A Matching Algorithm for Content-Based Image Retrieval

Content-based image retrieval system retrieves an image from a database using visual information. Among approaches to expressing visual aspects in queries, "query by sketch" is most convenient and expressive. However, the query drawn by the user is typically quite different from the target image. In this paper, a matching algorithm for imperfect queries is presented. The algorithm measures the similarity between the query and each image stored in the database based on their topological structures that are represented by prime edge graphs. Experimental results show that the system retrieves the intended image with a high similarity score even from a partial or shifted query.