Operator interactive pattern processing system

• US 4,047,154 A
• Filed: 09/10/1976
• Issued: 09/06/1977
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/1976
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Printrak International, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell International Corporation
• Inventors: Riganati, John P., Vitols, Visvaldis A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Boudreau, Leo H.
• Application Number:
  US05/722,306
• Time in Patent Office: 361 Days
• Field of Search: 340/146.3 E, 340/146.3 ED, 340/172.5, 340/149 R
• US Class Current: 382/125
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1172 using fingerprinting
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7264 Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems neural networks per se G06N3/00; expert systems per se G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/00 Pattern recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/20 Image preprocessing
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/40 Extraction of image or video features
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/75 Organisation of the matching processes, e.g. simultaneous or sequential comparisons of image or video features; Coarse-fine approaches, e.g. multi-scale approaches; using context analysis; Selection of dictionaries
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/987 with the intervention of an operator
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1359 Extracting features related to ridge properties; Determining the fingerprint type, e.g. whorl or loop
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/37 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

An operator interactive pattern processing system is described which combines high speed recognition and processing abilities of an automatic portion with the estimating and recognition abilities of a human operator to extract correct data from patterns, such as poor quality unidentified latent fingerprint patterns and achieve rapid identification thereof. The automatic portion reads the unidentified pattern and extracts specific information therefrom such as ridge contour data describing the epidermal ridge flow and minutial data principally describing ridge endings and bifurcations. Topological data, identifying singularity points such as tri-radii and cores as well as ridge flow line tracings related to those points are automatically extracted from the ridge contour data. The extracted information is then utilized by the automatic portion to perform classification of the unknown fingerprint previously identified fingerprint patterns having the same classification type as they are selectively retrieved from a main file. The automatic portion contains circuitry for making value judgments as to its own functions at intermediate stages of its operation. The value judgment circuitry allows the automatic portion to communicate with an operator through an interactive controller whenever: it doubts the accuracy of its automatically identified singularity points; is unable to classify the unknown fingerprint pattern; obtains no matches to the unknown fingerprint; or obtains too many matches to the unknown fingerprint. At the request of the automatic portion, the operator then analyzes the specific data for which the automatic system determines it is having difficulty and either verifies or corrects the data stored in the automatic portion through the use of the interactive controller. The automatic portion then continues in its processing of the extracted data until identification of the unknown fingerprint is achieved.

Claims

1. An interactive method for performing a succession of processing functions in relation to an unknown pattern to extract minutiae data therefrom uniquely identifying the pattern for subsequent comparison with minutiae data corresponding extracted from at least one known such pattern to determine a match therebetween, said processing functions being performed selectively in an automatic, continuous succession, and in an interrupted succession with operator interaction requested by the method, as a function of method determination of satisfactory performance of each said processing function, comprising the steps of:

storing said minutiae data of said at least one known such pattern,

comparing the extracted and the stored minutiae data to determine a degree of match therebetween,

establishing a required degree of match to determine satisfactory performance of said matching function and responsive to the degree of match determined by said comparing step to request operator interaction when said required degree of match is not satisfied, and to identify the given pattern as the known pattern for which the required degree of match is satisfied,

selectively displaying the given pattern in response to an operator interaction request and for selectively displaying the automatically extracted minutiae data in superposed relationship thereon, and

providing manually operable means for selectively correcting and supplementing the automatically extracted minutiae data to enable said comparing step to automatically compare the selectively corrected and supplemented minutiae data extracted from said given pattern with said stored minutiae data.

2. An interacitve method as recited in claim 1, wherein:

said storing step stores minutiae data corresponding to plural said known patterns,

said comparing step compares the automatically extracted minutiae data with the stored minutiae data for each of said stored patterns and produces a corresponding output indicating the degree of match therebetween, and

said determining step compares the number of said matches with a predetermined number thereof to determine satisfactory performance of said minutiae data matching function when the number of matches does not exceed said predetermined number, and requests operator interaction when the number of matches exceeds said predetermined number, and

said manually operable means provides for selective display of the minutiae data of each of said stored patterns in superposed relationship with the extracted minutiae data of the given said pattern, in succession, to permit operator evaluation of the unsatisfactory matching function.

