FACE RECOGNITION USING LINE EDGE MAPS
Face Recognition Using Line Edge Maps
Abstract- The recognition of a human face from a
set of human faces has always been a challenging
task for researchers. Various computational
techniques have been employed. This paper
discusses the different techniques for human face
edge detection, the challenges using these
techniques, find the best one and develop a real-
time system to accurately recognize human faces. It
emphasizes on the fact that human faces are similar
in structure with minor differences from person to
person. Moreover there are certain factors like
lighting conditions, facial expressions, ageing and
orientations of the face which increase the
complexity of face recognition process. A compact
face feature, Line Edge Map (LEM) is developed
which represents a unique face and is used by the
two face images to find similarity between them by
using Hausdorff distance measurement. Researches
demonstrate that this technique gives superior
performances compared to the other techniques.
When compared with the eigenfaces approach,
results were found to be as accurate as the
eigenfaces approach. However in certain cases, it
may be considered to be more accurate than
eigenfaces approach.
I. INTRODUCTION
F ace recognition has always been a major field
of research within the biometric signal
processing. The face is our primary focus of
attention in social intercourse, playing an important
role in conveying identity and emotion. Although
the ability to infer intelligence is a suspect, the
human ability to recognize faces is remarkable. We
see thousands of faces in our lifetime. Though we
can accurately recognize a face irrespective of
change in viewing conditions, ageing, expressions
and distractions such as glasses, change in hair
style, etc. We may say that the face recognition
9
process if rather more robust. This is fascinating
philosopher and scientist for years.
We are interested in finding a computational
model of human face, as it can contribute to
theoretical insights but as well as to practical
applications. Instances where computers are used to
identify faces, for instance criminal identification,
security systems, image and film processing, a
computational model of face play a very important
role. Each presents different constraints in terms of
processing requirement. For example, the ability to
model a face and distinguish it from a large number
of stored face models would make it possible to
vastly improve the security system in any company.
It can also be implemented in photo printing
mechanism.
However developing a computational model of a
face is not a trivial process. They are a natural class
of objects. Various techniques have been employed
to recognize a face. Edges of a face may be
considered to be an important feature for
classification of faces, as it is unique to a person. In
this paper we explore this fact to find and recognize
faces. A novel concept to develop a Line Edge Map
(LEM) to represent a unique face is proposed in
this paper. LEM is developed by first finding the
edges of the face using a sobel filter, followed by
thinning of the edges and finally applying
polynomial curve fitting algorithm to account for
the discontinuities in the edged image. LEM is
invariant to lighting condition, varying facial
expression, and varying pose.
Determining the edges of a human face
accurately is very important for accurate face
recognition. In this paper three approaches to find
edges of a face are discussed, skin color
segmentation [2], Vector Gradient Approach [3]
and applying a dynamic two strip curve fitting
algorithm to the edge of the image [4].
On comparing it to the other face recognition
approaches, it is found to perform superior to (or
equally to) the eigenfaces approach, which is
FACE RECOGNITION USING LINE EDGE MAPS
considered to be one of the best face recognition
technique.
In the following, a literature review of face
recognition techniques is given in Section 2, where
a brief idea of other face recognition techniques
like eigenface, template matching, geometric
feature matching techniques and dynamic link
architecture are discussed. Section 3 gives an
overview of a generalized face recognition system
and describes various techniques to detect edge of a
face. Section 4 describes the concepts of face
recognition using line edge map. Section 5 outlines
the Hausdorff Distance method to find the
similarity between two images. The results are
addressed in Section 6 followed by conclusion in
Section 7 and references in Section 8.
II. BACKGROUND AND RELATED WORK
Much of the work in computer recognition of faces
has focused on detecting individual features, such
as the eyes, nose, mouth, and the head outline, and
defining a face model by the position, size and
relationships among these features. This section
overviews the major face recognition techniques
applied to frontal face. Some of the techniques
discussed in this topic are eigenfaces, template
matching, geometric feature matching techniques
and dynamic link architecture. The approaches are
compared in terms of the facial representation,
lighting conditions and change in pose.
Eigenface approach is considered to be one of the
best approach for accurate face recognition. It is
also known as Karhunen - Loeve expansion,
eigenpicture, eigenvector, and principal
components. Scientist believed that human face can
be reconstructed by a small collection of weights
for each face and a standard face picture
(eigenpicture). A mathematical model of the face
features was developed and based on eigen values
and their corresponding eigen vectors, a eigenface
was developed. Each face can be represented by a
linear combination of the eigenfaces. However
this approach has some limitations. Eigenfaces is
sensitive to lighting conditions, size variation and
face orientation.
A simple version of template matching is that a
test image represented as a two-dimensional array
of intensity values is compared using a suitable
9
metric, such as Euclidian distance, with a single
template representing the whole face. In order to
match faces with different viewpoints, more than
one template from different view points has to be
considered. This approach of face recognition is
computationally complex. Moreover defining
templates is a major drawback of this approach. On
the other hand, Geometrical feature matching
techniques are based on the computation of a set of
geometrical features from the picture face. This
approach can be used to recognize a face in an
image with coarse resolution as low as 8*6 pixels
[10]. It can be widely applied to find possible
matches in the large database such as a mug shot
album. The major constraint of this approach is that
it is dependent on the accuracy of the feature
location algorithm.
III. GENERALIZED FACE RECOGNITION
SYSTEM
This section gives an overview of the underlying
face detection algorithm.
The face detection problem can be stated as
follows: given an image compare it with all the
images in the database, find the best match amongst
them the face co-ordinates within an image.
Fig. 1: Generalized Face Recognition System [8]
Initially we concentrate on the task of finding a
single face in an image to avoid complexity.
Henceforth the extension to finding multiple faces
is straightforward. In this paper an edge based face
recognition method is employed. Thus the primary
aim is to find the edge magnitude image with an
edge operator, thin the edges and extract features
by a locally adaptive threshold filter to compensate
variation in illumination. One of the main challenge
in using this approach is to accurately find the
edges of the face. Various techniques have been
FACE RECOGNITION USING LINE EDGE MAPS 9
employed. In this paper, three such techniques are Mean Vector:
described, 1) skin color segmentation [2], 2) Vector
Mean vector is defined as the ratio of sum of data
Gradient Approach [3] and 3) applying a dynamic points to total number of data points,
two strip curve fitting algorithm to the edge of the

