King Saud University Granted a US Patent on Biometrics Security

King Saud University scientists, Dr. Imran Razzaq, Prof. Khaled Alghathbar, Prof. Muhammad Khurram Khan, have got a US patent on their new invention entitled, “Face recognition using multilayered discriminant analysis”, under patent number 9,355,303 in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Human face plays a key role in our daily social interactions with others and identification purposes. Therefore, automated face recognition has become one of the most important research areas of human identification or biometrics. In the last few decades, biometrics recognition has been an intensive field of research and development and human face has been a popular biometric identification factor used for investigative, security, and anti-terrorism purposes due to its ease of use and potential ability to identify an individual from distance. Automated face recognition is vital to perform real-time recognition of a person from a large-sale database e.g. National ID Database/registry.

Comparing with other biometric systems, face identification has distinct advantages because of its non-contact interaction with the sensor/camera. Face images can be captured from a distance without touching the person being identified, and the identification does not require interacting with the person. In addition, face recognition could serve crime deterrent because face images that have been recorded and archived in a database can later help in the identification of culprits and criminals. Besides, as per International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), face biometrics is the first priority to use in smart biometric passports or e-passports for border crossing and immigration purpose.

“This invention is a landmark research in face recognition, which can be applied for human identification in civil, defense as well as commercial biometrics applications. We are enthusiastic and passionate about the commercialization of this invention. We hope our research outcomes and passion meet with the new goals and objectives of Vision2030 to transform Saudi Arabia a knowledge-based economy”, explained by the zealous inventors about their invention.

This invention was researched and developed at the Center of Excellence in Information Assurance (CoEIA) at King Saud University. The results of this research have been presented at an international conference in South Korea and a paper has also been published in an ISI-indexed international journal.
 
Co-inventors acknowledge King Saud University and pay their gratitude to the KSU leadership and Intellectual Property and Technology Licensing Program (IPTL) for their encouragement, support and assistance.