3. An interactive method for performing a succession of processing functions in relation to an unknown pattern to extract data characterizing said pattern for subsequent comparison with data characterizing at least one of plural pattern types to determine a match therebetween, said processing functions being performed selectively in an automatic, continuous succession, and in an interrupted succession with operator interaction requested by the method, in accordance with method determination of satisfactory performance of successive said processing functions, comprising the steps of:

storing data defining preestablished classification types of said patterns,

automatically extracting classification defining data from a given pattern,

comparing the extracted and the stored classification defining data to determine a degree of match therebetween,

establishing a required degree of match to determine satisfactory performance of said matching function and responsive to the degree of match determined by said comparing steps to identify a preestablished classification type for which the degree of match is satisfied as the classification type of the said given pattern, and to request operator interaction when the said required degree of match is not satisfied,

selectively displaying the given pattern in accordance with an operator interaction request, and

providing means manually operable by an operator in response to an operator interaction request for extracting classification defining data from the displayed, said given pattern, and enabling said comparing step to perform the function of automatic classification of the pattern by comparing the manually extracted classification defining data for the said given pattern with the stored classification defining data to identify the classification type of the said given pattern.

4. An interactive method as recited in claim 3, wherein:

said selective displaying step further displays the automatically extracted classification defining data in accordance with the operator interaction request, and

said manually operable means is selectively operable to correct and to complete the displayed, automatically extracted classification defining data.

5. An interactive method for performing a succession of processing functions in relation to an unknown pattern to extract data characterizing said pattern for subsequent comparison with data characterizing at least one of plural pattern types to determine a match therebetween, said processing functions being performed selectively in an automatic, continous succession, and in an interrupted succession with operator interaction requested by the method, in accordance with method determination of satisfactory performance of successive said processing functions, comprising the steps of:

storing data defining preestablished classification types of said patterns,

automatically extracting classification defining data from a given pattern,

comparing the extracted and the stored classification defining data to determine a degree of match therebetween,

establishing a required degree of match to determine satisfactory performance of said matching function and responsive to the degree of match determined by said comparing steps to identify a preestablished classification type for which the degree of match is satisfied as the classification type of the said given pattern, and to request operator interaction when the the said required degree of match is not satisfied,

selectively displaying the given pattern in accordance with an operator interaction request, and

providing means manually operable by an operator in response to an operator interaction request for extracting classification defining data from the displayed, said given pattern, and enabling said comparing step to perform the function of automatic classification of the pattern by comparing the manually extracted classification defining data for the said given pattern with the stored classification defining data to identify the classification type of the said given pattern,

said selective method selectively displaying the manually extracted classification defining data and, simultaneously and in superposed relationship, the stored classification defining data for a given classification type, and

said manually operable means selectively displaying said stored classification defining data corresponding to plural different preestablished classification types to enable manual comparison of the manually extracted classification defining data with the stored data defining the plural preestablished classification types.

6. An interactive method for performing a succession of processing functions in relation to an unknown pattern to extract data characterizing said pattern for subsequent comparison with data characterizing at least one of plural pattern types to determine a match therebetween, said processing functions being performed selectively in an automatic, continuous succession, and in an interrupted succession with operator interaction requested by the method, in accordance with method determination of satisfactory performance of successive said processing functions, comprising the steps of:

storing data defining preestablished classification types of said patterns,

automatically extracting classification defining data from a given pattern,

comparing the extracted and the stored classification defining data to determine a degree of match therebetween,

establishing a required degree of match to determine satisfactory performance of said matching function and responsive to the degree of match determined by said compring steps to identify a preestabished classification type for which the degree of match is satisfied as the classification type of the said given pattern, and to request operator interaction when the said required degree of match is not satisfied,

