A coherent framework for fingerprint analysis: are fingerprints holograms?

We propose a coherent mathematical model for human fingerprint images. Fingerprint structure is represented simply as a hologram - namely a phase modulated fringe pattern. The holographic form unifies analysis, classification, matching, compression, and synthesis of fingerprints in a self-consistent formalism. Hologram phase is at the heart of the method; a phase that uniquely decomposes into two parts via the Helmholtz decomposition theorem. Phase also circumvents the infinite frequency singularities that always occur at minutiae. Reliable analysis is possible using a recently discovered two-dimensional demodulator. The parsimony of this model is demonstrated by the reconstruction of a fingerprint image with an extreme compression factor of 239. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America