BS ISO/IEC 24708 is the international standard that specifies an enhancement of the BioAPI (Biometric Application Programming Interface) Framework (specified in BS ISO/IEC 19784-1) that essentially maps all API calls into network messages to provide a distributed BioAPI system. The long-term aim is to allow multiple biometrics applications on multiple systems on the Internet to interwork with multiple other systems that support biometrics devices.
The BioAPI Framework is a key part of the international Standards for Biometrics that support systems that perform biometric enrollment and verification (or identification). It defines interfaces between modules that enable software from multiple vendors to be integrated together to provide a biometrics application within a system, or between one or more systems using a defined Biometric Interworking Protocol (BIP). The purpose is to define an architecture and all necessary interfaces to allow biometric applications to be integrated from modules provided by different vendors.
It is essential for system integrators to produce complete systems using components from multiple vendors and the BioAPI Framework and supporting standards provide a vehicle for achieving success. The modules being integrated may be software components containing capture devices or provide archiving and retrieval of biometric records to support matching or searching for a match.
BS ISO/IEC 24708, the BioAPI interworking protocol (BIP), specifies the syntax, semantics, and encodings of a set of messages ("BIP messages") that enable a BioAPI-conforming application to request biometric operations in BioAPI-conforming biometric service providers (BSPs) across node or process boundaries and to be notified of events originating in those remote BSPs. It also specifies extensions to the architecture and behavior of the BioAPI framework (specified in BS ISO/IEC 19784-1) that support the creation, processing, sending, and reception of BIP messages.
This standard specifies the use of any of several commonly available transport protocols for the transfer of BIP messages between a pair of software entities ("BIP endpoints").
A scenario where BS ISO/IEC 24708 would be applicable is when a national government decides to establish a system of biometric enrolment and authentication that will involve a central database of all enrolled persons in the country, with access to that database from biometric devices in healthcare, social services, immigration, and security services. This is one of several applications where the BIP would be of use.
The BIP protocol is designed so that a conforming implementation does not have to support the whole functionality of a BioAPI framework. Several conformance classes are defined in BS ISO/IEC 24708 to accommodate various degrees of support of such functionality. This makes it possible to create lightweight implementations of BS ISO/IEC 24708 in which support of BioAPI-conforming applications or BioAPI conforming BSPs is either not possible or not required.
Contents of BS ISO/IEC 24708 include:
- Scope
- Normative references
- Identical Recommendations | International Standards
- Paired Recommendations | International Standards equivalent in technical content
- Additional references
- Conformance
- Abbreviations
- Conventions
- BIP architecture
- BIP-enabled frameworks
- BIP messages
- BIP endpoints
- BIP links
- Transport protocol bindings
- Creation and destruction of BIP links
- Remote GUI event notifications
- Examples of possible system configurations
- BIR format
- Identification of BIP endpoints, applications, and BSPs
- Overview of BIP exchanges
- Security and privacy provisions
- Application invocation of functions on a remote BSP
- Application invocation of functions with no associated BIP message
- Event notifications
- General provisions
- BIP message syntax
- BioAPI and BIP types
- Integers
- Character strings
- Uniform resource identifiers designating BIP endpoints
- Functions defined in BioAPI and corresponding BIP messages
- Callback functions defined in BioAPI and corresponding BIP messages
- Conceptual tables
- Converting between a C pointer variable and a corresponding ASN.1 component
- Initializing and checking a C pointer variable having no corresponding ASN.1 component
- Determining a hosting endpoint and a BSP product UUID from a BSP UUID
- Determining a hosting endpoint and an original BSP handle from a local BSP handle
- Converting BSP UUIDs
- Converting BSP handles
- Processing an incoming function call by exchanging a request/response BIP message paiwith a slave endpoint
- Processing an incoming request BIP message via an internal BioAPI function call
- Notifying a unit event to zero or more subscribers
- Notifying a GUI select event to a subscriber
- Notifying a GUI state event to a subscriber
- Notifying a GUI progress event to a subscriber
- Handling unconvertible C values
- Specification of the TCP/IP binding
- Specification of discovery and announcement in TCP/IP binding
- Specification of the SOAP/HTTP binding
- Clarification of minimal requirements for simple systems
- Possible scenarios involving the use of the BioAPI interworking protocol
- Access to a central national database for security and health administration
- Registration of individuals at a point of entry, or a local registration center
- Theme-park access
- Bibliography
