Fingerprint SDK is a software toolkit that enables developers to integrate fingerprint recognition technology into different types of applications. Most software development kits interface with an application by utilizing a DLL or ActiveX/COM (Component Object Model). Developers can reference these objects to utilize the fingerprint functionality from any desired application.

All standard fingerprint SDKs provide a low level framework that communicates with fingerprint readers for capturing fingerprint images, extracting unique minute data and comparing two sets of extracted data. However, there is always a significant learning curve which developers must overcome in order to have a robust and turn-key fingerprint system from even the best fingerprint SDKs.

Thus programmers who do not want to start from a scratch can use a fingerprint SDK for developing their fingerprint recognition based applications. These fingerprint SDKs enable the developer’s applications to directly interact with the connected fingerprint scanner device and also provide high-level Application Programming Interface (API) that allows the developers applications to execute various functions.

Common developer issues not addressed by standard fingerprint SDKs

A list of the common developer issues that are not addressed by standard fingerprint software development kits (SDKs) available in the marketplace:

• Distinguish between a good fingerprint scan and a bad fingerprint scan
• Store the minutiae that is extracted from the fingerprint image
• Load back the information from the stored template location
• Encrypt and decrypt the stored fingerprint data
• Transmit comparison requests and establish across a network that facilitates client/server topology
• Associate more than one fingerprint for a single individual
• Conversion of 1:1 (verification) comparison functionality and build it into a 1: N (identification) solution
• Determine the level of reliability of the comparisons against a large population size

What is Touch N Go?

Touch N Go is a fingerprint SDK alternative for fingerprint identification and authentication systems. It is a fully developed fingerprint software system that allows developers to avoid the common issues associated with standard fingerprint SDKs.

It is a reliable and high performing fingerprint recognition API that allows developers to integrate fingerprint technology into their applications instantly and easily by adding just four lines of code.

All the heavy duty works including fingerprint enrolment, administration and reporting is handled by Touch N Go. The biggest advantage is it frees developers from the hassle of understanding and implementing the concepts of enrolment and quality checks and allows them to spend their precious time on other important matters of the fingerprint integration process.

Touch N Go address the issues of standard fingerprint SDKs

The biggest strengths of Touch N Go over other SKDs are its simplicity of integration, universality in the backend and support for all the leading and popular fingerprint scanners available in the market. Touch N Go consists of several components and the most obvious of them is the enrolment component. Although the user enrolment component of Touch N Go is similar to other traditional SDKs, it has various other additional features that are not available in the traditional SDKs.

One such feature is the enrolment of only certain fingers. For example, an organizational policy requires that only forefingers are enrolled as part of the enrolment process. Touch N Go enables to do that in which case no other fingers but the forefingers of each hand will be accepted. Another excellent feature of Touch N Go is that it allows the administrators to accommodate users with a missing or damaged finger. For example, policy requirements mandate that the forefinger of the user’s right hand is required in the enrolment process. However, if the user has lost that finger there is a provision where the administrator can make a substitution for and note this exception in the user’s record that the required finger is missing.

The administration tasks are handled by the administration module and it is a part of the API. The administration panel consists of four modules namely User Management, Security and Backup, Fingerprint Settings and Status and Reports. However, all of the backend work will be done by the user’s application and the Touch N Go API never retains the user’s fingerprints for security reasons. All the heavy lifting related to fingerprint like, fingerprint quality check, fingerprint de-duplication, fingerprint matching, fingerprint storage, fingerprint encryption is taken care by Touch N Go. The programmer just has to work with ID numbers and never needs no knowledge of fingerprint recognition.

Touch N Go eliminates the need to manually track licenses and frees developers from the burden of license management. Moreover, unlike other SDKs the license file is stored on the server rather than the client. Touch N Go supports most of the popular databases such as MSSQL, Oracle, IBM DB2 etc. It also has support for various programming languages and provides developers with access to sample codes in C#, Java, .NET Framework to name a few.

Adding fingerprint recognition to any application is extremely simple with Touch N Go. There are only six buttons that the developer will ever need to add – Create Session, End Session, Register Person, Unregister Person, Search and Cancel Search. Touch N Go supports fingerprint scanners of almost every make and model. It is a developer-friendly best fit identity solution for all applications that require a high level of security without compromising on convenience.

Conclusion

In this article, we see that Touch N Go addresses many of the issues of standard fingerprint SDKs and enables developers to customize their existing applications to incorporate fingerprint recognition without having to change their existing infrastructure.