Searching Multimedia Information in Distributed Environment

Yoshinori SAKAI
Ryoji KATAOKA

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Communications   Vol.E79-B    No.8    pp.989-998
Publication Date: 1996/08/25
Online ISSN: 
DOI: 
Print ISSN: 0916-8516
Type of Manuscript: Special Section INVITED PAPER (Special Issue on Multimedia on Demand)
Category: 
Keyword: 
information search,  image retrieval,  distributed database,  network,  

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Summary: 
In retrieving information from databases widely distributed in a network, the first thing to do is to search and find the database where the required information is stored. We call this the information searches rather than the retrievals. In this paper, we present a search and retrieval method for multimedia information, especially images. First, we formalize the general elements of information search and introduce a new search concept based on entropy reduction. Next, we discuss recent new technologies for image retrieval and introduce a new image retrieval system called VideoReality. Third, we present several methods of searching in the network- for example, the Internet robot TITAN, and a new search method for images distributed in the network that is based on the hierarchical structure of image retrieval. Finally, we discuss the network control and design concepts appropriate for information search and retrival.