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Robust image retrieval based on color histogram of local feature regions

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Abstract

Color histograms lack spatial information and are sensitive to intensity variation, color distortion and cropping. As a result, images with similar histograms may have totally different semantics. The region-based approaches are introduced to overcome the above limitations, but due to the inaccurate segmentation, these systems may partition an object into several regions that may have confused users in selecting the proper regions. In this paper, we present a robust image retrieval based on color histogram of local feature regions (LFR). Firstly, the steady image feature points are extracted by using multi-scale Harris-Laplace detector. Then, the significant local feature regions are ascertained adaptively according to the feature scale theory. Finally, the color histogram of local feature regions is constructed, and the similarity between color images is computed by using the color histogram of LFRs. Experimental results show that the proposed color image retrieval is more accurate and efficient in retrieving the user-interested images. Especially, it is robust to some classic transformations (additive noise, affine transformation including translation, rotation and scale effects, partial visibility, etc.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computer and Information Technology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, 116029, China

    Xiang-Yang Wang, Jun-Feng Wu & Hong-Ying Yang

  2. State Key Laboratory for Novel Software Technology, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China

    Xiang-Yang Wang

Authors
  1. Xiang-Yang Wang
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  2. Jun-Feng Wu
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  3. Hong-Ying Yang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiang-Yang Wang.

Additional information

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 60773031 & 60873222, the Open Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Networking and Switching Technology of China under Grant No. SKLNST-2008-1-01, the Open Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Information Security of China under Grant No. 03-06, the Open Foundation of State Key Laboratory for Novel Software Technology of China under Grant No. A200702, and Liaoning Research Project for Institutions of Higher Education of China under Grant No. 2008351.

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Wang, XY., Wu, JF. & Yang, HY. Robust image retrieval based on color histogram of local feature regions. Multimed Tools Appl 49, 323–345 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-009-0362-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-009-0362-0

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