Contactless fingerprint acquisition and processing

1. A contactless fingerprint acquisition and processing method, comprising:

detecting and acquiring an object image, wherein acquiring the object image comprises illuminating an object with a light source having a polarizer, receiving data from a first detector assembly and a second detector assembly that each comprise a polarizer, wherein the polarizers of the two detector assemblies are out of phase such that the polarizer of the first detector assembly is set to match the phase of the light source polarizer and the polarizer of the second detector is out of phase with said polarizer of the first detector assembly;

converting the object image into a fingerprint image, wherein the converting comprises differencing the data received from first detector assembly with the data received from the second detector assembly using registration information to increase a contrast between ridges and valleys of the fingerprint image; and

at least one of identifying and verifying the fingerprint image.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein an object associated with the object image is an enrollment card.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 further comprising enrolling a fingerprint image associated with the enrollment card.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3 further comprising generating a fingerprint template to store the fingerprint image associated with the enrollment card.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein an object associated with the object image is at least one of a finger print and a palm print.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5 wherein identifying the fingerprint image comprises comparing the fingerprint image with previously stored fingerprints.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6 further comprising generating a matching score between the fingerprint image and the previously stored fingerprints.

8. The method as claimed in claim 5 wherein verifying the fingerprint image comprises comparing the fingerprint image with a previous fingerprint image associated with an individual presenting the object image.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising adjusting focusing on the object image, wherein adjusting focusing on the image includes at least one of a multi-frame focus, a coded aperture focus, a focus trap and stereo deconvolution.

10. A computer program product having a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions for causing a computer to perform a contactless fingerprint acquisition and processing method, the method comprising:

detecting and acquiring an object image, wherein acquiring the object image comprises illuminating an object with a light source having a polarizer, receiving data from a first detector assembly and a second detector assembly that each comprise a polarizer, wherein the polarizers of the two detector assemblies are out of phase such that the polarizer of the first detector assembly is set to match the phase of the light source polarizer and the polarizer of the second detector is out of phase with said polarizer of the first detector assembly;

converting the object image into a fingerprint image, wherein the converting comprises differencing the data received from the first detector assembly with the data received from the second detector assembly using registration information to increase a contrast between ridges and valleys of the fingerprint image; and

at least one of identifying and verifying the fingerprint image.

11. The computer program product as claimed in claim 10 wherein an object associated with the object image is an enrollment card.

12. The computer program product as claimed in claim 11 further comprising enrolling a fingerprint image associated with the enrollment card.

13. The computer program product as claimed in claim 12 further comprising generating a fingerprint template to store the fingerprint image associated with the enrollment card.

14. The computer program product as claimed in claim 10 wherein an object associated with the object image is at least one of a finger print and a palm print.

15. The computer program product as claimed in claim 14 wherein identifying the fingerprint image comprises comparing the fingerprint image with previously stored fingerprints.

16. The computer program product as claimed in claim 14 wherein verifying the fingerprint image comprises comparing the fingerprint image with a previous fingerprint image associated with an individual presenting the object image.

17. The computer program product as claimed in claim 10 further comprising adjusting focusing on the object image, wherein adjusting focusing on the image includes at least one of a multi-frame focus, a coded aperture focus, a focus trap and stereo deconvolution.

18. A contactless fingerprint acquisition and processing system, comprising:

a housing;

a processor disposed in the housing;

a light source having a polarizer, disposed in the housing and configured to illuminate an object;

a first detector assembly and a second detector assembly that are both operatively coupled to the processor and configured to acquire fingerprint images, wherein each of the first detector assembly and the second detector assembly comprise a polarizer; and

a process configured to

detect and acquire an object image, wherein acquiring the object image comprises receiving data from the first detector assembly and the second detector assembly, wherein the polarizers of the first and the second detector assemblies are out of phase such that the polarizer of the first detector matches the phase of the polarizer of the light source;

convert the object image to a fingerprint image, wherein converting comprises differencing the data received from the first detector assembly with the data received from the second detector assembly using registration information to increase a contrast between ridges and valleys of the fingerprint image;

enroll the fingerprint image; and

at least one of identifying and verifying the fingerprint image.

19. The system as claimed in claim 18 wherein the process is further configured to adjust focusing on the object image, wherein adjusting focusing on the image includes at least one of a multi-frame focus, a coded aperture focus, a focus trap and stereo deconvolution.

20. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein converting the object image into a fingerprint image further comprises deblurring the image and enhancing ridge contours therein.