Color image processing method for indexing an image using a lattice structure

• US 7,212,667 B1
• Filed: 05/01/2000
• Issued: 05/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Univeristy of Calif.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Univeristy of Calif.
• Inventors: Choi, Yang-lim, Shin, Hyun-doo, Manjunath, Bangalore S., Deng, Yining
• Primary Examiner(s): SHERALI, ISHRAT I
• Application Number:
  US09/562,077
• Time in Patent Office: 2,556 Days
• Field of Search: 382162-167, 382/305, 382/190, 382/173, 707 1-1041, 715/700, 715/723
• US Class Current: 382/165
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5838 using colour
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/644 using a reduced set of representative colours, e.g. each representing a particular range in a colour space
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence

Abstract

A color image processing method is provided. The color image processing method includes the step of: (a) indexing a color image by assigning representative colors of an image to a color space divided into a plurality of regions. The color image processing method may be applied to object-based image processing such as MPEG-7, and fast search and retrieval of multimedia content can be made.

Claims

1. A color image processing method for indexing an image, comprising:

(a) indexing a color image by assigning representative colors of an image to a color space divided into a plurality of regions, wherein the image is one region selected from divided regions;

obtaining the representative colors of the image and their ratio; and

storing a region identifier expressing the representative colors, their ratio, and serial numbers of an image and a region in a database as data.

2. The color image processing method according to claim 1, wherein the ratio is a percentage.

3. The color image processing method according to one of claims 1 and 2, wherein the color space is a three-dimensional color space.

4. The color image processing method according to claim 1, wherein the color space is a three-dimensional color space.

5. A color image processing method for indexing an image, comprising the steps of:

(a-1) obtaining a feature vector F expressed as an i-th representative color c_i and as its ratio p_i where N is a number of representative colors in the divided regions of an image, and i is an integer between 1 and N;

F={{c_i,p_i},i=1, . . . , N};

(a-2) indexing the image by assigning the representative colors to lattice points of a 3-D color space divided into a plurality of regions; and

(a-3) storing indexed results in a database having the form of a separate table.

6. The color image processing method according to claim 5, wherein the ratio is a percentage.

7. The color image processing method according to claim 5 or claim 6, wherein the indexed results include a region identifier expressing the representative colors, their ratio, and serial numbers of an image and a region.

8. The color image processing method according to claim 5 or claim 6, wherein the image is one region selected from divided regions.

9. The color image processing method according to claim 7, wherein the image is one region selected from divided regions.

10. The color image processing method according to claim 5 or claim 6, wherein the color space is a three-dimensional color space.

11. The color image processing method according to claim 7, wherein the color space is a three-dimensional color space.

12. The color image processing method according to claim 8, wherein the color space is a three-dimensional color space.

13. The color image processing method according to claim 9, wherein the color space is a three-dimensional color space.

14. A computer readable medium for storing a program performing a color image processing method for indexing an image, said medium including computer readable program code means for:

(a-1) obtaining a feature vector F expressed as an i-th representative color c_i and as its percentage p_i when N is a number of representative colors in the divided regions of an image, and i is an integer between 1 and N;

F={{c_i,p_i},i=1, . . . , N};

(a-2) indexing the image by assigning the representative colors to lattice points of a 3-D color space divided into a plurality of regions; and

(a-3) storing indexed results in a database having the form of a separate table.

15. The computer readable medium according to claim 14, wherein the indexed results include a region identifier expressing the representative colors, their ratio, and serial numbers of an image and a region.