ISO/IEC 19785-1:2020

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 19785-1
Third edition
2020-09
Information technology — Common
Biometric Exchange Formats
Framework —
Part 1:
Data element specification
Technologies de l'information — Cadre de formats d'échange
biométriques communs —
Partie 1: Spécification des éléments de données
Reference number
©
ISO/IEC 2020
© ISO/IEC 2020
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ii © ISO/IEC 2020 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword .vi
Introduction .vii
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 2
4 Abbreviated terms . 8
5 Conformance . 8
6 Biometric identifiers . 9
7 Biometric information record (BIR) structures . 9
7.1 General . 9
7.2 Defining a CBEFF patron format using the simple CBEFF BIR structure .11
7.2.1 General.11
7.2.2 Standard biometric header (SBH) .12
7.2.3 The biometric data block (BDB) .12
7.2.4 Security block (SB) .13
7.3 Defining a CBEFF patron format using the complex CBEFF BIR structure .13
7.4 Defining a CBEFF patron format using the multiple CBEFF BIR structure .15
7.5 Applying the self-identifying concept to a CBEFF patron format structure .16
8 Performing BIR transformations.16
8.1 General .16
8.2 Transformations of enumerated abstract values .16
8.3 Transformations of non-enumerated data element values .17
9 CBEFF data elements .17
9.1 General .17
9.2 CBEFF_BDB_format_owner .17
9.2.1 Attributes .17
9.2.2 Transformation requirements .18
9.3 CBEFF_BDB_format_type.18
9.3.1 General.18
9.3.2 Attributes .18
9.3.3 Transformation requirements .18
9.4 CBEFF_BDB_encryption_options .18
9.4.1 Attributes .18
9.4.2 Requirements on patron format specifications.19
9.4.3 Transformation requirements .19
9.5 CBEFF_BIR_integrity_options .19
9.5.1 Attributes .19
9.5.2 Requirements on patron format specifications.19
9.5.3 Transformation requirements .19
9.6 CBEFF_BIR_self_id_owner .20
9.6.1 Attributes .20
9.6.2 Transformation requirements .20
9.7 CBEFF_BIR_self_id_type .20
9.7.1 Attributes .20
9.7.2 Transformation requirements .20
9.8 CBEFF_subheader_count .20
9.9 CBEFF_BDB_biometric_type .21
9.9.1 Attributes .21
9.9.2 Transformation requirements .21
9.10 CBEFF_BDB_biometric_subtype .22
9.10.1 Attributes .22
© ISO/IEC 2020 – All rights reserved iii

9.10.2 Transformation requirements .24
9.11 CBEFF_BDB_capture_device_type_owner .24
9.11.1 Attributes .24
9.11.2 Transformation requirements .25
9.12 CBEFF_BDB_capture_device_type .25
9.12.1 General.25
9.12.2 Attributes .25
9.12.3 Transformation requirements .25
9.13 CBEFF_BDB_challenge_response .25
9.13.1 Attributes .25
9.14 CBEFF_BDB_comparison_algorithm_owner .26
9.14.1 Attributes .26
9.14.2 Transformation requirements .26
9.15 CBEFF_BDB_comparison_algorithm_type .26
9.15.1 Attributes .26
9.15.2 Transformation requirements .26
9.16 CBEFF_BDB_compression_algorithm_owner .27
9.16.1 Attributes .27
9.16.2 Transformation requirements .27
9.17 CBEFF_BDB_compression_algorithm_type .27
9.17.1 General.27
9.17.2 Attributes .27
9.17.3 Transformation requirements .27
9.18 CBEFF_BDB_creation_date .27
9.18.1 Attributes .27
9.18.2 Transformation requirements .28
9.19 CBEFF_BDB_feature_extraction_algorithm_owner .28
9.19.1 Attributes .28
9.19.2 Transformation requirements .28
9.20 CBEFF_BDB_feature_extraction_algorithm_type .29
9.20.1 General.29
9.20.2 Attributes .29
9.20.3 Transformation requirements .29
9.21 CBEFF_BDB_index .29
9.21.1 Attributes .29
9.21.2 Transformation requirements .29
9.22 CBEFF_BDB_PAD_mechanism_vendor .30
9.22.1 Attributes .30
9.22.2 Transformation requirements .30
9.23 CBEFF_BDB_PAD_mechanism .30
9.23.1 Attributes .30
9.23.2 Transformation requirements .30
9.24 CBEFF_BDB_processed_level .30
9.24.1 Attributes .30
9.24.2 Transformation requirements .31
9.25 CBEFF_BDB_product_owner .31
9.25.1 Attributes .31
9.25.2 Transformation requirements .31
9.26 CBEFF_BDB_product_type .31
9.26.1 Attributes .31
9.26.2 Transformation requirements .32
9.27 CBEFF_BDB_purpose .32
9.27.1 Attributes .32
9.27.2 Transformation requirements .32
9.28 CBEFF_BDB_quality .32
9.28.1 Attributes .32
9.28.2 Transformation requirements .33
9.29 CBEFF_BDB_quality_algorithm_owner .33
iv © ISO/IEC 2020 – All rights reserved

