BIOMETRIC PRINT QUALITY ASSURANCE

Quality of biometric prints is enhanced by any one of several different methods. In one embodiment, if a biometric print does not have a high enough quality, the biometric print is discarded. In another embodiment, a matching score is associated with the degree to which the two biometric prints match. In another embodiment, a ranking is associated with a biometric print, and the ranking is determined based upon two or more matching scores associated with the biometric print. In another embodiment, a variety of distinguishing features are derived from a given biometric print and are stored for authenticating a biometric print of a user requesting access to a secure entity (104). In an embodiment, a transformation is applied to at least a portion of a newly acquired biometric print to improve the match of the newly acquired biometric print to a stored biometric print.