Patent Publication Number: US-2023136234-A1

Title: Id card and method for manufacturing same, id card issuing device and system, and face authentication device and system

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is the U.S. national phase of International Application No. PCT/JP2020/016254 filed Apr. 13, 2020 which designated the U.S., the entire contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an ID card used for identifying a user for Access management in a facility or a settlement in a financial institution, and a method of manufacturing an ID card. Further, the present invention relates to an ID card issuing device and an ID card issuing system to issue ID cards. Further, the present invention relates to a face authentication device and a face authentication system to perform face authentication of a user with an ID card. 
     Description of the Related Art 
     For example, in Access management in a facility or in a settlement in a financial institution, personal identification using an ID card is performed in order to allow only a registered person to access, or to allow only a registered person to operate the terminal. However, when the identification information is read from the ID card or the user is allowed to input the identification number, there is a large risk that the personal identification will be insufficient and illegally carried out by the so-called impersonation. 
     Thus, fingerprint authentication and vein authentication have also been used for identification. In this case, for example, it may be considered that a server is connected to an authentication device including a fingerprint sensor or a vein sensor via a network and a data for authentication of all users is stored in advance in the server, but the configuration of the entire system becomes large and expensive. Since the finger print and the vein authentication are possible even in a state of intoxication or a state of unconsciousness, there is a risk to recognize there is a person&#39;s intention even if the feature of the fingerprint or the vein is coincidence with what are registered. 
     As a related technology, in Patent Document 1, there is disclosed an attendance management system to record a time of the recording operation of an user, which can identify an operator himself/herself easily and prevent the punching by a different user. This system is provided with a collation data holding means to hold face image information and personal information of a plurality of users as a collation data, a camera which photographs a face of an operating person, a collation means which collates the image data photographed by the camera with a collation data held in the collation data holding means, the user selection means which display the collation data held in the collation data holding means in a state of being selectable by an operator in the case when the collation result is not judged to be positive by the collation means, and the operation registration means which enables the operation and registers the stamped time data as stamped data with a collation data determined to be the collation positive and the collation data selected by the user selection means in the case when the collation is judged to be positive by the collation means, or when the selection is performed by the user selection means. 
     In addition, in Patent Document 2, there is disclosed a working management device which can prevent the punching operation of impersonation by using a simple and inexpensive configuration. This working management device is provided with a worker information input part to read the card data unique to a worker from an ID card unique to a worker when recording operation by a worker. This ID card is provided with a punching operation part to record the time of the operation, which means reading the data from an ID card, when reading the card data and the card data including of the punching information corresponding to the punching operation and the recording unit to store the punching information. In this case, the recording unit records face detection necessity information indicating whether or not the face image of the worker needs to be detected at the time of the punching operation as the worker information which can identify the worker corresponding to the unique card information. In the case the face detection necessity information indicates that the operator needs to be detected his/her face, the working management device record the punching data through photographing the image of the operator punching at the punching unit and in the case the face detection necessity information indicates that the operator does not need to be detected his/her face, the working management device records the punching data without photographing the image of the operator. 
     PRIOR ART REFERENCE 
     Patent Document 
     [Patent document 1]Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006 48326 (paragraphs 0006 to 0012,  FIG.  1   ,  FIG.  3   ). 
     [Patent document 2]Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2018 195345 (paragraphs 0010 to 0011,  FIG.  1    to  FIG.  3   ). 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to Patent Document 1, if the collation score obtained by collating the image information captured by the camera with the collation data held in the collation data holding means is equal to or larger than a threshold value, the collation is judged to be positive and the operation is permitted, so that the illegal operation by the different person can be suppressed. In addition, when it is determined that the collation is not positive, a plurality of pieces of the collation data are displayed and selected by the operator. The selected collation data is also registered as the stamp data, so that it is possible to surely perform the identification at the time of the collation failure. 
     However, in Patent Document 1, the face collation is to identify an individual with the facial characteristics of a face image captured by a camera and identify an user of the users registered in the collation data holding means (Paragraph 0023). Since the detailed face image information is required to perform such a collation, the amount of data of the collation data becomes large, the time required for collation is long, and the identification at the time of a collation failure is complicated. Further, since it is necessary to store the face image information and the personal information of all users in advance in the collation data holding means, there is a possibility that the correspondence between the face image information and the personal information may be confused at that time. 
