JP3337913B2 - Iris imaging method and imaging device thereof - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for photographing an image of a human iris used for collating or recognizing an individual.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, in places where confidentiality is required in government offices, companies, schools, and the like, in order to control entry and exit, the identity of a person trying to enter and exit has been confirmed. As a method of confirming the identity, patterns such as a retina, a fingerprint, and an iris are widely used. In particular, in recent years, a method using an iris pattern has attracted attention because it is easy to collect a pattern, there is no psychological resistance to collecting a pattern, and the data amount of the pattern is small. In this identification method using the iris, the iris pattern of a person permitted to enter and exit is previously collected and stored, and when the person actually enters and exits, the iris pattern is collected again, and the extracted iris pattern is obtained. It is determined whether or not the pattern matches the iris pattern stored in advance.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a device for identifying an individual, and FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a structure of a device for imaging an iris which is a part of the device. In the personal identification device including the iris imaging device 100 and the iris pattern processing device 200, the iris imaging device 100 captures an iris image, extracts an iris pattern from the captured iris image, and outputs the iris pattern. Registers the extracted iris pattern in the storage unit, and executes collation and recognition of an individual using the iris pattern. In the iris imaging apparatus 100, a person standing on the front of the apparatus and capturing an image of the iris can move the movable reading unit 10
When the start switch 100b on the front of the movable reading unit 100a is depressed, the illumination 100c below the movable reading unit 100a is pressed.
Irradiates the eyeball with light. The image focus is adjusted by adjusting the distance and angle between the eye and the apparatus while viewing the image of the eyeball projected on the display 100f in the movable reading unit 100a by the light reflected by the eyeball from the window 100d. When focused, the camera 100g located at the bottom of the movable reading unit 100a captures an image of the eyeball reflected by the half mirror 100e. An iris pattern is collected from the captured image of the eyeball by the control unit 100h, and the collected iris pattern is output to the iris pattern processing device 200. This completes the acquisition of the iris pattern.

[0004]

However, when an eyeball is imaged by a conventional iris imaging apparatus, as shown in FIG.
A part of the light from c is reflected by the lens 100s of the spectacles, etc., and the camera 100g
Capture an image with t. The reflected light 100t from the eyeglass lens 100s or the like becomes noise in the iris image, so that it is difficult to collect a good iris pattern. If an iris pattern is acquired from an image of a defective iris and identification is performed based on the iris pattern, the accuracy of identification will be degraded or the identification will be impossible.

To avoid such a problem, FIG.
By slightly shifting the face in the horizontal direction as shown in FIG.
However, a method of avoiding entering the camera 100g from the window 100d is adopted. However, it is not easy to judge how much the face direction should be changed to prevent the reflected light 100t from the eyeglass lens 100s or the like, and if the face direction is largely changed, it will come in. There has been a problem that the reflected light from the power eye cannot reach the camera 100g and an iris image cannot be captured.

[0006]

The present invention employs the following structure in order to solve the above problems. <Structure 1> Light is irradiated to the human eye at one incident angle, and an image of the eye is photographed by the reflected light to obtain an iris pattern ,
The quality of the captured eyeball image is determined by a predetermined threshold.
If the image is not good
Irradiates light to the eye at an incident angle different from the other angle of incidence of the primary, the imaging method of the iris characterized by capturing an image of the eye again. <Description> In the iris imaging method according to this configuration, first, an image of the human eye is shot by irradiating light to the human eye at a first incident angle,
The quality of the image is determined based on a predetermined threshold . Then, when it is determined that the image is not good, light is irradiated again at a second incident angle different from the first incident angle to photograph an image of an eyeball. Further, when it is determined that the image of the eyeball due to the light at the second incident angle is not good, the eyeball is irradiated with light at a third incident angle different from both the first incident angle and the second incident angle. Take an image. As described above, by successively changing the angle of incidence and photographing the image of the eyeball, it is possible to obtain a good image exceeding a predetermined standard. As a result, it is possible to obtain a high quality iris pattern based on the obtained good eyeball image, or more strictly, based on the image of the iris portion.

