Patent Document ID: 20030113017
Application ID: 10165199
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1 / A method of automatically creating an image database that is capable of being interrogated by its semantic content, the database being created from initial images that are not indexed, the method being characterized in that it comprises the following steps: a) constructing a first indexed database constituting a thematic information dictionary containing a set of thematic information likely to appear in a set of different images; b) constructing a second indexed database constituting a vade-mecum bringing together a set of textual descriptions of ordinary elementary objects in the form of thumbnail images that are indexed both textually and pictorially; c) analyzing each initial image overall to identify and list various zones in the image coarsely; d) comparing each initial image as subjected to overall analysis with images that have previously been indexed in the image database to be built up; e) classifying an initial image that has been analyzed overall in the image database if the result of the comparison with the previously indexed images reveals a degree of similarity that is greater than a predetermined threshold; f) analyzing each initial image in local manner if the result of the comparison between the initial image as analyzed overall and the previously indexed images reveals a degree of similarity that is below a predetermined threshold; g) during local analysis of an initial image, proceeding with a plurality of segmentations of said image into uniform components by using a plurality of different criteria or identifying and isolating a plurality of series of objects constituted by segmented thumbnail images associated with geometrical descriptors for boxes covering said objects; h) after the step which consists in proceeding with a plurality of segmentations, fusing the results of the segmentation methods; i) using digital values to characterize each of the object thumbnail images that result from fusion after the segmentation and fusion operations and associated with geometrical descriptors for boxes covering the various objects; j) comparing each of the object thumbnail images that result from the segmentation and fusion operations with the indexed thumbnail images of the indexed second database and providing together with respective pertinence levels a list of textual descriptions of everyday elementary objects matching said object thumbnail images resulting from the segmentation and fusion operations; k) for each object thumbnail image resulting from the segmentation and fusion operations, characterizing its color in textual manner by matching the histogram of each object converted into a color space with terms from a chromatic dictionary; l) for each object thumbnail image resulting from the segmentation and fusion operations, textually characterizing its texture by matching the characteristic vector of the object with those of a dictionary of indexed textures; m) determining the geometrical aspects of the objects relative to one another, and characterizing in textual manner the spatial relationship and/or the shapes of the various objects; and n) after analyzing the various components of the initial image via said object thumbnail images that result from the segmentation and fusion operations associated with textual descriptions of everyday elementary objects, putting said data into the image base that is to be made up.