selectively displaying the given pattern in accordance with an operator interaction request, and

providing means manually operable by an operator in response to an operator interaction request for extracting classification defining data from the displayed, said given pattern, and enabling said comparing step to perform the function of automatic classification of the pattern by comparing the manually extracted classification defining data for the said given pattern with the stored classification defining data to identify the classification type of the said given pattern,

said classification defining data including triradii points, core points, and contour line and wherein said preestablished classification types include predetermined numbers and combinations of respective ones of said triradii points and core points and wherein there is further provided the step of

responding selectively to the number and combinations of respective ones of said triradii and core points extracted from a given pattern which do not correspond to those of preestablished classification types of patterns to determine an unsatisfactory performance of the classification function and thereby to request operator interaction

7. An interactive method as recited in claim 6, wherein:

said selective displaying step displays, in response to an operator interaction request, each of the said triradii points, core points and contour lines automatically extracted from the said given pattern, and

said manually operable means provides selectively for correction and supplementation of the said triradii points, core points and contour lines in accordance with manual extraction from the displayed pattern, thereby to enable the comparing step to compare the selectively corrected and supplemented classification defining data extracted from the given pattern with the stored said classification type defining data.

8. An interactive method for identifying an unknown pattern by comparison with stored patterns, each such pattern being characterized uniquely by a minutiae pattern and a configuration of contour lines, wherein an automatic portion of said method comprises the steps of:

scanning an unknown pattern;

automatically extracting minutiae data describing said minutiae pattern from said scanned pattern;

storing said extracted minutiae data;

storing the minutiae data of each of a plurality of previously identified patterns in addressable locations;

selectively addressing and retrieving said stored minutiae date;

automatically comparing said extracted minutiae data with retrieved minutiae data corresponding to selected ones of said plurality of patterns in succession and producing a match signal when said compared data matches within predetermined limits;

indicating the identity of said corresponding pattern for each match signal;

generating a first output signal when no match signals are produced; and

generating a second output signal when more than a predetermined number of match signals are produced;

said interactive system further comprises the steps of;

providing interactive communication between said automatic portion of said method and a human operator, wherein said step of interactive communication includes the step of requesting operator verification of said automatically extracted minutiae data when said first or second output signals are generated;

selectively displaying said automatically extracted minutiae data, said unknown pattern, said retrieved minutiae data corresponding to said selected ones of said plurality of patterns for which a match signal is produced; and

entering correct minutiae data and deleting incorrect extracted minutiae data in storage; and

instructing said automatic portion of said method to automatically compare said corrected extracted minutiae data with said retrieved minutiae data corresponding to said selected ones of said plurality of patterns.

9. An interactive method as in claim 8, wherein said steps of extracting minutiae data includes the steps of defining a reference coordinate system and presenting said extracted minutiae data in an X, Y, θ

format, wherein X and Y indicate coordinate locations of each extracted minutia with respect to said defined coordinate system and θ

indicates the angular orientation of each extracted minutia with respect to said defined coordinate system;

said step of storing said previously identified minutiae data is performed by storing said previously identified data in an X, Y, θ

format;

11. An interactive method as in claim 9, wherein said automatic portion of said method further includes the steps of:

extracting contour data from said scanned pattern corresponding to said configuration of contour lines;

classifying said unknown pattern into one of a predetermined number of classification types defined by reference pattern contour configurations and thereby producing a classification type output signal;

said step of storing said previously identified minutiae data is performed by defining classification bins corresponding to said predetermined number of classification types, said previously, identified minutiae data being stored in corresponding classification bins according to the classification type of each previously identified pattern; and

said step of addressibg and retrieving is performed by receiving said classification type output signal and addressing a corresponding classification bin to retrieve stored minutiae data from said addressed classification bin.