<Structure 2> Light is irradiated to the human eyeball at one incident angle, and the image of the eyeball is inverted.
Shoot to get an iris pattern by the emitted light,
The quality of the captured eyeball image is determined by the eyes included in the image.
Judging based on the amount of diffuse reflection from the mirror, the image is not good
If it is determined that the incident angle is different from one incident angle
Irradiate the eyeball with light and retake the image of the eyeball
An iris imaging method that is a feature. <Description> In the imaging method of the iris in this configuration is determined based on the quality of the captured eye image, the amount of light irregularly reflected Ri by <br/> the lens or the like of the eyeglass that put the eyeball image . Therefore, an image of the eyeball in which the image of the iris portion is good can be obtained.
An iris pattern can be obtained with good quality.

[0008] In <Configuration 3> Configuration 1, captured images of the eye binarizes,-out based on the binarized image, the imaging method of the iris, characterized in that to determine the acceptability of the images . <Explanation> In the iris imaging method having this configuration, each pixel represented by a multi-level value is represented by a binary value with respect to a certain threshold value regarding luminance in the captured image of the eyeball, and the binarized image is obtained. Based on the eyeball image , the quality of the eyeball image is detected.
As a result, it is possible to easily detect only noise caused by irregular reflection by a lens of spectacles having extremely high luminance.

<Structure 4> An iris imaging method characterized in that near-infrared light is used as light to irradiate a human eyeball. <Description> In the iris imaging method according to this configuration, an image of the eyeball is captured by irradiating the eyeball with near-infrared rays that cannot be sensed by humans. Therefore, even if the incident angle of irradiation changes one after another, the person who is irradiated with the light does not need to feel discomfort due to flicker.

<Structure 5> An illumination array unit composed of a plurality of light- emitting elements for emitting light by emitting a predetermined light-emitting element to a human eyeball, and forming an iris pattern by light reflected from an image of the eyeball. The imaging unit to be photographed to obtain and the quality of the eyeball image captured by the imaging unit
The image processing unit determines whether the image is defective.
If the camera is turned off, the eyeballs are illuminated at different angles of incidence.
Control the light-emitting array to emit light from other light-emitting elements
An iris imaging apparatus , comprising: control means for controlling the operation of a photographing unit. <Description> In the iris imaging device having this configuration, the illumination array unit including a plurality of light emitting elements irradiates light to the human eyeball, and captures an image of the eyeball including the iris image based on the light reflected by the eyeball. I do. Therefore, by selecting one or more light-emitting elements, light can be emitted from various angles, so that a good image can be easily obtained.

<Structure 6> In Structure 5, one light emitting element of the illumination array unit is used at the time of photographing.
An iris image pickup device characterized in that only light is emitted. <Description> In the iris imaging device according to this configuration, in the illumination array unit including a plurality of light-emitting elements, first, an image of an eyeball is captured based on light emitted by one light-emitting element, and then the other light-emitting elements Thus, the operation of photographing an image of the eyeball based on the light irradiated can be performed continuously. Therefore, since light can be emitted to the eyeball at various angles, it is possible to select an angle that can further reduce noise such as diffuse reflection by a lens of spectacles, so that an image with such noise suppressed can be easily obtained. It becomes possible.

<Structure 7> An iris image pickup apparatus according to Structure 5, wherein the illumination array section comprises a plurality of light emitting elements arranged in a line. <Explanation> In the iris imaging device having this configuration, a plurality of light emitting elements arranged in a line, which constitute an illumination array unit, can sequentially irradiate the eyeball with light at different angles one by one. Therefore, an image of the spectacles can be taken based on the light irradiated at different angles, so that it is possible to suppress diffuse reflection by a lens or the like of the spectacles and obtain a good iris pattern.

<Structure 8> An iris image pickup device according to Structure 5, wherein the illumination array section comprises a plurality of light emitting elements arranged in a circle. <Description> With the iris imaging device having this configuration, it is possible to obtain the same effects as those of the iris imaging device of Configuration 7.

<Structure 9> An iris image pickup device according to Structure 5, wherein the illumination array section comprises a plurality of light emitting elements arranged in a radial pattern. <Description> With the iris imaging device having this configuration, it is possible to obtain the same effects as those of the iris imaging devices of configurations 7 and 8.

