System and method for determining block direction in fingerprint images

A system for determining orientations of one or more blocks of pixels in an image displayed by a computer system, comprising:

• a computer with a memory, a central processing unit, and a database of one or more images, the images having a plurality of pixels, the image partitioned into one or more blocks of one or more of the pixels, each of the blocks having a size;
• a block direction process, executed by the central processing unit, that determines a line orientation of one or more lines within one or more of the blocks, the block direction process further determining a block orientation of the block based on the line orientations within the block;
• and
• an orientation process, executed by the central processing unit, that determines a current block and one or more neighboring blocks that neighbor the current block, the orientation process comparing an estimated block orientation of the current block to the block orientation of one or more of the neighboring blocks using a consistency metric, the orientation process accepting the estimated block orientation if the consistency metric is within a consistency threshold, the orientation process rejecting the estimated block orientation if the consistency metric is not within the consistency threshold.

A method for determining orientations a plurality of pixels in an image displayed by a computer system, each of the blocks having a size, the method comprising the steps of:

• determining a block orientation of one or more of the blocks based on a line orientation of one or more lines within the block;
• determining a current block and one or more neighboring blocks that neighbor the current block;
• comparing an estimated block orientation of the current block to block orientation of one or more of the neighboring blocks using a consistency metric;
• and
• accepting the estimated block orientation if the consistency metric is within a consistency threshold.

A system for determining orientations of a plurality of pixels in an image displayed by a computer system, each of the blocks having a size, comprising:

• means for determining a block orientation of one or more of the blocks based on a line orientation of one or more lines within the block;
• means for determining a current block and one or more neighboring blocks that neighbor the current block;
• means for comparing an estimated block orientation of the current block to the block orientation of one or more of the neighboring blocks using a consistency metric;
• and
• means for accepting the estimated block orientation if the consistency metric is within a consistency threshold.