System and method of capturing and producing biometric-matching quality fingerprints and other types of dactylographic images with a mobile device

• US 9,330,294 B2
• Filed: 01/26/2013
• Issued: 05/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aware Incorporated (Crowley Holdings Preferred LLC)
• Original Assignee: Aware Incorporated (Crowley Holdings Preferred LLC)
• Inventors: Riopka, Taras P., Mungovan, Robert, Ma, Limin, Benini, David
• Primary Examiner(s): MARIAM, DANIEL G
• Application Number:
  US14/363,852
• Publication Number:
  US 20140369575A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,193 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 21/0008 Microscopes having a simple construction, e.g. portable microscopes
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1318 using electro-optical elements or layers, e.g. electroluminescent sensing
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1324 by using geometrical optics, e.g. using prisms G06V40/1312 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1365 Matching; Classification

Abstract

An optical module includes a housing with a lighting mechanism, an aperture formed therein, and a window that frames a transparent surface adapted to contact a skin surface of a person, for example, a fingertip. The lighting mechanism provides light to illuminate the skin surface placed upon the transparent surface. A prism has a first side facing the lighting mechanism, a second side at the window, and a third side through which a dactylographic image exits the prism. One or more light reflecting surfaces are disposed within the housing to reflect the dactylographic image towards the housing aperture. The optical module is coupled to a mobile device having a camera, with the aperture of the housing aligning with a lens of the camera. The camera acquires the dactylographic image, and the mobile device adjusts this dactylographic image to produce a dactylographic image suitable for biometric matching.

Claims

1. A non-powered optical module configured to acquire a dactylographic image for a mobile device with a built-in camera comprising:

an attachment mechanism that holds the optical module on the mobile device;

a housing having a side with an aperture formed therein, and a window framing a transparent surface that contacts a skin surface of a person;

a lighting mechanism that provides light to illuminate the skin surface of the person placed upon the transparent surface;

a prism having;

a first side facing the lighting mechanism,

a second side facing the window that frames the transparent surface to contact the skin surface of the person, and

a third side through which a dactylographic image of the skin surface of the person exits the prism; and

a plurality of light reflecting surfaces within the housing spatially separated from the prism, the plurality of light reflecting surfaces disposed within the housing to reflect the dactylographic image of the skin surface of the person exiting the prism towards the aperture in the side of the housing toward the camera in the mobile device.

2. The optical module of claim 1, wherein the skin surface of the person that contacts the transparent surface comprises one or more fingertips, and the dactylographic image of the skin surface of the person comprises a fingerprint image.

3. The optical module of claim 1, wherein the lighting mechanism comprises a diffuser window that diffuses light entering therethrough.

4. The optical module of claim 3, wherein the plurality of light reflecting surfaces include a mirror disposed within the housing to reflect light entering the diffuser window towards the first side of the prism.

5. The optical module of claim 1, further comprising a lens disposed in a light path between the prism and one of the reflecting surfaces to focus the dactylographic image.

6. The optical module of claim 1, wherein the plurality of light reflecting surfaces includes first and second mirrors, the first mirror being disposed within the housing to reflect the dactylographic image towards the second mirror, and the second mirror being disposed within the housing to reflect the dactylographic image reflected from the first mirror towards the aperture in the side of the housing.

7. The optical module of claim 6, further comprising a lens disposed in a light path between the first and second mirrors to focus the dactylographic image reflected from the first mirror onto the second mirror.

8. The optical module of claim 7, wherein the second mirror is disposed within the housing to reflect the dactylographic image into the aperture in the side of the housing.

9. The optical module of claim 1, wherein the attachment mechanism further comprises a frame that couples detachably to the mobile device with the camera such that a lens of the camera of the mobile device aligns with the aperture in the side of the housing.

10. The optical module of claim 1, wherein the lighting mechanism comprises forwards light toward the camera in the mobile device via a diffuser window.

11. The optical module of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is one of a smart phone, a tablet and a media player.

12. A method for acquiring a dactylographic image comprising:

acquiring, by a camera of a mobile device, a dactylographic image of a skin surface of a person from an optical module, the optical module including;

an attachment mechanism that holds the optical module on the mobile device;

a housing having a side with an aperture formed therein, and a window framing a transparent surface that contacts a skin surface of a person;

a lighting mechanism that provides light to illuminate the skin surface of the person placed upon transparent surface;

a prism having;

a first side facing the lighting mechanism,

a second side facing the window that frames the transparent surface to contact the skin surface of the person, and

a third side through which a dactylographic image of the skin surface of the person exits the prism; and

a plurality of light reflecting surfaces within the housing spatially separated from the prism, the plurality of light reflecting surfaces disposed within the housing to reflect the dactylographic image of the skin surface of the person exiting the prism towards the aperture in the side of the housing toward a camera in the mobile device; and

