Biometric matching engine

• US 9,330,142 B2
• Filed: 09/05/2014
• Issued: 05/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Partington, Alastair Ross, Astrom, Per Anders Matteus, Bataller, Cyrille
• Primary Examiner(s): Perveen, Rehana
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUI, THUY T
• Application Number:
  US14/478,772
• Publication Number:
  US 20150154260A1
• Time in Patent Office: 606 Days
• Field of Search: 707/754, 707/758, 382/115, 382/117
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2455 Query execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5838 using colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5866 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, manually generated location and time information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/42 using separate channels for security data
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/94 Hardware or software architectures specially adapted for image or video understanding
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/10 Human or animal bodies, e.g. vehicle occupants or pedestrians; Body parts, e.g. hands
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1347 Preprocessing; Feature extraction
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1365 Matching; Classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1382 Detecting the live character of the finger, i.e. distinguishing from a fake or cadaver finger
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/70 Multimodal biometrics, e.g. combining information from different biometric modalities

Abstract

The present disclosure concerns a method of identifying a biometric record of an individual in a database (108), the database comprising at least first and second sets of records, each set comprising at least one record, the method comprising: receiving by a processing device (102) at least first and second input biometric samples of said individual; performing on the records of said first set a first matching process comprising a first filtering operation followed by a second filtering operation, and performing on the records of said second set a second matching process comprising said second filtering operation followed by said first filtering operation, wherein said first filtering operation comprises comparing said first input biometric sample to a first reference biometric sample of each record, and said second filtering operation comprises comparing said second input biometric sample to a second reference biometric sample of each record; and identifying a biometric record of said individual based on results of the first and second matching processes.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a processing device, a first input biometric sample and a second input biometric sample to be matched with a record of a plurality of records;

determining, by the processing device, a first characteristic associated with the first input biometric sample and a second characteristic associated with the second input biometric sample;

grouping, by the processing device, the plurality of records to form a first set of records and a second set of records based on comparing a parameter relating to at least one reference biometric sample, associated with each record of the plurality of records, with at least one threshold,

the parameter comprising a quality measurement parameter associated with the at least one reference biometric sample associated with each record of the plurality of records,

the grouping the plurality of records being after and based on receiving the first input biometric sample and the second input biometric sample, and

the grouping being based on the first characteristic and the second characteristic;

performing, by the processing device and on the first set of records, a first matching process based on a first threshold;

performing, by the processing device and on the second set of records, a second matching process based on a second threshold; and

identifying, by the processing device, the record that matches the first input biometric sample and the second input biometric sample based on a result of the first matching process and a result of the second matching process.

2. The method of claim 1, where the first input biometric sample comprises a first type of biometric sample, and

where the second input biometric sample comprises a second type of biometric sample that is different from the first type of biometric sample.

3. The method of claim 2, where the first type of biometric sample comprises one of:

an image of a face,

a fingerprint,

an iris scan,

an image of a signature,

an image of a finger vein,

an image of a palm vein, or

a voice sample.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the quality measurement parameter, associated with the at least one reference biometric sample associated with each record of the plurality of records, based on one or more of;

an age of an individual associated with the first input biometric sample,

a gender of the individual,

a size of an image corresponding to the reference biometric sample,

a sharpness of the image,

a viewing angle of the image, or

a contrast in the image.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an order for performing the first matching process and the second matching process,

where the first matching process and the second matching process are performed in the order that is determined.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

extracting first metadata from the first input biometric sample and the second input biometric sample,

the first metadata indicating the first characteristic and the second characteristic;

extracting second metadata from the plurality of records; and

where the grouping includes;

grouping the plurality of records based on the first metadata and the second metadata.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a third input biometric sample and a fourth input biometric sample; and

dynamically re-defining the first set of records and the second set of records based on receiving the third input biometric sample and the fourth input biometric sample.

8. A device comprising:

a memory; and

one or more processors, operatively connected to the memory, to;

receive a first input biometric sample and a second input biometric sample to be matched with a record of a plurality of records,

each record, of the plurality of records, being associated with a respective reference biometric sample;

determine a first characteristic associated with the first input biometric sample and a second characteristic associated with the second input biometric sample;

determine a quality score for each record, of the plurality of records, based on one or more characteristics associated with the respective reference biometric sample associated with each record;

group, the plurality of records to form a first group of records and a second group of records,

the grouping the plurality of records being after and triggered by receiving the first input biometric sample and the second input biometric sample,

the grouping being based on the first characteristic, the second characteristic, and the quality score determined for each record;

perform a first matching process on the first group of records based on a first threshold;

perform a second matching process on the second group of records based on a second threshold; and

identify the record, of the plurality of records, that matches the first input biometric sample and the second input biometric sample based on a result of the first matching process and a result of the second matching process.

9. The device of claim 8, where, when performing the second matching process, the one or more processors are to:

perform the second matching process in parallel with the first matching process.

10. The device of claim 8, where the first input biometric sample comprises a first type of biometric sample;

and

where, when grouping the plurality of records, the one or more processors are to;

determine that a first record, of the plurality of records, is associated with a reference biometric sample that comprises the first type of biometric sample, and

include the first record in the first group of records based on the first record being associated with the reference biometric sample that comprises the first type of biometric sample.

11. The device of claim 10, where, when grouping the plurality of records, the one or more processors are further to:

determine that a second record, of the plurality of records, is not associated with a reference biometric sample that comprises the first type of biometric sample, and

include the second record in the second group of records based on the second record not being associated with the reference biometric sample that comprises the first type of biometric sample.

12. The device of claim 8, where each record, included in the first group of records, is associated with a particular type of reference biometric sample;

where the one or more processors are further to;

assign the first matching process to the first group of records based on each record, included in the first group of records, being associated with the particular type of reference biometric sample; and

where, when performing the first matching process, the one or more processors are to;

perform the first matching process on the first group of records based on the first matching process being assigned to the first group of records.

13. The device of claim 8, where, when performing the first matching process, the one or more processors are to:

perform a plurality of filtering operations on the first group of records.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

receive a first input biometric sample and a second input biometric sample,

the first input biometric sample and the second input biometric sample being associated with an individual to be identified,

the individual being associated with a record of a plurality of records that are stored;

determine a first characteristic associated with the first input biometric sample and a second characteristic associated with the second input biometric sample;

partition, the plurality of records into a first group of records and a second group of records,

the partitioning the plurality of records being after and based on receiving the first input biometric sample and the second input biometric sample,

the partitioning being based on the first characteristic and the second characteristic;

determine that a first matching process and a second matching process are to be performed at least partially in series;

determine an order for performing the first matching process and the second matching process;

perform the first matching process on the first group of records based on a first threshold;

perform the second matching process on the second group of records based on a second threshold,

the first matching process and the second matching process being performed based on the order that is determined; and

determine an identity of the individual based on identifying the record based on a result of the first matching process and a result of the second matching process.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, where the first input biometric sample comprises a first image associated with a first viewing angle;

where the record, of the plurality of records, is associated with a second image associated with a second viewing angle; and

where the one or more instructions to group the plurality of records include;

one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

selectively include the record in the first group of records when a difference between the first viewing angle and the second viewing angle is within a particular range of values,

the record being included in the second group of records when the difference is not within the particular range of values.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, where the first input biometric sample comprises a first type of biometric sample and the second input biometric sample comprises a second type of biometric sample;

and

where the one or more instructions to group the plurality of records include;

one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

include the record, of the plurality of records, in the first group of records when the record is associated with a reference biometric sample that comprises the first type of biometric sample, and

include the record in the second group of records when the record is associated with a reference biometric sample that comprises the second type of biometric sample.