Pierluigi Maponi, Riccardo Piergallini and Filippo Santarelli, University of Camerino, Italy

We propose a gradient-based method to extract the orientation field of a fingerprint image, and an iterative algorithm to refine and regularise this field. The formulation of this iterative algorithm is based on two new integral operators, which are described together with their main properties. A preprocessing step is also proposed in order to enhance the performance of the whole procedure. The results of our tests on real fingerprint images are provided to show the performance of the proposed approach.

Fingerprint analysis, Preprocessing, Equalisation, Segmentation, Orientation Extraction, Orientation Refinement