Content-based image retrieval based on a fuzzy approach

A typical content-based image retrieval (CBIR) system would need to handle the vagueness in the user queries as well as the inherent uncertainty in image representation, similarity measure, and relevance feedback. We discuss how fuzzy set theory can be effectively used for this purpose and describe an image retrieval system called FIRST (fuzzy image retrieval system) which incorporates many of these ideas. FIRST can handle exemplar-based, graphical-sketch-based, as well as linguistic queries involving region labels, attributes, and spatial relations. FIRST uses fuzzy attributed relational graphs (FARGs) to represent images, where each node in the graph represents an image region and each edge represents a relation between two regions. The given query is converted to a FARG, and a low-complexity fuzzy graph matching algorithm is used to compare the query graph with the FARGs in the database. The use of an indexing scheme based on a leader clustering algorithm avoids an exhaustive search of the FARG database. We quantify the retrieval performance of the system in terms of several standard measures.     

A region-based fuzzy feature matching approach to content-basedimage retrieval

This paper proposes a fuzzy logic approach, UFM (unified feature matching), for region-based image retrieval. In our retrieval system, an image is represented by a set of segmented regions, each of which is characterized by a fuzzy feature (fuzzy set) reflecting color, texture, and shape properties. As a result, an image is associated with a family of fuzzy features corresponding to regions. Fuzzy features naturally characterize the gradual transition between regions (blurry boundaries) within an image and incorporate the segmentation-related uncertainties into the retrieval algorithm. The resemblance of two images is then defined as the overall similarity between two families of fuzzy features and quantified by a similarity measure, UFM measure, which integrates properties of all the regions in the images. Compared with similarity measures based on individual regions and on all regions with crisp-valued feature representations, the UFM measure greatly reduces the influence of inaccurate segmentation and provides a very intuitive quantification. The UFM has been implemented as a part of our experimental SIMPLIcity image retrieval system. The performance of the system is illustrated using examples from an image database of about 60,000 general-purpose images     

基于目标区域和相关反馈的图像检索

提出了一种基于目标区域和相关反馈的图像检索方法,首先采用改进的K均值无监督分割方法将图像分割成区域,然后提取每个区域的颜色、位置、形状特征进行相似度计算;最后采用基于支持向量机（SVM）的相关反馈算法提高检索精度。实验结果表明,方法具有良好的检索性能。     

一种基于区域综合特征的图像检索方法

提出一种基于目标区域的图像检索方法,首先采用颜色聚类的分割方法将图像分割成不同的区域,提取每个区域的颜色、位置、形状等低层特征,然后提出一种相似度计算方法实现图像的相似性度量。为了提高图像检索的准确度,最后采用支持向量机（SVM）的相关反馈算法。实验结果表明,基于目标区域的图像检索效果比基于全局图像特征的检索效果有较好的改善。     

基于模糊区域的CT脑图像检索及关联反馈

基于模糊区域特征的图像检索算法和关联反馈算法是当前图像检索领域的研究热点,由于区域模糊相似度的复杂性,绝大多数关联反馈算法不能应用到基于模糊区域特征的图像检索方法中。为解决这个问题,论文修改了模糊相似度计算方法,并结合经典的基于权重调整的关联反馈算法,提出一种基于模糊区域特征的关联反馈算法。对脑出血CT图像的检索实验结果表明该算法效果较好。     

多媒体交叉参照检索系统研究

描述并实现了一个面向数字图书馆的多媒体交叉参照检索系统．该系统将对多模态数据的检索无缝地融合到一个系统中,基于交叉参照图模型,多模态交叉参照搜索引擎综合计算媒体对象与查询之间在语义和内容层上的相似度;系统还支持用户相关反馈调整交叉参照图模型．实验结果表明,该系统能够比较有效地进行多模态交叉参照检索．     

