Method of storing and retrieving images of people, for example, in photographic archives and for the construction of identikit images

摘要

In a method of storing and retrieving images of people, for example, in photographic archives and for the construction of identikit images, each characteristic (or feature) of the images to be stored is associated with a region the size of which corresponds to the average size of the feature in the images stored. If {F.sub.i }.sub.i=1 . . . , N is a set of images of the feature, where F.sub.i is the image associated with each of the N people in the data base, on the basis of these images, a new set of images {&PHgr;.sub.j }.sub.j=0, 1, . . . N of the type ##EQU1## is generated, of which a subset {&PHgr;}.sub.i=0 . . . K can be used to approximate, encode, compare and construct images of the type in question in an interactive manner. The method is particularly applicable to techniques for searching photographic archives and for the construction of identikit images.