Representative ridge points in fingerprints: A modified minutiae matching algorithm and analysis of individuality

Existing algorithms using ridge information for fingerprint matching suffer from non-linear deformation, high computational complexity and are not scalable for partial fingerprint matching. We proposed an algorithm utilizing ridge information more effectively---by choosing representative points along the ridges and using them together with minutiae, in existing minutiae matching algorithms. A ridge point selection scheme is proposed, through which only one representative ridge point (RRP) is selected per ridge. Algorithm performance is compared with that of two other minutiae-only matching algorithms, using full and partial. The approach has two merits: significant performance improvement for partial prints and usability with conventional matchers.; We further extend the use of ridge information to fingerprint individuality. We embed ridge information into the generative models by using a third distribution for ridge types. The proposed model offers a more accurate fingerprint representation. A more reliable probability of random correspondence is then computed.; Keywords. fingerprint verification, forensics, biometrics, partial fingerprint matching.