Patent ID: 6993164

Claim:
A fingerprint image acquisition apparatus including a fingerprint sensing device unit, a CCD device unit, and an image processing unit, the image processing unit comprising: an A/D converting unit for converting and outputting the fingerprint image outputted from the CCD device unit into a digital signal; an image buffer for storing the digital signal from the A/D converting unit; and a controller for watching a state of the image buffer to determine whether the fingerprint image is inputted and stored to the image buffer, and for storing the fingerprint image to a video memory if the storage of the fingerprint image is confirmed, wherein the controller is configured to: execute a process for dividing the fingerprint image into a plurality of unit blocks with a predetermined size; and execute a process for dividing the fingerprint image into a center region and a peripheral region, each including a predetermined number of unit blocks, and for subdividing each unit block of only the center region into at least two subdivided blocks.