Special Issue Article Open Access

Fingerprint Matching Incorporating Ridge Features Using Contourlet Transforms

Abstract

This paper introduces a novel fingerprint matching algorithm using both ridge features and the conventional minutiae feature to increase the recognition performance against nonlinear deformation in fingerprints. The proposed ridge features are composed of four elements: ridge count, ridge length, ridge curvature direction, and ridge type. These ridge features have some advantages in that they can represent the topology information in entire ridge patterns existing between two minutiae and are not changed by nonlinear deformation of the finger. For extracting ridge features, we also define the ridge-based coordinate system in a skeletonized image. With the proposed ridge features and conventional minutiae features (minutiae type, orientation, and position),we propose a novel matching scheme using a breadthfirst search to detect the matched minutiae pairs incrementally. Following that, the maximum score is computed and used as the final matching score of two fingerprints. Experiments were conducted for the FVC2002 and FVC2004 databases to compare the proposed method with the conventional minutiaebased method.The proposed method achieved higher matching scores. The limitations of commonly used separable extensions of onedimensional transforms, such as the Fourier and wavelet transforms, in capturing the geometry of image edges are well known. In this paper, we pursue a ―true􀀀 two dimensional transform that can capture the intrinsic geometrical structure that is key in visual information. The main challenge in exploring geometry in images comes from the discrete nature of the data. Thus, unlike other approaches, such as curvelets, that first develop a transform in the continuous domain and then discretize for sampled data, our approach starts with a discrete-domain construction and then studies its convergence to an expansion in the continuous domain. Specifically, we construct a discrete domain multi resolution and multi direction expansion using non-separable filter banks, in much the same way that wavelets were derived from filter banks. This construction results in a flexible multi resolution, local, and directional image expansion using contour segments, and thus it is named the contourlet transform. Thus, we conclude that the proposed ridge feature gives additional information for fingerprint matching with little increment in template size and can be used in conjunction with existing minutiae features to increase the accuracy and robustness of fingerprint recognition systems.

M.S. Keerthana

To read the full article Download Full Article | Visit Full Article