How fingerprints found at the crime scene can be matched to the fingerprints of a suspect?

Over the years, standardization of types and characteristics have been developed. These are cataloged and used as hyper-data in the databases. By taking a new set, applying the catalog criteria to the new prints, they can be run against the existing prints on file. The computer will match the various points and kick out either the exact match, or a handful of possible matches. The examiner then has to match them up to determine if it is a valid match.