US5983237A
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Visual dictionary
Assignee: Micro Focus LLC
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Filing: 1997-08-21
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Granted: 1999-11-09
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Expires: 2017-08-21
Abstract
Abstract A system and method for improving the retrieval performance of a query engine in a visual information retrieval (VIR) system by encoding domain-specific knowledge into the VIR system through a visual dictionary or "victionary". The victionary is a dictionary-like information-mapping module that is used to retrieve visual information at a "semantic" level. A VIR system that performs generic image processing is enhanced by adding a query transformation unit and a query expansion unit, i.e., the victionary. With these additional components, a user may present a query either as a text term (such as a keyword or phrase), or as an image (with weights) and execute a "semantic query". During semantic query processing, the victionary-enhanced system transforms the user's original term (or image query) to a set of equivalent queries, and internally executes all the equivalent queries before presenting the results to the user. The victionary unit is responsible for taking the term (or image query) and finding the equivalent feature vectors (and weights). A result processor accumulates the score sheets of each equivalent query and presents a composite ranking that reflects a faithful representation of each equivalent query to the user. The architecture of the victionary-enhanced system is open and extensible, so that one or more domain-specific victionary modules can be plugged into the system. The plug-in architecture of the victionary module is effected through an application programming interface (API).
Inventors
- 👤 Ramesh Jain
- 👤 Amarnath Gupta
- 👤 Arun Hampapur
- 👤 Bradley Horowitz
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-24 05:34
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F16/00; G06F16/50; G06F16/53; G06F16/532; G06F16/58; G06F16/583; G06F16/5838; G06F16/5854; G06F16/5862; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S707/00; Y10S707/99931; Y10S707/99933; Y10S707/99937; Y10S707/99941; Y10S707/99944; Y10S707/99945; Y10S707/99948
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 56
Claim 1
Independent Claim
56 words
A visual query processing method, comprising: providing a user query; applying the user query to a visual dictionary comprising a plurality of feature vectors so as to generate a set of query vectors; and applying the query vectors to an image database comprising a plurality of images so as to provide a list of similar images.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
56 words
A visual query processing method, comprising: providing a user query; applying the user query to a visual dictionary comprising a plurality of feature vectors so as to generate a set of query vectors; and applying the query vectors to an image database comprising a plurality of images so as to provide a list of similar images.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method defined in claim 1, wherein the user query comprises a text term.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
13 words
The method defined in claim 1, wherein the user query comprises an image.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method defined in claim 1, additionally comprising: rank ordering the list of images by degree of similarity; and presenting the rank-ordered images to a user.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method defined in claim 1, wherein at least one of the feature vectors has an associated weight.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method defined in claim 1, wherein at least one of the feature vectors has a nominal component.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method defined in claim 1, wherein at least one of the feature vectors has a definitional component.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
72 words
A visual query processing system, comprising: a visual dictionary, comprising feature vectors representative of images, capable of receiving a user query so as to select a set of feature vectors representative of the user query; a query transformer that transforms the selected set of feature vectors into a set of image queries; and a query processor receiving each separate query so as to index an image database comprising a plurality of images.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
72 words
A visual query processing system, comprising: a visual dictionary, comprising feature vectors representative of images, capable of receiving a user query so as to select a set of feature vectors representative of the user query; a query transformer that transforms the selected set of feature vectors into a set of image queries; and a query processor receiving each separate query so as to index an image database comprising a plurality of images.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
29 words
The system defmed in claim 8, additionally comprising a result processor that receives the results of the query processor and ranks the individual query results into a composite response.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
14 words
The system defined in claim 8, wherein each feature vector has an associated weight.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
16 words
The system defined in claim 9, additionally comprising a query parser for parsing the user query.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
33 words
The system defined in claim 11, wherein a set of application programming interfaces are associated with the visual dictionary and query transformer for interfacing with the query processor, query parser and result processor.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method defined in claim 1, wherein the user query comprises a video sequence.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
20 words
The system defined in claim 8, wherein the user query comprises an image, a text term, or a video sequence.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
80 words
A visual query processing method, comprising: providing a user query having one or more user weights; applying the user query to a visual dictionary comprising a plurality of feature vectors so as to generate a set of query feature vectors, wherein each of the query feature vectors has an associated feature weight; and applying the query feature vectors and query feature weights to an image database comprising a plurality of images so as to provide a list of similar images.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
80 words
A visual query processing method, comprising: providing a user query having one or more user weights; applying the user query to a visual dictionary comprising a plurality of feature vectors so as to generate a set of query feature vectors, wherein each of the query feature vectors has an associated feature weight; and applying the query feature vectors and query feature weights to an image database comprising a plurality of images so as to provide a list of similar images.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method defined in claim 15, wherein the user query comprises a text term.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
13 words
The method defined in claim 15, wherein the user query comprises an image.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method defined in claim 15, wherein the user query comprises a video sequence.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method defined in claim 15, additionally comprising: rank ordering the list of images by degree of similarity; and presenting the rank-ordered images to a user.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method defined in claim 17, wherein a value of a selected user weight is set by a user.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method defined in claim 20, wherein the value is associated with color, texture or shape.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method defined in claim 20, wherein the value is indicative of a user's relative preference of one or more individual properties of the user query.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method defined in claim 22, wherein the property is hue, saturation, intensity, edge density, randomness, periodicity, orientation, algebraic moments, turning angles, or elongatedness.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method defined in claim 20, wherein applying the user query comprises communicating a feature vector and the one or more weights corresponding with the user query to the visual dictionary.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