10. said step of comparing includes the steps of automatically converting said extracted minutiae data and said retrieved minutiae data into an RIV format, wherein each minutia is represented in terms of its surrounding minutiae in a surrounding neighborhood of a predetermined size;

and

said steps of comparing includes the steps of matching each minutia of said unknown pattern represented in an RIV format with each minutia of a selected previously identified pattern represented in an RIV format and producing a pluraliy of neighborhood comparison signals indicating the relative closeness of match and relative coordinate displacement between minutia neighborhoods of the compared patterns, and developing output signals indicative of the relative closeness of match and the relative coordinate displacement of the compared patterns.

12. An interactive method as in claim 10, wherein said step of scanning includes the steps of imaging said unknown pattern and converting said image into a binary bit stream of electrical signals in a line scan format representing said unknown pattern;

15. An interactive system as recited in claim 12, wherein:

said storing means stores minutiae data corresponding to plural said known patterns,

said comparing means compares the automatically extracted minutiae data with the stored minutiae data for each of said stored patterns and produces a corresponding output indicating the degree of match therebetween, and

said determining means compares the number of said matches with a predetermined number thereof to determine satisfactory performance of said minutiae data matching function when the number of matches does not exceed said predetermined number, and requests operator interaction when the number of matches exceeds said predetermined number, and

said manually operable means provides for selective display of the minutiae data of each of said stored patterns in superposed relationship with the extracted minutiae data of the given said pattern, in succession, to permit operator evaluation of the unsatisfactory matching function.

13. said method further includes the step of window scanning said binary bit stream for producing a window scan address;

said step of automatically extracting minutiae data includes the steps of providing preprogrammed means responsive to said window scan address for detecting the occurrence of minutiae in said represented pattern, and providing means responsive to said preprogrammed means for determining the location of said detected minutiae with respect to said defined coordinate system; and

said step of storing said extracted minutiae data stores the location coordinate values for each of the extracted minutiae.

14. An interactive system for performing a succession of processing functions in relation to an unknown pattern to extract minutiae data therefrom uniquely identifying the pattern for subsequent comparison with minutiae data corresponding extracted from at least one known such pattern to determine a match therebetween, said processing functions being performed selectively in an automatic, continuous succession, and in an interrupted succession with operator interaction requested by the system, as a function of system determination of satisfactory performance of each said processing function, comprising:

means for storing said minutiae data of said at least one known such pattern,

means for comparing the extracted and the stored minutiae data to determine a degree of match therebetween,

means establishing a required degree of match to determine satisfactory performance of said matching function and responsive to the degree of match determined by said comparing means to request operator interaction when said required degree of match is not satisfied, and to identify the given pattern as the known pattern for which the required degree of match is satisfied,

means for selectively displaying the given pattern in response to an operator interaction request and for selectively displaying the automatically extracted minutiae data in superposed relationship thereon, and

manually operable means for selectively correcting and supplementing the automatically extracted minutiae data to enable said comparing means to automatically compare the selectively corrected and supplemented minutiae data extracted from said given pattern with said stored minutiae data.

17. An interactive system as recited in claim 14, wherein:

said selective display means further displays the automatically extracted classification defining data in accordance with the operator interaction request, and

said manually operable means is selectively operable to correct and to complete the displayed, automatically extracted classification defining data.

16. An interactive system for performing a succession of processing functions in relation to an unknown pattern to extract data characterizing said pattern for subsequent comparison with data characterizing at least one of plural pattern types to determine a match therebetween, said processing functions being performed selectively in an automatic, continuous succession, and in an interrupted succession with operator interaction requested by the system, in accordance with system determination of satisfactory performance of successive said processing functions, comprising:

means for storing data defining preestablished classification types of said patterns,

means for automatically extracting classification defining data from a given pattern,

means for comparing the extracted and the stored classification defining data to determine a degree of match therebetween,

means establishing a required degree of match to determine satisfactory performance of said matching function and responsive to the degree of match determined by said comparing means to identify a preestabilished classification type for which the degree of match is satisfied as the classification type of the said given pattern, and to request operator interaction when the said required degree of match is not satisfied,

means for selectively displaying the given pattern in accordance with an operator interaction request, and

means manually operable by an operator in response to an operator interaction request for extracting classification defining data from the displayed, said given pattern, said enabling said comparing means to perform the function of automatic classification of the pattern by comparing the manually extracted classification defining data for the said given pattern with the stored classification defining data to identify the classification type of the said given pattern.