     On the other hand, in Patent Document 2, when a worker perform a punching operation, he/she is captured and the image is stored by a face detection process if the face detection necessity information indicates it is required. In this case, if the illegal impersonation performs a punching operation, the image of the different person punching is stored, However, since no face authentication is performed at the time of punching of the worker, the administrator of the attendance management device must check the recorded punching image to find the illegal stamp (Paragraph 0014). 
     In view of the above, the first object of the present invention is to enable a face authentication of the users using an ID card for user identification and to provide an ID card capable of suppressing an increase of time required for the face authentication of each user even if a registered user is large, without using a server to store the data for an authentication of all users in advance. 
     Further, the 2nd object of the present invention is to prevent a confusion of the correspondence between face image information and identification information when storing face image information and identification information of a plurality of users to be registered. Further, the 3rd object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing such an ID card, an ID card issuing device and a system used for issuing an ID card, and a face authentication device and a system used for performing a face authentication of a user using an ID card. 
     Means for Solving the Problem 
     In order to solve at least one of the above problems, an ID card, according to the 1st aspect of the present invention, is an ID card for identifying a user including an IC chip, and includes: (a) the memory to store the feature data representing information about a plurality of feature points extracted from an image including a face of a user, which is encrypted using the unique ID code given to the IC chip as an encryption key and (b) a communication unit for transmitting the identification data file to the outside by communicating with the outside by a contact method or a non-contact method. A card image including an image of a user&#39;s face or identification information may be printed on the surface of the ID card. 
     The method of manufacturing an ID card, according to the 2 aspect of the present invention is a method of manufacturing an ID card for a user identification by performing processing on an IC card including an IC chip and having a communication function with an external device and a memory. It includes a step (a) to generate the feature date representing the information related to a plurality of feature extracted from the image including a face of a user based on the image data representing the image including a face of a user and a generate identification data file including the encrypted data which is encrypted using the unique ID code given to the IC chip as an encryption key and a step (b) of storing the identification data file in a memory of an IC card. 
     An ID card issuing device, according to the 3rd aspect of the present invention, is an ID card issuing device to issue ID card for a user identification by processing on an IC card with IC chip having a function of communicating with an external device and a memory. It includes a data processing unit to generate the feature date representing the information related to a plurality of a feature extracted from the image including a face of a user based on the image data representing the image including a face of a user and the generate identification data file including the encrypted data which is encrypted using the unique ID code given to the IC chip as an encryption key and a write control unit to generate write command to store the identification data file into a memory of an IC card. 
     A face authentication device, according to the 4th aspect of the present invention, is a face authentication device used for performing a face authentication of a user using an ID card. It includes a communication unit to communicate with the ID card being held by the user with a contact/non-contact method, the data reading unit to read from the ID card the identification data file including the feature data representing the information related to the multiple features extracted from the image including the stored user face and the stored user identification data and the unique ID code of the IC chip to decrypt the data including the feature data and the user identification data when detecting the ID card in accordance with the output signal from the communication unit, the image capture unit to input the image data representing the image including the user face captured when the user holds over the card once the card is detected by the data reading unit, the feature data generating unit to generate the feature data representing the information related to the multiple features extracted from the image including the user face captured in accordance with the image data inserted by the image capture unit, and the matching processing unit to judge if the captured user is same as the stored user by the score representing the degree of the matching by comparing the feature data generated by the feature data generating unit with the feature data of the unique data file. 
     The present invention can greatly reduce the amount of data and store the face image information in a memory of an ID card by using a feature data representing information regarding a plurality of feature points extracted from an image including a face of a user as the face image information. As a result, it is possible to perform the face authentication using an ID card for user identification, and to suppress an increase in time required for face authentication of each user even if a number of registered users are large without using a server for storing an authentication data for all users in advance. 
     Further, by storing the feature data and the identification information in the memory of the ID card in association with the feature data from the time at which the identification data file is created, it is possible to prevent confusion of the correspondence relationship between the face image information and the identification information when the face image information and the identification information of the plurality of users to be registered are stored. In addition, by encrypting the feature data and the user identification information of the user by using the unique ID code given to the IC chip as an encryption key, it is possible to prevent duplication of the ID card (illegal copy). Further, thanks to the present invention, it is possible to provide an ID card issuing system for issuing an ID card as described above, and a face authentication system for performing the face authentication of a user using an ID card as described above. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an ID card issuing system according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG.  2    is a schematic diagram showing a configuration example of an ID card according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG.  3    is a block diagram showing the configuration example of the IC chip used for the ID card shown in  FIG.  2   . 
