1. A pattern matching method for performing a comparison of a first pattern with a second pattern, said method comprising the steps of: obtaining a first set of points in the first pattern and a second set of points in the second pattern; creating a set of distance measurements of line segments formed between at least some of possible pairs of points in the first set and at least some of possible pairs of points in the second set; partitioning the distance measurement set into subsets of approximately equal distance elements where each subset contains at least one element derived from each pattern; determining possible line segment matches from each of said subsets; and utilizing said possible line segment matches to determine a result of said comparison.