Force field energy functionals for image feature extraction

The overall objective in defining feature space is to reduce the dimensionality of pattern space yet maintaining discriminatory power for classification and invariant description. To meet this objective, in the context of ear biometrics, a novel force field transformation has been developed in which the image is treated as an array of Gaussian attractors that act as the source of a force field. The directional properties of the force field are exploited to automatically locate the extrema of a small number of potential energy wells and associated potential channels. These form the basis of the ear description. This has been applied to a small database of ears and initial results show that the new approach has suitable performance attributes and shows promising results in automatic ear recognition. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.