Fully automated iris recognition system utilizing wide and narrow fields of view

A fully automatic object recognition system which obtains and analyzes images of at least one object in a scene comprising:

• a wide view of view imager which is used to capture an image of the scene and to locate the object;
• and
• a narrow field of view imager, distinct from the wide field of view imager, which is responsive to the location information provided by the wide field of view imager and which is used to capture an image of the object, the image captured by the narrow field of view imager having a higher resolution and a narrower field of view than the image captured by the wide field of view imager.

A fully automatic object recognition system which obtains and analyzes images of an object in a scene composing:

• coarse imaging means for capturing an image of the scene at a first resolution and for processing the image at the first resolution to locate the object in a region of interest in the image;
• and
• fine imaging means, distinct from the coarse imaging means and responsive to the coarse imaging means, for capturing an image of the region of interest at a second resolution, greater than the first resolution and for processing the region of interest at the second resolution to capture a high-resolution image of the object.

A method for obtaining and analyzing images of at least one object in a scene comprising the steps of:

• capturing a wide field of view image of the object to locate the object in the scene;
• and
• responsive to the location information provided in the capturing step capturing a high resolution image of the scene which includes the object, the high resolution image having a greater resolution and a narrower field of view than the wide field of view image, the high resolution image being distinct from the wide field of view image.