Content-Based Image Retrieval Query Paradigms

The proliferation in volume of digital image data has exacerbated the general image retrieval problem, creating a need for efficient storage and flexible retrieval of vast amounts of image data (Chang, 1989). Whilst there have been significant technological advances with image data capture and storage, developments in effective image retrieval have not kept pace. Research in image retrieval has been divided into two areas: concept-based image retrieval and content-based image retrieval. The former focuses on the use of classification schemes or indexing terms to retrieve images while the latter focuses on the visual features of the image, such as colour, shape, texture, and spatial relationships.