Fingerprint ridge orientation field reconstruction using the best quadratic approximation by orthogonal polynomials in two discrete variables

This paper proposes a novel algorithm for reconstructing the fingerprint orientation field (FOF). The basic idea of the algorithm is to reconstruct the ridge orientation by using the best quadratic approximation by orthogonal polynomials in two discrete variables. We first estimate the local region orientation by the linear projection analysis (LPA) based on the vector set of point gradients, and then reconstruct the ridge orientation field using the best quadratic approximation by orthogonal polynomials in two discrete variables in the sine domain. In this way, we solve the problem that is difficult to accurately extract low quality fingerprint image orientation fields. The experiments with the database of FVC 2004 show that, compared to the state-of-the-art fingerprint orientation estimation algorithms, the proposed method is more accurate and more robust against noise, and is able to better estimate the FOF of low quality fingerprint images with large areas of noise.     

Fingerprint classification based on extraction and analysis of singularities and pseudo ridges

In this paper, we introduce a new approach to fingerprint classification based on extraction and analysis of both singularities and traced pseudo ridges relating to singular points. Because of the image quality, it is difficult to get the correct number and position of the singularities that are widely used in current structural classification methods. With the help of pseudo ridge tracing and analysis of the traced curves, our method does not rely on the extraction of the exact number and positions of the true singular point(s), thus improving the classification accuracy. This method has been tested on the NIST special fingerprint database 4. For the 4000 images in this database, the classification accuracy reaches 92.7% for the 4-class problem.     

低质量指纹图像方向场提取方法

指纹方向场提取是自动指纹识别系统中的重要环节,是解决自动指纹识别中的某些关键技术的基础。提出了一种通过线性投影分析和在sin域中用加权低阶二维勒让德多项式拟合提取指纹方向场的方法;解决了大噪声低质量指纹图像方向场难以准确提取的问题;在FVC 2000指纹数据库中的大量实验表明,与已有基于梯度的指纹方向场估计算法相比,该方法有更好的提取精度和鲁棒性,对于大噪声的低质量指纹图像能给出很好的方向场估计。     

A systematic method for fingerprint ridge orientation estimation and image segmentation

This paper proposes a scheme for systematically estimating fingerprint ridge orientation and segmenting fingerprint image by means of evaluating the correctness of the ridge orientation based on neural network. The neural network is used to learn the correctness of the estimated orientation by gradient-based method. The trained network is able to distinguish correct and incorrect ridge orientations, and as a consequence, the falsely estimated ridge orientation of a local image block can be corrected using the around blocks of which orientations are correctly estimated. A coarse segmentation can also be done based on the trained neural network by taking the blocks of correctly estimated orientation as foreground and the blocks of incorrectly estimated orientation as background. Besides, following the steps of estimating ridge orientation correctness, a secondary segmentation method is proposed to segment the remaining ridges which are the afterimage of the previously scanned fingers. The proposed scheme serves for minutiae detection and is compared with VeriFinger 4.2 published by Neurotechnologija Ltd. in 2004, and the comparison shows that the proposed scheme leads to an improved accuracy of minutiae detection.     

Input-output linearization of nonlinear systems using multivariable Legendre polynomials

This contribution presents a new approach for the numeric computation of the input-output linearizing feedback law, which is obtained exactly in an analytical form. By using a state space embedding technique the nonlinear system to be controlled is described by a higher order system with solely polynomial nonlinearities. Consequently, the nonlinearities of this system can be represented by multivariable Legendre polynomials, so that the derivation of the input-output linearizing feedback controller can be accomplished using the operational matrices of multiplication and of differentiation for Legendre polynomials.     

A new model for fingerprint classification by ridge distribution sequences

In this paper, a new method is introduced which is a combination of structural and syntactic approaches for fingerprint classification. The goal of the proposed ridge distribution (R-D) model is to present the idea of the possibility for classifying a fingerprint into the complete seven classes in the Henry's classification. From our observation, there exist only 10 basic ridge patterns which construct fingerprints. Fingerprint classes can be interpreted as a combination of these 10 ridge patterns with different ridge distribution sequences. In this paper, the classification task is performed depending on the global distribution of the 10 basic ridge patterns by analyzing the ridge shapes and the sequence of ridges distribution. The regular expression for each class is formulated and a NFA model is constructed accordingly. An explicit rejection criterion is also defined in this paper. For the seven-class fingerprint classification problem, our method can achieve the classification accuracy of 93.4% with 5.1% rejection rate. For the five-class problem, the accuracy rate of 94.8% is achieved. Experimental results reveal the feasibility and validity of the proposed approach in fingerprint classification.     

