A methodology of highly interactive intra-object relevance feedback is used to retrieve multimedia data from a database. The query object could consist of one or more images, images derived from video, a video sequence, or an audio clip. The query is adjusted using the informa¬tion fed-back by the user about the relevance of previously extracted part(s) from the object itself, such that the adjusted query is a better approximation to the user's perception. Since a single query object is utilized in the system according to the invention, high-performance learning techniques can be employed for this intra-object learning of user's perception. The refined query is subsequently used for inter-object relevance feedback where data is retrieved from the database based on parameters learnt by intra-query object feedback mechanism, and the user provides feedback by ranking the retrieved objects in order of their relevance to him or her. In the system according to the invention, inter-object learning of user's perception is expedited by utilizing the learnt parameters in the intra-object relevance feedback. Furthermore, the methodology of the invention allows for building refined queries based on part(s) or sub-sequence(s)of the query object rather than the entire object itself, thereby reducing the number of irrelevant objects, retrieved from the database. The methodology allows synthesis and modification of the input query object itself in the event a query object is not directly available, and also to learn the user's perception.
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