RETRIEVAL OF SIMILAR PICTURES ON PICTORIAL DATABASES

In this paper, we suggest a method of retrieving iconic pictures in a pictorial database based upon the spatial relationship among the objects in the picture. This special kind of database query problem is generally known as a spatial match retrieval problem. We transform each picture or query into a set of ordered triples (O(i), O(j), r(ij))s, where O(i) and O(j) are two symbolic objects and r(ij) is the spatial relationship between O(i) and O(j). Then we construct a hashing table for all (O(i), O(j), r(ij))s of all the pictures in the pictorial database. By searching the preconstructed hashing table for all of the (O(i), O(j), r(ij))s associated with a query, the pictures satisfying that query can be easily determined.