There is provided a novel approach for automatic human face
authentication. Taking a 3D triangular facial mesh as input, the approach
first automatically extracts the bilateral symmetry plane of the face
surface. The intersection between the symmetry plane and the facial
surface, namely the Symmetry Profile, is then computed. By using both the
mean curvature plot of the facial surface and the curvature plot of the
symmetry profile curve, three essential points of the nose on the
symmetry profile are automatically extracted. The three essential points
uniquely determine a Face Intrinsic Coordinate System (FICS). Different
faces are aligned based on the FICS. The Symmetry Profile, together with
two transversal profiles, namely the Forehead Profile and the Cheek
Profile compose a compact representation, called the SFC representation,
of a 3D face surface. The face authentication and recognition steps are
finally performed by comparing the SFC representation of the faces.