9.29.1 Attributes .33
9.29.2 Transformation requirements .33
9.30 CBEFF_BDB_quality_algorithm_type .33
9.30.1 General.33
9.30.2 Attributes .33
9.30.3 Transformation requirements .34
9.31 CBEFF_BDB_validity_period .34
9.31.1 Attributes .34
9.31.2 Transformation requirements .34
9.32 CBEFF_BIR_creation_date .34
9.32.1 Attributes .34
9.32.2 Transformation requirements .35
9.33 CBEFF_BIR_creator .35
9.33.1 Attributes .35
9.33.2 Transformation requirements .35
9.34 CBEFF_BIR_index .35
9.34.1 Attributes .35
9.34.2 Transformation requirements .35
9.35 CBEFF_BIR_patron_format_owner .36
9.35.1 Attributes .36
9.35.2 Transformation requirements .36
9.36 CBEFF_BIR_patron_format_type .36
9.36.1 Attributes .36
9.36.2 Transformation requirements .36
9.37 CBEFF_BIR_payload .36
9.37.1 Attributes .36
9.37.2 Transformation requirements .37
9.38 CBEFF_BIR_pointer .37
9.38.1 Attributes .37
9.38.2 Transformation requirements .37
9.39 CBEFF_BIR_validity_period .37
9.39.1 Attributes .37
9.39.2 Transformation requirements .37
9.40 CBEFF_patron_header_version .38
9.40.1 Attributes .38
9.40.2 Transformation requirements .38
9.41 CBEFF_SB_format_owner .38
9.41.1 Attributes .38
9.41.2 Transformation requirements .38
9.42 CBEFF_SB_format_type .39
9.42.1 Attributes .39
9.42.2 Transformation requirements .39
9.43 CBEFF_ version .39
9.43.1 Attributes .39
9.43.2 Transformation requirements .40
Annex A (normative) Format and content of a patron format conformance statement .41
Annex B (informative) Conventions for CBEFF names .43
Bibliography .44
© ISO/IEC 2020 – All rights reserved v

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that
are members of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through
technical committees established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of
technical activity. ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other
international organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also
take part in the work.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for
the different types of document should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www .iso .org/ directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject
of patent rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent
rights. Details of any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the
Introduction and/or on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www .iso .org/ patents) or the IEC
list of patent declarations received (see http:// patents .iec .ch).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and
expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the
World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see www .iso .org/
iso/ foreword .html.
This document was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 37, Biometrics.
This third edition cancels and replaces the second edition (ISO/IEC 19785-1:2015), which has been
technically revised.
The main changes compared to the previous edition are as follows:
— The self-identifying concept is now permitted to be applied to any of the CBEFF BIR patron formats
defined in this document.
— Clarification of presentation attack detection (PAD) terminology has been made.
— Revisions have been made to move a large portion of Clause 6 (Biometric Identifiers) to ISO/IEC 19785-2
since the biometric identifiers are used by the Biometric Registration Authority (BRA).
— Previous versions of this document were published by the US National Institute of Standards
and Technology (an agency of the government of the United States of America) and the Biometric
Consortium Working Group. The last official non-ISO/IEC release of this document was designated
Version 1.1, the first version of this document (ISO/IEC 19785-1:2006) was designated Version 2.0,
and the ISO/IEC 19785-1:2015 version was designated Version 3.0. This version of the document is
designated Version 4.0 to distinguish the versions of CBEFF products in the marketplace. Version 4.0
is backward compatible with Version 3.0, but the data element names related to PAD have changed.
A list of all parts in the ISO/IEC 19785 series can be found on the ISO website.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www .iso .org/ members .html.
vi © ISO/IEC 2020 – All rights reserved

