Protocol for biometric device capture and quality analysis

A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for communicating with peripheral devices, said method comprising:

• providing a system, wherein the system comprises distinct software modules, and wherein the distinct software modules comprise an interface module, a device framework module, and a device plug-in module, and wherein the device plug-in module comprises a plurality of device handlers for communicating with a plurality of supported peripheral devices;
• parsing, by the device framework module, a configuration file that specifies all the supported peripheral devices and defines commands for each supported peripheral device, wherein the parsing of the configuration file generates a list of the supported devices that is provided to the interface module;
• displaying, by the interface module, the list of the supported peripheral devices on a display connected to the system so that a user may select one of the supported peripheral devices for communication between the system and the selected peripheral device;
• receiving, by the interface module, a selection of one of the supported peripheral devices in the list, wherein the received selection is sent to the device framework module;
• searching, by the device framework module, the configuration file to find a location in the computer usable medium of the device handler corresponding to the selected peripheral device;
• calling, by the device framework module, the device handler corresponding to the selected peripheral device from the device plug-in module using the location specified in the configuration file;
• invoking, by the device framework module, protocols for the selected peripheral device that are specified by the device handler so that the device framework module can communicate with the selected peripheral device;
• receiving, by the interface module, commands to perform functions of the selected peripheral device, wherein the commands received are sent to the device framework module;
• and
• sending, by the device framework module, the commands to the selected peripheral device based on the invoked protocols included in the device handler corresponding to the selected peripheral device.

A biometric system comprising:

• a plurality of peripheral devices for capturing measurable characteristics of people for biometric identity recognition;
• and
• a computer system comprising a computer readable medium configured to:
• load a configuration file specifying supported peripheral devices and defining commands for each supported peripheral device;
• receive a selection of one of the supported peripheral devices from a list of peripheral devices presented in an interface;
• call a device handler for the selected peripheral device;
• invoke protocols for the selected peripheral device that are specified by the device handler;
• and
• send commands entered through the interface to the selected peripheral device using the invoked protocols of the device handler corresponding to the selected peripheral device.