Among all the biometric techniques, fingerprint identification is the oldest method which has been successfully used in numerous applications.

A fingerprint is made of a series of ridges and furrows on the surface of the finger. The uniqueness of a fingerprint can be determined by the pattern of ridges and furrows as well as the minutiae points. Minutiae points are local ridge characteristics that occur at either a ridge bifurcation or a ridge ending.

Commercial applications of fingerprint identification system include access control, time and attendance and computer log on authentication.

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