Orientation radiograms for image retrieval: an alternative to segmentation

For content based image retrieval using shape descriptors, most approaches so far extract shape information from a segmentation of the image. Shape features derived based on a specific segmentation are not suitable for images containing complex structures. Further, static segmentation based approaches are useful only for a small set of queries. In this paper we discuss the limitations of such boundary based shape features, and propose an alternative shape characterization technique based on orientation radiograms. A working image retrieval system based on this approach is described and sample results are presented for a full-image query.