An online three-stage method for facial point localization

Abstract

Finding facial features respectively under expression and illumination variations is always a difficult problem. One popular solution for improving the performance of facial point localization is to use the spatial relation between facial feature positions. While existing algorithms mostly rely on the priori knowledge of facial structure and on a training phase, this paper presents an online approach without requirements of pre-defined constraints on feature distributions. Instead of training specific detectors for each facial feature, a generic method is first used to extract a set of interest points from test images. With a robust feature descriptor named Patterns Oriented Edge Magnitude (POEM) histogram, a smaller set of these points are picked as candidates. Then we apply a game-theoretic technique to select facial points from the candidates, while the global geometric properties of face are well preserved. The experimental results demonstrate that our method achieves satisfactory performance for face images under expression and lighting variations. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.