[0015]

[0016]

[0017]

[0018]

<Structure 10 > An iris imaging apparatus according to Structure 5, wherein the illumination array section is formed of a light emitting element for radiating near infrared rays, and the photographing section is formed of a near infrared camera responsive to near infrared rays. <Description> iris image pickup apparatus according to this configuration, the illumination array section including a plurality of light emitting elements for irradiating near infrared rays are sequentially irradiated with near infrared rays at different incident angles to the eyeball, shadow shooting is the near infrared To capture an image of the eyeball. Therefore, since near-infrared rays that cannot be perceived by humans are radiated to the eyeball, even when the incident angle is changed one after another, humans who radiate near-infrared rays to the eyeball should not feel discomfort due to flickering. Become.

[0020] <Configuration 11> and illumination array comprising a plurality of light emitting elements for irradiating light to the human eye, the shadow Taking you take an image of the eye by light reflected to the eye, one light emitting element Image processing for judging the quality of an image of an eyeball photographed through irradiated light based on a predetermined threshold value, and obtaining an iris pattern from an image of an iris portion for an image of the eyeball exceeding the threshold value Iris pattern comparison unit for comparing a newly obtained iris pattern with an iris pattern already stored in the iris pattern storage unit. If the image taken by the light of one light emitting element does not exceed the threshold, by repeating the image again with the light of the other light emitting element, Take a good eyeball image exceeding the value, based on the image of the iris part in the good eyeball image, to obtain an iris pattern, the iris pattern comparison unit, the obtained iris pattern, A personal identification device for identifying an individual by comparing the pattern with an iris pattern stored in an iris pattern storage unit. <Explanation> In the personal identification device having this configuration, the iris pattern comparison section includes a good iris pattern obtained as a result of a configuration similar to the configuration 13 and a plurality of iris patterns stored in the iris pattern storage section in advance. By comparing with
Who owns the iris pattern, or
It performs personal verification, personal recognition, and the like, such as whether or not the user is the principal. Therefore, since the similarity of the iris pattern is compared based on the good iris pattern acquired based on the good iris image, the individual verification and the individual recognition can be performed with high accuracy.

[0021]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

<Specific Example> An iris imaging device of the present invention and a personal identification device using the same will be described with reference to an embodiment. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a personal identification device of a specific example. The personal identification device captures an iris and extracts an iris pattern from the iris image, and (1) registers the extracted iris pattern; and (2) registers the extracted iris. The pattern is compared with any one of a plurality of iris patterns stored in advance as a database. (3) By searching the database for an iris pattern that is the same as the extracted iris pattern, An iris pattern processing device 20 having a function of recognizing the owner of the iris pattern.

<Personal Identification Device> The iris imaging device 10 includes a switch unit 11, a control unit 12, an illumination unit 13 including an illumination control unit 13a and an illumination array unit 13b, a window unit 14, a reflection unit 15, a display unit 16, It comprises an image photographing unit 17 and an image processing unit 18. This iris imaging device 10 has a structure shown in FIG.
As shown in (a), a fulcrum 10A fixed to the side wall of the iris imaging device 10 is provided.
Movable reading unit 10 freely movable about 0A as an axis
B is attached. All of the above-mentioned switch section 11 to image processing section 18 are provided in the movable reading unit 1.
0B. In particular, the illumination unit 13 is arranged near the front of the movable reading unit 10B. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an iris imaging device. The illumination array unit 13b in the illumination unit 13 includes light-emitting elements 1 to n (n is an arbitrary integer) arranged in a line in the horizontal direction, and is provided at a lower part of the front surface of the movable reading unit 10B. On the other hand, the iris pattern processing device 20
1, iris pattern comparison unit 22, iris pattern storage unit 2
3, a monitor unit 24 and a keyboard unit 25.

<Outline of Operation of Iris Imaging Apparatus> The switch section 11 in the iris imaging apparatus 10 notifies the control section 12 that the switch section 11 has been pressed down by a person who intends to photograph the iris. The control unit 12 instructs the lighting unit 13 to irradiate the person with light. Lighting unit 13
Then, in response to an instruction from the control unit 12, the illumination control unit 13
Light is radiated by a and the illumination array unit 13b. Window 1
Reference numeral 4 guides only light reflected by the person's eyeball, spectacle lens, or the like among the light emitted from the illumination unit 13 into the movable reading unit 100B. The reflection part 15 is provided in the window part 14.
The reflected light of the eyeball coming from the camera is passed in the direction of the display unit 16 and is reflected in the direction of the image capturing unit 17. The display unit 16 projects an image of the eyeball by the reflected light passing through the reflecting unit 15. The image capturing unit 17 captures an image of an eyeball or the like using light reflected by the reflecting unit 15. The image processing unit 18 determines whether the captured image is good or not, and extracts a pattern of the iris if the image is good. Then, the extracted iris pattern is output to the iris pattern processing device 20.