⋅∑ xi
image [4]. 1 n
x = …Eq. (2)
1) Skin Color Segmentation: n i=1
Our objective is to develop a classifier skin and Covariance Vector:
non-skin regions in and image. We can classify the
given set of data into 2 classes: skin and non-skin Covariance is the measure of how much two
regions. Using Bayes’s rule we can develop one variables vary from each other. It is defined using
such classifier. From Bayes’s rule we can write, the following equation,

∑ (x ) ⋅ ( yi − y )
n

cov (x ) =
( x − x )2 i − x
^
1 −
p ^ (ω i | x) = e 2.σ 2
…Eq. (1) i =1
…Eq.
ωi | x 2π .σ n −1
(3)
Where, ωi is the class, x is the test sample, σ is the 2
Multivariate Density Function:
variance. Let us define each of these terms in brief.
The general multivariate normal density in d
Input Image in RGB Format dimension is written as under,

 1 
p( x) = . exp  − ( x − µ ) ∑ −1 ( x − µ )
1
 2 
t
Convert the image in RGB format to YES
|∑|
d 1
format (2π ) 2 2

...Eq. (4)
Calculate Mean Vector, Covariance Matrix And
Mahalanobis Distance Where, x is a d-component column vector, d is
the dimension (i.e., number of features. In our case
it is 2), Σ is a d-by-d covariance matrix and µ is d-
component mean vector and | ∑ | is the determinant
Calculate True Positive and False Positive
Values For Different Values Of Threshold
of covariance matrix.
Plot Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC)
Curve

Determine Threshold Value

Is pixel value No
within
threshold?

Yes
Label as skin Label as non-
region skin region

Fig. 2: Detect edges using skin color segmentation

Fig. 3: P.D.F. of skin region

FACE RECOGNITION USING LINE EDGE MAPS 9

1 ... If z = 1 and λij ≤ λt

I ij
λ t , I ij g
Color Space: tp =
0 .... otherwise
g

A new color space YES is defined in this project. It λ ,I i 1

overcomes the limitation of RGB color space, fp g t j
=
0
which is sensitive to luminance. Moreover YES
color space is used because of the following
…. if z g j = 0 and λij ≤ λt
Ii
reasons,

It reduces chrominance variation, …. otherwise

It is computationally efficient,

It is free of singularities.
The conversion between YES and RGB color
spaces is as under,
Y  0.253 0.684 0.063   R 
 E  = 0.500 − 0.50 0.000  G 
     … Eq. (5)
 S  0.250 0.250 − 0.500  B 
where, Y represents the luminance and the
chrominance is defined by the two planes E and S.

