VISUALIZATION OF RELEVANCE FOR CONTENT-BASED IMAGE RETRIEVAL

• US 20120158717A1
• Filed: 08/30/2010
• Published: 06/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Unay, Devrim, Ekin, Ahmet
• Granted Patent: US 9,495,388 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/728
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/50 of still image data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/532 Query formulation, e.g. graphical querying
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS

Abstract

The invention relates to a system (100) for retrieving an image from the storage of images, the system comprising: a retrieval unit (110) for retrieving an image from the storage of images, on the basis of similarity of images from the storage of images o a query image, wherein the similarity is defined by means of a similarity function; a relevance unit (120) for computing images t relevance of a first portion of the retrieved image to a respective first portion of the query image and of a second portion of the retrieved image to a respective second portion of the query image; and a visualization unit (130) for visualizing the relevance of the first and second portion of the retrieved image to the respective first and second portion of the query image. The relevance of the first and second portion of the retrieved image to the respective first and second portion of the query image may be computed using a first and second relevance function. The computed values of the relevance may be visualized, e.g. using a color coding and coloring the first and second portion of each retrieved image. The colored portions are easy to see and analyze. Thus, the system of the invention facilitates visualizing and comparing retrieved images with respect to each other as well as with the query image.

Claims

1. A system (100) for retrieving an image from the storage of images, the system comprising:

a retrieval unit (110) for retrieving an image from the storage of images, on the basis of similarity of images from the storage of images to a query image, wherein the similarity is defined by means of a similarity function;

a relevance unit (120) for computing relevance of a first portion of the retrieved image to a respective first portion of the query image and of a second portion of the retrieved image to a respective second portion of the query image; and

a visualization unit (130) for visualizing the relevance of the first and second portion of the retrieved image to the respective first and second portion of the query image.

2. A system (100) as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a portion unit (105) for determining the first and/or second portion of the query image.

3. A system (100) as claimed in claim 2, wherein the portion unit (105) is adapted for segmenting the query image, and wherein the first and/or second portion of the query image is determined on the basis of said segmentation of the query image.

4. A system (100) as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a rank unit (125) for determining the rank of the retrieved image, wherein the rank is determined based on the similarity of the retrieved image to the query image and/or on the relevance of the first and second portion of the retrieved image to the respective first and second portion of the query image.

5. A system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the retrieval unit (110) is adapted for registering images from the storage of images with the query image.

6. A system (100) as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an update unit (140) for updating the similarity function on the basis of the computed values of relevance of the first and second portion of the retrieved image.

7. A system (100) as claimed in claim 6, further comprising a feedback unit (150) for receiving user feedback on the relevance of the first and second portion of the retrieved image to the respective first and second portion of the query image, and wherein the update unit (140) is adapted to use the user feedback for updating the similarity function.

8. A system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the relevance of the first and second portion of the retrieved image to the respective first and second portion of the query image is computed using the similarity function.

9. A system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the visualization unit (130) is adapted for indicating the computed relevance of a first portion of the retrieved image to a respective first portion of the query image and of a second portion of the retrieved image to a respective second portion of the query image using color coding, and wherein the user can select the color and/or transparency of the coding.

10. A database system (400) comprising a system (100) as claimed in claim 1.

11. An image acquisition apparatus (500) comprising a system (100) as claimed in claim 1.

12. A workstation (600) comprising a system (100) as claimed in claim 1.

14. A computer program product to be loaded by a computer arrangement, comprising instructions for retrieving an image from the storage of images, the computer arrangement comprising a processing unit and a memory, the computer program product, after being loaded, providing said processing unit with the capability to carry out steps of a method as claimed in claim 11.

13. A method (M) of retrieving an image from the storage of images, the method comprising:

a retrieval step (S10) for retrieving an image from the storage of images, on the basis of similarity of images from the storage of images to a query image, wherein the similarity is defined by means of a similarity function;

a relevance step (S20) for computing relevance of a first portion of the retrieved image to a respective first portion of the query image and of a second portion of the retrieved image to a respective second portion of the query image; and

a visualization step (S30) for visualizing the relevance of the first and second portion of the retrieved image to the respective first and second portion of the query image.