Efficient privacy-preserving image retrieval scheme over outsourced data with multi-user

The traditional privacy-preserving image retrieval schemes not only bring large computational and communication overhead,but also cannot protect the image and query privacy in multi-user scenarios.To solve above problems,an efficient privacy-preserving content-based image retrieval scheme was proposed in multi-user scenarios.The scheme used Euclidean distance comparison technique to rank the pictures according to similarity of picture feature vectors and return top-k returned.Meanwhile,the efficient key conversion protocol designed in proposed image retrieval scheme allowed each search user to generate queries based on his own private key so that he can retrieval encrypted images generated by different data owners.Strict security analysis shows that the user privacy and cloud data security can be well protected during the image retrieval process,and the performance analysis using real-world dataset shows that the proposed image retrieval scheme is efficient and feasible in practical applications.     

Wavelet image extension for analysis and classification ofinfarcted myocardial tissue

Some computer applications for tissue characterization in medicine and biology, such as analysis of the myocardium or cancer recognition, operate with tissue samples taken from very small areas of interest. In order to perform texture characterization in such an application, only a few texture operators can be employed: the operators should be insensitive to noise and image distortion and yet be reliable in order to estimate texture quality from the small number of image points available. In order to describe the quality of infarcted myocardial tissue, the authors propose a new wavelet-based approach for analysis and classification of texture samples with small dimensions. The main idea of this method is to decompose the given image with a filter bank derived from an orthonormal wavelet basis and to form an image approximation with higher resolution. Texture energy measures calculated at each output of the filter bank as well as energies of synthesized images are used as texture features in a classification procedure. The authors propose an unsupervised classification technique based on a modified statistical t-test. The method is tested with clinical data, and the classification results obtained are very promising. The performance of the new method is compared with the performance of several other transform-based methods. The new algorithm has advantages in classification of small and noisy input samples, and it represents a step toward structural analysis of weak textures     

Design and analysis of a content-based pathology image retrieval system

A prototype, content-based image retrieval system has been built employing a client/server architecture to access supercomputing power from the physician's desktop. The system retrieves images and their associated annotations from a networked microscopic pathology image database based on content similarity to user supplied query images. Similarity is evaluated based on four image feature types: color histogram, image texture, Fourier coefficients, and wavelet coefficients, using the vector dot product as a distance metric. Current retrieval accuracy varies across pathological categories depending on the number of available training samples and the effectiveness of the feature set. The distance measure of the search algorithm was validated by agglomerative cluster analysis in light of the medical domain knowledge. Results show a correlation between pathological significance and the image document distance value generated by the computer algorithm. This correlation agrees with observed visual similarity. This validation method has an advantage over traditional statistical evaluation methods when sample size is small and where domain knowledge is important. A multi-dimensional scaling analysis shows a low dimensionality nature of the embedded space for the current test set.     

Similarity-based online feature selection in content-based image retrieval.

Content-based image retrieval (CBIR) has been more and more important in the last decade, and the gap between high-level semantic concepts and low-level visual features hinders further performance improvement. The problem of online feature selection is critical to really bridge this gap. In this paper, we investigate online feature selection in the relevance feedback learning process to improve the retrieval performance of the region-based image retrieval system. Our contributions are mainly in three areas. 1) A novel feature selection criterion is proposed, which is based on the psychological similarity between the positive and negative training sets. 2) An effective online feature selection algorithm is implemented in a boosting manner to select the most representative features for the current query concept and combine classifiers constructed over the selected features to retrieve images. 3) To apply the proposed feature selection method in region-based image retrieval systems, we propose a novel region-based representation to describe images in a uniform feature space with real-valued fuzzy features. Our system is suitable for online relevance feedback learning in CBIR by meeting the three requirements: learning with small size training set, the intrinsic asymmetry property of training samples, and the fast response requirement. Extensive experiments, including comparisons with many state-of-the-arts, show the effectiveness of our algorithm in improving the retrieval performance and saving the processing time.     

