System and method for automatic linguistic indexing of images by a statistical modeling approach

A method of automatic linguistic indexing of images using a computer system, said method comprising the steps of:

• generating a training image database having a plurality of training images wherein the plurality of training images represent at least one semantic category;
• assigning a textual description to the at least one semantic category in the training database;
• extracting a plurality of feature vectors from the training images using a statistical modeling process;
• generating statistical models using the extracted feature vectors, wherein the statistical models are associated with portions of the textual description assigned to the at least one category and including a plurality of paths, each of the plurality of paths representing a variation of the training images;
• storing the statistical models;
• and
• using the stored models to index and assign a textual description to an image by statistically comparing the models with a plurality of features extracted from the image to be indexed to determine the statistical similarity between the image and each model.

A computer system for use in automatic linguistic indexing of images, said system comprising:

• a computer operative to receive an image to be indexed and assigned a textual description;
• a plurality of different semantic categories disposed on said computer;
• a statistical modeling algorithm operative to construct a statistical model representative of each one of said plurality of different semantic categories;
• a database in communication with said computer for storing said plurality of different semantic categories and said statistical models, each of said different semantic categories and said statistical models having a predetermined textual description associated therewith;
• a feature extraction algorithm operative to extract a plurality of feature vectors from the image to be indexed;
• a feature comparison algorithm operative to statistically compare said plurality of feature vectors extracted from the image with each of said statistical models to determine statistical similarity between the image and each of said statistical models;
• and
• a text assigning algorithm operative to extract a set of statistically significant index terms from said predetermined textual descriptions associated with said statistical models wherein said set of index terms provide the textual description for the image to be indexed.