A Method for the Description of Minutia Pairs in Epidermal Ridge Patterns

Abstract

Abstract A descriptive method is presented that allows documentation of minutia configurations in epidermal ridge patterns. The method incorporates the basic features relevant to fingerprint comparison: minutia types, orientations, and relative positions. Provision is also made for the ambiguities in minutia type which are an inevitable feature of any fingerprint comparison process. A descriptive method incorporating these features is needed to study systematically the variation of epidermal ridge minutiae and to test the existing hypotheses regarding the frequencies of occurrence of specific minutia configurations.