Patent ID: 6292577
Filing Date: 2001-09-18
Classification: G06F,G06K,G06T,G16H,Y10S

Abstract:
A resemblance retrieval apparatus comprising:an image database storing subject images corresponding to respective subjects;a vector database storing vector data for each of the subjects, the vector data including vector elements corresponding to respective attributes characterizing each of the subjects and a feature quantity quantitatively indicating a feature of a corresponding subject image;a subject vector data forming unit for forming vector data, the vector data being based upon an image and attribute, for a subject of a resemblance retrieval with respect to the vector data stored in the vector database;a retrieval condition set forming unit for forming a plurality of retrieval conditions;a vector weight database storing weight vectors corresponding to respective retrieval conditions;a resemblance retrieval engine communicating with the vector database, the subject vector data forming unit, the retrieval condition set forming unit, and the vector weight database, and retrieving the vector data from the vector database most closely satisfying the retrieval conditions as weighted by the weight vectors and thereby most closely resembling the subject of the resemblance retrieval; anda retrieval result display unit communicating with the resemblance retrieval engine and the image database for simultaneously displaying the subject images corresponding to the vector data for each of the subjects that is retrieved by the resemblance retrieval engine from the vector database using the corresponding weight vectors and a corresponding image retrieved from the image database.