Fingerprint authentication system and method

1. A smart card comprising:

a fingerprint sensor configured to capture a fingerprint;

an application processor that includes a transformation unit configured to transform a first format of the captured fingerprint into a second format of the captured fingerprint, wherein the first format defines coordinates of minutia positions and the second format defines relative positions of minutiae;

a secure element that includes an authentication unit configured to receive data of the captured fingerprint in the second format from the application processor and to compare the relative positions with reference values that are stored in the secure element;

wherein the authentication unit is further configured to maintain an error counter indicative of the extent to which the relative positions do not correspond to the stored reference values, and to determine that captured fingerprint is not authentic if the error counter exceeds a predefined threshold.

2. The smart card of claim 1 ,

wherein the second format comprises a set of records, one or more records containing data specifying at least the distance between a first minutia and a second minutia and an angle between the direction of the first minutia and a straight line between the first minutia and the second minutia.

3. The smart card of claim 2 , wherein said records further contain data specifying a distance quality margin defined as a radius around the second minutia and an angle quality margin defined as a range for said angle.

4. The smart card of claim 2 , wherein said records further contain data specifying spectral components between the first minutia and the second minutia and a spectral-components quality margin, and wherein the authentication unit is further configured to compare the spectral components with the stored reference values, wherein the stored reference values include spectral component data.

5. The smart card of claim 2 , wherein said records further contain data specifying the type of the second minutia, and wherein the authentication unit is further configured to compare said type with the stored reference values, wherein the stored reference values include type data.

6. The smart card of claim 1 , being configured to determine the reference values in an enrolment mode.

7. The smart card of claim 6 , wherein the smart card is further configured to flag, in said enrolment mode, one or more relationships between minutiae as irrelevant.

8. The smart card of claim 1 , wherein the reference values are securely stored in the authentication unit.

9. The smart card of claim 1 , wherein the authentication unit is further configured:

to generate a matching score indicative of the extent to which the relative positions correspond to the stored reference values, and to determine that the captured fingerprint is authentic if the matching score exceeds a predefined threshold.

10. The smart card of claim 1 , wherein the transformation unit is further configured to provide a sorted list of minutiae to the authentication unit, wherein a less frequent minutiae type is ranked first in the sorted list.

11. A method for authenticating a fingerprint on a smart card, the method comprising:

at a fingerprint sensor of the smart care, capturing a fingerprint;

at an application processor of the smart card, a transformation unit transforms a first format of the captured fingerprint into a second format of the captured fingerprint, wherein the first format defines coordinates of minutia positions and the second format defines relative positions of minutiae;

at a secure element of the smart card, an authentication unit receives data of the captured fingerprint in the second format from the application processor and compares the relative positions with reference values that are stored in the secure element;

wherein the authentication unit is further configured to maintain an error counter indicative of the extent to which the relative positions do not correspond to the stored reference values, and to determine that captured fingerprint is not authentic if the error counter exceeds a predefined threshold.

12. A computer program product comprising executable instructions stored on non-transitory medium which, when executed, carry out the method of claim 11 .

13. The smart card of claim 1 , wherein the secure element is an embedded chip.

14. The smart card of claim 1 , wherein the secure element is a tamper-resistant and embedded chip with an installed or pre-installed smart-card-grade application.

15. The smart card of claim 1 , wherein the secure element is a tamper-resistant and embedded chip with an installed or pre-installed smart-card-grade application, and wherein the secure element is configured to implement a security function.

16. The smart card of claim 1 , wherein the secure element is a tamper-resistant and embedded chip with an installed or pre-installed smart-card-grade application, and wherein the secure element is configured to implement at least one of a cryptographic function and an authentication function.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the transformation unit provides a sorted list of minutiae to the authentication unit, wherein a less frequent minutiae type is ranked first in the sorted list.

18. The smart card of claim 1 , wherein if a parameter is within an expected range, the error counter is not increased, and if the parameter is outside the expected range, the error counter is increased, wherein the parameter is at least one of distance, angle, type, and spectral component.

19. The smart card of claim 18 , wherein the error counter is increased by a square function.