<Overview of Operation of Iris Pattern Processing Apparatus> In the iris pattern processing apparatus 20, the iris pattern comparison unit 22
Is an iris pattern received from the iris imaging device 10,
A comparison is made as to whether or not the iris pattern stored in the iris pattern storage unit 23 is similar. Then, the main control unit 21
Registers the iris pattern and displays the result of the comparison on the monitor unit 24. When performing these processes, the name, the name,
Items such as ID number and additional data are entered.
The input items are displayed on the monitor 24.

<Registration Operation of Personal Identification Device> Next, the operation of the personal identification device will be described. FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of the personal identification device. Hereinafter, description will be given along this operation flowchart. Step S10: The operator who intends to register the iris from the keyboard unit 25 selects "registration processing" from the processing menu of the personal identification device. Step S11: In response to the instruction input from the keyboard unit 25, the main control unit 21 displays on the monitor unit 24 that "registration processing" is to be executed, and displays "input" to prompt input of a predetermined item. Instruction ”is displayed.

Step S12: In response to the "input instruction", the operator inputs predetermined items such as his / her ID number, name, right / left eye distinction, and age from the keyboard unit 25. Step S13: When the contents of the predetermined item are input,
The main control unit 21 displays these contents on the monitor unit 24 and also displays “Start of imaging”. Step S14: In response to the display of “Start of imaging”, the operator positions the eye in front of the window 14 and then pushes down the switch unit 11. At this time, it is desirable that the operator removes glasses and the like so that a higher quality image can be captured. Step S15: When confirming the depression of the switch unit 11, the control unit 12 instructs the illumination control unit 13a to turn on the illumination array unit 13b.

Step S16: The illumination control unit 13a
The light emitting element 1 located at the center among the light emitting elements 1 to n of the illumination array unit 13b is turned on. The reason why only the light emitting element 1 located at the center is turned on is that, when a plurality of light emitting elements are turned on at the same time, as shown in FIG.
This is to prevent the occurrence of reflection 1003 of illumination extending in a band shape on the iris winding constriction wheel 1001, the iris 1002, and the like. Step S17: The operator adjusts the position of his / her head so that the image of his / her eyeball is displayed on the display unit 16 at a predetermined position, a predetermined size, a predetermined focus, and the like. Step S18: The image photographing unit 17 photographs the image of the eyeball displayed on the display unit 16. Step S19: The image processing unit 18 checks the quality of the captured eyeball image, such as whether the image is sufficiently large, focused, whether the iris is not hidden by eyelids, or the like. This confirmation is performed based on conditions such as the area of the iris portion and its frequency distribution.

Step S20a: When it is determined that the image is good, the image processing section 18 obtains an iris pattern by extracting feature points in the iris image. Then, the obtained iris pattern is output to the iris pattern processing device 20. Step S21a: In response to receiving the iris pattern, the main control unit 21 notifies the monitor unit 2 that the iris pattern has been acquired.
4 is displayed. Then, it instructs the lighting control unit 13a to turn off the light emitting elements 1 in the lighting array unit 13b. Step S22a: The main control unit 21 stores the acquired “iris pattern” in the iris pattern storage unit 23 in association with the content of the previously input item. Thereby, the registration procedure is completed.

Step S20b: When determining that the image is defective, the image processing section 18 notifies the main control section 21 of the fact.
Notify to Step S21b: In response to the notification that the captured image is defective, the main control unit 21 changes the position of the face, further opens the eyes, glasses, and the like so that a high-quality image can be captured. A message prompting the operator to remove the icon is displayed on the monitor 24. In response to this display, the operator adjusts the position of the head as in step S17. If a good image cannot be obtained even after performing these adjustments a predetermined number of times, the main control unit 21 displays a message to that effect on the display unit 23, and sends a message to the illumination control unit 13a. An instruction is given to turn off the light emitting element 1.

