biometrics (was Re: OT: Neural Networks and fp)

[Kenneth Brody]

Fairlight wrote:
> 
> On Wed, Dec 01, 2004 at 09:09:00AM -0500, Walter Vaughan, the prominent pundit,
> witicized:
> > However, from what I have read, Ken or whoever wrote the code to read
> > the patterns from the fingerprint readers *had* to implement some type
> > of neural network. Now if that code can be leveraged in the future as a
> > function in filePro... well only time will tell.
> 
> What makes you think that requires a neural net?  As I understand it,
> fingerprints are broken down and analysed by the scan devices themselves
> and then translated to a unique code.  That code is simply stored and you
> can search for it--you either match or you don't.  I don't see any learning
> implied in that scenario.
[...]

If it were that simple, then biometrics could be done by anyone.  Simply
get the unique code which will always be generated by a given finger, and
find that code in the database.

While I believe you are correct that it's not a neural net, the idea that
a given finger will always generate the exact same "code" is incorrect.
The scanners used simply return an image of the scan.  Nothing more,
nothing less.  There is no unique "code" that is (or, for that matter,
can be) always generated for a given finger.

The idea behind biometrics is that you don't store an image of the print,
but rather information about the print.  For example, the relative location
and direction of ridge bifurcation and end points, among other things.  And
given the fact that you aren't going to put your finger in the exact same
location on the scanner in the exact same orientation and apply the exact
same amount of pressure, the information gathered from different scans of
the same finger will (for all intents and purposes) never be identical.

-- 
+-------------------------+--------------------+-----------------------------+
| Kenneth J. Brody        | www.hvcomputer.com |                             |
| kenbrody/at\spamcop.net | www.fptech.com     | #include <std_disclaimer.h> |
+-------------------------+--------------------+-----------------------------+
Don't e-mail me at: <mailto:ThisIsASpamTrap at gmail.com>