A method of face recognition based on fuzzy c-means clustering and associated sub-NNs

The face is a complex multidimensional visual model and developing a computational, model for face recognition is difficult. In this paper, we present a method for face recognition based on parallel neural networks. Neural networks (NNs) have been widely used in various fields. However, the computing efficiency decreases rapidly if the scale of the NN increases. In this paper, a new method of face recognition based on fuzzy clustering and parallel NNs is proposed. The face patterns are divided into several small-scale neural networks based on fuzzy clustering and they are combined to obtain the recognition result. In particular, the-proposed method achieved a 98.75% recognition accuracy for 240 patterns of 20 registrants and a 99.58% rejection rate for 240 patterns of 20 nonregistrants. Experimental results show that the performance of our new face-recognition method is better than those of the backpropagation NN (BPNN) system, the hard c-means (HCM) and parallel NNs system, and the pattern-matching system.