Software Identifies People By Shape of Noses

First there was fingerprint scans, then came retinal scans and soon, we might have nose scans?

Scientists from the University of the West of England and University of Bath claim scanning noses could be a quicker and easier way to verify a person's identity.

PhotoFace developed at UWE's Machine Vision Laboratory, takes several flash photos of a nose from different angles, in order to cast shadows around the nose.

Computer software creates 3-D images of the nose and categorizes the images based on six nose shapes: Roman, Greek, Nubian, Hawk, Snub and Turn-up.

The software then determines the color, surface orientation and depth of each point on the face by analyzing the shadows, a technique called photometric stereo.

Based on the measurements of the ridge profile, the nose tip, and the nasion or section between the eyes at the top of the nose, the researchers found that nose scanning showed good potential for use as a biometric, with a good recognition rate and a faster processing time than conventional biometric techniques.

The researchers will tweak the software to see if it can pick out individuals from a larger group of people, or distinguish between blood relatives.