Patent ID: 8009876

Claim:
An iris identification method comprising iris code registration and iris identification, the iris code registration comprising the steps of acquiring iris images by capturing images using a camera or retrieving stored image files, generating iris codes from the acquired iris images, and storing the generated iris codes in a database, while the iris identification comprising the steps of acquiring an iris image in a manner identical to that of the iris code registration, generating an iris code from the acquired iris image, and identifying the generated iris code by comparing the generated iris code with the iris codes stored in the database, wherein: the iris code generation step is performed to determine inner and outer boundaries of an iris region by approximating the inner and outer boundaries with general curves based on actual shapes of the inner and outer boundaries, divide a part or all of a region between the inner and outer boundaries into one or more unit sectors, and generate an iris code corresponding to the respective sectors, wherein the iris code generation step comprises the steps of approximating the inner boundary of the iris with a zero set of f 0 (x, y), approximating the outer boundary of the iris with a zero set of f 1 (x, y), parameterizing the boundaries with C 0 (t) and C 1 (t), respectively, representing all points of the iris region with elements of a zero set of F(x, y, u)=(1−u)f 0 (x, y)+uf 1 (x, y) for between 0 and 1, parameterizing a zero set of F(x, y, u) with C u (t) for u, and transforming the iris region into the plane rectangular region using the parameter, and the iris code identification step is performed to measure distances of the generated code to the existing codes stored in the database and determine whether each of the distances falls within a threshold value.