System and method for fast biometric pattern matching

1. A method performed by a computing device for matching two biometric images comprising:

electronically receiving an input biometric image including a plurality of minutiae;

assigning a quality factor to each minutia of the input biometric image, wherein the quality factor indicates a quality of an image surrounding said each minutia;

electronically generating a plurality of input patterns for each minutia of the input biometric image;

electronically generating an index table from the input biometric image, wherein the index table includes columns and rows, where each column is a minutia index number and each row corresponds to a generated input pattern, corresponding to a respective minutia of the input biometric image, and wherein a content of each cell of the index table represents a matching quality of a row with respect to the patterns generated from a respective minutia that corresponds to a column index number, the matching quality being determined from the quality factor of each minutia of the input biometric image;

electronically receiving a second biometric image including a plurality of minutiae;

electronically generating a user programmable number of patterns for a first minutia of the second biometric image;

associatively accessing the index table by the generated user programmable number of patterns;

electronically accumulating quality factors accessed from the index table for each minutia of the input biometric image for the number of patterns of the first minutia of the second biometric image; and

electronically selecting a minutia candidate of the input biometric image responsive to the accumulated quality factors.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second biometric image is selected from a plurality of biometric images stored in a database.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user programmable number of generated patterns for the first minutia of the second biometric image is in the range of 10 to 20.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the biometric images are fingerprint images.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the biometric images are one or more of the group eye iris images, retina images, and facial images.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising repeating the generating, associatively accessing, accumulating, and selecting steps for each minutia of the second biometric image.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising generating a match score for the second biometric image.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating a number of patterns comprises generating a number of minutiae pair relation patterns for a first minutia of the second biometric image.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating a number of patterns comprises generating a number of minutiae triple relations patterns for a first minutia of the second biometric image.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the index table is a two dimensional matrix, each column is a minutia index number, each row represents a pattern of the input biometric image, and each cell of the matrix represents a quality of a respective pattern.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein each entry of the index table represents all minutia points of the input biometric image which have same patterns as the address to that entry.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating a number of patterns comprises generating only patterns that are within a predetermined distance from the first minutia of the second biometric image.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the quality factor includes redundant patterns in a predetermined error range.

14. The method of claim 7 , wherein the generating a match score for the second biometric image comprises generating a plurality of matched minutia/quality pairs for each minutia of the second biometric image, selecting a best matched pair, and determining a match score for the selected best matched pair.

15. A system for matching two biometric images comprising:

an input buffer for receiving an input biometric image including a plurality of minutiae, wherein a quality factor is associated with each minutia of the input biometric image, wherein the quality factor indicates a quality of an image surrounding said each minutia;

a memory for storing an index table generated from the input biometric image, wherein the index table includes columns and rows, where each column is a minutia index number and each row corresponds to a generated input pattern, corresponding to a respective minutia of the input biometric image, and wherein a content of each cell of the index table represents a matching quality of a row with respect to the patterns generated from a respective minutia that corresponds to a column index number, the matching quality being determined from the quality factor of each minutia of the input biometric image;

a database for storing a second biometric image including a plurality of minutiae;

means for generating a user programmable number of patterns for a first minutia of the second biometric image and associatively accessing the index table by the generated number of patterns;

a plurality of accumulators for accumulating quality factors accessed from the index table for each minutia of the input biometric image for the number of patterns of the first minutia of the second biometric image; and

a plurality of comparators for selecting a minutia candidate of the input biometric image responsive to the accumulated quality factors.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the user programmable number of generated patterns for the first minutia of the second biometric image is in the range of 10 to 20.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the biometric images are one or more of the group fingerprint images, eye iris images, retina images, and facial images.

18. The system of claim 15 , further comprising means for repeating the generating, associatively accessing, accumulating, and selecting steps for each minutia of the second biometric image.

19. The system of claim 18 , further comprising means for generating a match score for the second biometric image.

20. The system of claim 15 , wherein the means for generating a number of patterns comprises generating a number of minutiae pair relation patterns for a first minutia of the second biometric image.

21. The system of claim 15 , wherein the index table is a two dimensional matrix, each column is a minutia index number, each row represents a pattern of the input biometric image, and each cell of the matrix represents a quality of a respective pattern.

22. The system of claim 15 , wherein each entry of the index table represents all minutia points of the input biometric image which have same patterns as the address to that entry.

23. The system of claim 15 , wherein the means for generating a number of patterns comprises means for generating only patterns that are within a predetermined distance from the first minutia of the second biometric image.

24. The system of claim 15 , wherein the quality factor includes redundant patterns in a predetermined error range.

25. A system for identifying a biometric image candidate comprising:

means for receiving an input biometric image including a plurality of minutiae;

means for assigning a quality factor to each minutia of the input biometric image, wherein the quality factor indicates a quality of an image surrounding said each minutia;

means for generating a plurality of input patterns for a each minutia of the input biometric image;

means for generating an index table from the input biometric image, wherein the index table includes columns and rows, where each column is a minutia index number and each row corresponds to a generated input pattern, corresponding to a respective minutia of the input biometric image, and wherein a content of each cell of the index table represents a matching quality of a row with respect to the patterns generated from a respective minutia that corresponds to a column index number, the matching quality being determined from the quality factor of each minutia of the input biometric image;

means for receiving a second biometric image including a plurality of minutiae;

means for associatively accessing the index table by the generated number of patterns;

means for accumulating quality factors accessed from the index table for each minutia of the input biometric image for the number of patterns of the first minutia of the second biometric image; and

means for selecting a minutia candidate of the input biometric image responsive to the accumulated quality factors.

26. The system of claim 25 , wherein the biometric images are one or more of the group fingerprint images, eye iris images, retina images, and facial images.

27. The system of claim 25 , further comprising means for repeating the generating, associatively accessing, accumulating, and selecting steps for each minutia of the second biometric image.

28. The system of claim 27 , further comprising means for generating a match score for the second biometric image.