Two-dimensional S-tree: an index structure for content-based retrieval of images

An important feature to be considered in the design of multimedia DBMSs is content-based retrieval of images. Most work in this area has focused on feature-based retrieval; we focus on retrieval based on spatial relationship, which include directional and topological relationships. The most common data structure that is used for representing directional relations is the 2D string. The search process, however, is sequential and the technique does not scale up for large databases. We propose a new indexing structure, the 2-D-S-tree, to organize 2-D strings for query efficiency. The 2-D-S-tree is completely dynamic; inserts and deletes can be intermixed with searches and no periodic reorganization is required. A performance analysis is conducted, and both analytical analysis and experimental results indicate that the 2-D-S-tree is an efficient index structure for content-based retrieval of images.