航空图像压缩的双正交小波滤波器整数化设计

在航空图像压缩中,通常采用具有线性相位、正则性、消失矩和完全重构,及适于硬件实现、实时等特性的小波。根据小波滤波器设计,提出了一种基于图像压缩的构造整数双正交小波滤波器的设计方法。从选择小波基的原则为出发点,以CDF9-7小波基为参考,以压缩效果为准则来构造出更优的双正交整数小波基,并且采用航空图像为标准训练图像,以压缩比、峰值信噪比、压缩后保留能量百分比为参数,来寻找最优的小波基。试验结果证明,此方法可以实施非常简单的、无浮点乘法的运算,因而减少运算复杂性以及降低小波硬件实现的难度。     

基于嵌入式零树小波编码直方图图像检索

图像和视频应用的快速增长，使得根据图像和视频内容进行查询的技术变得越来越重要，人们提出了许多基于像素域或压缩域的图像检索技术，因为多媒体数据库通常具有相当大的数据量，所以基于像素域图像检索技术的计算复杂度相当大，因此，许多文献提出更快的基于压缩域的图像检索技术，本文提出一种改进的基于嵌入式零树小波编码直方图的图像检索技术，特征提取综合考虑图像的颜色，纹理，频率和空间信息，所有的特征可以在压缩过程中自动得到，图像检索的过程就是匹配待检索图像和来自数据库的侯选图像的索引，实验证明这种方法具有好的检索性能。     

Lifting-based wavelet domain adaptive Wiener filter for image enhancement

A method of applying lifting-based wavelet domain Wiener filter (LBWDMF) in image enhancement is proposed. Lifting schemes have emerged as a powerful method for implementing biorthogonal wavelet filters. They exploit the similarity of the filter coefficients between the low-pass and high-pass filters to provide a higher speed of execution, compared to classical wavelet transforms. LBWDMF not only helps in reducing the number of computations but also achieves lossy to lossless performance with finite precision. The proposed method utilises the multi-scale characteristics of the wavelet transform and the local statistics of each subband. The proposed method transforms an image into the wavelet domain using lifting-based wavelet filters and then applies a Wiener filter in the wavelet domain and finally transforms the result into the spatial domain. When the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) is low, transforming an image to the lifting-based wavelet domain and applying the Wiener filter in the wavelet domain produces better results than directly applying Wiener filter in spatial domain. In other words each subband is processed independently in the wavelet domain by a Wiener filter. Moreover, in order to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method the result obtained using the proposed method is compared to those using the spatial domain Wiener filter (SDWF) and classical wavelet domain Wiener filter (CWDWF). Experimental results show that the proposed method has better performance over SDWF and CWDWF both visually and in terms of PSNR.     

Generalized manifold-ranking-based image retrieval.

In this paper, we propose a general transductive learning framework named generalized manifold-ranking-based image retrieval (gMRBIR) for image retrieval. Comparing with an existing transductive learning method named MRBIR [12], our method could work well whether or not the query image is in the database; thus, it is more applicable for real applications. Given a query image, gMRBIR first initializes a pseudo seed vector based on neighborhood relationship and then spread its scores via manifold ranking to all the unlabeled images in the database. Furthermore, in gMRBIR, we also make use of relevance feedback and active learning to refine the retrieval result so that it converges to the query concept as fast as possible. Systematic experiments on a general-purpose image database consisting of 5,000 Corel images demonstrate the superiority of gMRBIR over state-of-the-art techniques.     

Multiple classifiers for color flag and trademark image retrieval

A novel region-based multiple classifier color image retrieval system is presented. In our approach, a region-growing technique is first employed to cluster connected color pixels with the same color in an image to form color regions which are the primitive elements utilized in our proposed approach. Then, three complementary region-based classifiers that we developed are selected in the classifier selection stage, which include color classifier, shape classifier, and relational classifier. In each classifier, a virtue probability representing the probability that an image is similar to the query image is defined. Thereafter a set of virtue probabilities is calculated in each classifier. Next, the measurement dependent methods are applied to combine the virtue probabilities of classifiers in the decision combination stage. The dynamic selection scheme designed in the decision combination stage can further improve the system performance dramatically. Experimental results reveal the feasibility and validity of our proposed approach in solving the color image retrieval problem     

基于多示例学习的图像检索方法

多示例学习对处理各类歧义问题有较好的效果,将它应用于周像检索问题,提出了一种新的基于多示例学习的图像检索方法。首先提取每幅图像的局部区域特征,通过对这些特征聚类求得一组基向量,并利用它们对每个局部特征向量进行编码,接着使用均值漂移聚类算法对图像进行分割,根据局部特征点位置所对应的分割块划分特征编码到相应的子集,最后将每组编码子集聚合成一个向量,这样每幅图像对应一个多示例包。根据用户选择的图像生成正包和反包,采用多示例学习算法进行学习,取得了较为满意的结果。     

Semantic clustering for region-based image retrieval

With the proliferation of applications that demand content-based image retrieval, two merits are becoming more desirable. The first is the reduced search space, and the second is the reduced “semantic gap.” This paper proposes a semantic clustering scheme to achieve these two goals. By performing clustering before image retrieval, the search space can be significantly reduced. The proposed method is different from existing image clustering methods as follows: (1) it is region based, meaning that image sub-regions, instead of the whole image, are grouped into. The semantic similarities among image regions are collected over the user query and feedback history; (2) the clustering scheme is dynamic in the sense that it can evolve to include more new semantic categories. Ideally, one cluster approximates one semantic concept or a small set of closely related semantic concepts, based on which the “semantic gap” in the retrieval is reduced.     