Universal Threshold:
The classification is performed over various
thresholds and based on the true-positive/false- Fig. 4: R.O.C. Curve [11]
positive (ROC curve analysis); we define the value
The above figure illustrates the receiver operating
of universal threshold. The process can be
characteristic curve (R.O.C.), which is a plot of true
summarized by the following sets of equations,
positive value against false positive value. The
λig < t ai (h i , t ui ) … Eq. (6) point where the ROC curve intersects the true
positive value is considered to be an ideal threshold
value for the skin region. Thus by thresholding the
λig > t ai (h i , t ui ) … Eq. (7) image we can extract the skin region. Hence we can
find the edges of the skin region by using an edge
Classification: operator. However this approach solely depends on
i the values in the training set, which further
Choose Wi when Pr[W K | X g ] = max Pr[Wi | x g ] complicates the face recognition process.
p( x g | Wi ). Pr(Wi )
Pr[Wi | x g ] = 2) Detecting Boundaries in a Vector Field:
p( x g )
Boundary detection in a two-dimensional field with
1 …. Pixel at g ⊂ Wi one attribute, i.e., edge detection in a
I ij monochromatic image is an extensively studied
z g =
0 …. Pixel at g ⊄ Wi field. Many types of approaches have been

∑ ∑
1 Li employed. In one type, change in a single attribute
Ii λ ,I i
FP λ t j = fp g t j in the two dimensional field is computed as the
T 2 j =1 ( g ∈ I ij ) gradient of a scalar field. In this paper a vector

∑ ∑ tp
Ii 1 Li
λ t , I ij
gradient approach is proposed to detect boundaries
TP λ t j = g of a face. Earlier studies on finding the edge of a
T1 j = 1 ( g ∈ I ij ) color image were based on finding the edge of each
R, G and B plane separately, followed by clubbing
them into one. Direction of an edge pixel is chosen
FACE RECOGNITION USING LINE EDGE MAPS
to be either the direction corresponding to the
maximum component or weighted average of the
three gradient directions.
However instead of finding the edge of the three
color planes separately, a single technique should
be employed to identify the edges in all the planes.
Images may have multiple dimensions. Hence in
general we may define an image as a vector field
that maps m-dimensional (spatial) space to n-
dimensional (color) space.
9
Draw line (critical line) through 2
reference points
Define 2 boundary points parallel to
critical line and at a distance d from critical
line
d is also called as the error tolerance

Input Image
Curve is traversed point by point

Find partial derivative D(x) of the kth

component w.r.t. jth component of x
Is pt. outside
the boundary No
Find eigen values of DTD matrix
region?

Find maximum eigen value

Yes

Find the corresponding eigen vector Line Segment is found

Fig. 6: Two Strip Dynamic Algorithm

Largest value of matrix D is the gradient &
 ∂u   ∂v   ∂w 
q =   +   +  
2 2 2
corresponding right SVD the direction

Fig. 5: Find edges using vector field  ∂y   ∂y   ∂y 

For RGB, colored image the matrix D is given as and the largest eigenvalue is given by,
under,
 ∂u / ∂x ∂u / ∂y  λ=
1
( p + q + ( p + q ) 2 − 4( pq − t 2 ) )
D =  ∂v / ∂x ∂v / ∂y 
2

∂w / ∂x ∂w / ∂y  This is one the best approach is accurately

T identifying the edges of a higher dimensional
Thus, D D matrix is given by, objects. To compare the two edged images
p t
developed by this approach, we use the Euclidian
DT D =  
 t q
distance. The major limitation of this approach is
that it can only recognize images that are stored in
where, our database.
 ∂u   ∂v   ∂w 
p =  +  + 
2 2 2

 ∂x   ∂x   ∂x 
3) Dynamic Two-Strip Algorithm:

 ∂u  ∂u   ∂v  ∂v   ∂w  ∂w 
It this approach we develop an algorithm which
t =    +    +   
 ∂x  ∂y   ∂x  ∂y   ∂x  ∂y 
first finds the best fitted left-hand and then finds the
right-hand side strips at each point on the curve.
FACE RECOGNITION USING LINE EDGE MAPS
The orientation and width of the strip can be
adjusted dynamically and the corresponding line
segment can be derived. The general approach to
this algorithm is as follows,
In this approach, we first draw a line between two
reference points, which are the points on the edges
on the image. We name this line as critical line.
Then two boundary lines which are parallel to the
critical lines and at a distance d from the critical
line are defined. These two boundary lines restrict
the curve between 2 lines. Thus smaller the
distance, greater is the accuracy. A curve is then
traversed through these two points is within the
boundary region. Curve is traversed point by point,
eventually covering the entire image.
Boundary line
Critical Line
Boundary line
Fig 7: Definition of a strip
IV.LINE EDGE MAP
The faces are first encoded into binary edge maps,
using an edge detection algorithm. Then our aim is
to find the distance or difference between the image
under consideration and the image in the training
set, i.e., the database. This paper uses Hausdorff
distance measurement technique to find the
similarity between the two images. Housdorff
distance measurement technique is used as it is less
sensitive to noise. This technique of distance
measurement uses only the spatial information of
an edge map without considering the inherent local
structural characteristics inside such a map.
The approach of the Line Edge Detection
technique can be summarized as in Fig. 8.
V. HAUSDORFF DISTANCE
Hausdorff distance measurement technique uses the
spatial information of an edge map without
considering the inherent local structural
characteristics inside such a map. Line Edge Map
9
(LEM), is proposed here to integrate the structural
information with spatial information of a face
image by grouping pixels of face edge map to line
segments.
Line Segment Hausdorff Distance (LHD)
measure is used to match LEMs of faces. LHD has
better distinctive power as it makes use of the
additional structural attributes of line orientation,
line-point association and number disparity in
LEM.
Consider two LEMs M l = {m1l , m2l ,............, m lp } ,
represent a model LEM in database and
T l = {t1l , t 2l ,........., t nl } , represent an input LEM. The
distance between two line segments mil and t lj is
defined as,
d (m il , t ;jl ) = d θ2 ( mil , t lj ) + d //2 (mil , t lj ) + d ⊥2 (m li , t lj )
The above equation finds the distance between
the two images. The distance between the two
images is small, when the two images are similar.
Thus is a helpful technique for face recognition.
Input Image
Encode into binary edge map
Grouping the pixels of face edge map
Thinning the edge map
Polynomial Curve Fitting Process
Line Edge Map image
Calculate Hausdorff distance
Images Next
similar? image
one in
Recognized image
FACE RECOGNITION USING LINE EDGE MAPS 9
VI. RESULTS
Result using a vector field in detecting
boundaries:

