Abstract: An image retrieval system is provided for analyzing an image in a first color model format and detecting and retrieving from the image a selected image portion. The image retrieval system comprises an image processor for converting pixels in the image from the first color model format to a (Yr&thgr;) color model format, where Y is an intensity component indicating a total amount of light, r is a saturation component indicating an amount of white light mixed with a color of each pixel, and &thgr; is a hue component indicating the color of each pixel. The image processor groups spatially adjacent pixels into image regions according to hue components of the adjacent pixels and performs a merging process wherein a first image region and an adjacent second image region are merged into a composite region if a hue difference between the first and second image regions is less than a predetermined hue difference threshold.

Abstract: There is disclosed an image retrieval system for analyzing an image in a first color model format and detecting and retrieving from the image a selected image portion. The image retrieval system comprises an image processor for converting pixels in the image from the first color model format to a (Yr&thgr;) color model format, where Y is an intensity component indicating a total amount of light, r is a saturation component indicating an amount of white light mixed with a color of each pixel, and &thgr; is a hue component indicating the color of each pixel. The image processor groups spatially adjacent pixels into image regions according to hue components of the adjacent pixels and performs a merging process wherein a first image region and an adjacent second image region are merged into a composite region if a hue difference between the first and second image regions is less than a predetermined hue difference threshold.

Abstract: The system disclosed herein builds a database of image-related data by inputting a plurality of images, and for each image: dividing the image into N1 (N1≧1) regions which are substantially homogenous with respect to at least one attribute of the image, generating a graph based on M1 (M1≧1) of the N1 regions, and storing data for the graph in the database. The database may then be used to determine whether a query image is similar to one or more of the plurality of images. To this end, the system inputs the query image, and divides the query image into N2 (N2≧1) regions which are substantially homogenous with respect to at least one attribute of the query image. The system then generates a graph based on M2 (M2≧1) of the N2 regions, and compares the generated graph to other graphs in the database that correspond to the plurality of images. Thereafter, an image is retrieved from memory that has a graph that is substantially similar to the generated graph.