Rob M

Sc

Ap
ANSI/NIST Fingerprint Standard 

Workshop

April 26-29, 2005

Suggestions for Changes That May Im

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2000

Rob Mungovan, Aware, Inc.
(1) Use of UTF-8 in U

Defined Fields

(1) Use of UTF-8 in UDefined Fields

 We suggest this primarily as a way to bett

international character sets

 UTF-8 is the 8 bit variant of Unicode Default variant is 16 bit Unicode is the common standard encodin

international characters and text

 It supports most of the world’s characters 

including...

– Ethiopic, Cherokee, Canadian Aboriginal S

Myanmar, Khmer, Mongolian and Braille.
UTF-8 in User Defined 

UTF-8 in User Define

 Current method in ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2000 

international character sets is as follows:

– Described in sections 7.2.3 and 8.1.15– Field 1.015 “Directory of Character Sets”- 

character sets used in the given transactio

– Example: index = 000, 7 bit ASCII is used, 

16 bit unicode is used

– Within the larger file, the occurrence of the 

0x02 followed by an equal sign “=“ is used new character set
UTF-8 in User Defined 

UTF-8 in User Define

– 0x02=002 This means that Unicode 16 b– This character set remains active until ASC

encountered or until the next ASCII informis encountered

– This non-ASCII text must be base-64 enco

 Problems with this scheme:

– Overly complex– Not necessary– Base-64 encoding expands the data – Does anyone use it?
Recommendation Recommendation

 Use UTF-8 in place of 7 bit ASCII for all u

fields (not in type 1, type 4, type 10, etc).

 UTF-8 has been a common method for up

ASCII systems to support international ap

 ASCII characters map directly to UTF-8 This change would have no impact on exi

or domains that do not use UTF-8. 

 UTF-8 data can be read/written with existi No syntactical changes are are required This scheme is in place already in certain 
(2) JPEG2000 suppor

10 Records

(2) JPEG2000 suppor10 Records

 Field 10.11, (CGA)- Compression algorith

– Currently supports “NONE”, “JPEGB” (bas

and “JPEGL” (lossless mode of JPEG)

 Recommendation:

– We suggest the inclusion of two new entrie– “JP2” for lossy JPEG2000 and “JP2L” for f

mode of JPEG2000
(3) Software ID Field 

1 Record

(3) Software ID Field 1 Record

 Recommendation

– Use a new field, 1.016, to hold information 

software that generated the file

– This field could contain three strings

• Organization name• Software application name• Version number of the software

 Background

– This would be helpful when the source of i

must be identified

– This ID concept is used by other software 

including compression software
(4) Formal Compress

Algorithm Tables

(4) Formal CompressAlgorithm Tables

 Record types 13, 14, 15, and 16 do not fo

support any compression methods

– The fields reserved for this information are 

each record respectively (13.011, etc)- CG“Compression Algorithm”

– The only field entry officially supported is “

 Recommendation:

– Add “JP2L”- JPEG2000 lossless for type 1– Add “WSQ” and “FPJP2” for 1000 ppi prof

compression: for type 14, 15, and 16 reco
Compression Algorith

Tables

Compression AlgorithTables

 Background

– This technique is used in the type 10 and t– Domains often neglect specification of this 

13-16 records, and incorrectly assume thaby ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2000
(5) Type 4 CGA field U

(5) Type 4 CGA field U

 Recommendation

– Field 8 of the type 4 record should support 

signify WSQ compression is used

 Background

– Currently binary 0 denotes no compression– If compression is used the Domain 

Registrar must maintain a list of codes for compression techniques

– FBI has standardized on binary 1 for WSQ

follow this convention
Thank-you! Thank-you!
Provide Standardized 

Supporting XML Conve

Provide Standardized Supporting XML Conve

 Background:

– Our customers sometimes wish to convert 

formatted data to an XML format- “NIST to 

– We have supported this conversion in our 

for several years now

– Less frequently we are asked to support “X– This is more complicated because each D

its own record and field requirements

– Also, we have always provided the ability t

ANSI/NIST formatted data

• “Use your preferred XML parser and w

with our software” is what we suggeste
XML and ANSI/NIST-I

XML and ANSI/NIST-I

– Most recently we have added XML to ANS

conversion support to our software tools

 Recommendation: 

– ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2000 should not be conv

XML format

– The standard is very widely used and it ve

solves the problem it was designed to solv

• Parsable, fully interchangeable, compa

holds fingerprint images, facial images data

– Guidelines or templates for converting betw

standard and an XML schema could be prnew revision
Domain Independent 

Domain Independent 

 Option

– Provide a bridge to the XML world through 

XML schema that mimics the structure of A1-2000

– This schema elements have the format...

– Transaction– Record– Field– Subfield– Item

– Images can be exported as separate objec

encoded and embedded into the XML
Domain Independent 

Domain Independent 

– Advantages:

• A single schema that can be used for a

file

• Mirrors the structure of the ANSI/NIST • Users can take this “bridge schema” a

number of available tools to parse or canother XML schema
Example Example

<record type="2">

<field number="2" name="T2_IDC">

<subfield>

<item>00</item>

</subfield>

</field><field number="5" name="T2_RET">

<subfield>

<item>Y</item>

</subfield>

</field><field number="6" name="T2_ATN">

<subfield>

<item>SA J Q SMITH, RM 4569</item>

</subfield>

</field>. 

</record>
Domain Specific Sche

Domain Specific Sch

 Option

– Reflect domain specific requirements for T

types, and all type 2 record requirements itags

– Our solution: 

• Use an Aware devised schema that ca

ANSI/NIST domain

• Use one of numerous conversion tools 

between original schema and Aware dschema

• Our tools can read and convert to/from 
Domain Specific Sche

Domain Specific Sch

– Advantages

• Element tag names identify field conte

files more readable.
Example Example

<Type2>

<T2_IDC>

<subfield>

<item>00</item>

</subfield>

</T2_IDC><T2_RET>

<subfield>

<item>Y</item>

</subfield>

</T2_RET><T2_ATN>

<subfield>

<item>SA J Q SMITH, RM 4569</item>

</subfield>

.

. 

</Type2>
 Thank-you...