Efficient matching and indexing of graph models in content-basedretrieval

In retrieval from image databases, evaluation of similarity, based both on the appearance of spatial entities and on their mutual relationships, depends on content representation based on attributed relational graphs. This kind of modeling entails complex matching and indexing, which presently prevents its usage within comprehensive applications. In this paper, we provide a graph-theoretical formulation for the problem of retrieval based on the joint similarity of individual entities and of their mutual relationships and we expound its implications on indexing and matching. In particular, we propose the usage of metric indexing to organize large archives of graph models, and we propose an original look-ahead method which represents an efficient solution for the (sub)graph error correcting isomorphism problem needed to compute object distances. Analytic comparison and experimental results show that the proposed lookahead improves the state-of-the-art in state-space search methods and that the combined use of the proposed matching and indexing scheme permits for the management of the complexity of a typical application of retrieval by spatial arrangement     

基于索引和相关反馈的图像检索研究

在基于图像内容的图像检索(CBIR)系统中,搜索引擎检索图像类似于按照相似标准来查询图像,它应该有足够快的速度并且有较高的检索准确率.索引用来提高系统响应,而相关反馈用于帮助提高检索准确率.在本文中,主要说明基于人感知的相似性度量,以及讨论综合相关反馈的索引方案.该索引方案通过分析特征熵而得出的主从键,而相关反馈是根据Mann-Whitnev检验而提出的,该检验通常用来识别来自同一搜索集中相关图像和不相关图像之间不同特征,并利用不同特征的特点提高检索性能.相关反馈方案针对两不同相似标准来执行,检验判定了这个方法的有效性.最后,把索引机制和相关反馈机制结合起来建立搜索引擎.     

Image Retrieval With Relevance Feedback Based on Graph-Theoretic Region Correspondence Estimation

This paper presents a graph-theoretic approach for interactive region-based image retrieval. When dealing with image matching problems, we use graphs to represent images, transform the region correspondence estimation problem into an inexact graph matching problem, and propose an optimization technique to derive the solution. We then define the image distance in terms of the estimated region correspondence. In the relevance feedback steps, with the estimated region correspondence, we propose to use a maximum likelihood method to re-estimate the ideal query and the image distance measurement. Experimental results show that the proposed graph-theoretic image matching criterion outperforms the other methods incorporating no spatially adjacent relationship within images. Furthermore, our maximum likelihood method combined with the estimated region correspondence improves the retrieval performance in feedback steps.     

一种基于目标区域的彩色图像检索算法

提出了一种基于目标区域的彩色图像检索算法。首先，获取彩色图像HSV颜色空间中各个分量图像，然后计算各分量图像的二值边缘图像。根据边缘图像的连通性提取彩色图像的目标区域。在图像检索时，抽取彩色图像目标区域所对应的子图像特征，代替全局图像特征进行图像相似性匹配。实验表明，基于目标区域的彩色图像检索算法优于基于全局图像的检索算法。     

基于选择性搜索算法的车脸部件检测

车脸部件检测能够广泛地应用于车辆识别及车辆的语义分割。尽管对于车脸的检测已经做出过大量的努力,但现有的研究大多集中在车脸的整块区域的检测及定位,提出了一种基于选择性搜索的车脸部件检测算法。该算法分为两个阶段：首先,将车辆图片进行高斯滤波去噪以及图像归一化预处理。其次,对预处理后的图片,利用基于图表示的图像分割算法获取初始分割区域,计算两两相邻区域在颜色、纹理、大小及吻合度之间的相似度;随后利用初始分割区域相邻区域间的颜色、纹理、大小以及吻合度的相似性对初始分割区域进行合并,从而准确分割车脸各部件。采用部分香港中文大学的公开数据集CompCars,总计4 199张图像,作为测试样本以测试车脸部件分割检测效果。实验结果表明,该算法检测车脸部件的平均重合度达到73.74%,明显胜过其它目标检测算法,此外,该算法不需训练,具有更强的通用性。     

图像检索中的动态相似性度量方法

为提高图像检索的效率,近年来相关反馈机制被引入到了基于内容的图像检索领域。该文提出了一种新的相关反馈方法－－动态相似性度量方法。该方法建立在目前被广泛采用的图像相拟性度量方法的基础上,结合了相关反馈图像检索系统的时序特性,通过捕获用户的交互信息,动态地修正图像的相似性度量公式,从而把用户模型嵌入到了图像检索系统,在某种程度上使图像检索结果与人的主观感知更加接近。实验结果表明该方法的性能明显优于其它图像检索系统所采用的方法。     

