Fingerprint Biometric Identifiers

Biometrics identifiers are elements of biometrics whose traits are extracted and used to create templates used in the analysis of the identifier provided or taken from the subject for either identification or authentication. Current biometric identifiers include fingerprints, palm prints, iris, retina, voice, face, handwriting, and DNA. Not all these identifiers have been in use or can be for desired accuracy. In fact, biometric identifiers have been in use mostly in limited areas like in the identification of criminals, identification of missing children, and identification of friends and relatives through facial and voice recognition and eye color. Historically (see the previous section), the most widely used of these identifiers has been fingerprinting. From the time of the Chinese to the present, fingerprinting has been used by law enforcement agencies to apprehend criminals. It also has been used extensively to find lost people, like children. However, the use of other biometric identifiers, like iris, retina, and new DNA, has received a boost as a result of the September 11, 2001, events. That attack and the aftermath of it have created a need for stricter, more accurate, and faster regimes of biometric identifiers. There is, therefore, a rush to develop new technologies like biometric readers, signal processing algorithms, and storage improvements for many of these identifiers.

The fingerprint is the oldest of all biometric identifiers. It was reportedly the first identifier used by the Chinese to identify their children. Since then, it has been, over the years, used by crime investigators in order to apprehend criminals. In fingerprint recognition, image capture is done via a process known as image acquisition, in which a user places his or her finger on a scanner. Numerous images of the fingerprint are then captured. At this stage, the goal is to capture images of the center of the fingerprint, which contains the majority of the unique features. All of the captured images are then converted into black and white images and are stored in a template.