         FIG.  4    is a flowchart illustrating an ID card manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG.  5    is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a face authentication system according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The same components are denoted by the same reference numbers, and redundant descriptions thereof will be omitted. 
     ID Card Issuing System 
     First, an ID card issuing system for issuing an ID card for a user identification will be described.  FIG.  1    is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an ID card issuing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG.  1   , the ID card issuing system includes an ID card issuing device  10 , an imaging device  21 , a scanner  22 , and an output device  30 . 
     The ID card issuing device  10  includes, for example, a display  11 , an operation unit  12 , an interface  13 , a CPU (central processing unit)  14 , a memory  15 , and a recording unit  16 , and is used to perform processing on an IC card having a communication function with an external device and a memory, and to issue an ID card for a user identification. From the interface  13  to the recording unit  16  are connected to each other via a bus line. 
     The display  11  includes, for example, an LCD display, and displays an operation screen and an image of a user&#39;s face. The operation unit  12  includes, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, and the like, and is used to input various commands and data to the ID card issuing device  10 . The interface  13  is connected to the display  11 , the operation unit  12 , the imaging device  21 , the scanner  22 , and the output device  30 , and transmits various command and data between these devices and the CPU  14 . Further, the interface  13  may be connected to a host system such as a Human resource system or a school system via a network such as the Internet. 
     The CPU  14  performs various calculations and the data processing according to software (including image processing software which generates a feature data based on an image data) recorded in the recording unit  16 . The memory  15  includes, for example, a RAM (Random Access Memory) and temporarily stores various data supplied from the interface  13  and the data generated or processed by the CPU  14 . 
     In addition to the above software, the recording unit  16  records various data used for an image processing. As a recording medium in the recording unit  16 , a built-in hard disk, an external hard disk, a flexible disk, an MO, a MT, a ROM (read only memory), a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, or the like can be used. Here, the data processing unit  141 , the write control unit  142 , and the print control unit  143  are configured as functional blocks by the CPU  14  and the software recorded in the recording unit  16 . 
     The image capturing device  21  includes, for example, a photographing box or a digital camera, and photographs a face of a user&#39;s face and generates an image data VD 1  representing an image including a face of the user. In addition, the scanner  22  captures an image of a photographic sheet and generates an image data VD 2  representing an image of the photographic sheet. 
     For example, a name of an organization to which a user belongs and a background pattern are printed on a photographic sheet. Alternatively, an image data VD 2  prepared in advance by using software may be registered in the database in the recording unit  16  of the ID card issuing device  10 . In this case, the scanner  22  can be omitted. 
     The output unit  30  includes, for example, a reader/writer unit  31  and a printer unit  32 . The reader/writer unit  31  includes a communication circuit for communicating with an IC card according to a predetermined protocol. In accordance with a write command output from the ID card issuing device  10 , the reader/writer  31  communicates with the IC card by a contact method or a non-contact method and store an identification data file including feature data representing a plurality of feature points extracted from an image including a face of a user and identification information of the user in a memory of an IC card. 
     The printer unit  32  prints a card image including an image of the user&#39;s face and/or identification information on the surface of the IC card in accordance with a print command output from the ID card issuing device  10 . The reader/writer unit  31  and the printer unit  32  may be incorporated in one housing or may be incorporated in a separate housing. 
     Operation of the ID Card Issuing System 
     Next, an operation example of the ID card issuing system shown in  FIG.  1    will be described. An operator who is responsible for issuing an ID card operates an operation part  12  of an ID card issuing device  10  to input identification information of a user to an ID card issuing device  10 . Alternatively, a file of identification information registered in advance in the database in the recording unit  16  may be read when designated by an operator. Alternatively, the identification information may be printed on a photographic sheet and captured by the scanner  22 . 
     When an operator photographs a face of a user using an imaging device  21 , an imaging device  21  generates an image data VD 1  representing an image including a face of a user. In addition, when an operator captures the image of photographic sheet, the scanner  22  generates an image data VD 2  representing the image of the photographic sheet. The image data VD 1  and/or VD 2  may be stored temporally in the memory of SD card or the like. 