<Recognition operation of personal identification device> Next, the recognition operation of the personal identification device will be described. FIG.
It is an operation flowchart showing an operation of recognition. Hereinafter, description will be given along this operation flowchart. Step S30: The operator who receives personal recognition selects "recognition processing" from the processing menu of the personal identification device using the keyboard unit 25. Step S31: In response to the instruction input from the keyboard unit 25, the main control unit 21 displays that the “registration process” is to be executed on the monitor unit 24, and depresses the switch unit 11 for starting image capturing. To indicate that Step S32: Upon receiving the instruction to push down, the operator pushes down the switch unit 11.

Step S33: When confirming that the switch unit 11 has been pressed, the main control unit 21 instructs the illumination control unit 13a to turn on the illumination array unit 13b. Step S34: The illumination control unit 13a turns on the light emitting element 1 located at the center among the light emitting elements of the illumination array unit 13b. Step S35: The image photographing unit 17 photographs the image of the eyeball shown on the display unit 16. Step S36: The image processing unit 18 generates a binarized image by binarizing the captured image of the eyeball. Step S37: The image processing section 18 checks the quality of the original eyeball image based on a predetermined threshold value.
As the confirmation of the quality of the image, based on the original image, the pixels located in the iris part are integrated to determine the size of the area, or the pixels located in the iris part or the peripheral pixels are differentiated to determine the size. The distribution state is determined, and based on the binarized image, it is determined whether or not there is noise such as diffuse reflection due to a lens of eyeglasses.

<Diffuse Reflection by Glasses and the Like> FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an original image of the eyeball (a) and a binarized image of the eyeball (b). Since the luminance of light irregularly reflected by eyeglasses and the like is extremely high, even in a captured image,
Very clearly represented. However, when the luminance of light other than the irregular reflection by the lens of the glasses is generally high,
It becomes difficult to confirm the presence or absence of diffuse reflection by a lens or the like of spectacles. Therefore, a binarized image of the eyeball is generated in order to clarify a portion having extremely high luminance. Then, based on the binarized image, it is confirmed whether or not there is irregular reflection by a lens or the like of spectacles. This makes it possible to easily confirm the presence or absence of diffuse reflection by eyeglasses or the like. In general, the area, direction, number, and the like of streaks of diffuse reflection in a binarized image are determined by the degree of scratches on a lens such as eyeglasses and the amount of irradiated light (in the case of the present apparatus, the amount of light emitted from an illumination unit. Light) incident angle.

<When the image quality is poor> Step S38: When it is determined that the image is defective, the image processing section 18 notifies the main control section 21 to that effect. Step S39: Upon receiving the notification that the image is defective, the control unit 12 instructs the illumination control unit 13a to turn on another light emitting element different from the light emitting element 1. Step S40: The illumination control unit 13a that has received the instruction from the control unit 12 turns off the light emitting element 1 that is turned on, and turns on the light emitting element 2 that is adjacent to the light emitting element 1. Hereinafter, the same operation as step S35 is repeated. In this embodiment, the light-emitting elements 1 to n of the illumination array unit 13b are arranged in a line. However, it is sufficient if the incident angle of light to the eyeball changes by changing the light-emitting element to be turned on. ) As shown in FIG.
They may be arranged radially. Further, in this embodiment, the light emitting element located at the center is turned on first, and the light emitting elements located at the outside are turned on one after another. The light emitting elements may be sequentially turned on.

<When the image is good> Step S41: If it is determined that the image is good, a feature point is extracted from the image of the eyeball, and the “iris pattern” consisting of data indicating the feature point is mainly extracted. Control unit 2
Output to 1.

Step S42: An iris pattern comparing section 22 which receives an iris pattern via the main control section 21
Is determined by calculating the degree of similarity between the two patterns as to which of the plurality of iris patterns is stored in the iris pattern storage unit 23 in advance as a database. Step S43: When an iris pattern similar to a degree exceeding a predetermined value is searched, the ID number, name, and the like relating to the searched iris pattern are displayed on the monitor unit 25. Then, the operator is permitted to perform predetermined actions including entry and exit. Step S44: If an iris pattern similar to a value exceeding a predetermined value is not found, the monitor unit 24 displays that there is no corresponding iris pattern. In this case, the operator is not permitted to perform the predetermined action as described above.