Robust rate-control for wavelet-based image coding via conditional probability models.

Real-time rate-control for wavelet image coding requires characterization of the rate required to code quantized wavelet data. An ideal robust solution can be used with any wavelet coder and any quantization scheme. A large number of wavelet quantization schemes (perceptual and otherwise) are based on scalar dead-zone quantization of wavelet coefficients. A key to performing rate-control is, thus, fast, accurate characterization of the relationship between rate and quantization step size, the R-Q curve. A solution is presented using two invocations of the coder that estimates the slope of each R-Q curve via probability modeling. The method is robust to choices of probability models, quantization schemes and wavelet coders. Because of extreme robustness to probability modeling, a fast approximation to spatially adaptive probability modeling can be used in the solution, as well. With respect to achieving a target rate, the proposed approach and associated fast approximation yield average percentage errors around 0.5% and 1.0% on images in the test set. By comparison, 2-coding-pass rho-domain modeling yields errors around 2.0%, and post-compression rate-distortion optimization yields average errors of around 1.0% at rates below 0.5 bits-per-pixel (bpp) that decrease down to about 0.5% at 1.0 bpp; both methods exhibit more competitive performance on the larger images. The proposed method and fast approximation approach are also similar in speed to the other state-of-the-art methods. In addition to possessing speed and accuracy, the proposed method does not require any training and can maintain precise control over wavelet step sizes, which adds flexibility to a wavelet-based image-coding system.     

Transfer subspace learning based on structure preservation for JPEG image mismatched steganalysis

In real-world steganalysis applications, the traditional steganalysis methods built by a set of training data coming from a source may be applied to detect data from another new different source. In this case, the steganalyzers will face a serious problem that training data and test data are no longer subjected to the same distribution, and thus the detection performance would degrade rapidly. To address this problem, a novel transfer subspace learning method with structure preservation for image steganalysis is proposed in this paper. It aims to alleviate the mismatch between the training and test data so as to improve the detection performance. Specifically, a discriminant projection matrix is learned for the training and test data such that the projected data of both sets lie in a common subspace where each sample can be linearly reconstructed by a combination of the training data. In this way, the difference between the training and test sets is decreased. Further, in order to preserve the structure information of features in the projection subspace, a Frobenius-norm based regularization term is introduced into the objective function. Moreover, to mitigate the negative impacts of noises and outliers, a structurally sparse error matrix is introduced to model the noise and outlier information. The formulation of the proposed method can be efficiently solved by an alternating optimization algorithm. The extensive experiments compared with prior arts show the validity of the proposed method for JPEG image mismatched steganalysis.     

基于BLOB的图像查询系统应用研究

随着图像信息处理方面应用领域的不断扩大,对如何有效地组织图像数据库地研究也越来越深入。本文介绍了一个集图像处理、热点查询和数据库于一体的面向图像的信息管理系统,该系统以BLOB为基础,采用扩充的关系数据库模式并引入图像数据库技术,使用多个小的图像数据表和图像数据索引表,解决了系统中图像数据的录入检索以及图像热点操作问题。结果表明,基于BLOB的图像查询系统既保证系统的安全性和数据的完整性,也满足了系统要求的速度和效率,是进行图像数据在数据库系统中处理与使用的有效方法。     

Directional multiscale modeling of images using the contourlet transform.

The contourlet transform is a new two-dimensional extension of the wavelet transform using multiscale and directional filter banks. The contourlet expansion is composed of basis images oriented at various directions in multiple scales, with flexible aspect ratios. Given this rich set of basis images, the contourlet transform effectively captures smooth contours that are the dominant feature in natural images. We begin with a detailed study on the statistics of the contourlet coefficients of natural images: using histograms to estimate the marginal and joint distributions and mutual information to measure the dependencies between coefficients. This study reveals the highly non-Gaussian marginal statistics and strong interlocation, interscale, and interdirection dependencies of contourlet coefficients. We also find that conditioned on the magnitudes of their generalized neighborhood coefficients, contourlet coefficients can be approximately modeled as Gaussian random variables. Based on these findings, we model contourlet coefficients using a hidden Markov tree (HMT) model with Gaussian mixtures that can capture all interscale, interdirection, and interlocation dependencies. We present experimental results using this model in image denoising and texture retrieval applications. In denoising, the contourlet HMT outperforms other wavelet methods in terms of visual quality, especially around edges. In texture retrieval, it shows improvements in performance for various oriented textures.     

