Proposal of Earprint Authentication System Considering Pressing Force.

Earprints are left marks when the ear is pressed against a wall or door. They are sometimes found at crime scenes, and there are some actual criminal cases in which earprints are used to identify criminals. Earprints are still being researched to find out how to use them. Among them, it has been reported that the earprint is deformed by pressing force, but the conventional study of earprint recognition does not consider the pressing force. In the existing earprint collection system based on the cooperation of the suspect, the criminal can reduce the similarity by pressing the ear with a force different from the original force. Then, our research group has developed a device that continuously acquire earprints by using acrylic blocks and a high-speed camera. In addition, a load cell is installed on the back of the acrylic block, so it is possible to get earprint images corresponding the pressing force of the ear. In this study, we obtained earprints from 10 participants by using the device we developed and verified the accuracy of authentication. As a result of an accuracy evaluation experiment, it was suggested that it is possible to identify person even in the earprints acquired using this device.