Patent ID: 7860280

Claim:
A method for facial feature detection, said method comprising: a) receiving a digital image, said digital image comprising a plurality of color pixels, each one of said color pixels comprising color information; b) identifying a candidate face region based on said color information; c) using symmetry within said candidate face region to identify a centerline to substantially bisect a human face section within said candidate face region; and d) using said centerline as a locator to segment facial feature regions of said human face section, the method further comprising iteratively defining said centerline by adopting one of a plurality of lines that most symmetrically divide said human face section, said adopting one of a plurality of lines comprising: defining a pair of corresponding frames for each one of said plurality of lines wherein, for each line, each pair of corresponding frames delimits a pair of areas of color pixels from opposite sides of a respective line; comparing said two corresponding frames of each one of said plurality of potential lines to determine a symmetry level value; and using said symmetry level value of each one of said plurality of potential lines to identify said centerline, said symmetry level value represents a joint probability of one of said plurality of potential lines to be said centerline, thereby converting said digital image into detected features.