MATCHING DATA OBJECTS BY MATCHING DERIVED FINGERPRINTS

摘要

The invention relates to methods and apparatus for matching a query data object with a candidate data object by esetracting and comparing fingerprints of said data objects. In an embodiment of the invention apparatus comprising a fingerprint extraction module ( 110 ), a fingerprint matching module ( 210 ), a statistical module ( 120 ) and an identification module is provided. The fingerprint extraction module ( 110 ) receives an information signal forming part of a query object and constructs a query fingerprint. The fingerprint matching module ( 210 ) compares the query fingerprint to candidates stored in a database ( 215 ) to find at least on potentially best matching candidate. Meanwhile, the statistical module determines a statistical model of the query fingerprint so as to, for instance, determine the statistical distribution of certain information inside the query fingerprint. The threshold determiner ( 120 ) is arranged, on the basis of the distribution of the query fingerprint to derive an adaptive threshold distance within which the query fingerprint and a potentially best matching candidate may be declared similar by the identification module ( 130 ). By setting a threshold which may depend on statistical data derived from the query and/or candidate fingerprint, an improved false acceptance rate F.A.R. may be achieved.