     A data processing unit  141  of an ID card issuing device  10  reads an image data VD 1  and VD 2  from such an imaging device  21  and a scanner  22  or a memory of an SD card or the like via an interface  13  and stores the image data VD 1  and VD 2  in a memory  15 . The data processing unit  141  may assign a file name including the identification information of the user to an image data file storing the image data VD 1  or VD 2 . 
     Thereafter, based on the image data VD 1  representing an image including the face of the user, the data processing unit  141  generates a feature data representing information relating to a plurality of feature points extracted from an image including a face of the user, and creates an identification data file including the feature data and the identification information of the user. As the identification information (identification code) of the user includes, for example, an ID code of the user, an employee number, a member number, a name, and/or a department to which the user belongs and the like. 
     Although the data processing unit  141  may generate an unique data by combining the feature data and the identification information of the user and create an identification data file storing the unique data, it is desirable to store the feature data and create an identification data file having a file name including the identification information of the user. In this case, it is possible to obtain the identification information of the user simply by referring to the file name. Further, it is desirable for the data processing unit  141  to assign a new extension (e.g., “blk”) different from the extension of the image data file (e.g., “jpg” or “gif”) to the identification data file. In this case, since the file name of the identification data file includes an extension different from the extension of the image data file in addition to the identification information of the user, it is easy to distinguish the file from the image data file. 
     Next, an example of the image processing for a generating feature data based on image data VD 1  representing an image including a face of a user will be described. First, the data processing unit  141  roughly detects a position or a region of a human face in an image represented by the image data VD 1  (hereinafter, also referred to as an “input image”). 
     Next, the data processing unit  141  performs a face recognition process on the image data VD 1  based on the learning data recorded in advance in the recording unit  16 , thereby extracting a plurality of feature points that specify the positions of a plurality of parts (e.g., the contour of the face, the eyes, the cheeks, and the lips) of the human face in the input image, and obtains the coordinates of those feature points. 
     For this face recognition processing, the recording unit  16  includes, for example, an image data representing an image obtained by photographing an object located at a standard distance along a predetermined optical axis from the imaging device  21  using a subject such as a standard human face or a model thereof, the coordinates of a plurality of feature points set in the image and a code specifying a part where the feature points are located are recorded in advance as a learning data. 
     Thanks to this face recognition process, it is possible to express a change in the shape of an object and a change in texture with a small number of parameters by dividing an image of a target face into a shape and a texture and performing dimensional compression on the basis of a principal component analysis. Thus, the shape and texture information can be represented with low dimensional parameters. Furthermore, a parameter is used which relates to an extensive change in the size of the object in which it is present in what size and in what orientation. 
     For example, the data processing unit  141  locally and extensively changes a model of a face in learning data according to these parameters to generate an image to be compared, and compares the generated image with an input image to obtain a parameter that minimizes an error. The determined parameter is used as feature data representing information related to a plurality of feature points extracted from an image including a face of a user. Thus, it is possible to reduce the data amount of the feature data (binary data) to 240 bytes or less (preferably, 120 bytes to 240 bytes). 
     As described above, the feature data used in the present embodiment does not represent the image itself, but information such as the shape and texture of a plurality of feature points extracted from an image based on the learning data, so that the original image cannot be reproduced based on the feature data. Also, the feature data has a sufficient amount of information to determine whether or not the captured user matches the registered user identified by the ID card, even if it is insufficient to locate a particular user from among the registered large number of users. 
     Further, the data processing unit  141  may scramble the data of the created identification data file using a dedicated tool. In the present application, a scrambling process is a process in which a data is converted or calculated in a predetermined procedure with respect to a data, or a sequence in which the data is rearranged, so that the data is changed into a random state different from the original state without impairing the contents of the data. For example, rather than sequentially storing the data of an identification data file in a memory of an IC card, it may be divided into a plurality of small chunks (chunks of data) and stored in a memory of an IC card in a predetermined order of random appearance. A face authentication system or the like for reading data which has been scrambled needs to perform a conversion process opposite to the scrambling process on the read data and decode the data. Thus, if the data of the identification data file is scrambled, it is possible to protect the contents of the data even if the identification data file flows out to the outside by hacking against an ID card issuing system or an issued ID card or by eavesdropping from a signal transmission path such as a network. 
