Patent ID: 8437517

Claim:
An automatic fingerprint system, comprising: an optical sensor, comprising: a first light source that provides a collimated beam for interrogating sample surfaces including a first sample surface within a region of interest; and a camera comprising a lens and a photodetector array optically coupled to said lens having a camera field of view (FOV CAMERA ), wherein said FOV CAMERA is large enough to image at least substantially an entire area of said first sample surface, and wherein said camera is critical angle positioned relative to said first light source to receive specular reflection (glare) from said first sample surface, wherein said camera generates image data from said glare; wherein said first light source and said camera have substantially equal and opposite numerical apertures (NAs); a computer or processor having associated memory that includes reference fingerprint templates coupled to receive a digitized form of said image data from said camera, wherein said computer or processor includes data processing software for (i) comparing said digitized form of said image data to said reference fingerprint templates to determine whether said image data includes at least one fingerprint and (ii) for generating a fingerprint image if said fingerprint is determined to be present.