Patent ID: 8731251

Claim:
A method of matching fingerprints to determine if two sets of minutia points of respective fingerprint reading emanates from fingers which are idem, the method comprising a processing device performing the steps of: for a first minutia point in respective set, being assigned as a planet minutia point a) determining pairs including the planet minutia point and a satellite minutia point, respectively, such that a cluster is formed around the first minutia point in the respective set with the satellite minutia points; b) comparing the clusters of the respective sets which have matching features of the pairs between the sets and excluding non-matching satellites; c) counting links in the cluster formed by remaining pairs of the planet minutia point and the satellite minutia points; and d) for remaining satellite minutia points, performing steps a) to c) with respective satellite minutia point assigned as planet minutia point to form a supercluster by iterating steps a) to d) and superadding the clusters of each iteration wherein link count is stored such that an aggregate link count is available after the iteration such that the aggregate link count is achieved as the supercluster is built; calculating a score of the supercluster based on the aggregate counted links; and comparing the score with a threshold, wherein the respective fingerprint readings are considered to emanate from fingers which are idem if the score reaches the threshold; and wherein the calculation of the score further comprises calculating a tension parameter of the supercluster and basing the score on the calculated tension parameter; and wherein the score is calculated as a quota comprising in its numerator a product comprising the number of counted links, the tension parameter and the area of the supercluster, and in its denominator a product comprising the squared mean number of minutia points in the sets and the squared number of minutia points in the supercluster.