An efficient method for fingerprint matching based on local point model

This paper proposes a fingerprint matching method based on local Thin-Plate-Spline (TPS) deformation model, a warping technique, to deal with non-linear distorted fingerprints. After determining the set of corresponding minutiae pairs between two fingerprints by using an affine transformation, a set of corresponding pseudo-minutiae pairs are created based on their local ridge-valley structure comparison. These points are associated with the known corresponding point pairs to select a suitable landmark point set for using Local Thin Plate Spline deformation model over 9 partial areas of fingerprint images in order to find new corresponding minutiae pairs. This procedure is repeated until no more new corresponding minutiae pairs are distinguished or the number of corresponding point pairs is large enough. The experimental results on the database FVC2004 show that the proposed method significantly improves matching performance compared to the global TPS warping method.