Page 267 - Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS)

252 AUTOMATED FINGERPRINT IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS

AFIS/FBI—The Automated Fingerprint Identification System segment of IAFIS
for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. AFIS/FBI is a system that provides
(1) repository maintenance services, such as receipt, storage, and retrieval;
(2) powerful search functions that attempt to match submitted fingerprints
with fingerprints in the repository; and (3) fingerprint characteristic pro-
cessing capability to derive unique aspects of fingerprints for storage and
matching.
ALGORITHM—Mathematical routine used in computer processing. In AFIS
processing, the matcher algorithm searches for relationships between search
print and tenprint print.
ALPHANUMERIC—Non-image information related to a person, tenprint card,
or latent case. May also be referred to as demographic data.
AMERICAN CLASSIFICATION—The system of fingerprint classification devel-
oped by Captain James Parke with values derived from the sequence of
fingers in the right then left hand, patterns, and ridges. Consists of primary
and secondary classifications.
ANSI—American National Standards Institute. Founded in 1918, it administers
U.S. voluntary standardization and conformity assessment.
ANSI/NIST STANDARD—Standard proposed by NIST and adopted by ANSI.
ANTHROPOMETRIC CARD—Bertillon card used to record physical measure-
ments such as head width, head length, and trunk.
APPENDIX F—Image Quality Specifications (IQS) of the electronic finger-
print transmission specification (EFTS) for printers, monitors, and
scanners.
APPENDIX G—Interim Image Quality Specification for scanners until IAFIS
became operational.
AUTHENTICATION—Process to determine whether a digital image has been
altered in any way or a process used to determine whether an electronic file
has the correct association, as with unique identifier, name, images, and crim-
inal history record.
AXIS—One of two intersecting lines superimposed on a displayed fingerprint
image. Used as a reference point to indicate orientation in a side-by-side
comparison.
BENCHMARK—A standardized task given to versions of the same device to
evaluate their performances against a standard.
BENCHMARK TESTING—Standardized testing of a device or software to
evaluate performance against a standard.
BERTILLON CARD—Devised by Alphonse Bertillon to record physical mea-
surements such as head width, head length, trunk, and arm length.
BIFURCATION—A point on a finger image where the friction ridge divides
into two ridges.