The pyramid image structure is an effective picture representation. In the past few years, several pyramid-based image coding techniques, showing high compression ratios, have been developed. The top-level Gaussian image is a compact form of the original image and needs much less time for feature extraction. Therefore, the pyramid structure is well suited for hierarchical image retrieval in computerized image archiving. In this paper, the pyramid image system using quadrature mirror filters to form image pyramids is employed as a backbone for the proposed image retrieval system. The underlying retrieval scheme is to use an exhibition picture containing desired features as a key for retrieval. The process of image searching is through the execution of retrieval on a decision tree. Using the nature of the pyramid image structure, the retrieval process can be made much more computationally efficient. Picture information measures of the compact top-level Gaussian images are compared with that of the full-size original pictures to demonstrate the effectiveness of preliminary decisions based upon top-level Gaussian images. Coding parameters of the pyramid system are also examined for use in further image searching.

Date Published: 18 January 1988
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 0829, Applications of Digital Image Processing X, (18 January 1988);

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 0829:
Applications of Digital Image Processing X
Andrew G. Tescher, Editor(s)