adjusting, by the mobile device, the acquired dactylographic image to produce a dactylographic image of a quality suitable for biometric matching.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the skin surface of the person comprises one or more fingertips, and the dactylographic image of a quality suitable for biometric matching comprises a fingerprint image.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the adjusting the acquired dactylographic image includes compensating for distortions caused by perspective, magnification, and camera barrel distortion.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the adjusting the acquired dactylographic image includes normalizing illumination to correct for non-homogeneous lighting.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

acquiring one or more additional dactylographic images of the skin surface of the person;

adjusting each additional dactylographic image; and

merging the additional adjusted dactylographic images to produce the dactylographic image of a quality suitable for biometric matching.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the dactylographic image of a quality suitable for biometric matching has a resolution of 500 to 1000 ppi.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the dactylographic image of a quality suitable for biometric matching is monochromatic.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising calibrating the mobile device to prepare the mobile device for producing dactylographic images of a quality suitable for biometric matching from acquired fingerprint images.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the adjusting the acquired dactylographic image includes accounting for image reproduction variance associated with the mobile device.

21. The method of claim 12, further comprising encoding the dactylographic image of a quality suitable for biometric matching into live biometric sample data.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the live biometric sample data includes a revocable biometric token.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the live biometric sample data includes a minutiae-based biometric template.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising performing a biometric comparison between the live biometric sample data and data corresponding to at least one reference biometric sample.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising storing the data corresponding to the at least one reference biometric sample on the mobile device, and wherein the mobile device performs the biometric comparison.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising storing the data corresponding to the at least one reference biometric sample on a computer system external to the mobile device.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising retrieving, by the mobile device, the data corresponding to the at least one reference biometric sample from the computer system, wherein the mobile device performs the biometric comparison.

28. The method of claim 26, further comprising transmitting, by the mobile device, the live biometric sample data to the computer system, and wherein the computer system performs the biometric comparison.

29. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

encoding the data corresponding to the at least one reference biometric sample into a code;

acquiring, by the camera of the mobile device, an image of the code; and

decoding, by the mobile device, the code to acquire the data corresponding to the at least one reference biometric sample, wherein the mobile device performs the biometric comparison.

30. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

encoding the data corresponding to the at least one reference biometric sample on a chip; and

communicating, by the mobile device, with the chip to retrieve the data corresponding to the at least one reference biometric sample from the chip, and wherein the mobile device performs to biometric comparison.

31. The method of claim 24, further comprising identifying, in response to the biometric comparison, one or more reference biometric samples of the at least one reference biometric sample, as a candidate match to the acquired dactylographic image.

32. The method of claim 24, further comprising verifying a similarity between the live biometric sample data and the data corresponding to at least one reference biometric sample.

33. The method of claim 12, further comprising enrolling the dactylographic image of a quality suitable for biometric matching in a database.

34. The method of claim 12, wherein acquiring, by the camera of the mobile device, dactylographic image of a skin surface of a person includes acquiring multiple dactylographic images of the skin surface of the person, each of the multiple dactylographic images being acquired with one or more different focal properties;

and further comprising combining the multiple dactylographic images to produce a composite dactylographic image of the skin surface of the person.

35. The method of claim 12, further comprising automatically downloading a calibration configuration file from a web service for loading onto the mobile device during setup.

36. The method of claim 12, further comprising providing a calibration configuration file on the mobile device to be loaded for use on the mobile device during setup.

37. The method of claim 12, wherein the optical module further comprises a power source to supply power to the lighting mechanism.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the power source comprises one or more solar cells.

39. A mobile dactylographic image acquisition device comprising:

a camera;

a memory storing program code that, when executed, processes images of skin surfaces of people acquired by the camera;

an attachment mechanism that holds a non-powered optical module to the camera, the optical module comprising;

a housing having a side with an aperture formed therein, and a window framing a transparent surface that contacts a skin surface of a person;

a lighting mechanism that provides light to illuminate the skin surface of the person placed upon the transparent surface;

a prism having;

a first side facing the lighting mechanism,

a second side facing the window that frames the transparent surface to contact the skin surface of the person, and

a third side through which a dactylographic image of the skin surface of the person exits the prism; and

plurality of light reflecting surfaces within the housing spatially separated from the prism, the plurality of light reflecting surfaces disposed within the housing to reflect the dactylographic image of the skin surface of the person exiting the prism towards the aperture in the side of the housing toward the camera; and

a processor configured to execute program code stored in the memory in response to the camera acquiring a dactylographic image of a skin surface of a person, the processor, in response to executing the program code, adjusting the acquired dactylographic image of the skin surface of the person to produce a dactylographic image of a quality suitable for biometric matching.

