Claims
- 1. A method of reducing false minutiae in a binary image comprising: determining an estimate of the average inter-ridge line distance; identifying and removing at least some isolated spurs and ridge-connected spurs based, at least in part, on the estimate of the average inter-ridge line distance.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the binary image comprises a fingerprint image; and further comprising: rectifying at least some bifurcated minutiae in the binary fingerprint image.
- 3. The method of claim 2, wherein rectifying at least some bifurcated minutiae is performed on a pixel-by-pixel basis over the binary fingerprint image.
- 4. The method of claim 2, and further comprising: identifying and removing at least some bridges in the binary fingerprint image.
- 5. The method of claim 4, wherein identifying and removing at least some bridges is performed on a pixel-by-pixel basis over the binary fingerprint image.
- 6. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying and removing at least some isolated spurs and ridge-connected spurs is performed on a pixel-by-pixel basis over the binary image.
- 7. The method of claim 1, and further comprising, prior to determining, an estimate of the average inter-ridge line distance, transforming a gray-level image to a binary image.
- 8. An apparatus comprising: an integrated circuit; said integrated circuit being adapted to, for a binary image, determine an estimate of the average inter-ridge line distance, and to identify and remove at least some isolated spurs and ridge-connected spurs based, at least in part, on the estimate of the average inter-ridge line distance.
- 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said binary image comprises a binary fingerprint image; said integrated circuit being further adapted to rectify at least some bifurcated minutiae in the binary fingerprint image.
- 10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said integrated circuit is further adapted to rectify at least some bifurcated minutiae on a pixel-by-pixel basis over the binary fingerprint image.
- 11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said integrated circuit is further adapted to identify and remove at least some bridges in the binary image.
- 12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said integrated circuit is further adapted to identify and remove at least some bridges on a pixel-by-pixel basis over the binary image.
- 13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said integrated circuit is further adapted to identify and remove at least some isolated spurs and ridge-connected spurs being performed on a pixel-by-pixel basis over the binary image.
- 14. An article comprising: a storage medium, said storage medium having stored thereon instructions, that, when executed results in performing a method of reducing false minutiae in a binary image comprising: determining an estimate of the average inter-ridge line distance; identifying and removing at least some isolated spurs and ridge-connected spurs based, at least in part, on the estimate of the average inter-ridge line distance.
- 15. The article of claim 14, wherein said binary image comprises a binary fingerprint image; said instructions, when executed, further resulting in rectifying at least some bifurcated minutiae in the binary fingerprint image.
- 16. The article of claim 15, wherein, said instructions, when executed, further result in rectifying at least some bifurcated minutiae being performed on a pixel-by-pixel basis over the binary fingerprint image.
- 17. The article of claim 14, wherein, said instructions, when executed, further result in identifying and removing at least some bridges in the binary image.
- 18. The article of claim 17, wherein, said instructions, when executed, further result in identifying and removing at least some bridges being performed on a pixel-by-pixel basis over the binary image.
- 19. The article of claim 14, wherein, said instructions, when executed, further result in identifying and removing at least some isolated spurs and ridge-connected spurs being performed on a pixel-by-pixel basis over the binary image.
- 20. The article of claim 14, wherein, said instructions, when executed, further result in, prior to determining an estimate of the average inter-ridge line distance, transforming a gray-level image to a binary image.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This patent application is related to concurrently filed U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, titled “Method and Apparatus to Provide a Binay Fingerprint Image,” filed ______, by Acharya et al., (attorney docket no. 042390.P12797), and to concurrently filed U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, (attorney docket 042390.P12877) titled “Architecture for Processing Fingerprint Images,” filed on ______, by Acharya et al., both assigned to the assignee of the presently claimed subject matter and herein incorporated by reference.