A robust and efficient fingerprint image restoration method based on a phase-field model

In this study, we present a robust and efficient fingerprint image restoration algorithm using the nonlocal Cahn–Hilliard (CH) equation, which was proposed for modeling the microphase separation of diblock copolymers. We take a small local region embedding the damaged domain and solve the nonlocal CH equation to restore the fingerprint image. A Gauss–Seidel type iterative method, which is efficient and simple to implement, is used. The proposed method has the advantage in that the pixel values in the damaged fingerprint domain can be obtained using the image information from the outside of the damaged fingerprint region. Fingerprint restoration based on adjacent pixel information can ensure the accuracy of the fingerprint information with a low computational cost. Computational experiments demonstrated the superior performance of the proposed fingerprint restoration algorithm.