     As a preferable example of the scrambling process, it is desirable that the data processing unit  141  encrypts the data of the identification data file using a secret encryption key. A face authentication system or the like for reading encrypted data needs to decrypt data using the same encryption key used for encryption. For example, in order to prevent a duplication (illegal copy) of an ID card, a unique ID code given to an IC chip used to manufacture an ID card may be used as an encryption key. In this case, the unique ID code given to the IC chip is stored in a storage area such as a memory which is separated from the memory in which the identification data file is stored. 
     When reading encrypted data from an IC chip, a face authentication system or the like reads a unique ID code given to an IC chip and decrypts the data using the ID code as an encryption key. On the other hand, when an identification data file stored in a memory of an IC chip is illegally copied into a memory of another IC chip, since an ID code read from another IC chip is not a correct encryption key, the encrypted data cannot be decrypted. 
     Further, the data processing unit  141  may generate a card image data representing a card image including an image of the face and/or the identification information of the user based on the image data VD 1  representing an image including a face of a user, the image data VD 2  representing an image of a photographic sheet, and/or identification information of a user. For example, the data processing unit  141  generates the card image data representing the card image including the face of the user and the identification data of the user by synthesizing an image of photographic sheet represented by the image data VD 2  with enlarging a part of an image represented by the image data VD 1  and an image of identification information. 
     The write control unit  142  generates a write command for storing the identification data file created by the data processing unit  141  in the memory of the IC card. Further, the print control unit  143  generates a print command for printing a card image on the surface of the IC card based on the card image data generated by the data processing unit  141 . 
     In an output machine  30 , a reader/writer unit  31  stores an identification data file in a memory (nonvolatile memory) of an IC card in accordance with a write command outputted from a write control unit  142  via an interface  13 . Further, the reader/writer unit  31  may read and verify an identification data file from the nonvolatile memory of the IC card. 
     For example, when the capacity of a nonvolatile memory of an IC card is 1 Kbytes, the amount of data of a feature data in an identification data file is set to about 240 bytes, and the file name of an identification data file is set to 10 bytes or less to make a capacity of a user area in a nonvolatile memory of an IC card to be about 750 bytes. 
     As the non-contact type IC card according to the short distance wireless communication standard, Type A (Mifare), TypeB, FeliCa (Registered Trademark) or the like is applicable. Thus, it is desirable for the non-contact reader/writer unit  31  to correspond to 2 or more of them. When experimented using Mifare card which has 1 Kbyte capacity of the nonvolatile memory, it took 362 milliseconds to write 240 bytes (corresponding to 5 sectors) of a feature data, and it took 357 milliseconds to read the feature data. 
     The printer unit  32  has, for example, a color printing function, and prints a card image on the surface of the IC card in accordance with a print command outputted from the print control unit  143  via the interface  13 . Thus, a card image including an image of the face and identification information of the user is printed on the surface of the IC card. Further, the output device  30  may be configured to press the IC card to provide unevenness. 
     ID Card 
     Next, an ID card issued by the ID card issuing system shown in  FIG.  1    will be described.  FIG.  2    is a schematic diagram showing a configuration example of an ID card according to an embodiment of the present invention.  FIG.  2    (A) shows a contact ID card, and  FIG.  2    (B) shows a non-contact ID card. Although not shown in  FIG.  2   , a card image including an image of the face and/or identification information of the user is printed on the surface (front surface) of the ID card. 
     As shown in  FIG.  2    (A), an IC module  42  including an IC chip (semiconductor integrated circuit device) is mounted on a substrate  41  containing an insulating material such as PVC (polyvinyl chloride), ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene Resin), PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate), or the like. 
     The IC module  42  has a plurality of module terminals that contact a plurality of reader/writer terminals of the output device  30  ( FIG.  1   ) and directly contact with the reader/writer terminals of the output device  30 . Since such a contact ID card can be reliably communicated, it is desirable to use such an ID card in the field of a payment, an authentication, or the like, which requires a strong security, such as a credit card or a cash card. 
     As shown in  FIG.  2    (B), a non-contact ID card includes an IC chip  52  and a coil  53  serving as an antenna in a base material  51  including an insulating material such as PVC, ABS, or PET. When an ID card is placed over a magnetic field generated by the reader/writer unit  31  ( FIG.  1   ) of the output unit  30 , a power supply voltage is supplied to the IC chip  52  by the coil  53 , and the IC chip  52  and the reader/writer unit  31  exchange data by wireless communication. Such a non-contact ID card is preferably used in an area requiring more convenience, such as an entry/exit management and a railroad examination. 
