Image query system and method
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsRonald Jason Barber, Bradley James Beitel, William Robinson Equitz, Myron Dale Flickner, Carlton Wayne Niblack, Dragutin Petkovic, Thomas Randolph Work, Peter Cornelius Yanker
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Abstract
Images in an image database are searched in response to queries which include the visual characteristics of the images such as colors, textures, shapes, and sizes, as well as by textual tags appended to the images. Queries are constructed in an image query construction area in response to values of representations of the visual characteristics and to locations of the representations in the image query construction area.
Claims31
A computer-executed method for visually specifying an image database query using a computer display device and a user interface that provides output on the computer display device, comprising:
- displaying an attribute window that contains a control for setting an attribute of an image characteristic;
- displaying an image query window;
- and
- receiving in the image query window a specification of an image database query that includes one or more depictive representations of image characteristics, each depictive representation representing an image characteristic having at least one attribute.
A method for computer execution of a query for images in an image database using a computer display device, a user interface, and a query engine, comprising:
- receiving an attribute value for one or more image characteristics;
- displaying an image query window;
- receiving in the image query window a specification of a query for images, the specification including one or more depictive representations of image characteristics, each depictive representation having a position in the image query window and representing a respective image characteristic at the position;
- executing the query by:
- determining whether an image in an image database contains an image characteristic of a type represented by, and near a location of, each of the one or more depictive representations;
- and
- determining similarity between the image and the query according to the attribute value for each image characteristic represented by a depictive representation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.