The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 30, 2001
Filed:
Jan. 03, 2000
Hiroaki Sato, Kawasaki, JP;
Yuichi Bannai, Koganei, JP;
Hiroshi Okazaki, Yokohama, JP;
Akihiro Yoshitani, Yokohama, JP;
Kazuko Tsujimura, Kawasaki, JP;
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image retrieval method and apparatus for searching a plurality of images stored in an image file for a desired image are disclosed. When a designated image for designating an image to be retrieved is input, and its color is designated, the sizes and colors are compared between description information which stores the feature of each of regions obtained by dividing each of images to be searched stored in the image file, and feature data of the designated image. In this manner, the regions, which are determined to be included in the designated image, of image data are obtained, and the similarities between the obtained regions of image data and the designated image are calculated. Image data having higher similarities are read out from the image file, and are displayed while being sorted in the descending order from the highest similarity.