Apparatus and method for retrieving image information in computer

Claim 1

An apparatus for retrieving image information in a computer, comprising: an image input unit for receiving an image input by a user; an image size normalizer for normalizing the image to a constant size normalized imgae; a feature vector extractor for extracting a feature vector of each sub block of the normalized image; a vector quantizer for quantizing the feature vector to one of a fixed number of quantized levels; a profile generator for generating an image profile indicating the frequency of occurrence of each quantizing level within the feature vector; an image data base unit for storing various image information; an image data base index unit for storing profiles of images stored in the image data base unit; a similarity comparator for comparing the image profile received from said profile generator with said profiles of images stored in the image data base index unit; and a controller for reading from the image data base unit an image corresponding to a selected one of said profiles of images whose similarity is within a reference value from said image profile and displaying the image corresponding to the selected one of said profiles of images through an image display unit.

Claim 2

An apparatus for retrieving image information in a computer, comprising: an image input unit for receiving an image input by a user; an image size normalizer for normalizing the image to a constant size normalized imgae; a feature vector extractor for extracting a feature vector of each sub block of the normalized image; a vector quantizer for quantizing the feature vector to one of a fixed number of quantized levels; a profile generator for generating an image profile indicating the frequency of occurrence of each quantizing level within the feature vector; an image data base unit for storing various image information; an image data base index unit for storing profiles of images stored in the image data base unit; a similarity comparator for comparing the image profile received from said profile generator with said profiles of images stored in the image data base index unit; and a controller for reading from the image data base unit an image corresponding to a selected one of said profiles of images whose similarity is within a reference value from said image profile and displaying the image corresponding to the selected one of said profiles of images through an image display unit.

Claim 3

A method for retrieving image information in a computer, comprising: receiving an image input by a user; normalizing the input image to an image of a constant size; extracting a feature vector of each sub block of the normalized image; quantizing the extracted feature vector to one of a fixed number of quantizing levels; generating an image profile indicating the frequency of occurrence of each quantizing level within the feature vector; comparing the image profile with each one of profiles of images stored in an image data base unit; and reading from said image data base unit an image corresponding to a selected one of said profiles of images whose similarity is within a reference value from said image profile and displaying the image corresponding to the selected one of said profiles of images through an image display unit.

Claim 4

A method for retrieving image information in a computer, comprising: receiving an image input by a user; normalizing the input image to an image of a constant size; extracting a feature vector of each sub block of the normalized image; quantizing the extracted feature vector to one of a fixed number of quantizing levels; generating an image profile indicating the frequency of occurrence of each quantizing level within the feature vector; comparing the image profile with each one of profiles of images stored in an image data base unit; and reading from said image data base unit an image corresponding to a selected one of said profiles of images whose similarity is within a reference value from said image profile and displaying the image corresponding to the selected one of said profiles of images through an image display unit.