Automatic Mouth Localization Using Edge Projection

Problem statement: This study presented algorithms to detect mouth from color and intensity images. Approach: First, this algorithm detected the face region in the image and extracts intensity valleys from the face region. Next, the algorithm extracted iris candidates from the valleys and computed the costs for each pair of iris candidates. Finally, a pair of iris candidates was selected as irises by using the computed costs. Projection based method had been used to detect mouth corresponding to irises location. Results: By experiment, the proposed algorithm detected 90% of full mouth region for South East Asian database and 74% for European database. Conclusion: The algorithm was considered successful to detect mouth detection under variation of pose, illumination and orientation. For future improvement, more preprocessing steps might be needed to enhance and eliminate the effect of beard, moustache and illumination.