System and method for measuring image similarity based on semantic meaning

An Internet searching tool, comprising:

• an Internet searching robot comprising at least one autonomous searcher that locates images and returns at least one of image location data or image-related document location data, said searcher executing in a client computer;
• a processor responsive to said returned at least one of image location data or image-related document location data for accessing a located image, for segmenting the located image and for extracting at least one feature from the located image for obtaining a set of image metadata;
• storage for storing the set of image metadata;
• and
• a user interface for entering a user query for use in searching the storage and for returning an image having image metadata that is relevant to the user query, said processor further for classifying images by deriving a plurality of semantic categories for representing important semantic cues in images, where each semantic category is modeled through a combination of perceptual features that define the semantics of that category and that discriminate that category from other categories;
• said processor, for each semantic category, for forming a set of the perceptual features comprising required features and frequently occurring features;
• for comparing an image to said semantic categories;
• and for classifying said image as belonging to one of said semantic categories if all of the required features and at least one of the frequently occurring features for that semantic category are present in said image, said processor storing resulting image-related classification data in said storage.