摘要 |
An apparatus has an image content word holding unit for storing multimedia information, and content words each of which verbalizes a concept expressed in the multimedia information, and an associative word dictionary for storing content words, associative words associated with the content words, and non-associative words which one does not bilaterally associate with the content words in correspondence with each other. The apparatus acquires associative words corresponding to an input query word from the associative word dictionary, and searches multimedia information on the basis of the acquired associative words using a search processing unit. Also, the apparatus acquires non-associative words corresponding to the input query word from the associative word dictionary, and searches multimedia information on the basis of feature amounts corresponding to the acquired non-associative words using the search processing unit. A search result integration processing unit integrates first and second search results obtained by the search processing unit on the basis of the second search results.
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