Description and classification of facial expression based on isodensity maps

Methods of description and classification of facial expression based on isodensity maps are presented in this paper. Until now, almost all methods of recognition of facial expression have depended on the shapes and edges on facial elements (position of eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, etc.). However it is very difficult to extract such feature points and to describe the change of density variations such as wrinkles by using feature points above. In contrast to these methods, this paper adopts and defines isodensity maps that can represent density variations of facial images and level planes. In this method, isodensity map is described as a tree structure. As isodensity map changes appear as changes in the tree structure, facial expression changes can be detected by analyzing the changes in the tree structure for example, by Brother Splitting, Brother Merging, Father-Son Splitting, or Father-Son Merging.