41 words
The method defined in claim 24, wherein applying the user query further comprises determining an intersection of the feature vector and the one or more weights corresponding with the user query with the plurality of feature vectors of the visual dictionary.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method defined in claim 15, wherein at least one of the feature vectors has a nominal component.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method defined in claim 15, wherein at least one of the feature vectors has a definitional component.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
65 words
A visual query processing method, comprising: providing a user query; applying the user query to a visual dictionary comprising a plurality of feature vectors so as to generate a set of query vectors, wherein each feature vector has a corresponding feature weight; and applying the query vectors to an image database comprising a plurality of images so as to provide a list of similar images.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
65 words
A visual query processing method, comprising: providing a user query; applying the user query to a visual dictionary comprising a plurality of feature vectors so as to generate a set of query vectors, wherein each feature vector has a corresponding feature weight; and applying the query vectors to an image database comprising a plurality of images so as to provide a list of similar images.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method defined in claim 28, wherein the user query comprises a text term.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
13 words
The method defined in claim 28, wherein the user query comprises an image.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method defined in claim 28, wherein the user query comprises a video sequence.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
60 words
A visual query processing system, comprising: a visual dictionary, comprising feature vectors representative of images, capable of receiving a user query having one or more user weights so as to select a set of feature vectors representative of the user query; and a similarity comparison engine receiving the selected set of feature vectors and generating a list of similar images.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
60 words
A visual query processing system, comprising: a visual dictionary, comprising feature vectors representative of images, capable of receiving a user query having one or more user weights so as to select a set of feature vectors representative of the user query; and a similarity comparison engine receiving the selected set of feature vectors and generating a list of similar images.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
20 words
The system defined in claim 32, wherein images identified in the list of similar images substantially satisfy the user query.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
49 words
The system defined in claim 32, wherein the similarity comparison engine includes a query transformer that transforms the selected set of feature vectors into a set of image queries, and a query processor receiving each separate query so as to index an image database comprising a plurality of images.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
14 words
The system defined in claim 32, wherein each feature vector has an associated weight.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
40 words
The system defined in claim 35, additionally comprising a query parser for parsing the user query, wherein the output of the query parser comprises a query feature vector and an associated query feature weight structure corresponding with the user weights.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
41 words
The system defined in claim 36, wherein the visual dictionary comprises an association manager that determines a similarity distance between the query feature vector and the query feature weight structure to the feature vectors and associated weights of the visual dictionary.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
13 words
The system defined in claim 32, wherein the user query comprises an image.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
14 words
The system defined in claim 32, wherein the user query comprises a video sequence.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
19 words
The system defined in claim 32, wherein a value of a selected user weight is set by a user.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
26 words
The system defined in claim 40, wherein the value is indicative of a user's relative preference of one or more individual properties of the user query.
Claim 47
Dependent Claim
20 words
The system defined in claim 41, wherein the property is selected from the group consisting of color, texture and shape.
Claim 48
Dependent Claim
81 words
A visual query processing system, comprising: a visual dictionary, comprising feature vectors representative of images, receiving a user query comprising a query image or one or more text terms so as to select a set of feature vectors representative of the user query; a query transformer that transforms the selected set of feature vectors into a set of image queries; and a query processor receiving each separate image query so as to index an image database comprising a plurality of images.
Claim 49
Dependent Claim
81 words
A visual query processing system, comprising: a visual dictionary, comprising feature vectors representative of images, receiving a user query comprising a query image or one or more text terms so as to select a set of feature vectors representative of the user query; a query transformer that transforms the selected set of feature vectors into a set of image queries; and a query processor receiving each separate image query so as to index an image database comprising a plurality of images.
Claim 50
Dependent Claim
14 words
The system defined in claim 43, wherein each feature vector has an associated weight.
Claim 51
Dependent Claim
40 words
The system defined in claim 43, additionally comprising a query parser for parsing the user query, wherein the output of the query parser comprises a set of terms in a term structure and a combinator associated with the text terms.
Claim 52
Dependent Claim
19 words
The system defined in claim 45, wherein the combinator represents a type of user-supplied combination condition comprising "OR"or "AND".
Claim 53
Dependent Claim
22 words
The system defined in claim 46, wherein the query transformer operates on the selected set of feature vectors according to the combinator.
Claim 54
Dependent Claim
25 words
The system defined in claim 47, wherein the query transformer performs an intersection of the terms in the term structure if the combinator is "AND".
Claim 55
Dependent Claim
35 words
The system defined in claim 43, additionally comprising a query parser for parsing the user query, wherein the output of the query parser comprises a query feature vector and an associated query feature weight structure.
Claim 56
Dependent Claim
30 words
The system defined in claim 49, wherein the query transformer operates on the selected set of feature vectors according to the query feature vector and the query feature weight structure.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2002-11-08 | 2003-05-10 | 2003-11-09 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2006-11-08 | 2007-05-10 | 2007-11-09 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2010-11-08 | 2011-05-10 | 2011-11-09 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |