Iris information acquisition apparatus and iris identification apparatus

An iris information acquisition apparatus for obtaining image information of an iris region, comprising:

• an image pickup sensor having a group of photoelectric conversion pixels arranged in polar coordinates;
• an image pickup optical focuser that focuses image light from the iris region on the image pickup sensor;
• an optical axis operation controller that substantially matches the center of an iris image formed on the sensor with the pole of the polar coordinates of the sensor;
• a region determiner that determines the iris region by acquiring the inner and outer diameters of the iris according to an iris image signal obtained by the sensor;
• and
• a read scanner that scans the determined iris region in a predetermined sequence and obtains an output value corresponding to information of the iris region.

An iris information acquisition apparatus for obtaining image information of an iris region of the eye, comprising:

• an image pickup sensor comprising a group of photoelectric conversion pixels arranged in polar coordinates;
• an image pickup optical focuser that focuses image light from the iris region on the image pickup sensor;
• an illuminator that irradiates illumination light to the eye having the iris;
• an optical axis operation controller that substantially matches the center of an iris image formed on the sensor with the pole of the polar coordinates of the sensor;
• a light adjustment controller that controls the inner diameter of the iris image formed on the sensor by irradiating visible light to the eye having the iris from the illuminator, adjusting an amount of the light and defining the pupil diameter;
• and
• a read scanner that scans the sensor in a predetermined sequence and reads image information of the iris region.

An iris identification apparatus for acquiring an iris code representing information of an iris region of the eye and comparing and matching the acquired iris code with a previously registered iris code, comprising:

• an image pickup sensor comprising a group of photoelectric conversion pixels arranged in polar coordinates;
• an image pickup optical focuser that focuses image light from the iris region on the image pickup sensor;
• an optical axis operation controller that substantially matches the center of an iris image formed on the sensor with the pole of the polar coordinates of the sensor;
• a region determiner that determines the iris region by acquiring the inner and outer diameters of the iris according to an iris image signal obtained by the sensor;
• a read scanner that divides the determined iris region into predetermined concentric ring bands and determines the number of pixels in the radial direction of each ring band and reads the output value corresponding to information of each ring band in which weighted mean is performed according to the number of pixels;
• an iris code generator that generates the iris code according to the output value;
• and
• a comparitor that matches the generated iris code with the previously registered iris code.

An iris identification apparatus that acquires information of an iris region of the eye and compares and matches the acquired information of the iris region with information of an iris region registered previously, comprising:

• an image pickup sensor comprising a group of photoelectric conversion pixels arranged in polar coordinates;
• an image pickup optical focuser that focuses image light from the iris region on the image pickup sensor;
• an illuminator that radiates illumination light to the eye having the iris;
• an optical axis operation controller that substantially matches the center of an iris image formed on the sensor with the pole of the polar coordinates of the sensor;
• a light adjustment controller that controls the inner diameter of the iris image formed on the sensor by irradiating visible light to the eye having the iris from the illuminator, adjust an amount of the light and defines the pupil diameter;
• a read scanner that scans the sensor in the tangential and radial directions and reads the information of the iris region;
• and
• a matcher that matches the information of the iris region read by the read scanner with the information of the iris region registered previously through pattern matching.

An iris identification method for acquiring an iris code representing information of an iris region of the eye and comparing and matching the acquired iris code with a previously registered iris code, comprising:

• using an image pickup sensor comprising a group of photoelectric conversion pixels arranged in polar coordinates;
• focusing image light from the iris region on the image pickup sensor through an image pickup optical system;
• substantially matching the center of an iris image formed on the sensor with the pole of the polar coordinates of the sensor through an optical axis operation controller;
• determining the iris region by acquiring the inner and outer diameters of the iris according to an iris image signal obtained by the sensor;
• dividing the determined iris region into predetermined concentric ring bands, determining the number of pixels in the radial direction of each ring band and reading the output value, corresponding to information of each ring band in which a weighted mean is calculated according to the number of pixels;
• generating the iris code from the output value through an iris code generator;
• and
• performing personal identification by matching the generated iris code with the previously registered iris code.

An iris identification method for acquiring information of an iris region of the eye and comparing and matching the acquired information of the iris region with information of an iris region registered previously, comprising:

• using an image pickup sensor comprising a group of photoelectric conversion pixels arranged in polar coordinates;
• focusing image light from the iris region on the image pickup sensor through an image pickup optical system;
• irradiating illumination light to the eye having the iris through an illuminator;
• substantially matching the center of an iris image formed on the sensor with the pole of the polar coordinates of the sensor through an optical axis operation controller;
• controlling the inner diameter of the iris image formed on the sensor by irradiating visible light to the eye having the iris from the illuminator, adjusting an amount of the light and defining the pupil diameter;
• scanning the sensor in the tangential and radial directions and reading the information of the iris region through a read scanner;
• and
• performing personal identification by matching the information of the iris region read by the read scanner with the information of the iris region registered previously through pattern matching.