Depth-aware blur kernel estimation method for iris deblurring

A method of visually recognizing an iris, said method comprising the steps of:

• predicting a position of an eye of a living being at a future point in time;
• adjusting a focus position of a camera lens, the adjusting being dependent on the predicted position;
• using the camera lens with the adjusted focus position to produce an image of the living being's eye at the point in time;
• sensing an actual position of the living being's eye at the point in time;
• determining a Gaussian blur kernel distribution based upon:
• the adjusted focus position of the camera lens;
• and
• the actual position of the living being's eye at the point in time;
• and
• using the blur kernel distribution to digitally unblur the produced image.

A method of estimating a blur kernel distribution for visual iris recognition, said method comprising the steps of:

• determining a first mathematical relationship between an in-focus position of a camera lens and a distance between the lens and an iris whose image is to be captured by the lens;
• estimating a second mathematical relationship between the in-focus position of the lens and a standard deviation defining a Gaussian blur kernel distribution;
• predicting a position of an eye of a living being at a future point in time;
• adjusting a focus position of the camera lens based upon the predicted position of the eye;
• using the camera lens with the adjusted focus position to produce an image of the living being's eye at the point in time;
• sensing an actual position of the living being's eye at the point in time;
• using the first mathematical relationship to ascertain a desired focus position of the lens based upon the actual position of the living being's eye at the point in time;
• using the second mathematical relationship to calculate a standard deviation defining a Gaussian blur kernel distribution, the calculating being based upon a difference between the adjusted focus position and the desired focus position of the lens;
• and
• digitally unblurring the produced image by using the blur kernel distribution defined by the calculated standard deviation.