低质量指纹图像方向场提取

指纹方向场提取是自动指纹识别系统中的重要环节,是解决自动指纹识别中的某些关键技术的基础.提出一种通过线性投影分析和在sin域中用加权低阶2维勒让德多项式拟合提取指纹方向场的方法;能够解决大噪声低质量指纹图像方向场难以准确提取的问题;在FVC 2000指纹数据库中的大量实验结果表明,与已有基于梯度的指纹方向场估计算法相比,本文方法有更好的提取精度和鲁棒性,对于大噪声的低质量指纹图像能给出很好的方向场估计.     

Design of nonlinear observers with approximately linear error dynamics using multivariable Legendre polynomials

This paper presents a numerical approach to the design of nonlinear observers by approximate error linearization. By using a Galerkin approach on the basis of multivariable Legendre polynomials an approximate solution to the singular PDE of the observer design technique proposed by Kazantzis and Krener (see (Syst. Control Lett. 1998; 34 :241–247; SIAM J. Control Optim. 2002; 41 :932–953)) is determined. It is shown that the L₂‐norm of the remaining nonlinearity in the resulting error dynamics can be made small on a specified multivariable interval in the state space. Furthermore, a linear matrix equation is derived for determining the corresponding change of co‐ordinates and output injection such that the proposed design procedure can easily be implemented in a numerical software package. A simple example demonstrates the properties of the new numerical observer design. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Residual orientation modeling for fingerprint enhancement and singular point detection

This paper presents a novel method for fingerprint orientation modeling, which executes in two phases. Firstly, the orientation field is reconstructed using a lower order Legendre polynomial to capture the global orientation pattern in the fingerprint structure. Then the preliminary model around the region with presence of fingerprint singularities is dynamically refined using a higher order Legendre polynomial. The singular region is automatically detected through the analysis on the orientation residual field between the original orientation field and the orientation model. The method does not require any prior knowledge on the fingerprint structure. To validate the performance, the method has been applied to fingerprint image enhancement, fingerprint singularity detection and fingerprint recognition using the FVC 2004 data sets. Compared with the recently published Legendre polynomial model, the proposed method attains higher accuracy in fingerprint singularity detection, lower error rates in fingerprint matching.     

A novel algorithm of fingerprint encryption using minutiae-based transformation

This paper presents a novel algorithm of fingerprint encryption which transforms fingerprint minutiae and performs matching in the transformed form. If an encrypted template is compromised, it can be cancelled by choosing just another transformed template. In our algorithm, a circular region is constructed around each minutia and non-invertible transformation is applied to all regions but only transformed regions are stored in the database. The proposed algorithm improves the accuracy of verification compared to related fuzzy vault systems. Experimental results show the comparative performance of matching using both transformed and original data. We find that transformed matching also has an impressive accuracy and speed.     

Solving a category of two-dimensional fractional optimal control problems using discrete Legendre polynomials

In this paper, we formulate a numerical method to approximate the solution of two-dimensional optimal control problem with a fractional parabolic partial differential equation (PDE) constraint in the Caputo type. First, the optimal conditions of the optimal control problems are derived. Then, we discretize the spatial derivatives and time derivatives terms in the optimal conditions by using shifted discrete Legendre polynomials and collocations method. The main idea is simplifying the optimal conditions to a system of algebraic equations. In fact, the main privilege of this new type of discretization is that the numerical solution is directly and globally obtained by solving one efficient algebraic system rather than step-by-step process which avoids accumulation and propagation of error. Several examples are tested and numerical results show a good agreement between exact and approximate solutions.     

