Slap print segmentation system and method

A method for print image component processing, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing a print image;
• providing an image component threshold value;
• detecting at least a plurality of image components of said print image;
• splitting weakly connected components in the plane of said print image;
• deleting discrete feature components smaller than said image component threshold value;
• deleting any boundary line shape components corresponding to said deleted discrete feature components;
• and
• defining weakly connected image components in accordance with pixel proximity;
• and
• deleting image components which are substantially inconsistent with the zone lines of said segmentation boundary;
• identifying an anchor component and deleting or merging image components in accordance with geometric relationships among the components;
• assigning finger number in accordance with the anchor print component;
• and
• segmenting said print image in accordance with said segmentation boundary.

A method for segmenting finger prints, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing a finger print image;
• down sampling said finger print image;
• applying at least a plurality of threshold values based on gray-level statistics of said down sampled image to produce a binarized image;
• converting said threshold image to a binary image in accordance with at least a plurality of threshold values;
• detecting at least a plurality of image components of said binary image;
• modifying said finger print image components in accordance with at least one of merging small image components and dividing large image components;
• determining a left side segmentation boundary;
• determining a right side segmentation boundary;
• determining a center position with respect to said left side segmentation boundary and said right side segmentation boundary;
• determining a segmentation column position;
• computing the convex hull of said image components;
• detecting the orientation of said image components;
• identifying the relative orientation and placement of said image components;
• deleting image components which are substantially inconsistent with the zone lines of said segmentation boundary;
• identifying an anchor component and deleting/merging image components in accordance with geometric relationships among the components;
• assigning a finger number in accordance with the anchor print component;
• and
• segmenting said print image in accordance with said segmentation boundary.

A system for segmenting finger prints, said system comprising:

• means for providing a finger print image;
• means for down sampling said finger print image;
• means for applying at least a plurality of threshold values based on gray-level statistics of said down sampled image to produce a threshold image;
• means for converting said threshold image to a binary image in accordance with at least a plurality of threshold values;
• means for detecting at least a plurality of image components of said binary image;
• means for modifying said finger print image components in accordance with at least one of merging small image components and dividing large image components;
• means for determining a left side segmentation boundary;
• means for determining a right side segmentation boundary;
• means for determining a center position with respect to said left side segmentation boundary and said right side segmentation boundary;
• means for determining a segmentation column position;
• means for computing the convex hull of said image components;
• means for detecting the orientation of said image components;
• means for identifying the relative orientation and placement of said image components;
• means for deleting image components which are substantially inconsistent with the zone lines of said segmentation boundary;
• and
• means for identifying an anchor component and deleting/merging image components in accordance with geometric relationships among the components;
• means for assigning a finger number in accordance with the anchor print component;
• and
• means for segmenting said print image in accordance with said segmentation boundary.