Fingerprint classification using relational graph

Index:
1>Introduction
2> Preprocessing
3>Relational graph construction
4> Graph based classification
5>Conclusion
1 Introduction
:!
Automated fingerprint identification has been the most widely accepted bio-
metric authentication method for last decades. Role of the fingerprint clas-
sification in any fingerprint identification system is of crucial importance
because it reduces the processing time taken in identification of fingerprint,
especially when the number of fingerprints registered in the system is large.
Classification allows an input fingerprint to be matched against only by a
subset of a database and is critical in not only speeding-up the rest of the
identification process but increasing the matching accuracy. However, per-
formance of fingerprint classification can be easily affected by the nature of
fingerprint image distortions such as varying appearance and quality by ro-
tation and skin condition. urthermore, e!tracting informative features is
getting harder as fingerprint scanning devices are getting smaller.
A structural classification algorithm is proposed by intro-
ducing the novel definition of a fingerprint relational graph. "raph-based
techniques have been known as powerful and convenient tools to deal with
the above mentioned problem, but sensitive to deformation of fingerprints .
2 Preprocessing
:!
or construction of a relational graph, all informative features are collected
from an input image through following preprocessing steps# computing the
orientation field, specifying the core area, and segmenting the orientation
field.
21 "rientation field co#putation
:!
Computation of the orientation field is performed . An input finger-
print image is divided into a number of small blocks of the same si$e and the
dominant orientation is estimated in each block. %he si$e of each block is
determined based on the resolution of acquired fingerprint images. &'n our
implementation, the block si$e was set to ( ) (.* %he area containing no
ridge in the input image is eliminated in this step.
22 $eg#entation of orientation field
:!
%he segmentation step is for partitioning the directional image according
to the orientation fields computed. 'n the process, a connected component
analysis scheme is applied, that is to determine regions containing blocks with
the same directions. 'n the implementation, the orientation field is quanti$ed
into + directions &, - , +. - , /, - , 01. - * beforehand. %hen, for an initial block
selected, neighbor blocks with the same directions are grouped and labeled.
%he process is repeated until every block in the orientation field is labeled.
2nce the first scan is completed, small regions created due to spurious minu-
tiae are merged into the most ad3acent one.
23 Core area specification
:!
%he core area defined in our implementation is located where the distribution
of the ridge directions is e!pected to be more reliable. %herefore, consistent
location of the core area for all types of fingerprints is required. %he center
point, detected by the 4ain et al.s algorithm , is used as the registration
point to specify the core area. A part of the orientation field around the
center point is $oned for the core area, with an arbitrary initial si$e. %he si$e
of the area is iteratively reduced so that none of the background is included.
5hen the final si$e of the area is smaller than a certain predefined threshold,
the fingerprint under e!amination is re3ected as the clues collected from the
area are not sufficient.
3
Relational graph construction
:!
%he construction of relational graphs from the segmented image is performed
by the following steps.
'f R 6 7R 0 , R 8 , ..., R n 9 is the set of regions of the segmented image, we
define the relational graph of R as " 6 &:, ;, f : C , f : d , f ; *where,
< : 6 7v i =i 6 0, ..., n9 is a set of nodes, each corresponds to R i .
< ; 6 7e i3 =0 > i ? n, i ? 3 > n, Ad3acency&R i , R 3 *9 is a set of undirected
edges@ Ad3acency&R i , R 3 * returns binary value depending if R i and R 3
are ad3oining.
< f : c &v i * represents the overlapped R i with the core area. 5hen f : c &v i *6,,
which means that any part of R i does not covered by the core area, and
R i is much smaller than other regions, v i and related edges are elimi-
nated .
< f : d &v i * represents a relative direction determined by ;q. &0*.
f : d &v i * 6 =A &v i * B A &v ma! * =.
4
Graph!based classification
:!
or the classification, a type of association, between an input graph and one
or more predefined model graphs built from training set, is required. As
distances among graphs cannot be obtained directly in analytic closed-forms,
a lot of attempts for ine!act graph matching have been proposed. 2ne of
the most fle!ible means to e!press the graph similarity is the edit distance.
%he basic idea of the graph edit distance is to find the minimum number of
transformations required from a graph to another. 'n our implementation, a
fast algorithm proposed by Reisen and Cunke is employed for computing
the edit distance. 'n the mean time, a set of model graphs, each of which
represents the graph structure of each class properly, has to be built from
the training set.
5Conclusion
:!
5e presented the graph-based classification algorithm with the novel defi-
nition of the fingerprint relation graph and the edit distance computation
for the cost function. Dince the newly defined graphs are constructed by
taking account into clues in the core area actively, there is no need to an
algorithm-specific guideline for users to control image quality in acquisition
with various fingerprint impressions. Concentrating on the most reliable area
is appropriate to recent small touch scanners. %he e!perimental results show
that the practical approach proposed performs better than other structural
fingerprint classification approaches.
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