Legendre polynomials based feature extraction for online signature verification. Consistency analysis of feature combinations

In this paper, feature combinations associated with the most commonly used time functions related to the signing process are analyzed, in order to provide some insight on their actual discriminative power for online signature verification. A consistency factor is defined to quantify the discriminative power of these different feature combinations. A fixed-length representation of the time functions associated with the signatures, based on Legendre polynomials series expansions, is proposed. The expansion coefficients in these series are used as features to model the signatures. Two different signature styles, namely, Western and Chinese, from a publicly available Signature Database are considered to evaluate the performance of the verification system. Two state-of-the-art classifiers, namely, Support Vector Machines and Random Forests are used in the verification experiments. Error rates comparable to the ones reported over the same signature datasets in a recent Signature Verification Competition, show the potential of the proposed approach. The experimental results, also show that there is a good correlation between the consistency factor and the verification errors, suggesting that consistency values could be used to select the optimal feature combination.     

Spoofing protection for fingerprint scanner by fusing ridge signal and valley noise

Biometric fingerprint scanners are positioned to provide improved security in a great span of applications from government to private. However, one highly publicized vulnerability is that it is possible to spoof a variety of fingerprint scanners using artificial fingers made from Play-Doh, gelatin and silicone molds. Therefore, it is necessary to offer protection for fingerprint systems against these threats. In this paper, an anti-spoofing detection method is proposed which is based on ridge signal and valley noise analysis, to quantify perspiration patterns along ridges in live subjects and noise patterns along valleys in spoofs. The signals representing gray level patterns along ridges and valleys are explored in spatial, frequency and wavelet domains. Based on these features, separation (live/spoof) is performed using standard pattern classification tools including classification trees and neural networks. We test this method on a larger dataset than previously considered which contains 644 live fingerprints (81 subjects with 2 fingers for an average of 4 sessions) and 570 spoof fingerprints (made from Play-Doh, gelatin and silicone molds in multiple sessions) collected from the Identix fingerprint scanner. Results show that the performance can reach 99.1% correct classification overall. The proposed anti-spoofing method is purely software based and integration of this method can provide protection for fingerprint scanners against gelatin, Play-Doh and silicone spoof fingers.     

Singular points detection based on multi-resolution in fingerprint images

The singular points of fingerprints, namely core and delta, play an important role in fingerprint recognition and classification systems. Several traditional methods have been proposed; however, these methods cannot achieve the reliable and accurate detection of poor-quality fingerprints. In this paper, an algorithm is proposed which combines improved Poincaré index and multi-resolution analysis to detect singular points. Conventional Poincaré index method is improved on the basis of the Zero-pole Model analysis to detect singular points with different resolutions. A model is presented to extract the multi-resolution information of the fingerprint pattern; this model divides fingerprint image into nonoverlapping blocks corresponding to different block sizes on the basis of wavelet functions to compute multiple resolution directional fields, and block position shifting is performed on these resolution levels to capture the features of the ridge direction patterns, where the corresponding shifting intervals are based on Sampling theorem. The relationship of singularities detected by improved Poincaré index in different resolution directional fields is used to confirm singular points accurately and reliably. The combination of local and global information makes our algorithm more robust to noise than methods that use local information only, and the existence of this algorithm increases the insight into the nature of singular points extraction. The accuracy and reliability of the method are demonstrated by experiment on database NIST-4, public fingerprint databases FVC02 DB1 and DB2.     

Crease detection from fingerprint images and its applications in elderly people

Conventional algorithms for fingerprint recognition are mainly based on minutiae information. But it is difficult to extract minutiae accurately and robustly for elderly people, and one of the main reasons is that there are many creases on the fingertips of elderly people. In this paper, we study on the detection of creases from fingerprint images, in which we treat the creases as a special kind of texture and design an optimal filter to extract them. We also study the applications of crease detection results to improve the performance of fingerprint recognition in elderly people, which include two aspects. First, it is used to remove the falsely detected minutiae. Second, the creases can be treated as a novel feature for elderly people's fingerprints, which is combined with minutiae feature to improve the performance. Experimental results illustrate the effectiveness of proposed methods.     

