Method and apparatus for image retrieval
US6404937B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 25, 1999 |
| Grant date | Jun 11, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 25, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04N2201/3254
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An image retrieval method and an image retrieval apparatus are disclosed in which it is possible to identify in which image-information recording medium or in which group an image to be retrieved is included. The image retrieval apparatus has a recording controller for recording image information on a disk drive or a hard disk drive. A reduction/expansion controller generates an index picture of a predetermined group of the image information. A retrieval-information storage unit generates index picture IDs, medium IDs, and folder IDs while correlating the above different types of IDs with each other, and stores the IDs together with the index pictures. With this arrangement, a desired item of image information is retrieved by using the index pictures, the index picture IDs, the medium IDs, and the folder IDs. It is thus possible to obtain a target image by sequentially checking the index picture visually.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.