Image retrieval by examples

A currently relevant research field in information sciences is the management of non-traditional distributed multimedia databases. Two related key issues are achieving an efficient content-based `query by example` retrieval and a fast response time. This paper presents the architecture of a distributed image retrieval system which provides novel solutions to these key issues. In particular, a way to quantify the effectiveness of low level visual descriptors in database query tasks is presented. The results are also used to improve the system response time, an important issue when querying very large databases. A new mechanism to adapt system query strategies to user behavior is also introduced to improve the effectiveness of relevance feedback and overall system response time. Finally, the issue of browsing multiple distributed databases is considered and a solution proposed using multidimensional scaling techniques.