The Fingerprint

The police have used the fingerprint to identify criminals since the creation of the Henry system of classification, named after its creator, Sir Richard Edward Henry of Scotland Yard. It was developed as an easier way of identifying criminals thanthe Bertillon system. The Henry system was completely unlike the Bertillon system: it was simpler, and could easily differentiate identical twins or people who look alike. Law enforcement still use the Henry system.

There is wide public acceptance of fingerprint biometrics, since it is not intrusive. Fingerprints have 40 characteristics and every human has a unique set of fingerprints that almost always never changes during a lifetime.The price for an identification system based on fingerprints range from around $200 for the BioMouse which provides protection for your computer to larger systems that protect moreimportant information.

Minutiae-based recognition

Minutiae points are the locations on your fingerprint where the ridges will stop or split into two, or intersect.(ridge ends and bifurcations) A fingerprint is initially enrolled into an archive. Instead of storing the whole entire image of the fingerprint, only the minutiae points are kept. An algorithim is used to translate the minutiae points into a code, which is called the template.
Later, when the person has their fingerprint scanned, the minutiae points are recognized, placedthrough the algorithim and the code is compared to the template.

Thermal Imaging Sensor

Developed by Thomson-CSF Semiconductors Specifiqueand called the "FingerChip." This method involves swiping a fingerprint over a sensor. The sensor uses the heat patterns of the finger to create slices of a person's fingerprint. The slices are then reconstructed to create the fingerprint through the mean value or new line method. The mean value methodinvolves taking the pixels from the slices, calculating the mean value of them, and then using the mean value for each pixel in the finished item. The new line method take the center line for each slice and then lining them up.
The thermal imaging sensor is smaller than the minutiae recognition scanner.

This graphic used with the permission of Thomson-CSF/TCS.

Solid-State Capacitance Sensing

Developed by Veridicom.In this type of fingerprint identification, the fingerprint is placed on a sensor. The sensor is a silicon chipwith numerous capacitators. When the finger touches the sensor, small amounts of electricity are created. The electricityis measured and turned into a video analog signal, and the signal is placed through Veridicom's software. It also identifiesminutiae and translates them into a template.
The solid-state capacitance sensors are about the size of a postage stamp.

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