Abstract: A method and system for retrieving images using a coupled knowledge-base/database is provided, the method comprising the steps of modeling structural knowledge by identifying classes and attributes of classes, determining relationships among the classes, operations for each classes; modeling heuristic and general procedural knowledge by acquiring heuristic rules for each class dependent on the application domain, specifying data processing procedures required by the heuristic rules acquired; modeling control knowledge by specifying intra-class-hierarchy searching paths, specifying intra-class-hierarchy searching paths, and representing the specified search paths in triggers for each class; and deriving a schema for the coupled database from the structural knowledge.