Biometric verification is generally considered a one-to-one matching task. In contrast, in this paper, we argue that the one-to-many competitive matching via sparse representation-based classification (SRC) can bring enhanced verification security and accuracy. SRC-based verification introduces non-target subjects to construct dynamic dictionary together with the client claimed and encodes the submitted feature. Owing to the sparsity constraint, a client can only be accepted when it defeats almost all non-target classes and wins a convincing sparsity-based matching score. This will make the verification more secure than those using one-to-one matching. However, intense competition may also lead to extremely inferior genuine scores when data degeneration occurs. Motivated by the latent benefits and concerns, we study SRC-based verification using two sparsity-based matching measures, three biometric modalities (i.e., face, palmprint, and ear) and their multimodal combinations based on both handcrafted and deep learning features. We finally approach a comprehensive study of SRC-based verification, including its methodology, characteristics, merits, challenges and the directions to resolve. Extensive experimental results demonstrate the superiority of SRC-based verification, especially when using multimodal fusion and advanced deep learning features. The concerns about its efficiency in large-scale user applications can be readily solved using a simple dictionary shrinkage strategy based on cluster analysis and random selection of non-target subjects.