Result using skin color segmentation technique,

(a)

(a)

(b)

(b)

(c) Fig. 10: a) Original Image, b) Edge of the

original image
Fig 9: a) Original Image, b) Extracted Skin Region,
c) Edge Of The Skin Region
FACE RECOGNITION USING LINE EDGE MAPS 9

Result using dynamic two-strip algorithm:

(a) (b)

(b) (d)

Fig. 10: (a) Original Image, (b) Edge of the image using Sobel filter, (c) Thinned edges of the image,
(d) applying dynamic two-strip algorithm
FACE RECOGNITION USING LINE EDGE MAPS 9

VII. CONCLUSION [6] Oliver Jesorsky , Klaus J.Kirchberg and Robert

Figure 9, figure 10 and figure 11 are the outputs of
the different approaches used to detect edges of a
human face. On observation, we may infer that
applying edge detection operator to the extracted
skin region as shown in figure 9, is not an efficient
approach to find the edges of the face, as it depends
on the training set under consideration. Figure 10
shows the output of the edge detection process
using vector field. This can be considered as one of
the best face edge detection algorithm. However
when applied to face recognition, it detects face
that are currently in the database using Euclidian
distance measurement technique. It fails to detect
faces with variation in pose and orientation. On the
other hand, the by using dynamic two-strip
algorithm, we can find the straight line edges,
which makes it computational more efficient and
robust. Thus, is considered an ideal technique to
locate edges of human faces in face recognition
problem. This edge detection technique can be
extended to applications where human face needs
to be recognized which is invariant to illumination,
face orientation, pose, etc.
W Frischholz ‘ Robust Face Detection Using the
Hausdorff Distance’
Third International Conference on Audio and
Video- Based Biometric Person Authentication,
JUNE 2001
[7] Matthew Turk and Alex Pentland ‘Eigenfaces
for Recognition’, Journal of Cognitive
Neuroscience Volume 3, Number 1.
[8] Klaus J.Kirchberg, Oliver Jesorsky and Robert
W Frischholz ‘Genetic Model Optimization for
Hausdorff Distance-Based Face Localization’,
International ECCV 2002 Workshop on Biometric
Authentication, June 2002
[9] Y.Gao ‘Efficiently Comparing Face Image
Using A Modified Hausdorff Distance’, IEE Proc.
Image Signal Processing, VOL.150, NO.6,
December 2003

VIII. REFERENCES

[1] Yougsheng Gao and Maylor K.H.Leung ‘Face

Recognition Using Line Edge Map’, IEEE
Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine
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[2] Eli Saber,A.Murat Tekalp,Reiner Eschbach and
Keith Knox ‘ Automatic Image Annotation Using
Adaptive Color Classification’, Graphical Models
and Image Processing, VOL.58,NO.2, MARCH
1996.
[3] Hsien Che Lee and David R.Cok ‘Detecting
Boundaries in a Vector Field’
IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, VOL.39,
NO.5, MAY 1991.
[4] Maylor K.Leung and Yee-Hong Yang
‘Dynamic Two-Strip Algorithm in Curve Fitting’,
Pattern Recognition, VOL.23, NO.1, 1990.
[5] Baofeng Guo, Kin-Man Lam, Wan-Chi Siu and
Shuyuan Yang ‘Human Face Recognition Using A
Spatially Weighted Hausdorff Distance’, IEEE
2001.