Patent ID: 9613251
Date: 2017-04-04
CPC Classifications: G06K

Claim:
1. A method of comparing a first set of minutiae and a second set of minutiae, each minutia of the first and second sets of minutiae having a position and a minutia angle within the set of minutiae, the method comprising: determining a first local neighbourhood for each minutia in the first set of minutiae and for each minutia in the second set of minutiae, wherein each first local neighbourhood includes at least one minutia neighbouring the respective minutia; comparing the first local neighbourhoods of the minutiae in the first set of minutiae with the first local neighbourhoods of the minutiae in the second set of minutiae to determine matched minutiae appearing in both the first and second sets of minutiae, wherein each minutia that is not a matched minutia is an unmatched minutia; after determining the matched minutiae, filtering the matched minutiae based on the position and/or orientation of each of the matched minutiae within the first and second sets of minutiae, wherein filtering the matched minutiae comprises: after filtering the matched minutiae, determining a second local neighbourhood for each unmatched minutia in the first set of minutiae and for each unmatched minutia in the second set of minutiae, wherein each second local neighbourhood includes at least one matched minutia neighbouring the respective unmatched minutia; and comparing the second local neighbourhoods of the unmatched minutiae in the first set of minutiae with the second local neighbourhoods of the unmatched minutiae in the second set of minutiae to determine further matched minutiae appearing in both the first and second sets of minutiae.