3 Identification Flats (“ThreeInch” Data)

3.1 Segmentation Timing

All algorithms are run over a small fixed corpus of ThreeInch images to estimate the total runtime of the evaluation. To be evaluated under SlapSeg III, algorithms must segment the timing corpus, on average, in under 1 500 milliseconds. This maximum reference time is documented in the SlapSeg III test plan, and is subject to change.

Box plots of segmentation times are separated by hand in Figure 3.1, with tabular representations are enumerated in Table 3.1. Results are reported in milliseconds

Box plots of elapsed time in milliseconds when segmenting the ThreeInch timing test corpus, separated by slap orientation.

Figure 3.1: Box plots of elapsed time in milliseconds when segmenting the ThreeInch timing test corpus, separated by slap orientation.

Table 3.1: Elapsed time in milliseconds when segmenting the ThreeInch timing test corpus, separated by slap orientation.
Right Left Thumbs Combined
Minimum 134 126 96 96
25% 207 207 150 182
Median 233 232 162 221
75% 261 259 175 253
Maximum 766 573 307 766

3.2 Segmentation Centers and Dimensions

3.2.1 Segmentation Centers

The plots in this section show the distribution of segmentation position centers (x, y) for ThreeInch data. At the top of each figure is a combined plot for all finger positions of a given hand orientation. These figures are isolated in plots faceted at the bottom of the figure.

Plots of segmentation centers for the right hand ThreeInch data are shown in Figure 3.2, for the left hand in Figure 3.3, and for thumbs in Figure 3.4. Blank lines that may appear in the plots are not rendering artifacts. Rather, they are indicative of image downsampling. Centers have been normalized to 500 pixels per inch.

Points in each plot are plotted with a semi-transparent opacity. This results in points of particular color appearing “darker” to indicate a higher frequency of the observed value, while “lighter” points indicate a lower observed frequency.

Segmentation centers for right hand ThreeInch data.

Figure 3.2: Segmentation centers for right hand ThreeInch data.

Segmentation centers for left hand ThreeInch data.

Figure 3.3: Segmentation centers for left hand ThreeInch data.

Segmentation centers for thumb ThreeInch data.

Figure 3.4: Segmentation centers for thumb ThreeInch data.

3.2.2 Segmentation Dimensions

The plots in this section show the distribution of segmentation position widths and heights for ThreeInch data. At the top of each figure is a combined plot for all finger positions of a given hand orientation. These figures are isolated in plots faceted at the bottom of the figure.

Plots of segmentation position dimensions for the right hand ThreeInch data are shown in Figure 3.6, for the left hand in Figure 3.5, and for thumbs in Figure 3.7. Blank lines that may appear in the plots are not rendering artifacts. Rather, they are indicative of image downsampling. Dimensions have been normalized to 500 pixels per inch.

Segmentation position dimensions for left hand ThreeInch data.

Figure 3.5: Segmentation position dimensions for left hand ThreeInch data.

Segmentation position dimensions for right hand ThreeInch data.

Figure 3.6: Segmentation position dimensions for right hand ThreeInch data.

Segmentation position dimensions for thumb ThreeInch data.

Figure 3.7: Segmentation position dimensions for thumb ThreeInch data.

3.3 Detailed Segmentation Statistics

This section shows detailed results of segmentation of ThreeInch data. Values in each table are the percentage that the variable in the left-most column was correctly segmented.

Each table has three columns of percentages. The Standard Scoring column shows the percentage of correctly-segmented positions based on the scoring metrics defined in the SlapSeg III scoring document. The Ignoring Bottom Y column shows how the percentage would change if the threshold for the bottom Y coordinate of the segmentation position was ignored. Similarly, the Ignoring Bottom X and Y columns shows how the percentage would change if only the top, left, and right sides of the segmentation position were considered. These two supplemental columns are included because it has traditionally been difficult to determine the exact location of the distal interphalangeal joint.

Table 3.2 shows how successful thalescogent+0003 segmented fingers for each subject in the test corpus. Table 3.3 shows success for specific finger positions over the entire test corpus. Similarly, Table 3.4 shows success for segmenting the same finger position from both hands.

The remainder of the tables show success per subject when considering combinations of subsets of the fingers on each slap image. Table 3.5 shows success for combinations of all fingers, Table 3.6 for just the index and middle fingers, and Table 3.7 for all except the little finger.

