Abstract: | Among the features of content‐based image retrieval, color features provide important clues to search similar image contents. In addition to color, there exists more information in the image. In this article, we propose a new method for content‐based image retrieval: Color Plane Moment (CPM). This method combines colors' content and their spatial distribution to improve image query results. It integrates the ideas of color histogram, backprojection, and moments. The CPM uses backprojection as one of the image preprocessing methods and computes the invariant moments with those dominant color plane images after preprocessing. There are several dominant colors chosen by color histogram in an image, and each can be expressed by seven invariant moment values that represent spatial distribution of those dominant color planes, respectively. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed technique outperforms the other techniques. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol 12, 139–148, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ima.10022 |