Adaptive light source

A method, comprising:

• capturing a first image of a scene;
• detecting a face in a section of the scene from the first image;
• creating a three dimensional profile of the face;
• activating an infrared (IR) light source to uniformly illuminate the scene with uniform IR lighting, the IR light source comprising an array of IR light emitting diodes (LEDs);
• capturing an intermediate image of the scene under the uniform IR lighting from the IR light source;
• detecting the face in the intermediate image;
• calculating an amount of IR light to illuminate the section of the scene based on brightness values of the face in the first and the intermediate images and the three dimensional profile of the face;
• activating the IR light source to selectively illuminate the section of the scene with the amount of IR light;
• capturing a second image of the scene under selective IR lighting from the IR light source;
• detecting the face in the second image;
• and
• identifying a person based on the face in the second image.

A system, comprising:

• a camera having a field of view;
• an infrared (IR) light source comprising an array of IR light emitting diodes (LEDs);
• nonvolatile memory storing instructions for a face detection and recognition application;
• and
• a microprocessor encoded with instructions that, when executed by the microprocessor, cause the system to:
• capture, with the camera, a first image of a scene;
• detect a face in a section of the scene from the first image;
• create a three dimensional profile of the face;
• calculate an amount of IR light to illuminate the section of the scene based on the first image and the three dimensional profile of the face;
• activate the IR light source to selectively illuminate the section of the scene with the amount of IR light;
• capture, with the camera, a second image of the scene under selective IR lighting from the IR light source;
• detect the face in the second image;
• and
• identify a person based on the face in the second image.

A system, comprising:

• a camera having a field of view;
• an infrared (IR) light source comprising an array of IR light emitting diodes (LEDs);
• nonvolatile memory storing instructions for a face detection and recognition application;
• and
• a microprocessor encoded with instructions that, when executed by the microprocessor, cause the system to:
• capture, with the camera, a first image of a scene;
• detect a face in a section of the scene from the first image;
• create a three dimensional profile of the face;
• activate the IR light source to uniformly illuminate the scene with uniform IR lighting;
• capture an intermediate image of the scene under the uniform IR lighting from the IR light source;
• detect the face in the intermediate image;
• calculate an amount of IR light to illuminate the section of the scene is based brightness values of the face in the first and the intermediate images and the three dimensional profile of the face;
• activate the IR light source to selectively illuminate the section of the scene with the amount of IR light;
• capture, with the camera, a second image of the scene under selective IR lighting from the IR light source;
• detect the face in the second image;
• and
• identify a person based on the face in the second image.

A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a microprocessor to selectively illuminate a scene, the instructions, when executed by the microprocessor, cause performance of operations, the operations comprising:

• capturing a first image of a scene;
• detecting a face in a section of the scene from the first image;
• creating a three dimensional profile of the face;
• calculating an amount of infrared (IR) light to illuminate the section of the scene based on the first image and the three dimensional profile of the face;
• activating an IR light source to selectively illuminate the section of the scene with the amount of IR light, the IR light source comprising an array of IR light emitting diodes (LEDs);
• capturing a second image of the scene under selective IR lighting from the IR light source;
• detecting the face in the second image;
• and
• identifying a person based on the face in the second image.