       FIG.  3    is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an IC chip used in the ID card shown in  FIG.  2   . As shown in  FIG.  3   , the IC chip  60  includes, for example, a CPU  61 , a communication unit  62 , a ROM  63 , a RAM  64 , and a nonvolatile memory  65 . The CPU  61  to the nonvolatile memory  65  are connected to each other via a bus line. 
     The CPU  61  performs various operations and data processing in accordance with software (OS and application software) stored in the ROM  63 . The communication unit  62  includes a communication circuit which communicates with the external output device  30  and the face authentication device  80  according to a predetermined protocol, and communicates with the external device by a contact method or a non-contact method. The RAM  64  temporarily stores various data supplied from the outside, data generated or processed by the CPU  61 , and the like. 
     The nonvolatile memory  65  is constituted by, for example, a flash memory or the like and stores an identification data file supplied from the output device  30  to the IC chip  60 . The identification data file includes a feature data representing information relating to a plurality of feature points extracted from an image including a face of a user, and an identification information of the user. For example, the identification data file stores feature data and has a file name including user identification information. Further, the data of the identification data file may be scrambled. 
     Further, the nonvolatile memory  65  may store data (a program, an instance, and/or various kinds of information) relating to an application installed on an ID card. For example, an application for realizing a cash card function, a predetermined number of credit settlement applications, a setting application for changing a priority order between applications for a credit settlement application by the user, and a setting application for changing availability are installed in an ID card. 
     When the communication unit  62  receives a command for writing an identification data file from the output device  30  by performing communication with the output device  30  by a contact method or a non-contact method, it transfers the data file to the CPU  61 . In accordance with the write command, the CPU  61  writes the identification data file supplied from the output device  30  via the communication unit  62  into the nonvolatile memory  65 . 
     Further, when the communication unit  62  receives a command to read an identification data file from the face authentication device  80  which communicates with the unit  62  by a contact method or a non-contact method, it transfers the command to the CPU  61 . In accordance with the read command, the CPU  61  reads the identification data file from the nonvolatile memory  65  and supplies it to the communication unit  62 . The communication unit  62  transmits the identification data file to the face authentication device  80  by performing communication with the face authentication device  80  by a contact method or a non-contact method. 
     ID Card Manufacturing Method 
     Next, a method of manufacturing an ID card for user identification by performing a processing on an IC card having an external communication function and a memory using the ID card issuing system shown in  FIG.  1    will be described. 
       FIG.  4    is a flowchart illustrating an ID card manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Note that the ID card manufacturing method according to the present invention does not need to be provided with all the steps described below, and a part thereof can be omitted. 
     In step S 1  of  FIG.  4   , an operator who is responsible for issuing an ID card operates the operation unit  12  of the ID card issuing device  10  shown in  FIG.  1    to input the identification information of the user into the ID card issuing device  10 . Alternatively, a file of identification information registered in advance in the database of the recording unit  16  or the like may be read when designated by an operator. 
     In step S 2 , by an operator taking an image of a user&#39;s face using the image capturing apparatus  21 , the image capturing apparatus  21  generates image data VD 1  representing an image including the user&#39;s face. The processing in steps Si and S 2  may be performed sequentially for a plurality of users. 
     In step S 3 , by the operator capturing an image of the photographic sheet using the scanner  22 , the scanner  22  generates an image data VD 2  representing an image of the photographic sheet. For example, a name and a background pattern of an organization to which a user belongs are printed on a photographic board. Thereafter, in step S 4 , the operator operates the operation unit  12  while looking at the display  11 , whereby the data processing unit  141  takes in the image data VD 1  from the image capturing apparatus  21 , captures the image data VD 2  from the scanner  22 , and stores the image data VD 1  and VD 2  in the memory  15 . In step S 5 , the data processing unit  141  generates a feature data representing information regarding a plurality of feature points extracted from an image including a face of a user based on the image data VD 1  representing an image including a face of the user, and creates an identification data file including the feature data and the identification information of the user. For example, the identification data file stores feature data and has a file name including user identification information. 
     Further, the data processing unit  141  may scramble the data of the created identification data file. As a preferable example of the scrambling process, it is desirable that the data processing unit  141  encrypts the data of the identification data file using a secret encryption key. For example, in order to prevent illegal copying of an ID card, an ID code unique to an IC chip used for manufacturing an ID card may be used as an encryption key. 