In this embodiment, a light emitting element for emitting near-infrared light which cannot be detected by humans and an infrared camera which is sensitive to near-infrared light as an image photographing unit are used as the light emitting element in this embodiment. In this case, the image of the eyeball can be photographed without giving the person taking the image of the eyeball discomfort.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a personal identification device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an iris imaging device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of a registration process of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing reflection of illumination.

FIG. 5 is an operation flowchart of a recognition process according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a binarized image of an eyeball.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of another illumination array unit.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a conventional personal identification device.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conventional iris imaging device.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing diffuse reflection in a conventional iris imaging device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 13 lighting unit 13a lighting control unit 13b lighting array unit 1-n light emitting element

Claims (13)

(57) [Claims] [Claim 1] was irradiated with light in one angle of incidence to the human eye, the iris pattern by the light reflected image of the eye
Taken in order to obtain the quality of the captured the eyeball image, a predetermined threshold
Determined based on the value, if it is determined that the image is not satisfactory, by irradiating light to the eye in front SL incident angle different from the other angle of incidence of the primary, the eye
Imaging method iris you characterized by capturing an image of the sphere again. 2. A method of irradiating a human eyeball with light at an angle of incidence, taking an image of the eyeball to obtain an iris pattern by reflected light, and determining whether the captured image of the eyeball is good or bad. Judgment is made based on the amount of diffuse reflection from spectacles included in the image, and when it is judged that the image is not good, the eyeball is irradiated with light at another incident angle different from the one incident angle, and An iris imaging method characterized by re-taking an image of an eyeball. 3. An iris imaging method according to claim 1, wherein said image is binarized to determine whether the image is good or bad. 4. The iris imaging method according to claim 1, wherein near-infrared rays are used as light for irradiating a human eyeball. 5. A method for causing a predetermined light emitting element to emit light to a human eyeball.
An illumination array unit composed of a plurality of light emitting elements for irradiating light, and an iris pattern formed by light reflected from the image of the eyeball.
A photographing unit for photographing to obtain an image of an eyeball photographed by the photographing unit;
An image processing unit, and when the image processing unit determines that the image is defective,
The illumination array unit to irradiate light at different incident angles
Controlling the other light-emitting elements to emit light and the photographing unit
Iris imaging apparatus characterized by including a control means for controlling operation of the. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the image processing unit,
An iris imaging device, wherein the quality of an image is determined based on the amount of irregular reflection from spectacles included in an iris image portion of the image. 7. The image processing device according to claim 6, wherein:
An iris imaging apparatus, comprising: binarizing a captured image of an eyeball; and detecting an amount of the irregular reflection included in an iris image portion based on the binarized image. 8. The method of claim 5, the iris imaging apparatus characterized by only one light-emitting element of the illumination array unit during photographing emits light. 9. The iris imaging device according to claim 5, wherein said illumination array section comprises a plurality of light emitting elements arranged in a line. 10. An iris imaging device according to claim 5, wherein said illumination array section comprises a plurality of light emitting elements arranged in a circle. 11. An iris imaging device according to claim 5, wherein said illumination array section comprises a plurality of light emitting elements arranged in a radial pattern. 12. The method of claim 5, wherein the illumination array part is composed of light emitting elements for irradiating near infrared rays, the imaging unit, an iris imaging apparatus characterized by comprising the near-infrared camera that is sensitive to the near infrared. 13. An illumination array section comprising a plurality of light emitting elements for irradiating light to a human eyeball, an imaging section for photographing an image of an eyeball by light reflected on the eyeball, and a light emitted by one light emitting element. An image processing unit that determines the quality of the captured eyeball image based on a predetermined threshold value, and obtains an iris pattern from an iris portion image for an eyeball image exceeding the threshold value; An iris pattern storage unit that stores a plurality of human iris patterns, and an iris pattern comparison unit that compares a newly acquired iris pattern with an iris pattern already stored in the iris pattern storage unit. If the image taken by the light of one light-emitting element does not exceed the threshold, the image is again taken by the light of another light-emitting element, and the threshold is exceeded. An iris pattern is acquired based on an image of the iris portion in the image of the good eyeball, and the iris pattern comparing unit performs the iris pattern comparison with the acquired iris pattern and the iris pattern. An individual identification device for identifying an individual by comparing with an iris pattern stored in a storage unit.