| 摘要 |
A method and system for determining image similarity is based on the semantic meaning of images. The method includes deriving a plurality of semantic categories for representing important semantic cues in images, where each semantic category is modeled through a combination of perceptual features that define the semantics of that category and that discriminate that category from other categories; for each semantic category, forming a set of the perceptual features comprising required features and frequently occurring features; comparing an image to said semantic categories; and classifying said image as belonging to one of said semantic categories if all of the required features and at least one of the frequently occurring features for that semantic category are present in said image. A database contains image information, where the image information includes at least one of already classified images, network locations of already classified images and documents containing already classified images. The database is searched for images matching an input query, that can comprise an image, text, or both. The images stored in or referenced by the database may be obtained at least in part through the Internet, such as by the activity of an automated web crawler. In the presently preferred embodiment the images are medical images, and the medical database may be searched for at least one image that satisfies thresholds established by a search query. Also disclosed is a method and system for searching the Internet. The method includes (a) providing at least one server accessible by a plurality of clients; (b) downloading a program to a client, where the program includes an Internet searching program operable for locating at least one type of data; and (c) executing the downloaded program on the client, and returning to the server URLs corresponding to located data.
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