CBEFF describes a set of data elements necessary to support biometric technologies in a common way. CBEFF facilitates biometric data interchange between different system components or between systems, promotes interoperability of biometric-based application programs and systems, provides forward compatibility for technology improvements, and simplifies the software and hardware integration process.

For more technical information on CBEFF please visit http://www.nist.gov/cbeff.

CBEFF is described in detail in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) publication: "Common Biometric Exchange File Format (CBEFF)", January 3, 2001, NISTIR 6529 developed by the CBEFF Technical Development Team (F. L. Podio, NIST, J. S. Dunn, NSA, L. Reinert, NSA, C. J. Tilton, SAFLINK, L. O'Gorman, Veridicom, M. P. Collier, The Biometric Foundation, M. Jerde, ANADAC, and B. Wirtz, Infineon).

A copy of NISTIR 6529 can be downloaded from http://www.nist.gov/cbeff.

Both BioAPI (www.bioapi.org) and ANSI X9.84 (draft) have defined biometric data structures that are CBEFF compliant. These are referred to as CBEFF Patron Formats (a detailed description can be found in NISTIR 6529). Additionally, the the CDSA HRS specification ( http://www.opengroup.org/pubs/catalog/c013.htm ) uses the same data structure as BioAPI and thus requires format owner registration.

The data described by CBEFF includes: (1) Security (Digital Signatures and Data Encryption); (2) Processing information (such as identification of Biometric Type and information about the Biometric Sample); and (3) Biometric data.

IBIA is the Registration Authority for CBEFF Format Owner and Format Type values for Organizations and Vendors that require them. Registration of format owner is required to populate the "format owner" field of the CBEFF Header. Registration of any Format Type is optional but highly recommended. Both values need to be included in the CBEFF header.

A CBEFF Format Owner represents an entity (an individual, vendor, or organization) that defines one or more CBEFF biometric data formats. To become a recognized format owner (as described in CBEFF) and have a UNIQUE Format Owner value assigned, it is required that the format owner register with IBIA.

A CBEFF Format Type represents a specific CBEFF biometric data format as defined by the Format Owner. This may be a proprietary, unpublished data format or a data format that has been standardized by an industry group, consortia, or standards body. The registration of the Format Type value is optional.

It is the combined CBEFF Format Owner/Format Type value that uniquely identifies the format of a CBEFF-compliant biometric data structure (CBEFF Biometric Specific Memory Block (see CBEFF "Data Elements" in the CBEFF web site).

The CBEFF Format Owner is a 2-byte unsigned integer value. The CBEFF Format Type is another 2-byte unsigned integer value. Each of these can be represented (for ease of communication) as 4 hexadecimal characters, such as "023F". The Format Owner value is uniquely assigned by the IBIA as part of the registration process. The Format Type value is uniquely assigned by the registered format owner and can be optionally registered and published by the IBIA. The format owner is free to disclose as much or as little about their specific format types as they wish, anywhere from full secrecy regarding their existence to full publication of the details of the data format itself.

The CBEFF Patron Format B (the BioAPI Specification Biometric Identification Record Format) is intended for applications that are BioAPI compliant. (The BioAPI specification can be downloaded from the BioAPI web site.)

To be BioAPI compliant, a Biometric Service Provider (BSP) technology module MUST have a registered CBEFF Format Owner value. The Biometric Identification Record (BIR) returned by the technology as a result of BioAPI function calls MUST include in its header the appropriate, UNIQUE CBEFF Format Owner/Type values describing the format of the biometric data contained within the opaque biometric data portion of the BIR.

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