Inexact graph matching based on kernels for object retrieval in image databases

In the framework of online object retrieval with learning, we address the problem of graph matching using kernel functions. An image is represented by a graph of regions where the edges represent the spatial relationships. Kernels on graphs are built from kernel on walks in the graph. This paper firstly proposes new kernels on graphs and on walks, which are very efficient for graphs of regions. Secondly we propose fast solutions for exact or approximate computation of these kernels. Thirdly we show results for the retrieval of images containing a specific object with the help of very few examples and counter-examples in the framework of an active retrieval scheme.     

An image retrieval system with automatic query modification

Most interactive "query-by-example" based image retrieval systems utilize relevance feedback from the user for bridging the gap between the user's implied concept and the low-level image representation in the database. However, traditional relevance feedback usage in the context of content-based image retrieval (CBIR) may not be very efficient due to a significant overhead in database search and image download time in client-server environments. In this paper, we propose a CBIR system that efficiently addresses the inherent subjectivity in user perception during a retrieval session by employing a novel idea of intra-query modification and learning. The proposed system generates an object-level view of the query image using a new color segmentation technique. Color, shape and spatial features of individual segments are used for image representation and retrieval. The proposed system automatically generates a set of modifications by manipulating the features of the query segment(s). An initial estimate of user perception is learned from the user feedback provided on the set of modified images. This largely improves the precision in the first database search itself and alleviates the overheads of database search and image download. Precision-to-recall ratio is improved in further iterations through a new relevance feedback technique that utilizes both positive as well as negative examples. Extensive experiments have been conducted to demonstrate the feasibility and advantages of the proposed system.     

Fuzzy SVM for content-based image retrieval: a pseudo-label support vector machine framework

Conventional relevance feedback in content-based image retrieval (CBIR) systems uses only the labeled images for learning. Image labeling, however, is a time-consuming task and users are often unwilling to label too many images during the feedback process. This gives rise to the small sample problem where learning from a small number of training samples restricts the retrieval performance. To address this problem, we propose a technique based on the concept of pseudo-labeling in order to enlarge the training data set. As the name implies, a pseudo-labeled image is an image not labeled explicitly by the users, but estimated using a fuzzy rule. Therefore, it contains a certain degree of uncertainty or fuzziness in its class information. Fuzzy support vector machine (FSVM), an extended version of SVM, takes into account the fuzzy nature of some training samples during its training. In order to exploit the advantages of pseudo-labeling, active learning and the structure of FSVM, we develop a unified framework called pseudo-label fuzzy support vector machine (PLFSVM) to perform content-based image retrieval. Experimental results based on a database of 10,000 images demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Interactive image segmentation by matching attributed relational graphs

A model-based graph matching approach is proposed for interactive image segmentation. It starts from an over-segmentation of the input image, exploiting color and spatial information among regions to propagate the labels from the regions marked by the user-provided seeds to the entire image. The region merging procedure is performed by matching two graphs: the input graph, representing the entire image; and the model graph, representing only the marked regions. The optimization is based on discrete search using deformed graphs to efficiently evaluate the spatial information. Note that by using a model-based approach, different interactive segmentation problems can be tackled: binary and multi-label segmentation of single images as well as of multiple similar images. Successful results for all these cases are presented, in addition to a comparison between our binary segmentation results and those obtained with state-of-the-art approaches. An implementation is available at http://structuralsegm.sourceforge.net/.     

Near-duplicate document image matching: A graphical perspective

A near-duplicate document image matching approach characterized by a graphical perspective is proposed in this paper. Document images are represented by graphs whose nodes correspond to the objects in the images. Consequently, the image matching problem is then converted to graph matching. To deal with the instability of object segmentation, a multi-granularity object tree is constructed for a document image. Each level in the tree corresponds to one possible object segmentation, while different levels are characterized by various object granularities. Some graphs can be generated from the tree and the objects associated with each graph may be of different granularities. Two graphs with the maximum similarity are found from the multi-granularity object trees of the two near-duplicate document images which are to be matched. The encouraging experimental results have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed approach.