COMPUTER-ASSISTED SKULL IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM USING VIDEO SUPERIMPOSITION

This system consists of two main units, namely a video superimposition system and a computer-assisted skull identification system. The video superimposition system is comprised of the following five parts: a sk ull-positioning box having a monochrome CCD camera, a photo-stand havi ng a color CCD camera, a video image mixing device, a TV monitor and a videotape recorder. The computer-assisted skull identification system is composed of a host computer including our original application sof tware, a film recorder and a color printer. After the determination of the orientation and size of the skull to those of the facial photogra ph using the video superimposition system, the skull and facial photog raph images are digitized and stored within the computer, and then bot h digitized images are superimposed on the monitor. For the assessment of anatomical consistency between the digitized skull and face, the d istance between the landmarks and the thickness of soft tissue of the anthropometrical points are semi-automatically measured on the monitor . The wipe images facilitates the comparison of positional relationshi ps between the digitized skull and face. The software includes the pol ynomial functions and Fourier harmonic analysis for evaluating the mat ch of the outline such as the forehead and mandibular line in both the digitized images. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.