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Robust Real-Time Face Detection

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Abstract

This paper describes a face detection framework that is capable of processing images extremely rapidly while achieving high detection rates. There are three key contributions. The first is the introduction of a new image representation called the “Integral Image” which allows the features used by our detector to be computed very quickly. The second is a simple and efficient classifier which is built using the AdaBoost learning algorithm (Freund and Schapire, 1995) to select a small number of critical visual features from a very large set of potential features. The third contribution is a method for combining classifiers in a “cascade” which allows background regions of the image to be quickly discarded while spending more computation on promising face-like regions. A set of experiments in the domain of face detection is presented. The system yields face detection performance comparable to the best previous systems (Sung and Poggio, 1998; Rowley et al., 1998; Schneiderman and Kanade, 2000; Roth et al., 2000). Implemented on a conventional desktop, face detection proceeds at 15 frames per second.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Microsoft Research, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA, 98052, USA

    Paul Viola

  2. Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratory, 201 Broadway, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Michael J. Jones

Authors
  1. Paul Viola
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  2. Michael J. Jones
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Viola, P., Jones, M.J. Robust Real-Time Face Detection. International Journal of Computer Vision 57, 137–154 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:VISI.0000013087.49260.fb

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:VISI.0000013087.49260.fb

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