A similarity learning approach to content-based image retrieval: application to digital mammography

In this paper, we describe an approach to content-based retrieval of medical images from a database, and provide a preliminary demonstration of our approach as applied to retrieval of digital mammograms. Content-based image retrieval (CBIR) refers to the retrieval of images from a database using information derived from the images themselves, rather than solely from accompanying text indices. In the medical-imaging context, the ultimate aim of CBIR is to provide radiologists with a diagnostic aid in the form of a display of relevant past cases, along with proven pathology and other suitable information. CBIR may also be useful as a training tool for medical students and residents. The goal of information retrieval is to recall from a database information that is relevant to the user's query. The most challenging aspect of CBIR is the definition of relevance (similarity), which is used to guide the retrieval machine. In this paper, we pursue a new approach, in which similarity is learned from training examples provided by human observers. Specifically, we explore the use of neural networks and support vector machines to predict the user's notion of similarity. Within this framework we propose using a hierarchal learning approach, which consists of a cascade of a binary classifier and a regression module to optimize retrieval effectiveness and efficiency. We also explore how to incorporate online human interaction to achieve relevance feedback in this learning framework. Our experiments are based on a database consisting of 76 mammograms, all of which contain clustered microcalcifications (MCs). Our goal is to retrieve mammogram images containing similar MC clusters to that in a query. The performance of the retrieval system is evaluated using precision-recall curves computed using a cross-validation procedure. Our experimental results demonstrate that: 1) the learning framework can accurately predict the perceptual similarity reported by human observers, thereby serving as a basis for CBIR; 2) the learning-based framework can significantly outperform a simple distance-based similarity metric; 3) the use of the hierarchical two-stage network can improve retrieval performance; and 4) relevance feedback can be effectively incorporated into this learning framework to achieve improvement in retrieval precision based on online interaction with users; and 5) the retrieved images by the network can have predicting value for the disease condition of the query.     

Medical image compression by using three-dimensional wavelet transformation

This paper proposes a three-dimensional (3-D) medical image compression method for computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) that uses a separable nonuniform 3-D wavelet transform. The separable wavelet transform employs one filter bank within two-dimensional (2-D) slices and then a second filter bank on the slice direction. CT and MR image sets normally have different resolutions within a slice and between slices. The pixel distances within a slice are normally less than 1 mm and the distance between slices can vary from 1 mm to 10 mm. To find the best filter bank in the slice direction, the authors use the various filter banks in the slice direction and compare the compression results. The results from the 12 selected MR and CT image sets at various slice thickness show that the Haar transform in the slice direction gives the optimum performance for most image sets, except for a CT image set which has 1 mm slice distance. Compared with 2-D wavelet compression, compression ratios of the 3-D method are about 70% higher for CT and 35% higher for MR image sets at a peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) of 50 dB, In general, the smaller the slice distance, the better the 3-D compression performance.     

Optimization of wavelet decomposition for image compression and feature preservation

A neural-network-based framework has been developed to search for an optimal wavelet kernel that can be used for a specific image processing task. In this paper, a linear convolution neural network was employed to seek a wavelet that minimizes errors and maximizes compression efficiency for an image or a defined image pattern such as microcalcifications in mammograms and bone in computed tomography (CT) head images. We have used this method to evaluate the performance of tap-4 wavelets on mammograms, CTs, magnetic resonance images, and Lena images. We found that the Daubechies wavelet or those wavelets with similar filtering characteristics can produce the highest compression efficiency with the smallest mean-square-error for many image patterns including general image textures as well as microcalcifications in digital mammograms. However, the Haar wavelet produces the best results on sharp edges and low-noise smooth areas. We also found that a special wavelet whose low-pass filter coefficients are 0.32252136, 0.85258927, 1.38458542, and -0.14548269) produces the best preservation outcomes in all tested microcalcification features including the peak signal-to-noise ratio, the contrast and the figure of merit in the wavelet lossy compression scheme. Having analyzed the spectrum of the wavelet filters, we can find the compression outcomes and feature preservation characteristics as a function of wavelets. This newly developed optimization approach can be generalized to other image analysis applications where a wavelet decomposition is employed.