Image retrieval using resegmentation driven by query rectangles

Image retrieval using pictorial attributes such as color, position, and shape is a topic of vigorous research. We address two key issues in image retrieval: the use of rectangles in queries to express properties of regions in the desired target images, and the use of oversegmentation to build the index of images in the database. In our method, the rectangles in the user's query are used to control a partial resegmentation of each candidate image. These query-driven, partial resegmentations provide the features needed for determining the distance between the query and each candidate, so that the closest candidates can be determined and retrieved. This method enables the construction of image retrieval systems with completely automatic indexing and relatively fast querying time. We show results of both qualitative and performance tests. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.