Introduction
The Common Biometric Exchange Formats Framework (CBEFF) promotes interoperability of biometric-
based applications and systems by specifying standard structures for biometric information records
(BIRs) and a set of abstract data elements and values that can be used to create the header part of a
CBEFF-compliant BIR.
A BIR is a data structure containing biometric data and descriptive data elements in accordance with
the requirements specified in this document. BIRs are typically stored in a database or transmitted
between systems or parts of systems. A BIR always has at least two parts: a standard biometric header
(SBH) and at least one biometric data block (BDB) that contains the biometric data. It may also have a
third part called the security block (SB). CBEFF places no requirements on the content and encoding
of a BDB except that its length shall be an integral number of octets. As an example of a BDB format,
see the ISO/IEC 19794 series and ISO/IEC 39794 series of documents which specify standardized BDB
formats for several biometric types. BIRs are typically stored in a database or transmitted between
systems or parts of systems.
The primary purpose of CBEFF is to define abstract data elements (data elements with a set of defined
abstract values with their semantics) that are expected to be of general utility as parts of the SBH in
BIRs. This document defines these data elements.
CBEFF requires that a Biometric Registration Authority (BRA) exists to assign unique identifiers to
biometric organizations, BDB formats, SB formats and other CBEFF entities; to publish the identifiers
where appropriate; and to ensure that no conflicts occur between identifiers.
A CBEFF biometric organization is any organization, public or private, that requests and receives a
biometric organization identifier from the BRA. A CBEFF patron is an organization (registered as
a biometric organization) that specifies, or intends to specify, one or more CBEFF patron formats in
an open and public manner. Only public standards organizations such as a standards body, working
group, or industry consortium, can register as CBEFF patrons (other CBEFF biometric organizations
are not CBEFF patrons). A CBEFF patron obtains a biometric organization identifier from the Biometric
Registration Authority but has privileges beyond those of ordinary CBEFF biometric organizations: it
can define, register and publish one or more CBEFF patron formats.
A CBEFF patron format is a full specification of encodings for a particular domain of use and developed by
a CBEFF patron. A CBEFF patron format implements some or all of the abstract values of the CBEFF data
elements defined in this document (possibly with additional abstract values determined by the CBEFF
patron) and supports one or more BDBs containing biometric data. The biometric organization identifier
of a CBEFF patron can (but need not) be encoded in BIRs conforming to the patron formats defined by
that CBEFF patron. As new technologies evolve, the need for new encoding rules (or support of more or
different CBEFF data elements) may require new CBEFF patron formats for a given domain of use.
CBEFF also defines the concept of a CBEFF BDB format owner. A CBEFF BDB format owner is an
organization (registered as a CBEFF biometric organization) that specifies one or more BDB format
specifications. A BDB format owner obtains a CBEFF biometric organization identifier from the BRA. A
BDB format owner can be a public standards organization (that would also qualify as a CBEFF patron)
or any organization that has a need to define its own vendor-specific BDB formats, whether they are to
be published or not.
A CBEFF BDB format owner defines one or more BDB formats and assigns a unique BDB format identifier.
The combination of the BDB format identifier and the format owner’s biometric organization identifier
unambiguously identifies the BDB format. A BDB format identifier and the corresponding format may,
but need not, be registered with the BRA.
CBEFF also defines the concepts of a CBEFF biometric product owner, as well as owners or vendors
for the following specific product types: capture device, feature extraction algorithm, comparison
algorithm, quality algorithm, compression algorithm and presentation attack detection (PAD)
mechanism. A CBEFF biometric product owner is an organization (registered as a CBEFF biometric
organization) that assigns a biometric product identifier to a biometric product. A biometric product
© ISO/IEC 2020 – All rights reserved vii

