Database Support for Image Retrieval Using Spatial-Color Features

Quality, efficiency, and scalability are the key issues in the design of image retrieval systems for large image databases. Although the quality of image retrieval methods still depends strongly on the application domain, color-based retrieval techniques have been shown to be competitive and generally applicable. In this paper we describe several algorithms to improve the retrieval process by combining spatial information with color features. The algorithms are embedded in an extensible database system, which provides for the efficiency and scalability towards tens of thousand images required in practice.