18. An interactive system for performing a succession of processing functions in relation to an unknown pattern to determine the classification type thereof as one of plural, known classification types, and to identify the unknown pattern as a known, stored pattern of the same, determined classification type, said processing functions being performed selectively in an automatic, continuous succession and in an interrupted succession with operator interaction requested by the system, in accordance with system determination of satisfactory performance or unsatisfactory performance, respectively, of each said processing function, comprising:

means for storing data defining preestablished classification types of said patterns,

means for automatically extracting classification defining data from a given pattern,

means for comparing the extracted and the stored classification defining data to determine a degree of match therebetween,

means establishing a required degree of match to determine satisfactory performance of said matching function and responsive to the degree of match determined by said comparing means to identify a preestablished classification type for which the degree of match is satisfied as the classification type of the said given pattern, and to request operator interaction when the said required degree of match is not satisfied,

means for selectively displaying the given pattern in accordance with an operator interaction request,

means manually operable by an operator in response to an operator interaction request for extracting classification defining data from the displayed, said given pattern, and enabling said comparing means to perform the function of automatic classification of the pattern by comparing the manually extracted classification defining data for the said given pattern with the stored classification defining data to identify the classification type of the said given pattern,

means for storing minutiae data of known said patterns of different classification types,

means responsive to the identified classification type of the unknown pattern for selecting the stored minutiae data of known said patterns of the said identified classification type from said storing means,

means for comparing the extracted minutiae data and the stored minutiae data for each said pattern of the said selected, identified classification type to determine the corresponding degrees of match therebetween,

means establishing a required degree of match to determine satisfactory performance of said matching function and responsive to the degree of match determined by said comparing means to request operator interaction when said required degree of match is not satisfied, and to identify the given pattern as the known pattern for which the required degree of match is satisfied,

means for selectively displaying the given pattern in response to an operator interaction request and for selectively displaying the automatically extracted minutiae data in superposed relationship thereon, and

manually operable means for selectively correcting and supplementing the automatically extracted minutiae data to enable said comparing means to automatically compare the selectively corrected and supplemented minutiae data extracted from said given pattern with said stored minutiae data.

21. An interactive system as recited in claim 18, wherein:

said selective displaying means displays, in response to an operator interaction request, each of the said triradii points, core points and contour lines automatically extracted from the said given pattern, and

said manually operable means provides selectively for correction and supplementation of the said triradii points, core points and contour lines in accordance with manual extraction from the displayed pattern, thereby to enable the comparing means to compare the selectively corrected and supplemented classification defining data extracted from the given pattern with the stored said classification type defining data.

24. A system as in claim 21, wherein said automatic portion further comprises;

means for extracting contour data from said scanned pattern corresponding to said configuration of contour lines;

means receiving said extracted contour data for classifying said unknown pattern into one of a predetermined number of classification types defined by reference pattern contour configurations and producing a classification type output signal;

said second storing means defines classification bins corresponding to said predetermined number of classification types, said previously identified minutiae data being stored in corresponding classification bins according to the classification type of each previously identified pattern; and

said addressing and retrieving means receives said classification type output signal from said classifying means for addressing said second storing means at a corresponding classification bin and retrieves stored minutiae data from said addressed classification bin.

