MINACE filter based facial pose estimation

A facial pose estimation system is presented that functions with illumination variations present. Pose estimation is a useful first stage in a face recognition system. A separate minimum noise and correlation energy (MINACE) filter is synthesized for each pose. To select the MINACE parameter (C) for the filter for a pose, a training set of illumination differences of several faces at that pose, and a validation set of other poses (illumination differences of several faces at a few other poses) is used in the automated filter-synthesis step. However, the filter for each pose is a combination of faces at only that pose. The pose estimation system is evaluated using images from the CMU Pose, Illumination and Expression (PIE) database. The classification performance (P-C) scores are presented for several pose estimation tests. The pose estimate will be used for a subsequent image transformation of a test face to a reference pose for face identification.