Quality Assessment and Identification of Fingerprints by Analysis of the Image’s Structural Properties

Abstract

The paper addresses the problem of assessing the quality of fingerprint images using spatial analysis methods. The author proposes using the previously developed mathematical model to describe the set of magnitudes of the image gradient. The model is based on the two-parameter Weibull distribution. The author proposes two approaches to assess the quality of fingerprints. The first approach is implemented by the so-called “Full reference method”, which compares the Weibull distribution parameters’ values of statistical estimates. The results of identifying sweat pores using this method are presented. The second approach is called the “No-Reference method” and is used to assess fingerprints’ quality when analyzing and identifying the information content of their individual sections. It is proposed to use an image blur map as a quality characteristic and a statistical estimate of the Weibull distribution shape parameter as a measure of the blur. The shape parameter is estimated at each image point by the combination of magnitudes of the image gradient in the vicinity of the point; in this, the previously developed blur mapping technique is applied. The specific examples illustrate effectiveness of the proposed approaches.

Keywords

• fingerprint
• image quality
• full reference method
• no-reference method
• blur
• quality map
• sweat pores
• weibull distribution