FAST IMAGE RETRIEVAL USING MULTI-SCALE EDGE REPRESENTATION OF IMAGES

摘要

An image retrieval system for retrieving images from a data base in dependence upon the degree of correspondence with a user-input target image. The target image and each image in the data base are characterized by a vector of edge characteristics within each image. Retrieval is effected by a comparison of the characteristic vectors, rather than a comparison of the images themselves. To optimize performance, a set of characteristic vectors, at different levels of abstraction of the image, are associated with each data base image; images which are similar to the target image, at any level of abstraction, are retrieved. To further optimize the speed of search, the data base is partitioned into clusters, and the search is limited to the cluster most similar to the target image.