The first step of the fingerprint enhancement algorithm is image segmentation.
Segmentation is the process of separating the foreground regions in the image
from the background regions. The foreground regions correspond to the clear
fingerprint area containing the ridges and valleys, which is the area of interest.
The background corresponds to the regions outside the borders of the fingerprint
area, which do not contain any valid fingerprint information. When minutiae
extraction algorithms are applied to the background regions of an image, it results
in the extraction of noisy and false minutiae. Thus, segmentation is employed
to discard these background regions, which facilitates the reliable extraction of
minutiae.