Enhancement of eye socket recognition performance using inverse histogram fusion images and the Gabor transform

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The eye socket is a cavity in the skull that encloses the eyeball and its surrounding muscles. It has unique shapes in individuals. This study proposes a new recognition method that relies on the eye socket shape and region. This method involves the utilization of an inverse histogram fusion image to generate Gabor features from the identified eye socket regions. These Gabor features are subsequently transformed into Gabor images and employed for recognition by utilizing both traditional methods and deep‐learning models. Four distinct benchmark datasets (Flickr30, BioID, Masked AT &amp; T, and CK+) were used to evaluate the method's performance. These datasets encompass a range of perspectives, including variations in eye shape, covering, and angles. Experimental results and comparative studies indicate that the proposed method achieved a significantly ( ) higher accuracy (average value greater than 92.18%) than that of the relevant identity recognition method and state‐of‐the‐art deep networks (average value less than 78%). We conclude that this improved generalization has significant implications for advancing the methodologies employed for identity recognition.</jats:p>