Abstract: The reference point is essential for fingerprint registration and recognition since it can effectively reduce the identification time on automatic fingerprint identification system with large scale database.As an extremely stable refe-rence point,the fingerprint focal point still needs more accurate detection methods.In this paper,an accurate fingerprint focal point detection method based on map of cross points’ weights was proposed.First,the definition and characteristics of the proposed map of cross points’ weights are introduced.For the block-wise orientation field,from each block’scenter,a straight line perpendicular to the block’s direction is produced,and each pair of such straight lines may have a cross point.By giving each cross point a weight according to its contribution to the expected position of fingerprint focal point,the map of cross points’ weights is finally determined.The proposed map improves the accuracy and stability of focal point detection method since it can generally ensure the ideal focal point to be included in its maximum density region.Then an iteration scheme is utilized on map of cross points’ weights to locate the focal point precisely.Experimental results on FVC2000 Db2a fingerprint database validate that the proposed method outperforms the others in terms of accuracy with acceptable cost of computational time.

Key words: Fingerprint alignment,Focal point,Reference point,Cross point’s weight