Information search and retrieval system

Abstract

Method and systems for search and retrieval of images with an image processing system is disclosed. With an input interface, selection of a plurality of images to use in a search query is accepted. The plurality of images of the search query are processed with the image processing system. A subset of the plurality of target images that are similar to the plurality of images is determined. With an output interface, the subset of the plurality of target images as a result from the search query is output.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 767,216 filed on Jan. 29, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,860,854 issued on Dec. 28, 2010; which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 216,550 filed on Aug. 8, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,721,733 issued on Apr. 13, 2004; which is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 09 / 179,541 filed on Oct. 26, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,463,426 issued on Oct. 8, 2002, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 063,623 filed on Oct. 27, 1997.STATEMENTS REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH[0002]This invention was made with government support under Grant No. N00014-95-1-0600 awarded by the U.S. Navy. The government has certain rights in the invention.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]This invention relates to information search and retrieval systems and more particularly to search and retrieval systems which utilize in whole or in part image processing tec...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014]In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, a process for comparing two images includes the steps of (a) aligning a target image and a selected image, (b) dividing the selected image into a plurality of image regions, (c) collapsing properties in predetermined image regions, (d) selecting a primary image region, (e) selecting a target image region, and (f) comparing one or more properties of the selected primary image region to corresponding one or more properties in the target image region. With this particular arrangement, a technique for comparing rapidly two images is provided. By selecting predetermined features and image regions to compare between the two images, the amount of time required to process the images is reduced. By combining or collapsing features in a selected region of an image for compact representation, a comparison of a relatively large amount of information can be accomplished rapidly.

[0015]In accordance with a still further aspect of the present invention, a method of manufacturing a printed circuit board includes the steps of (a) performing a manufacturing operation on a printed circuit board; and (b) inspecting the result of the manufacturing operation by comparing an image of the actual operation being performed to a target image of the manufacturing operation. With this particular arrangement, the efficiency of manufacturing a printed circuit board is increased while reducing the cost of manufacturing the printed circuit board. The manufacturing can correspond to any one or more steps in the printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing process. For example, when the manufacturing process corresponds to a solder manufacturing process, then the inspection technique may be used before and / or after the post-paste, post-placement and post-reflow operations. For example, the manufacturing process can include the inspection before and or after solder application, component placement, solder reflow, solder joint inspection or any other manufacturing step. By inspecting after predetermined steps in the manufacturing process, it is possible to detect early defects in the manufacturing process which can be corrected prior to continuing the manufacturing process. By detecting defects early in the manufacturing process, the expense and time associated with manufacturing a PCB which cannot pass a final inspection test is provided.

Problems solved by technology

One problem with such systems is that they rely on restricted predefined textual annotations rather than on the content of the still or video images in the database.

One problem with this approach, however, is that fish do not have a standard shape and thus the shape specification is limited to classifying or identifying fish having the same or a very similar shape.

The difficulty with these systems is that for a given query image, even though the images located by the system may have the same color, textural, or other statistical properties as the example image, the images may not be part of the same class as the query image.

Images