from the iris. In that plane, figure -1- shows a diagram of general blocks of the procedure.

Figure -2- shows a detailed diagram of phase blocks comprising the part of the procedure of Image analysis

The procedure of obtaining colors to starting from the iris, object of the present invention, consists, as it can be seen in the annexed plan, of three main parts, performed sequentially, the last one being optional:

a - Capture, using a camera iridoscopic (1), of a color photographic image (2) of the iris, preferably using a digital connection to send the Image to a computer system.

b - Analysis (3) of the photographic image in color (2) previously obtained, determining as a result a color code (4) that defines perfectly and in a way reproducible the exact colors of the iris with its nuances. This analysis (3) of the color photographic image (2) will be performed preferably using a computer system by means of a specific software, although it can also be done manual.

c - Depending on the color code (4) obtained, dyes, dyes, ... appropriate for the application are chosen specific industrial (5) that allows to obtain as a result final products (6) colored with the same iris color.

The analysis part (3) of the image color photographic (2) for the determination of the color code (4) comprises a series of sequential processing phases:

Phase 1 - Conversion of the original image (in color) in a grayscale image (7), since at the time of processing an image is easier to obtain the outline of the iris.

Phase 2 - Application to the image of a filter Gaussian (8) to soften it by eliminating atypical pixels.

Phase 3 - Detection of contour points (9), for example, using Canny's algorithm, so that the Iris detection process is faster and more efficient.

Phase 4 - Locate the iris from the contour obtained by, for example, the circular Hough transform (10)

Phase 5 - Once the exact contour is located of the iris, it is superimposed on the original color image (2) and apply Gaussian techniques to normalize colors (11).

Phase 6 - It is taken as the representative color of the the one with the highest frequency (statistical fashion) or an average of same (12) from the histogram of the image. As a result get a color code (4), preferably using the RGB color model up to 48 bits.

A description is voluntarily omitted detailed of the rest of the particularities of the procedure that presents or of the component elements that integrate it, because we believe that the rest of these particularities They are not subject to any claim.

Once nature is sufficiently described of the present invention, as well as a way of putting it into practice, we only have to add that its description is not limiting, being able to make some variations, both in materials and in shapes or sizes, as long as these variations do not alter the essentiality of the characteristics claimed in continuation.

Claims (7)

1. Procedure for obtaining colors from the iris that allows its exact coding, both for personal or animal identification applications, and for any type of industrial applications, characterized in that in a first part a color photographic image is captured (2) of the iris, preferably using an iridoscopic camera (1) equipped with a digital connection to send the image to a computer system, to continue with a second part of analysis (3) of the color photographic image (2) previously obtained, determining how The result is a color code (4) that perfectly and reproducibly defines the exact colors of the iris with its nuances. 2. Method of obtaining colors from the iris, according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the analysis (3) of the color photographic image (2) for the determination of the color code (4) comprises a series of sequential phases of processing, starting with a first phase of conversion of the original image (in color) into a grayscale image (7), to continue with a second phase of application to the image of a Gaussian filter (8) to soften it by eliminating Atypical data, continuing with a third phase of detection of the contour points (9), which is followed by a fourth phase of localization of the iris from the obtained contour (10), is followed by a fifth phase of superposition of said contour on the original image in color (2) and application of Gaussian techniques to normalize the colors (11), to finish a sixth phase (12) that takes as the representative color of the iris the most frequent color (fashion and statistics) or an average of them based on the histogram of the image, resulting in a color code (4). 3. Procedure for obtaining colors from the iris, according to the preceding claims, characterized in that the third phase of detection of the contour points (9) is performed by the Canny algorithm. 4. Procedure for obtaining colors from the iris, according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the fourth phase of locating the iris from the contour obtained (10) is performed by the circular Hough transform. 5. Procedure for obtaining colors a from the iris according to claims 1 and 2, characterized because the color code (4) obtained as a result is encoded using RGB color model up to 48 bits. 6. Procedure for obtaining colors from the iris, according to the preceding claims, characterized in that the analysis (3) of the color photographic image (2) for the determination of the color code (4) will be carried out using a computer system by Specific software 7. Procedure for obtaining colors from the iris, according to the preceding claims, characterized in that in an optional development the appropriate dyes, dyes, ... are chosen, depending on the color code (4) previously obtained, for the application specific industrial (5) that allows to obtain as a result the final products (6) colored with the same color of the iris.