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Abstract
The Problem:
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We are developing new techniques for querying, sorting, and
measuring similarity between images. The technology behind this is based up the
computation of image characteristic signatures. These signatures are used to as
the basis of an image database paradigm based on querying by example.
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View Slides From Presentation
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Motivation:
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There exists no way to
directly measure the similarity between the content of images. Without the
ability to measure similarity, it is impossible to treat images as queryable,
searchable, or sortable data. As a result queries for images are typically
satisfied by manually searching through all images in the entire image
database. To automate this process, new techniques are needed to extract from an
image qualities which can be used to make measurements of similarity.
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Previous Work:
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There are
several organizations which support projects to develop new computer-vision
algorithms to provide an automatic or semiautomatic method for performing such
tasks. To ask if one image is similar to another, one must specify, in some way,
what criterion are to be used to make such a comparison. The principal
developments to date, have come from the
Query By Image Content (QBIC)
project at IBM [1],
the
Visual Information Retrieval project at
Virage [2],
and the
PhotoBook
project in the MIT Media Lab
[3]. All these projects form an image
query using a single example image, and the selection of weights which determine
the relative importance of each global image feature in measuring
similarity. These projects have concentrated their effort on extracting a small
number (fewer than ten) global image features. These features are essentially a
collection of independently developed techniques such as color histograms,
texture histograms, shape boundary descriptors, and eigenimages.
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Approach:
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In our image query
paradigm, we describe similarity in terms of the difference between a test-image
and a group of example-images. Thus, our methodology can be described as "a
query by image example" where a query is formed by giving several examples which
are indicative of the images wanted. We determine the relative importance of
each global image feature in measuring similarity by computing the importance of
each image feature in indicating membership in the group of
example-images. Thus, the image features we use to measure similarity vary from
query to query, depending on the group of example-images -- for example, in one
query chromatic-content may be the primary measure, while in another,
spatial-arrangement might be penultimate. Because the selection of the relative
importance of each image feature is derived from the set of example images (as
opposed to being directly chosen by the user of the system) we can use a very
large set of measurements of mathematical characteristics to describe an image;
as opposed to limiting ourselves to using only a few, very specific image
features, which correspond to those perceived by humans as salient.
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The large set of measurements we make of each image are based
on the responses of a collection of non-linear filter-networks. The responses
of each filter-network in the collection are combined to form a characteristic
signature for each image. These signatures used to measure the similarity
between the images in the database and the group of example-images. The
similarity measure of each image in the database is then used to rank and sort
the images, satisfying the query.
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Difficulty:
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This query paradigm requires the extraction of a
large, general and robust set of image features. Such a set must be complete
enough to incorporate all the characteristics of an image that could potentially
be needed criterion to measure similarity.
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To meet this
requirement, we use as our image features the responses of a large class of
filter-networks. The numerical response of each filter network in this class is
becomes element in what we call the characteristic signature of the image. It is
this characteristic signature which is then used as the basis for image
comparison.
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Each filter network consists of several
repetitions of a linear convolution operation, followed by a non-linear
operation. The normalized sum of the result of these operations is (i.e. the
response of the network) is a single element of the characteristic signature. A
single path through this network is outlined in Figure 1, while the branching
factor at each level is depicted in Figure 2.
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The
results of a typical query from this system are shown in Figure 3. Because of
the lack of structure, and large variety of colors in the sunsets, simple
methods based on just form and color could not satisfy such a query.
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Figure 1: A single filter network from the network set, which
generates one element of the characteristic signature.
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Figure 2: At each level
there are 25 filters, which are applied generating a set of 45,000
distict image measurements.
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Impact:
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With a functional metric
over images, computers will be able to manipulate image data in the same way as
they can currently manipulate text and numerical information. That is to say,
they will be able to retrieve and sort information based on its visual
content. This ability will cause a drastic shift in the tasks for which we use
computers; a host of new applications will become possible.
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Future work:
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Future work in this
area includes increasing the robustness of the underlying image representation,
and building models based upon these techniques which will allow for
unconstrained image recognition.
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Figure 3: An example of the results of a
query on this system. The top 25 images are shown. Because of the
large variations in chromatic content, and lack of salient forms
within the result images, its is clear that methods based only on
color and shape metrics could not yield such results. |
Reference Links:
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[1] QBIC Project, IBM Research, http://wwwqbic.almaden.ibm.com
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[2] Virage, http://www.virage.com
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[3] Vision and Modeling Research Group, MIT Media Lab, Photobook Project,
http://www-white.media.mit.edu/vismod/demos/photobook
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Page last modified on
2006-05-27
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Copyright © 1997-2024, Jeremy S. De Bonet.
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