Table 3.2: For each subject, the percentage that at least Number of Fingers fingers were correctly segmented, regardless of hand, for a maximum of eight correctly-segmented fingers. In Standard Scoring, scoring rules are followed exactly. In Ignoring Bottom Y, the bottom left and bottom right Y coordinates are ignored. Ignoring Bottom X and Y only checks the locations of the top left and top right coordinates.
Number of Fingers Standard Scoring Ignoring Bottom Y Ignoring Bottom X and Y
1 100.0 100.0 100.0
2 99.8 99.8 99.9
3 98.5 98.5 98.6
4 98.2 98.3 98.3
5 95.9 95.9 95.9
6 95.9 95.9 95.9
7 95.8 95.9 95.9
8 95.6 95.7 95.8
9 94.3 94.8 95.5
10 86.2 88.7 92.2
Table 3.3: For all subjects, percentage that a particular friction ridge generalized position was correctly segmented. In Ignoring Bottom Y, the bottom left and bottom right Y coordinates are ignored. Ignoring Bottom X and Y only checks the locations of the top left and top right coordinates.
Finger Standard Scoring Ignoring Bottom Y Ignoring Bottom X and Y
Right
Thumb 98.1 98.5 99.3
Index 99.2 99.5 99.6
Middle 98.8 99.3 99.7
Ring 98.4 98.9 99.6
Little 98.7 98.9 99.2
Left
Thumb 98.2 98.6 99.3
Index 99.1 99.2 99.4
Middle 98.8 99.2 99.6
Ring 98.7 98.9 99.7
Little 98.9 99.1 99.3
Table 3.4: Percentage that a particular type of fingerprint was correctly segmented on Either or Both hands. In Ignoring Bottom Y, the bottom left and bottom right Y coordinates are ignored. Ignoring Bottom X and Y only checks the locations of the top left and top right coordinates.
Fingers Standard Scoring Ignoring Bottom Y Ignoring Bottom X and Y
Thumb
Either 99.6 99.7 99.9
Both 96.8 97.5 98.8
Index
Either 99.9 99.9 99.9
Both 95.7 96.1 96.4
Middle
Either 99.7 99.8 99.9
Both 95.3 96.0 96.7
Ring
Either 99.8 99.8 99.9
Both 94.6 95.3 96.7
Little
Either 99.7 99.7 99.8
Both 95.2 95.5 96.1
Table 3.5: Percentage of segmentation success by hand for combinations of all ten fingers of a ThreeInch slap. In Ignoring Bottom Y, the bottom left and bottom right Y coordinates are ignored. Ignoring Bottom X and Y only checks the locations of the top left and top right coordinates.
Fingers Standard Scoring Ignoring Bottom Y Ignoring Bottom X and Y
Right
Any 99.9 99.9 99.9
At Least Two 98.5 98.5 98.5
At Least Three 98.4 98.5 98.5
At Least Four 97.8 98.1 98.3
All Five 89.4 90.9 93.0
Left
Any 99.9 99.9 99.9
At Least Two 98.5 98.5 98.5
At Least Three 98.4 98.4 98.5
At Least Four 97.7 97.9 98.2
All Five 89.9 91.1 93.0
Table 3.6: Percentage of segmentation success by hand when only considering combinations of index and middle fingers. In Ignoring Bottom Y, the bottom left and bottom right Y coordinates are gnored. Ignoring Bottom X and Y only checks the locations of the top left and top right coordinates.
Fingers Standard Scoring Ignoring Bottom Y Ignoring Bottom X and Y
Right
Either 99.9 99.9 100.0
Both 98.1 98.9 99.3
Left
Either 99.9 99.9 99.9
Both 98.0 98.5 99.1
Table 3.7: Percentage of segmentation success by hand when only considering combinations of index, middle, and ring fingers. In Ignoring Bottom Y, the bottom left and right Y coordinates are ignored. Ignoring Bottom X and Y only checks the locations of the top left and right coordinates.
Fingers Standard Scoring Ignoring Bottom Y Ignoring Bottom X and Y
Right
Any 99.9 100.0 100.0
At Least Two 99.7 99.8 99.9
All Three 96.7 97.9 99.0
Left
Any 100.0 100.0 100.0
At Least Two 99.8 99.8 99.9
All Three 96.8 97.6 98.9

