Fast fingerprint orientation field estimation based on straight-line model of ridges

Huanxi Liu; Xiong Li; Yuncai Liu

doi:10.1117/1.3231495

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1 September 2009 Fast fingerprint orientation field estimation based on straight-line model of ridges

Huanxi Liu, Xiong Li, Yuncai Liu

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Optical Engineering, 48(9), 097201 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.3231495

Abstract

As a global feature of fingerprints, the orientation field plays an important role in automatic fingerprint identification systems. Although many algorithms have been proposed for orientation field estimation, the results are not so satisfactory and the computational cost is expensive. In this work, a novel algorithm based on a straight-line model of ridge is proposed for the orientation field estimation. The algorithm comprises four steps: preprocessing the original fingerprint image, determining the primary and secondary ridges of the fingerprint foreground block using the top semineighbor searching algorithm, estimating the block direction based on a straight-line model of such a primary ridge, and correcting the spurious block directions. The proposed algorithm is suitable for all types of fingerprints. Experimental results show that it achieves satisfying estimation accuracy with high computational efficiency. A further experiment shows that it is more accurate and robust to noise compared with previous works, and can improve the performance of a fingerprint recognition system.

©(2009) Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

Citation Download Citation

Huanxi Liu, Xiong Li, and Yuncai Liu "Fast fingerprint orientation field estimation based on straight-line model of ridges," Optical Engineering 48(9), 097201 (1 September 2009). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.3231495

Published: 1 September 2009

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