Method and apparatus for indexing and retrieving images from an image database based on a color query
First Claim
1. A method for retrieving images from an image database with a pre-computed index keyed according to color surface labels comprising the steps:
- receiving a semantic query representing at least one color surface label;
finding an index entry within said index matching said semantic query;
identifying, from said index entry, at least one image containing regions corresponding to said at least one color surface label, and retrieving each of said at least one identified images.
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Abstract
Images in an image database are indexed according to semantic labels from a surface color code book in order to allow querying and retrieving of images based on color content. Regions of unsegmented images in a database are localized and described with semantic labels from a surface color code book. A database index is then built using this image region information and corresponding labels. This pre-generated color-region index allows querying by semantic labels in order to locate and retrieve similar images from a database. Querying for similar images by presenting a target image is also possible using the described color-region index. In this second type of query mode a target image is analyzed to determine semantic labels of color surfaces present in that image and these labels, in turn, are used to locate similar entries in the color-region index.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method for retrieving images from an image database with a pre-computed index keyed according to color surface labels comprising the steps:
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receiving a semantic query representing at least one color surface label;
finding an index entry within said index matching said semantic query;
identifying, from said index entry, at least one image containing regions corresponding to said at least one color surface label, and retrieving each of said at least one identified images. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A method for retrieving images from an image database with a pre-computed index keyed according to color surface labels comprising the steps:
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receiving a image query;
detecting at least one region within said image query corresponding to a color surface entry in a color code book;
for each of said at least one detected region, extracting a color surface label from said corresponding color surface entry in a color code book;
forming a semantic query from at least one of said extracted color surface labels;
finding an index entry, within said index, matching said semantic query;
identifying, from said index entry, at least one image containing regions corresponding to said at least one extracted color surface labels, and retrieving each of said at least one identified images. - View Dependent Claims (4)
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5. A system for retrieving images from an image database which comprises:
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a semantic query;
a plurality of images, each image comprised of at least one associated region;
an index comprising a plurality of entries, wherein each of said plurality of entries comprises a color surface label and at least one possible identifier of said images'"'"'associated regions which match said color surface label;
a set of said index entries which have a corresponding color surface label that matches said semantic query;
a set of said identifiers extracted from said set of index entries;
a set of images corresponding to associated regions identified by said set of identifiers, and wherein an image database retrieves said set of images in response to said semantic query. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7)
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8. A system for retrieving images from an image database which comprises:
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an image query, said image query comprising at least one query region;
an image analyzer which recognizes, for each of said at least one query regions, a representative semantic label;
a semantic query set comprising at least one of said representative semantic labels;
a plurality of images, each image comprised of at least one associated region;
an index comprising a plurality of entries, wherein each of said plurality of entries comprises a color surface label and at least one possible identifier of said images'"'"'associated regions which match said color surface label;
a set of said index entries which have a corresponding color surface label that matches at least one member of said semantic query set;
a set of said identifiers extracted from said set of index entries;
a set of images corresponding to associated regions identified by said set of identifiers, and wherein an image database retrieves said set of images in response to said image query. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
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11. An article of manufacture comprising a computer medium having a computer readable program code embedded therein which implements a retrieving of images from an image database with a pre-computed index keyed according to color surface labels comprising:
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receiving a semantic query representing a color surface label;
finding an index entry within said index matching said semantic query;
identifying, from said index entry, at least one image containing regions corresponding to said color surface label, and retrieving each of said at least one identified images. - View Dependent Claims (12, 14)
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13. An article of manufacture comprising a computer medium having a computer readable program code embedded therein which implements a retrieving of images from an image database with a pre-computed index keyed according to color surface labels comprising:
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receiving a image query;
detecting at least one region within said image query corresponding to a color surface entry in a color code book;
for each of said at least one detected region, extracting a color surface label from said corresponding color surface entry in a color code book;
forming a semantic query from at least one of said extracted color surface labels;
finding an index entry, within said index, matching said semantic query;
identifying, from said index entry, at least one image containing regions corresponding to said at least one extracted color surface labels, and retrieving each of said at least one identified images.
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Specification