owner can be a public standards organization such as a standards body, working group, or industry
consortium (such an organization would also qualify as a CBEFF patron), or any organization, such as
a vendor or integrator, that has a need to assign biometric product identifiers to biometric products.
A given organization can be the owner of one or more entities in one or more of these categories (also
including BDB formats and SB formats as additional categories), with no restrictions on the number of
entities owned by the organization or to which categories those entities may belong.
A CBEFF biometric product owner assigns biometric product identifiers to one or more biometric
products. The identified products can be hardware or software products or a combination of hardware
and software. Examples of biometric products are biometric service providers (BSPs) as defined by
ISO/IEC 19784-1, biometric transforming applications, and specific product types mentioned in the
previous paragraph. A biometric product identifier unambiguously identifies a biometric product
within those that have been assigned an identifier by the biometric product owner. A biometric
product identifier can, but need not, be registered with the BRA. Similarly, biometric product owners
of specialized biometric products (such as capture devices, feature extraction algorithms, comparison
algorithms, quality algorithms, compression algorithms, or PAD mechanisms) assign identifiers
(such as capture device type identifiers, feature extraction algorithm identifiers, etc.) to one or more
specialized biometric products. Such biometric product owners may be more specifically referred to by
using the name of the specialized biometric product (for example capture device owners and feature
extraction algorithm owners).
CBEFF also defines the concept of a CBEFF security block format owner. A CBEFF SB format owner is
an organization registered as a CBEFF biometric organization that assigns a SB format identifier to a
SB format. A CBEFF SB format owner can be a public standards organization such as a standards body,
working group, or industry consortium (such an organization would also qualify as a CBEFF patron), or
any organization, such as a vendor or integrator, that has a need to assign SB format identifiers to SB
formats. A SB format owner can also, but need not, be a BDB format owner and vice versa.
A CBEFF SB format owner assigns SB format identifiers to one or more SB formats. A SB format
identifier unambiguously identifies a SB format within those that have been assigned an identifier by
the biometric SB format owner. A SB format identifier may, but need not, be registered with the BRA.
This document specifies a simple CBEFF BIR structure, a complex CBEFF BIR structure, and a multiple
CBEFF BIR structure (which allows BIR formats with one or more sub-BIRs) and gives the requirements
for the specification of a CBEFF patron format based on these abstract data structures.
This document also specifies a self-identifying concept that can be applied to all CBEFF BIR structures
so that the patron format can be identified during processing of the SBH without prior knowledge of the
patron format type.
This document also specifies transformations of BIRs from one CBEFF patron format into a different
CBEFF patron format.
Clause 5 specifies the conformance requirements for CBEFF patrons that define CBEFF patron formats.
It also specifies the conformance requirements for biometric transforming applications and for
implementations claiming conformance to a specific patron format.
Clause 9 specifies the CBEFF-defined abstract data elements and the transformation requirements for
each data element. CBEFF permits CBEFF patrons to specify additional abstract data elements.
Annex A is normative. It defines a patron format conformance statement for patrons to complete and
publish as part of their patron format specifications as assurance that the format fully complies with
CBEFF requirements.
Annex B is informative. It explains the naming conventions used for data elements and abstract values
specified in this document and in ISO/IEC 19785-3.
ISO/IEC 19785-2 describes the universal identification scheme used by the BRA (which is identified
on the webpage https:// www .iso .org/ maintenance _agencies .html). Procedural information for the
BRA is included on the ISO website (https:// committee .iso .org/ files/ live/ sites/ jtc1sc37/ files/ ABOUT/
Procedural _Information _BRA .pdf). ISO/IEC 19785-3 specifies several patron formats for which ISO/
viii © ISO/IEC 2020 – All rights reserved

IEC JTC 1/SC 37 is the CBEFF patron. ISO/IEC 19785-4 specifies several SB formats for which ISO/
IEC JTC 1/SC 37 is the CBEFF patron.
© ISO/IEC 2020 – All rights reserved ix

INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/IEC 19785-1:2020(E)
Information technology — Common Biometric Exchange
Formats Framework —
Part 1:
Data element specification
1 Scope
This document defines:
— structures and data elements for biometric information records (BIRs);
— the concept of a domain of use to establish the applicability of a standard or specification that
conforms with CBEFF requirements;
— the concept of a CBEFF patron format, which is a published BIR format specification that complies
with CBEFF requirements, specified by a CBEFF patron;
— the abstract values and associated semantics of a set of CBEFF data elements to be used in the
definition of CBEFF patron formats;
This document describes methods to define CBEFF patron formats using CBEFF data elements to
specify the structure of BIRs, including the standard biometric headers (SBHs).
This document also provides the means for identification of BDB formats in a BIR, but the standardization
and interoperability of BDB formats is not within the scope of this document. This document provides
a security block (SB) as a means for BIRs to carry information about the encryption of a BDB in the
BIR and about integrity mechanisms applied to the BIR itself. The structure and content of SBs is not
within the scope of this document. Further, the specification of encryption mechanisms for BDBs and of
integrity mechanisms for BIRs is not within the scope of this document.
This document specifies transformations from one CBEFF patron format to a different CBEFF
patron format.
The following are not within the scope of this document:
— the encoding of the abstract values of CBEFF data elements to be used in the specification of CBEFF
patron formats; and
— protection of the privacy of individuals from inappropriate dissemination and use of biometric data.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this docum
...