Overlapped Latent Fingerprints Segmentation: Problem Definition

This chapter describes the problem of segmentation of overlapped fingerprints, which is a required prerequisite step in the fingerprint processing pipeline, performed before the processes of fingerprint separation and subsequent verification. Overlapped fingerprints segmentation is usually performed manually, and only recently there have been (semi-)automatic approaches proposed in the literature. The evaluation procedure to assess the quality of such approaches is also discussed.