INTERACTIVE CONTENT-BASED IMAGE DATABASE MANAGEMENT

TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES FOR CONTENT-BASED ORGANIZATION AND RETRIEVAL OF ELECTRONIC IMAGES FROM LARGE DATABASES WILL PROVIDE A GREATLY NEEDED RELIEF FROM THE EVER GROWING AMOUNT OF VISUAL INFORMATION GATHERED BY INDUSTRIES AND INDIVIDUALS ALIKE. CURRENT APPLICATIONS OF IMAGE INFORMATION SYSTEMS DO NOT PROVIDE THE FUNCTIONALITY NECESSARY TO MANAGE IMAGE DATA. THIS REQUIRES MECHANISMS FOR DETERMINING SEMANTIC CONTENT OF THE DATA AT STORAGE TIME, AND REPRESENTATION IN EFFECTIVE MANNER FOR RETRIEVAL. RESEARCHERS ARE DEVELOPING AN INTERACTIVE CONTENT-BASED IMAGE ARCHIVING SYSTEM IN WHICH DOMAIN-SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE IS EXPLICITLY REPRESENTED SEPARATE FROM DOMAIN-INDEPENDENT KNOWLEDGE. THE SYSTEM IS BEING USED FOR CREATING IMAGE DATABASES IN DIFFERENT APPLICATIONS (E.G., ANIMAL SPECIMENS, ART, FLORA, MAPS, INDUSTRIAL PARTS, MEDICAL IMAGES, EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS, ETC.). A NEW LAYERED DATA MODEL WHICH ALLOWS COMPLEX STRUCTURAL REPRESENTATIONS IS BEING EMPLOYED. THE MODEL PROVIDES THE USER WITH THE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF INTERACTION, THE TOOLS FOR GENERATING SEMANTIC ENTITIES FROM IMAGE PORTIONS, AND FOR DEFINING RELATIONS BETWEEN ENTITIES AS HIGHER-LEVEL CONSTRUCTS. THE DEVELOPMENT LEADS TO A SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN MANAGING VISUAL, ELECTRONIC INFORMATION, IN PARTICULAR, AND MULTIMEDIA INFORMATION, IN GENERAL. REQUIREMENTS OF CONTENT-BASED IMAGE DATABASES ARE BEING IDENTIFIED; THE SUITABILITY OF CURRENT RELATIONAL AND OBJECT ORIENTED DATABASES IS BEING STUDIED, AS WELL AS A TASK DOMAIN, FACE DATABASE, FOR IMPLEMENTATION.