Method for fuzzy logic rule based multimedia information retrival with text and perceptual features
First Claim
1. A method for searching a database comprising:
- inputting a search string that comprises a plurality of search string arguments connected by one or more operators wherein each search string argument specifies a search criteria;
computing a distance measure between a quantitative characterizations corresponding to each of one or more of the search criteria, and quantitative characterizations of each of a plurality of records;
selecting records for inclusion in answer sets for each mth search criteria among the one or more search criteria based, at least in part, on a plurality of distance measures each involving a quantitative characterization corresponding to the mth search criteria, and a quantitative characterization corresponding to one of the plurality of records;
for each kth operator of the search string performing an operation specified by the kth operator on answer sets that are arguments of the kth operator to form a kth answer set for the kth operator;
for each nth record in the kth answer set for each kth operator, assigning a retrieval relevance value to the nth record in the kth answer set, wherein the retrieval relevance value is a mathematical function of one or more quantitative characterizations associated with the nth record in answer sets that are arguments of the kth operator.
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Abstract
A search system (200) for a database (224) including records having a multiple disparate types of media is provided. The search system supports queries, that include different types of search criteria, including content based retrieval search criteria. A fuzzy logic method (400) is provided for effectively combining the results of different types of search criteria. The fuzzy logic method also allows confidence levels entered by the user for search criteria to be considered in combining results. Retrieval relevance values for documents for at least some search criteria are used in the fuzzy logic method. For content based image retrieval searches, the retrieval relevance values are computed by mapping a distance between quantitative characterizations of a search basis image, and other images into a finite range.
35 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method for searching a database comprising:
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inputting a search string that comprises a plurality of search string arguments connected by one or more operators wherein each search string argument specifies a search criteria;
computing a distance measure between a quantitative characterizations corresponding to each of one or more of the search criteria, and quantitative characterizations of each of a plurality of records;
selecting records for inclusion in answer sets for each mth search criteria among the one or more search criteria based, at least in part, on a plurality of distance measures each involving a quantitative characterization corresponding to the mth search criteria, and a quantitative characterization corresponding to one of the plurality of records;
for each kth operator of the search string performing an operation specified by the kth operator on answer sets that are arguments of the kth operator to form a kth answer set for the kth operator;
for each nth record in the kth answer set for each kth operator, assigning a retrieval relevance value to the nth record in the kth answer set, wherein the retrieval relevance value is a mathematical function of one or more quantitative characterizations associated with the nth record in answer sets that are arguments of the kth operator. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of searching a database comprising:
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presenting a plurality of records to a user;
reading in user input as to the relevance of each of at least a subset of the plurality of records;
computing a plurality of feature vectors including one feature vector for each of the subset of the plurality of records;
taking a weighted sum of the plurality of feature vectors using a plurality of weights wherein a weight for each kth feature vector for a kth record is based on user input as to the relevance of the kth record; and
searching the database using the weighted sum as a search criteria. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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17. A method for searching a database of multimedia documents the method comprising:
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(a) inputting a search string that comprises a plurality of search string arguments comprising one or more key words, and one or more perceptual feature search specifications, wherein the plurality of search string arguments are connected by one or more search operators, and wherein at least one of the plurality of search string arguments is associated with a user specified confidence level;
(b) searching the database of multimedia documents using each of the search string arguments to obtain an answer set of multimedia documents for each of the search string arguments;
(c) for each answer set corresponding to a search string argument associated with a user specified confidence level, assigning multimedia documents in the answer set a retrieval relevance value dependent on the confidence level;
(d) for each particular search operator performing an operation specified by the particular search operator on answer sets that are arguments of the particular search operator to form a answer set for the particular operator;
(e) for each multimedia document in the answer set for a particular operator, assigning a retrieval relevance to each multimedia document in the answer set for the particular operator that is derived from one or more retrieval relevance values associated with the multimedia document in answer sets that are arguments of the particular search operator; and
repeating steps (d)-(e) until the search string is evaluated.
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18. A method for searching a database comprising:
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inputting a search string that comprises a plurality of search string arguments connected by one or more search operators, and wherein at least one of the plurality of search string arguments is associated with a user specified confidence level;
searching the database using each particular search string argument to obtain an answer set of records for the particular search string argument;
for each answer set corresponding to a search string argument that is associated with a user specified confidence level, assigning records in the answer set a retrieval relevance value that is dependent on the confidence level;
for each kth particular search operator performing an operation specified by the kth particular search operator on answer sets associated with arguments of the kth particular search operator to form an answer set for the kth particular operator; and
for each nth record in the answer set for each kth particular operator, assigning a retrieval relevance value to the nth record in the answer set that is derived from one or more retrieval relevance values associated with the record in answer sets associated with arguments of the particular search operator.
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19. A computer readable medium including programming instructions for searching a database including programming instructions for:
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inputting a search string that comprises a plurality of search string arguments connected by one or more operators wherein each search string argument specifies a search criteria;
computing a distance measure between a quantitative characterizations corresponding to each of one or more of the search criteria, and quantitative characterizations of each of a plurality of records;
selecting records for inclusion in answer sets for each mth search criteria among the one or more search criteria based, at least in part, on a plurality of distance measures each involving a quantitative characterization corresponding to the mth search criteria, and a quantitative characterization corresponding to one of the plurality of records;
for each kth operator of the search string performing an operation specified by the kth operator on answer sets that are arguments of the kth operator to form a kth answer set for the kth operator; and
for each nth record in the kth answer set for each kth operator, assigning a retrieval relevance value to the nth record in the kth answer set, wherein the retrieval relevance value is a mathematical function of one or more quantitative characterizations associated with the nth record in answer sets that are arguments of the kth operator. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification