What is claimed is:
1. A facial surveillance system, comprising:
an image processing means for finding a candidate facial area from an image;
a facial feature detection means for detecting if said candidate facial area contains a plurality of facial features;
an anomaly feature detection means for detecting if said candidate facial area contains at least one anomaly feature; and
a decision means for determining whether a valid or invalid face is detected based upon results of said facial feature detection means andor said anomaly feature detection means.
2. The facial surveillance system of claim 1, wherein said image processing means finds said candidate facial area by neural network analysis.
3. The facial surveillance system of claim 1, wherein said image processing means finds said candidate facial area by principal component analysis (PCA) or eigentemplates.
4. The facial surveillance system of claim 1, wherein said anomaly feature detection means is to detect an object covering at least one of said facial features.
5. The facial surveillance system of claim 1, wherein said anomaly feature detection means is to detect at least one of dark sun glasses, a mask and a helmet on said candidate facial area.
6. The facial surveillance system of claim 1, which further comprises a signal receiving means for receiving a decision signal from said decision means.
7. The facial surveillance system of claim 6, wherein said signal receiving means is an access controller.
8. The facial surveillance system of claim 6, wherein said signal receiving means is a data storage means.
9. The facial surveillance system of claim 6, wherein said signal receiving means is a printing device.
10. A facial surveillance method, comprising steps of:
a) processing an image to find a candidate facial area;
b) determining if said candidate facial area contains a plurality of facial features, if yes, go to step c), and if not, skip to step d);
c) determining if said candidate facial area contains at least one anomaly feature or none; and
d) outputting a signal based upon said step b) andor step c).
11. The facial surveillance method of claim 10, wherein said step a) is achieved by neural networks analysis.
12. The facial surveillance method of claim 10, wherein said step a) is achieved by principal component analysis (PCA) or eigentemplate analysis.
13. The facial surveillance method of claim 10, wherein said step b) is achieved by neural networks analysis.
14. The facial surveillance method of claim 10, wherein said step b) is achieved by principal component analysis (PCA) or eigentemplate analysis.
15. The facial surveillance method of claim 10, wherein said step c) is to detect an object covering at least one of said facial features.
16. The facial surveillance method of claim 10, wherein said step c) is to detect at least one of dark sun glasses, a mask, a helmet.
17. The facial surveillance method of claim 10, wherein said step c) is achieved by neural network analysis.
18. The facial surveillance method of claim 10, wherein said step c) is achieved by color analysis, texture analysis or shape analysis.
19. The facial surveillance method of claim 10, wherein said step d) is to output said signal to an access controller.
20. The facial surveillance method of claim 10, wherein said step d) is to output said signal to a storage means.
21. The facial surveillance method of claim 10, wherein said step d) is to output said signal to a printing device.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A vehicle antitheft system, comprising:
a monitoring device installed in a vehicle that monitors the state of the vehicle during the parking of the vehicle to detect an illegal act committed against the vehicle;
an alarm device that sets off an alarm if the monitoring device detects an illegal act committed against the vehicle;
a speed reduction device that forcibly reduces the speed of the vehicle regardless of the original vehicle operation by a driver;
a reception device that receives a speed reduction command transmitted from a command apparatus outside the vehicle; and
a vehicle speed limit device that makes the speed reduction device operate to limit the speed of the vehicle to a predetermined vehicle speed limit or lower when the reception device receives a speed reduction command.
2. The vehicle antitheft system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle speed limit device controls the speed reduction device by setting at least one intermediate vehicle speed limit, when an initial vehicle speed at the time of receiving the speed reduction command by the reception device is higher than the vehicle speed limit by a specified amount or more, between the initial vehicle speed and the vehicle speed limit, and by stopping the speed reduction device when the vehicle speed becomes lower than the intermediate vehicle speed limit during a specified period of time since the vehicle speed reaches the intermediate vehicle speed limit, so that the vehicle speed is gradually lowered from the initial vehicle speed through the intermediate vehicle speed limit to the vehicle speed limit.
3. The vehicle antitheft system according to claim 1,
wherein the vehicle includes an internal-combustion engine,
and wherein the speed reduction device forcibly slows down the vehicle by stopping the fuel supply to the internal-combustion engine.
4. The vehicle antitheft system according to claim 3, wherein, while the vehicle is being slowed down by the operation of the speed reduction device, the vehicle speed limit device monitors the revolving speed of the internal-combustion engine and stops the operation of the speed reduction device when the revolving speed is lower than a predetermined minimum revolving speed, thereby to prevent the revolving speed of the internal-combustion engine from being lowered than the predetermined minimum revolving speed.
5. The vehicle antitheft system according to claim 1,
wherein the monitoring device includes a three-axis sensor that detects a displacement of the vehicle as one of the sensors for monitoring the state of the vehicle,
and wherein, if a displacement of the vehicle is detected by the three-axis sensor, the monitoring device determines that an illegal act has been committed and provides a detection signal indicating the detection of the illegal act to the alarm device.
6. A command apparatus provided with a transmission device that transmits various command signals from the outside of a vehicle to the vehicle antitheft system according to claim 1, the command apparatus comprising:
a speed reduction command generating device that generates a speed reduction command to the vehicle antitheft system corresponding to the command apparatus in accordance with an external operation by a user, and makes the transmission device transmit the speed reduction command.
7. A program that performs the function of the speed reduction command generating device in the command apparatus according to claim 6 by means of the processing by a microcomputer constituting an information terminal having the function as the transmission device.