Apple Inc.

Eslam A Mostafa

Kelsey Yukio Ho

Thorsten Gernoth

Feng Tang

Haitao Guo

Hao Tang

When a software update is provided to a device that implements a facial recognition authentication process, a new authentication algorithm to operate the facial recognition authentication process may be included as part of software update. For a period of time, the new authentication algorithm may operate a 'virtual' facial recognition authentication process alongside operation of the existing facial recognition authentication process using the existing (e.g., earlier version) authentication algorithm. The performance of the new authentication algorithm in providing facial recognition authentication (as assessed by the “virtual” process) may be compared to the performance of the existing authentication algorithm in providing facial recognition authentication during the period of time. When the performance of the new authentication algorithm is determined to have a satisfactory performance, operation of the actual facial recognition authentication process on the device may be switched to the new authentication algorithm.

On the fly enrollment for facial recognition

When a software update is provided to a device that implements a facial recognition authentication process, a new authentication algorithm to operate the facial recognition authentication process may be included as part of software update. For a period of time, the new authentication algorithm may operate a 'virtual' facial recognition authentication process alongside operation of the existing facial recognition authentication process using the existing (e.g., earlier version) authentication algorithm. The performance of the new authentication algorithm in providing facial recognition authentication (as assessed by the 'virtual' process) may be compared to the performance of the existing authentication algorithm in providing facial recognition authentication during the period of time. When the performance of the new authentication algorithm is determined to have a satisfactory performance, operation of the actual facial recognition authentication process on the device may be switched to the new authentication algorithm.

When a device is successfully unlock using a facial recognition authentication process, feature vectors generated from images obtained during the facial recognition authentication process may be stored as temporary templates on the device. After a period of time, one of the temporary templates may be selected to be used as a 'virtual' template for the device. For example, a median temporary template in the temporary templates may be selected as the virtual template. The performance of the virtual template may then be assessed over time and compared to the performance of templates generated from an enrollment process to determine if and how the virtual template is implemented on the device.

Virtual templates for facial recognition

A device with a camera may utilize an enrollment process to capture images of an authorized user to enroll the user for a facial recognition authorization process. The enrollment process may include one or more processes that identify if an identity of the authorized user (e.g., the subject of the enrollment process) has switched during the enrollment process. The processes may include detection and verification of the switch in identities by comparing features of subjects in images as the images are captured during the enrollment process. If the identity of the subject is determined to be switched from the authorized user during the enrollment process, the enrollment process may be restarted. Additionally, clustering of feature vectors from the enrollment images may be used to remove outlying feature vectors that may be generated from one or more images of a subject other than the authorized user.

Detection of identity changes during facial recognition enrollment process

Templates used for a facial recognition process for authentication of a user to use a device may be updated by the device as features of the user change over time. Features of the user may gradually change over time due to changes such as facial hair changes, haircuts, gaining/losing weight, and/or aging. Updating the templates used for the facial recognition process may allow the user to continue being authenticated as features of the user change without the need for additional enrollments of the user.

Process for updating templates used in facial recognition

A facial recognition authentication on a device having a camera may operate with multiple enrollment profiles on the device. Multiple enrollment profiles may include separate profiles for different appearances of a user and/or separate profiles for different users authorized to use the device. The enrollment profiles may be generated using an enrollment process where the enrollment process is operated separately to generate each of the different enrollment profiles. During the facial recognition authentication process, a user may unlock the device by having a matching score for image(s) captured of the user that that exceeds an unlock threshold for at least one of the enrollment profiles. The user may have a matching score that exceeds the unlock threshold for multiple enrollment profiles. Each enrollment profile unlocks the device for the user may be updated using a template update process that operates independently for each enrollment profile.

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Eslam A Mostafa