     In step S 6 , the data processing unit  141  generates a card image data representing a card image including an image of the face and/or identification information of the user based on the image data VD 1  representing an image including the user&#39;s face and/or the identification information of the user. In step S 7 , the write control unit  142  generates a write command for storing the identification data file created by the data processing unit  141  in the memory of the IC card, and the interface  13  outputs a write command to the output unit  30 . 
     The reader/writer unit  31  of the output device  30  performs communication with the IC card by a contact method or a non-contact method according to the write command, thereby storing the identification data file in the memory of the IC card. 
     In step S 8 , the print control unit  143  generates a print command for printing a card image on the surface of the IC card based on the card image data generated by the data processing unit  141 , and the interface  13  outputs a print command to the output device  30 . A printer unit  32  of the output device  30  prints a card image on the surface of an IC card according to a print command. A card image including an image of the face and/or identification information of the user is thereby applied to the surface of the IC card. 
     Then, the ID card is completed. 
     Face Authentication System 
     Next, a face authentication system used for an entry/exit management in a facility such as a company will be described as an example of a face authentication system which performs a face authentication of a user using an ID card as described above. In this face authentication system, a pre-registered user possesses a dedicated ID card according to the present embodiment, and the face authentication is performed for a personal confirmation at the entrance/exit of the facility. 
       FIG.  5    is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a face authentication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG.  5   , the face authentication system includes an imaging device  70  and a face authentication device  80 , and may further include an electronic lock opening/closing device  90  and the like. 
     For example, the image capturing device  70  includes a live camera such as a web camera, and photographs a face of a user who presents an ID card and generates an image data VD  3  representing an image including a face of the user. In addition, the image capturing device  70  has an interface such as a USB or the like capable of real-time image transfer, and the image data VD 3  obtained by photographing the user&#39;s face is supplied to the face authentication device  80  via the interface. 
     The face authentication device  80  includes, for example, a communication unit  81 , a data reading unit  82 , an image capturing (image data capturing unit)  83 , a time measuring unit  84 , a CPU  85 , a memory  86 , and a recording unit  87 , and is used for performing a face authentication of a user using an ID card having a communication function with an external device and a memory. The CPU  85  to the recording unit  87  are connected to each other via a bus line. 
     The communication unit  81  includes a communication circuit for communicating with an ID card according to a predetermined protocol, and communicates with an ID card presented by a user in a contact or non-contact manner. For example, the communication unit  81  corresponding to the contact type ID card has a plurality of reader/writer terminals in contact with a plurality of module terminals of the ID card, and performs communication in direct contact with the module terminal of the ID card. Further, the communication unit  81  corresponding to the ID card of the non-contact type generates a magnetic field for supplying a power supply voltage to the ID card, and exchanges data with the ID card by a wireless communication. 
     The data reading unit  82  detects an ID card based on an output signal of the communication unit  81 , and reads the identification data file from the ID card. The identification data file includes an feature data representing information relating to a plurality of feature points extracted from an image including the face of the registered user, and identification information of the registered user. For example, the identification data file stores the feature data and has a file name including identification information of the registered user. 
     In this case, when the data of the identification data file is scrambled, the data reading unit  82  performs a conversion process opposite to the scrambling process on the read data and decodes the data of the identification data file. For example, if the data of the identification data file is encrypted, the data reading unit  82  decrypts the data of the identification data file using the same encryption key used for the encryption. 
     When an ID card is detected by a data reading part  82 , an image capture  83  fetches an image data VD 3  representing an image including a face of a user photographed when an ID card is presented from an imaging device  70 . Thus, it is possible to acquire an image data representing an image when the user&#39;s face approaches the imaging device  70 . 
     For example, when the image capture  83  detects an ID card by the data reading unit  82 , it starts to fetch the image data of a plurality of frames, and the image data of the frame suitable for generating the feature data may be selected from those frames. 
     The clock unit  84  includes, for example, an oscillator and a counter, and generates a timing data indicating a measurement time by incrementing a count value of the counter in synchronization with a clock signal generated by the oscillator, and supplies the count data to the CPU  85 . 
     The CPU  85  performs various calculations and a data processing according to software (including image processing software which generates a feature data based on an image data) recorded in the recording unit  87 . The memory  86  includes, for example, a RAM (Random Access Memory), and temporarily stores an identification data file supplied from the data reading unit  82 , image data supplied from the image capture  83 , and feature data generated or processed by the CPU  85 . 
