Acquisition of a fingerprint image

1. A method of acquiring a fingerprint image from a fingerprint sensor with an array of sensor elements spanning a sensing area, comprising:

monitoring groups of sensor elements located at group-wise spaced apart positions in the array of sensor elements, to determine the location of a touch occurring on the array of sensor elements;

from the array of sensor elements, acquiring, at respective points in time, fingerprint sub-images which are confined in size to a subarea of the sensing area; wherein one or more of the sub-images is/are selected from a location about the location of the touch;

as the fingerprint sub-images are acquired, computing values of a statistical indicator for the fingerprint sub-images;

acquiring a full fingerprint image when a predefined criterion indicates that the values of the statistical indicator have reached or are about to reach a stable state.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the location of a touch is estimated from those groups of sensor elements that indicate a touch, at a point in time, when at least a threshold number of groups of sensor elements indicates that the touch event is occurring.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more of the sub-images is/are selected from a region confined in expanse to be within a bounding box enclosing the groups of sensor elements that indicates that the touch event is occurring.

4. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of monitoring a set of groups of sensor elements, continues while the fingerprint sub-images are acquired to dynamically determine the subset of groups of sensor elements, and therefrom dynamically relocate from which sensor elements the preliminary fingerprint sub-images are acquired.

5. A method according to claim 1 , comprising:

evaluating the slope of the values of the statistical indicator over time as the values are computed; wherein the predefined criterion indicates that the values of the statistical indicator has reached or is about to reach a stable state when the slope is below a predefined slope threshold.

6. A method according to claim 1 , comprising:

adaptively performing an adjustment of a setting of the fingerprint sensor in response to values of an intensity measure computed from at least one of the fingerprint sub-images.

7. A method according to claim 1 , comprising:

evaluating the values of one or both of the statistical indicator and a further statistical indicator over time, as the values are computed, against an intensity threshold;

when one or more of the values of one or both of the statistical indicator and a further statistical indicator exceed the intensity threshold, performing an adjustment of a setting of the fingerprint sensor.

8. A method according to claim 7 , wherein the setting of the fingerprint sensor is adjusted by changing a gain setting in the fingerprint sensor.

9. A computer-implemented method according to claim 7 , wherein the setting of the fingerprint sensor is adjusted by changing a shift setting in the fingerprint sensor.

10. A computer-implemented method according to claim 7 , wherein one or both of the statistical indicator and the further statistical indicator is/are selected from the group of: a percentile or quantile of the distribution of intensity values; a median value, a mean value, a total variation distance, and a divergence measure, such as an asymmetrical or symmetrical divergence measure of the distribution relative to a predefined distribution.

11. A method according to claim 1 , comprising:

before or upon start of acquisition of a full fingerprint image determining a first set of groups of sensor elements that indicate a touch;

upon completion of acquisition of a full fingerprint image or at a point in time when the full fingerprint image is acquired, determining a second set of groups of sensor elements that indicate a touch;

comparing the first set of groups of sensor elements and the second set of groups of sensor elements; and

assigning a value to the full fingerprint image, wherein the value indicates an outcome of comparing the first set and the second set.

12. A computer system loaded with a computer program configured to perform the method of claim 1 .

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium carrying a program configured to perform the method of claim 1 when the method is a computer-implemented method run on a computer.

14. An apparatus configured to acquire a fingerprint image from a fingerprint sensor with an array of sensor elements spanning a sensing area, comprising:

a monitoring component configured to monitor groups of sensor elements located at group-wise spaced apart positions in the array of sensor elements, to determine the location of a touch occurring on the array of sensor elements;

an image acquisition component configured to acquire, at respective points in time, fingerprint sub-images which are confined in size to a subarea of the sensing area; wherein one or more of the sub-images is/are selected from a location about the location of the touch;

a computing component configured to compute values of a statistical indicator for the fingerprint sub-images as the fingerprint sub-images are acquired;

wherein the image acquisition component is further configured to acquire a full fingerprint image when a predefined criterion indicates that the values of the statistical indicator have reached or are about to reach a stable state.

15. An apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the apparatus is one of a mobile phone, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer and a general purpose computer.