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:
Jun. 09, 2009
Filed:
Jun. 08, 2007
David Andrew Sinclair, Cambridge, GB;
Kenneth Robert Wood, Cambridge, GB;
David Andrew Sinclair, Cambridge, GB;
Kenneth Robert Wood, Cambridge, GB;
AT&T Investments UK Inc., Wilmington, DE (US);
Abstract
A technique is provided for classifying images in a library () for subsequent selective retrieval. Each library image is segmented () into a plurality of coherent regions. Each of the regions is analysed in respect of a plurality of visual properties, each of which is ascribed a number according to the value of the visual property. The property numbers are then compared () with bands of the available property range and a computer-readable character, such as a letter of the alphabet, is ascribed to each of the property values. The characters are then arranged () in a predetermined order to form a region character string. The strings for each region are then indexed () to form an index () of the images by region character string. For image retrieval, a target image () is analysed in the same way to form region character strings which are then supplied to a text retrieval system () for detecting matches with entries in the index (). Library images having matching regions are retrieved from the library ().