40. The mobile device of claim 39, wherein the skin surface of the person comprises one or more fingers, and the dactylographic image comprises a fingerprint image.

41. The mobile device of claim 39, wherein the processor, in response to executing the program code, adjusts the acquired dactylographic image by compensating for distortions caused by perspective, magnification, and camera barrel distortion.

42. The mobile device of claim 39, wherein the processor, in response to executing the program code, adjusts the acquired dactylographic image by normalizing illumination to correct for non-homogeneous lighting.

43. The mobile device of claim 39, wherein the processor, in response to executing the program code, produces one or more additional dactylographic images of the skin surface of the person, adjusts each additional dactylographic image, and merges the additional dactylographic images to produce the dactylographic image of a quality suitable for biometric matching.

44. The mobile device of claim 39, wherein the processor, in response to executing the program code, adjusts the acquired dactylographic image by accounting for image reproduction variance associated with the mobile device.

45. The mobile device of claim 39, wherein the processor, in response to executing the program code, encodes the dactylographic image of a quality suitable for biometric matching into live biometric sample data.

46. The mobile device of claim 39, wherein the processor, in response to executing the program code, performs a biometric comparison between the live biometric sample data and data corresponding to at least one reference biometric sample.

47. The mobile device of claim 39, wherein the processor, in response to executing the program code stored in the memory, acquires multiple dactylographic images of the skin surface of the person, each of the multiple dactylographic images being acquired with one or more different focal properties, and combines the multiple dactylographic images to produce a composite dactylographic image of the skin surface of the person.

48. The mobile device of claim 39, wherein the processor, in response to executing the program code stored in the memory, automatically downloads a calibration configuration file from a web service for loading onto the mobile device during setup.

49. The mobile device of claim 39, wherein the memory further stores a calibration configuration file preinstalled on the mobile device for use during setup.

50. A dactylographic image-capture system comprising:

a mobile device with a native camera having a lens, memory storing program code that, when executed, processes dactylographic images of skin surfaces of people acquired by the camera, and a processor configured to execute program code stored in memory in response to the camera acquiring a dactylographic image of a skin surface of a person, the processor, in response to executing the program code, adjusting the acquired dactylographic image of the skin surface of the person to produce a dactylographic image of a quality suitable for biometric matching; and

an attachment mechanism that holds a non-powered optical module that supplies the dactylographic image to the camera, the optical module comprising;

a housing having a side with an aperture formed therein, and a window framing a transparent surface that contacts a skin surface of a person;

a lighting mechanism that provides light to illuminate the skin surface of the person placed upon the transparent surface;

a prism having;

a first side facing the lighting mechanism,

a second side facing the window that frames the transparent surface to contact the skin surface of the person, and

a third side through which a dactylographic image of the skin surface of the person exits the prism; and

a plurality of light reflecting surfaces within the housing spatially separated from the prism, the plurality of light reflecting surfaces disposed within the housing to reflect the dactylographic image of the skin surface of the person exiting the prism towards the aperture in the side of the housing toward the camera,

wherein the lens of the native camera of the mobile device aligns with the aperture in the side of the housing to receive the dactylographic image of the skin surface passing therethrough.

51. The dactylographic image-capture system of claim 50, wherein the skin surface of the person comprises one or more fingertips, and the dactylographic image of the skin surface of the person comprises a fingerprint image.

52. A non-powered optical module, comprising:

a housing with a diffuser window that diffuses ambient light, a frame portion with an aperture, and a second window framing a transparent surface used to contact a skin surface of a person, the frame portion coupling the optical module to a mobile device with a built-in camera such that the aperture of the frame portion aligns with a lens of the camera of the mobile device;

a prism disposed in the housing with a first side of the prism at the second window and a second side of the prism facing the diffuser window, the diffused ambient light entering the housing through the diffuser window illuminating the skin surface of the person that is in contact with the transparent surface; and

a lens disposed within the housing to focus a dactylographic image of the skin surface exiting the prism and propagating towards the aperture in the frame portion.

53. The optical module of claim 52, wherein the skin surface of the person comprises one or more fingertips, and the dactylographic image of the skin surface comprises a fingerprint image.

54. The optical module of claim 52, further comprising a light reflecting surface disposed within the housing to reflect the ambient light entering through the diffuser window towards the second side of the prism in order to illuminate the one or more fingertips that are in contact with the transparent surface.

55. The optical module of claim 52, wherein the lens abuts a third side of the prism.

56. The optical module of claim 52, further comprising one or more light reflecting surfaces disposed within the housing to reflect the fingerprint image exiting the prism into the aperture of the frame portion and, thereby, into the lens of the camera aligned with the aperture.