3.4 Handling Troublesome Images

3.4.1 Capture Failures

Segmentation algorithms may refuse to process an image. This may happen for a technical reason (e.g., the algorithm cannot parse the image data), or for a practical reason (e.g., the hand in the image is placed incorrectly). These failure scenarios are the result of capturing improper image data. In these types of scenarios, it is important to examine the cause of the failure. With many live scan capture setups, segmentation is performed immediately after capture. If an algorithm can detect that it won’t be able to segment an image due to a technical or practical issue, it can alert the operator to perform a recapture before the subject leaves.

The SlapSeg III API encourages algorithms to identify these failure reasons by specifying pre-defined deficiencies in the image. Algorithms should attempt segmentation even if an image deficiency is encountered if at all possible. Note that SlapSeg III guarantees well-formed image data, so failures to parse are not an indicator of the data provided.

thalescogent+0003 did not report any capture failures.

3.4.1.1 Recovery

When encountering a segmentation failure, SlapSeg III algorithms are encouraged to provide a best-effort segmentation when possible. In some cases, that best-effort may be correct, which reduces the amount of images that need to be manually adjudicated by an operator.

thalescogent+0003 did not attempt any recovery segmentations.

3.4.2 Segmentation Failures

Even if an algorithm accepts an image for processing, it can still fail to process one or more fingers from the image, regardless of if the algorithm requested a recapture and provided best-effort segmentation.

The SlapSeg III API allows algorithms to communicate reasons for failure to process these fingers. In some cases, the distal phalanx in question might not be present in the image due to amputation or being placed outside the platen’s capture area. It is imperative that the segmentation algorithm correctly report this as failing to segment the correct friction ridge generalized position without disrupting the sequence of valid positions present in the image. This can help prompt an operator to recapture or record additional information about the subject.

In SlapSeg III, a number of images are missing fingers or otherwise have fingers that will not be able to be segmented. Reasons for segmentation failures reported by thalescogent+0003 are enumerated in Table 3.8.

Table 3.8: Count of self-reported segmentation failure reasoning.
Failure Reason Fingers
Finger Not Found 105
Finger Found, but Can’t Segment 0
Vendor Defined 0

3.4.3 Identifying Missing Fingers

A small portion of the test corpus in SlapSeg III are missing fingers. Table 3.9 shows how successful thalescogent+0003 was in correctly determining if a finger was missing. The Missed row shows when a segmentation position was returned for a missing finger. All possible failure reasons are enumerated, but are not considered Correctly Identified because the algorithm specified failure for a reason other than the finger not being found.

Table 3.9: Performance of thalescogent+0003 at detecting fingers missing from an image.
Result Percentage
Missed 50.4
Correctly Identified 49.6
Other Failure: Finger Found, but Can’t Segment 0.0
Other Failure: Vendor Defined 0.0
Other Failure: Segmentation Not Attempted 0.0

3.4.4 Sequence Error

Sequence error occurs when a fingerprint is segmented from an image but assigned an incorrect finger position (e.g., segmenting a right middle finger but labeling it a right index finger). Table 3.10 shows cases in which a segmentation position was returned that matched a ground truth segmentation position for a different finger in the same image.

Table 3.10: Percentage of images in the dataset where one or more segmentation positions correctly matched an incorrect finger position within the same image, indicating sequence error.
Hand Standard Scoring Ignoring Bottom Y Ignoring Bottom X and Y
Left 0.04 0.04 0.04
Right 0.04 0.04 0.04
Thumbs 0.08 0.08 0.08
Combined 0.06 0.06 0.06

3.5 Determining Orientation

An optional portion of the SlapSeg III API asked participants to determine the hand orientation of an image. Participants were provided the kind (e.g., Identification Flat) and needed to determine whether the image was of the left hand, right hand, or thumbs.

Overall Three Inch accuracy: 99.6%
Table 3.11: Percentage of accuracy when determining hand orientation of a three inch image. The first column indicates the true hand orientation. Subsequent columns indicate the percentage of the time in which the indicated hand orientation was hypothesized.
Left Right Thumbs
Left 99.8 0.2 0
Right 0.5 99.5 0
Thumbs 0.3 0.3 99.4