Patent ID: 8306281

Claim:
A human image retrieval system for retrieving an image having a human similar to a human detected from a retrieval query image from a retrieval target image group, comprising: means for inputting said retrieval query image; means for detecting a face area from each image of said retrieval target image group; means for extracting face image features from each face area detected from said retrieval target image group; means for extracting whole image features from a whole area of each image of said retrieval target image group; means for detecting a face area from said retrieval query image; means for extracting face image features from said retrieval query image; means for retrieving a face image similar to a face image in said retrieval query image from said retrieval target image group by using said face image features, and storing n retrieval results in storage means in an order of a higher degree of similarity; means for comparing whole image features of a first image, in a query image, having a specific i-th order in said n retrieval results with whole image features of a second image having a lower degree of similarity than a degree of similarity of said first image, to calculate a degree of similarity between said first and second images; means for excluding said second image from a set of said retrieval results if a value of said degree of similarity is not lower than a predetermined threshold value; means for changing said specific order i←i+1, i+2, . . . , n−1, and comparing whole image features of an image of a changed specific order with whole image features of an image having a lower order than the changed specific order, to calculate a degree of similarity; filtering means for excluding said image having a lower order from a set of said retrieval results if a value of said degree of similarity is not lower than a predetermined threshold value; and means for outputting and displaying images left after filtering by said filtering mean.