Biometric matching engine

A biometric matching device comprising:

• a database (108) comprising first and second sets of records, each set comprising at least one record;
• and
• a processor (102) configured to:
• perform on the records of said first set a first matching process comprising a first filtering operation followed by a second filtering operation, and perform on the records of said second set a second matching process comprising said second filtering operation followed by said first filtering operation, wherein said first filtering operation comprises comparing said first input biometric sample to a first reference biometric sample of each record, and said second filtering operation comprises comparing said second input biometric sample to a second reference biometric sample of each record;
• and
• identify a biometric record of said individual based on results of the first and second matching processes.

A method of identifying a biometric record of an individual in a database (108) of biometric records, the method comprising:

• in response to the reception by a processing device (108) of an input biometric sample of said individual, partitioning said database by said processing device into at least first and second partitions each comprising at least one of said biometric records, said partitioning comprising comparing a parameter relating to at least one reference biometric sample of each record of said database with at least one threshold value;
• evaluating by said processing device according to a first matching process whether the input biometric sample matches a reference biometric sample from each record of said first partition;
• evaluating by said processing device according to a second matching process whether the input biometric sample matches a reference biometric sample from each record of said second partition;
• and
• identifying the biometric record of said individual based on results of the first and second matching processes.