Face Match for Family Reunification: Real-World Face Image Retrieval

Despite the many advances in face recognition technology, practical face detection and matching for unconstrained images remain challenging. A real-world Face Image Retrieval (FIR) system is described in this paper. It is based on an optimally weighted image descriptor ensemble utilized in a single-imageper-person (SIPP) approach that works with large unconstrained digital photo collections. The described visual search can be deployed in many applications, e.g. person location in post-disaster scenarios, helping families reunite quicker. It provides efficient means for face detection, matching and annotation, working with images of variable quality, requiring no time-consuming training, yet showing commercial performance levels.