     In addition to the above software, the recording unit  87  records various data used for an image processing. As a recording medium in the recording unit  87 , a built-in hard disk, an external hard disk, a flexible disk, a MO, MT, ROM, CD ROM, a DVD-ROM, or the like can be used. The feature data generation processing unit  851  and the matching determination processing unit  852  are configured as functional blocks by the CPU  85  and the software recorded in the recording unit  87 . 
     Further, identification information of all registered users may be recorded in advance in the recording unit  87 . In this case, only when the identification information of the identification data file read by the data reading unit  82  matches the identification information recorded in the recording unit  87 , the CPU  85  may start the following processing. 
     The feature data generation processing unit  851  generates feature data representing information on a plurality of feature points extracted from an image including a face of a user photographed by the image capturing device  70 , by performing image processing based on image data captured by the image capturing unit  83 . This image processing may be the same as that performed by the data processing unit  141  of the ID card issuing device  10  shown in  FIG.  1   . The matching determination processing unit  852  compares the feature data generated by the feature data generation processing unit  851  with the feature data of the identification data file. A score indicating the matching degree of both is generated, and based on the generated score, whether the user photographed by the imaging device  70  matches the registered user specified by the ID card or not. 
     For example, the matching determination processing unit  852  compares the generated score with a threshold value or more. Alternatively, if the score is larger than the threshold, it is determined that the user captured by the imaging device  70  matches the registered user, and otherwise, it is determined that the user captured by the imaging device  70  does not match the registered user. In this case, when the matching determination processing unit  852  determines that the  1  user do not match, the matching determination processing unit  852  may repeat the determination a predetermined number of times while lowering the threshold value for the same user. 
     For example, in the case where the score when comparing the same characteristic data is set to 100%, the matching determination processing unit  852  sets a threshold value to 90% and determines. In the case where e matching determination processing unit determines that the user do not match in the first judgment, the matching determination processing unit  852  decrease a threshold value to 80% and determines again. Further, in the case where the second judgment also do not match, a threshold value is lowered to 70% in the final determination. when the user finally determined to be inconsistent, the user can import the image data VD 3  of the capturing unit  83  by presenting the ID card to the removing unit  82  again. 
     Further, when the matching determination processing unit  852  determines that the user captured by the imaging device  70  matches the registered user identified by the ID card, the matching determination processing unit  852  may record time data indicating a time at which the ID card is detected in the recording unit  87  in association with the user identification information. Thus, it is possible to use the time measurement data for the attendance management. 
     In addition, when the matching determination processing unit  852  determines that the user captured by the imaging device  70  matches the registered user specified by the ID card, the matching determination processing unit  852  may control the electronic lock opening/closing device  90  to open an electronic lock provided at an entrance/exit gate or a door of the facility. After the user has passed through the entrance/exit gate or the door, the matching determination processing unit  852  controls the electronic lock opening/closing device  90  to close the electronic lock again. 
     According to this embodiment, by using the feature data representing the information on the plurality of feature points extracted from the image including the face of the user as the face image information, it is possible to greatly reduce the amount of data and store the face image information in the memory of the ID card. As a result, it is possible to perform an face authentication using an ID card for user identification, and to suppress an increase in time required for the face authentication of each user even if a number of registered users are large without using a server for storing an authentication data for all users in advance. Further, by storing the feature data and the identification information in the memory of the ID card in association with the feature data from the moment the identification data file is created, it is possible to prevent a confusion of the correspondence relationship between the face image information and the identification information when the face image information and the identification information of the plurality of users to be registered are stored. 
     In the above embodiment, a case has been described in which the face authentication system is used for an entry/exit management and an attendance management in a facility; however, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. It may be used, for example, a settlement in a financial institution, a security management of a terminal such as a computer or a copying machine, a management of attendance such as a conference, a management of purchase of a meal ticket at a restaurant, an issuance management of a student certificate, an official certificate, a certificate for purchasing a commuter ticket, a management of various kinds of information, or the like. Thus, many variations within the spirit of the present invention are possible by one of ordinary skill in the art. 
     INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY 
     The present invention is applicable to an ID card used for identifying a user in an entry/exit management or a settlement in a financial institution, a method of manufacturing of an ID card, an ID card issuing device and system, and a face authentication device and a system.