19. An interactive system for performing a succession of processing functions in relation to an unknown pattern to extract data characterizing said pattern for subsequent comparison with data characterizing at least one of plural pattern types to determine a match therebetween, said processing functions being performed selectively in an automatic continuous succession, and in an interrupted succession with operator interaction requested by the system, in accordance with system determination of satisfactory performance of successive said processing functions, comprising:

means for storing data defining preestablished classification types of said patterns,

means for automatically extracting classification defining data from a given pattern,

means for comparing the extracted and the stored classification defining data to determine a degree of match therebetween,

means establishing a required degree of match to determine satisfactory performance of said matching function and responsive to the degree of match determined by said comparing means to identify a preestablished classification type for which the degree of match is satisfied as the classification type of the said given pattern, and to request operator interaction when the said required degree of match is not satisfied,

means for selectively displaying the given pattern in accordance with an operator interaction request, and

means manually operable by an operator in response to an operator interaction request for extracting classification defining data from the displayed, said given pattern, and enabling said comparing means to perform the function of automatic classification of the pattern by comparing the manually extracted classification defining data for the said given pattern with the stored classification defining data to identify the classification type of the said given pattern,

said selective displaying means selectively displaying the manually extracted classification defining data and, simultaneously and in superposed relationship, the stored classification defining data for a given classification type, and

said manually operable means including means for selectively displaying said stored classification defining data corresponding to plural different preestablished classification types to enable manual comparison of the manually extracted classification defining data with the stored data defining the plural preestablished classification types.

20. An interactive system for performing a succession of processing functions in relation to an unknown pattern to extract data characterizing said pattern for subsequent comparison with data characterizing at least one of plural pattern types to determine a match therebetween, said processing functions being performed selectively in an automatic, continuous succession, and in an interrupted succession with operator interaction requested by the system, in accordance with system determination of satisfactory performance of successive said processing functions, comprising:

means for storing data defining preestablished classification types of said patterns,

means for automatically extracting classification defining data from a given pattern,

means for comparing the extracted and the stored classification defining data to determine a degree of match therebetween,

means establishing a required degree of match to determine satisfactory performance of said matching function and responsive to the degree of match determined by said comparing means to identify a preestablished classification type for which the degree of match is satisfied as the classification type of the said given pattern, and to request operator interaction when the said required degree of match is not satisfied,

means for selectively displaying the given pattern in accordance with an operator interaction request, and

means manually operable by an operator in response to an operator interaction request for extracting classification defining data from the displayed, said given pattern, and enabling said comparing means to perform the function of automatic classification of the pattern by comparing the manually extracted classification defining data for the said given pattern with the stored classification defining data to identify the classification type of the said given pattern,

said classification defining data including triradii points, core points, and contour lines and wherein said preestablished classification types include predetermined numbers and combinations of respective ones of said triradii points and core points, and wherein there is further provided

means responsive selectively to the number and combinations of respective ones of said triradii and core points extracted from a given pattern which do not correspond to those of preestablished classification types of patterns to determine an unsatisfactory performance of the classification function and thereby to request operator interaction.

23. A system as in claim 20, wherein said extracting means defines a reference coordinate system and presents said extracted minutiae data in an X, Y, θ

format, wherein X and Y indicate coordinate locations of each detected minutia with respect to said defined coordinate system and θ

indicates the angular orientation of each detected minutia with respect to said defined coordinate system;

said second storing means stores said retrievable minutiae data in an X, Y, θ

format;

said comparing means includes means for automatically converting said minutiae data from said first storing means and said retrieved minutiae data from said second storing means into an RIV format, wherein each minutia is represented in terms of its surrounding minutiae in a surrounding neighborhood of a predetermined size; and

said comparing means also includes means for matching each minutia of said unknown pattern represented in an RIV format with each minutia of a selected previously identified pattern represented in an RIV format and producing a plurality of neighborhood comparison signals indicating the relative closeness of match and relative coordinate displacement between minutia neighborhoods of the compared patterns, and means responsive to the neighborhood comparison signals for developing output signals indicative of the relative closeness of match and the relative coordinate displacement of the compared patterns.

26. A system as in claim 23, wherein said scanning means is a television camera and said pattern is a latent fingerprint.

