Person recognition method and apparatus

A person recognition apparatus for comparing a photographic image showing a face of a person to be recognized with face images of a plurality of registrants registered in a database, and displaying personal data of the registrant having the face image resembling the photographic image, the person recognition apparatus comprising:

• a unit to input a date of taking of a photograph of a person to be recognized;
• an elapsed year calculator for subtracting a date of taking a registrant's face image from a date of taking the photographic image of the person to be recognized, and calculating a number of elapsed years from the date of taking the registrant's face image;
• a comparison method selector for selecting one of a plurality of image comparison methods for comparing the photographic image with the registrant's face image in accordance with the number of elapsed years;
• an image comparator for comparing the photographic image with the registrant's face image by the selected image comparison method, and calculating a degree of resemblance between the photographic image and the registrant's face image using the selected comparison method;
• and
• a display for displaying the personal data of the one or more registrants in descending order of the degree of resemblance.