人工智能辅助下模糊指纹图像奇异点检测仿真

运用传统方法对模糊指纹图像奇异点进行检测时存在误差率较高和漏检率较大等问题,为此提出了基于Contourlet变换和模糊逻辑的模糊指纹图像奇异点检测方法。运用相对梯度和绝对梯度相融合的方法,增强模糊指纹图像较亮区域的梯度,利用矩阵乘法与求逆算法进行离散正弦变换,构建人工智能辅助下模糊指纹图像增强模型,并对该模型进行Contourlet转换,获取模糊指纹图像信号尺度和方向上的低频和高频变换系数,将该变换系数当做语言变量输入,利用模糊逻辑方法计算各个模糊区域所激活的强度值,将其归一化检测后,输出模糊指纹图像奇异点。分析实验结果可知,所提方法的最低漏检率为2%,远低于传统方法,说明该方法能够增强检测的准确率、降低漏检率和误差率,具备一定的可靠性。     

Radial shifted Legendre moments for image analysis and invariant image recognition

The rotation, scaling and translation invariant property of image moments has a high significance in image recognition. Legendre moments as a classical orthogonal moment have been widely used in image analysis and recognition. Since Legendre moments are defined in Cartesian coordinate, the rotation invariance is difficult to achieve. In this paper, we first derive two types of transformed Legendre polynomial: substituted and weighted radial shifted Legendre polynomials. Based on these two types of polynomials, two radial orthogonal moments, named substituted radial shifted Legendre moments and weighted radial shifted Legendre moments (SRSLMs and WRSLMs) are proposed. The proposed moments are orthogonal in polar coordinate domain and can be thought as generalized and orthogonalized complex moments. They have better image reconstruction performance, lower information redundancy and higher noise robustness than the existing radial orthogonal moments. At last, a mathematical framework for obtaining the rotation, scaling and translation invariants of these two types of radial shifted Legendre moments is provided. Theoretical and experimental results show the superiority of the proposed methods in terms of image reconstruction capability and invariant recognition accuracy under both noisy and noise-free conditions.     

A pitfall in fingerprint bio-cryptographic key generation

The core of bio-cryptography lies in the stability of cryptographic keys generated from uncertain biometrics. It is essential to minimize every possible uncertainty during the biometric feature extraction process. In fingerprint feature extraction, it is perceived that pixel-level image rotation transformation is a lossless transformation process. In this paper, an investigation has been conducted on analyzing the underlying mechanisms of fingerprint image rotation processing and potential effect on the major features, mainly minutiae and singular point, of the rotation transformed fingerprint. Qualitative and quantitative analyses have been provided based on intensive experiments. It is observed that the information integrity of the original fingerprint image can be significantly compromised by image rotation transformation process, which can cause noticeable singular point change and produce a non-negligible number of fake minutiae. It is found that the quantization and interpolation process can change the fingerprint features significantly without affecting the visual image. Experiments show that up to 7% bio-cryptographic key bits can be affected due to this rotation transformation.     

Legendre orthogonal polynomials approximation of system gramians and its application to balanced truncation

The paper presents a procedure for computation of system gramians by using Legendre orthogonal polynomials approximation of the system state impulse and output responses. The proposed approach is trajectory based and relies on the system state and output trajectories snapshots selected either by experiment or computer simulation. It is defined in deterministic settings as opposed to similar approaches defined in stochastic settings by using the data covariance matrix. The advantage of using orthogonal series approximation for the gramians is to avoid solving the usual Lyapunov equations. The proposed method can be equally well applied to linear time-invariant as well as time-varying systems, and even to unstable systems, since the gramians approximation is performed on a finite interval of time. When the observation interval contains the whole energy of the system state impulse and output responses, the proposed method gives similar results as the gramians computed by solving Lyapunov equations. Several experiments are performed showing the good approximation properties of the presented method.     

Pixel-level singular point detection from multi-scale Gaussian filtered orientation field

Singular point, as a global feature, plays an important role in fingerprint recognition. Inconsistent detection of singular points apparently gives an affect to fingerprint alignment, classification, and verification accuracy. This paper proposes a novel approach to pixel-level singular point detection from the orientation field obtained by multi-scale Gaussian filters. Initially, a robust pixel-level orientation field is estimated by a multi-scale averaging framework. Then, candidate singular points in pixel-level are extracted from the complex angular gradient plane derived directly from the pixel-level orientation field. The candidate singular points are finally validated via a cascade framework comprised of nested Poincare indices and local feature-based classification. Experimental results over the FVC 2000 DB2 confirm that the proposed method achieves robust and accurate orientation field estimation and consistent pixel-level singular point detection. The experimental results exhibit a low computational cost with better performance. Thus, the proposed method can be employed in real-time fingerprint recognition.