27. A system as in claim 23, wherein said contour data extracting means includes preprogrammed means responsive to said window scan address for reading out corresponding local angle values greater than zero when said window scanning means produces a window scan address corresponding to a contour line of said represented pattern being in said window and for reading out a zero value when said window scanning means produces a scan address which does not correspond to a contour line of said represented pattern being in said window.

29. A system as in claim 26, wherein said window scanning means includes a first serial-in/parallel-out three bit register connected to receive said binary bit stream, a first serial-in/serial-out full line delay register connected to receive said binary bit stream, a second serial-in/parallel-out three bit register connected to receive the output of said first full line delay register, a second serial-in/serial-out full line delay register connected to receive the output of said first full line delay register, and a third serial-in/parallel-out three bit register connected to receive the output of said second full line delay register, wherein said first, second and third three bit registers form a three by three bit scanning window which advances one bit by one bit over said binary bit stream in said line scan format and provides said window scan address nine bits in length.

32. A system as in claim 29, wherein said classifying means further includes means responsive to said comparison value signals for determining said classification type when a comparison value signal is within a predetermined value and producing a corresponding classification type output signal, said classification type detecting means produces a fourth output signal when no comparison value signals are within said predetermined value;

said interactive means being responsive to said fourth output signal for requesting operator verification of said produced curve tracings.

35. A system as in claim 32, wherein said system includes means for automatically distinguishing said scanned pattern from its background, determining those of said predetermined areas in which said background occurs in said scanned pattern and producing corresponding background cancelling signals;

and

means for gating said background cancelling signals to said number of peaks storing means and eliminating all numbers therein which are stored in locations corresponding to said areas of determined background.

22. An operator interactive system for identifying an unknown pattern by comparison with stored patterns, each such pattern being characterized uniquely by a minutiae pattern and a configuration of contour lines, wherein an automatic portion of said system comprises:

means for scanning an unknown pattern;

means for automatically extracting minutiae data describing said minutiae pattern from said scanned pattern;

first means for storing said extracted minutiae data;

second means for storing the minutiae data of each of a plurality of previously identified patterns in addressable locations;

means for selectively addressing and retrieving said minutiae data stored in said second storing means;

means for automatically comparing said extracted minutiae data stored in said first storing means with retrieved minutiae data corresponding to selected ones of said plurality of patterns in succession and producing a match signal when said compared data matches within predetermined limits;

means responsive to said comparing means for indicating the identity of said corresponding pattern for each match signal; and

means responsive to said comparing means and said addressing means for generating a first output signal when no match signals are produced and generating a second output signal when more than a predetermined number of match signals are produced;

said system also includes means selectively connected to said scanning means, said first storing means, said second storing means and to said first and second output signal generating means, and interfacing said automatic portion and a human operator for providing interactive communication between said automatic portion and said operator;

said interactive means being responsive to said first and second output signals for requesting operator verification of said automatically extracted minutiae data;

said interactive means including means for displaying images and

means manually operable by said operator to command said system to selectively display said automatically extracted minutiae data on said display means, to display said unknown pattern, to display said retrieved minutiae data corresponding to said selected ones of said plurality of patterns for which a match signal is produced by said comparing means, to enter correct minutiae data and delete incorrect minutiae data in said first storing means as determined by said operator, and to instruct said automatic comparison means to compare said corrected extracted minutiae data with said retrieved minutiae data corresponding to said selected ones of said plurality of patterns.

25. A system as in claim 22, wherein said scanning means includes means for imaging said unknown pattern and means for converting said image into a binary bit stream of electrical signals in a line scan format representing said unknown pattern;

said system further includes means for window scanning said binary bit stream for producing a window scan address;

said automatic minutiae data extracting means includes preprogrammed means responsive to said window scan address for detecting the occurrence of minutiae in said represented pattern, means responsive to said preprogrammed means for determining the location of said detected minutiae with respect to said defined coordinate system, said first storing means stores the location coordinate values for each of the detected minutiae.

