Effective image retrieval by shape saliences

Abstract

Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) systems have been developed aiming at enabling users to search and re- trieve images based on their properties such as shape, color and texture. In this paper, we are concerned with shape- based image retrieval. Here, we discuss a recently proposed shape descriptor, called contour saliences, defined as the influence areas of its higher curvature points. This paper introduces a robust approach to estimate contour saliences by exploiting the relation between a contour and its skele- ton, modifies the original definition to include the location and the value of saliences along the contour, and proposes a new metric to compare contour saliences. The paper also evaluates the effectiveness of the proposed descriptor with respect to Fourier Descriptors, Curvature Scale Space and Moment Invariants.