Patent Document ID: 4185270
Application ID: 05915475
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for automatically searching a computer readable file of minutiae-encoded fingerprints under the overall control of an electronic computer to identify for further processing those file fingerprints having the greatest degree of match with a search fingerprint comprising the steps of: (a) entering data representing the locations and direction of the minutiae of the search fingerprint, said data being independent of any registration between the search and file fingerprints; (b) matching the locations and direction of each and every one of the encodable minutiae of the search fingerprint contained in the entered data and the locations and direction of each and every one of the encoded minutiae of a file fingerprint; (c) generating a set of registration parameters for each pair of search and file fingerprint minutiae matched; (d) identifying any resulting clusters of said registration parameters; (e) Developing a matching score based on the number of said clusters and the number of said registration parameters in said clusters; (f) repeating steps (b) through (e) for at least a portion of the file of the minutiae-encoded fingerprints; and (g) selecting those file fingerprints having the highest degree of match for further processing.