Statistical quality assessment of fingerprints
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method to analyze a fingerprint image, the fingerprint image including ridges and valleys, said method comprising:
- receiving a fingerprint image corresponding to a human fingerprint;
determining image distortion associated with the fingerprint image;
adjusting the fingerprint image to compensate for the image distortion;
segmenting the fingerprint image into at least a plurality of subsets; and
for each of the subsets;
determining a measure associated with fingerprint ridges and fingerprint valleys in the subset; and
based on the measure assigning the subset to at least one of a plurality of categories.
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Abstract
The present invention relates generally to human fingerprints. More specifically the present invention relates to assessing the quality of a fingerprint image. An assessment is made by analyzing characteristics of image sub-regions. For example, the characteristics may include statistics that are associated with a sub-region. If a sub-region is found to have unacceptable characteristics, it can be modified through a morphological operation to compensate for the unacceptable characteristics.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method to analyze a fingerprint image, the fingerprint image including ridges and valleys, said method comprising:
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receiving a fingerprint image corresponding to a human fingerprint;
determining image distortion associated with the fingerprint image;
adjusting the fingerprint image to compensate for the image distortion;
segmenting the fingerprint image into at least a plurality of subsets; and
for each of the subsets;
determining a measure associated with fingerprint ridges and fingerprint valleys in the subset; and
based on the measure assigning the subset to at least one of a plurality of categories. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of determining whether to accept a first fingerprint image or to require capture of a second fingerprint image, the first fingerprint image comprising a representation of a human fingerprint, the fingerprint including ridges and valleys, said method comprising:
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determining an orientation of the first fingerprint image;
adjusting the fingerprint image according to the orientation;
determining statistical values that are associated with at least some of the ridges and valleys;
comparing the determined statistical values against a predetermined acceptance criteria;
and determining whether to accept the first fingerprint image based at least on the comparison. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A method to analyze image data corresponding to a human fingerprint, the human fingerprint including fingerprint ridges and valleys, said method comprising:
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receiving image data corresponding to a human fingerprint;
determining image distortion associated with the image data;
adjusting the fingerprint image to compensate for the image distortion;
segmenting the fingerprint image into at least a plurality of subsets; and
for each of the subsets;
determining a measure associated with the human fingerprint in the subset; and
based on the measure assigning the subset to at least one of a plurality of categories.
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27. A method of determining whether to accept a first fingerprint image or to require capture of a second fingerprint image, the first fingerprint image comprising a representation of a human fingerprint, the fingerprint including ridges and valleys, said method comprising:
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determining an orientation of the first fingerprint image;
adjusting the fingerprint image according to the orientation;
determining statistical values that are associated with at least a portion of the human fingerprint;
comparing the determined statistical values against a predetermined acceptance criteria;
and determining whether to accept the first fingerprint image based at least in part on the comparison.
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Specification