28. A system as in claim 25, wherein said contour data extracting means includes means for automatically averaging said local angle values read out from said preprogrammed means over predetermined areas of said represented pattern, means receiving said averaged local angle values for generating a flow angle value for each predetermined area of said represented pattern, means for storing said flow angle values as contour data in addressable locations, and means for addressing said flow angle storing means in accordance with each predetermined area of said represented pattern.

30. A system as in claim 25, wherein said classifying means includes means for window scanning said contour data by sequentially sampling each stored local angle value and a predetermined number of its surrounding local angle values;

means responsive to said sampled contour data for determining the occurrence and location of any singularity point in said represented pattern;

means responsive to said singularity point location means for producing a third output signal when more than a predetermined number of singularity points are located;

said interactive means being responsive to said third output signal for requesting operator correction of said located singularity points;

said manually operable means further provides for said operator to command said system to display said singularity points at said determined locations and to enter the correct location of singularity points as determined by said operator.

31. A system as in claim 28, wherein

said classifying means includes means responsive to said singularity point determining means for producing curve tracings corresponding to those of said contour lines extending from each located singularity point;

means for storing reference curve tracings corresponding to a plurality of said reference pattern contour configurations;

means for comparing said produced curve tracings with each of said stored reference curve tracings and producing a corresponding comparison value signal for each comparison.

33. A system as in claim 30, wherein said contour data window scanning means includes a 7 by 7 byte buffer having a center cell for sequentially sampling each said stored flow angle value and 48 cells surrounding said center cell, corresponding to said predetermined number, for sampling said predetermined number of surrounding angle values;

said singularity point determining means includes means for correlating the average angle values sampled by said surrounding cells for each angle value sampled by said center cell with respect to a predetermined number of reference angles defined as extending from said center cell and producing a correlation value for each of said predetermined number of reference values at each angle value sampled by said center cell,

means receiving said correlation values for determining peaks in said correlation values, the number of said correlation value peaks and identifying each peak correlation value by its corresponding reference angle value,

means for storing said number of correlation value peaks for each angle value sampled by said center cell in locations corresponding to said predetermined areas of said represented pattern, and

means for storing said reference angle values identified as corresponding to each of said correlation value peaks in locations corresponding to said predetermined areas of said represented pattern.

34. A system as in claim 31, wherein said singularity point determining means further includes means for sequentially scanning said numbers stored in said number of peaks storing means and means responsive to said number of peaks scanning means for eliminating all numbers in said number of peaks storing means which are not equal to 1 or 3 and allowing said numbers equal to 1 or 3 to remain.

36. A system as in claim 33, wherein said singularity point determining means further includes means for simultaneously scan sampling each cell location and two predetermined adjacent cell locations of said number of peaks storing means,

means responsive to said scan sampling means at each sampled cell location for comparing sampled values at each sampled cell location and its corresponding two adjacent cell locations and producing cancellation signals each time said sampled value from each said sampled cell location is different from either of said sampled values from its corresponding two adjacent cell locations;

and

means for applying said cancellation signals to said number of peaks storing means to eliminate numbers stored in each cell location therein which differs in value from either of its corresponding two predetermined adjacent cell locations to reduce the size of clusters of numbers of equal value and eliminate spurious numbers stored in said number of peaks storing means.

37. A system as in claim 34, wherein said singularity point determining means further includes means responsive to said cancellation signal applying means for single cell sample scanning said number of peaks storing means;

means responsive to said single cell sampling means for producing a singularity point location signal when said number sampled thereby has a value of 1 or 3, wherein said location signal has a value corresponding to the address location of the corresponding cell location in said number of peaks storing means incremented by a +1 value in both row and column portions thereof;

means for storing said singularity point location signal; and

means for incrementing said address to said number of peaks storing means for said single cell sample scanning means by +3 in both the row and column portions thereof.