Automatic Iris Segmentation Using Active Near Infra Red Lighting

This paper introduces a fast, robust and accurate iris segmentation technique based on active lighting. The geometry of the light sources, a single camera and the eye facilitates the detection of the pupil and the automatic selection of the most appropriate image for biometric identification from the video stream, minimizing the effects of noise, distortion and occlusion during the image acquisition process. Two near infrared (NIR) light sources (that are invisible to the human eye) are synchronized with the video signal. One of the light sources is placed near the optical axis of the camera, and generates a bright pupil image. The second light is placed off-axis, generating dark pupil images. These two images can be easily combined to segment the pupil region, and the corneal reflection of the light sources can be used to select best quality images. The pupil position is then used to segment the iris and eyelids using a coarse-to-fine strategy. Experimental results with a real-time prototype show the quality of the iris segmentation.