CAREER: Multimedia Analysis and Retrieval System

这项研究的重点是开发一个集成的多媒体信息检索和数据库管理基础设施，以支持多媒体信息作为一类对象，能够基于其丰富的内部内容进行存储和检索。具体地说，正在探索以下技术：(1)在对检索有用的多个语义级别上提取和表示多媒体内容；(2)将基于文本的信息检索方法推广到基于内容的多媒体检索；(3)将高级查询映射到由数据库支持的低级表示；(4)执行克服多媒体特征空间的高维和非欧几里德性质的特征索引；(5)在数据库管理系统中集成作为访问路径的特征索引机制；以及(6)在数据库管理系统中支持分级检索。在此基础上，正在设计一个将多媒体数据与传统存储在数据库中的结构化信息无缝集成的原型系统--多媒体分析和检索系统(MARS)。在教育方面，正在修改现有的数据库课程，以纳入多媒体信息系统的不断发展的研究和开发。此外，MARS原型系统正在作为一种教学、教育和研究工具提供，以研究支持基于内容的检索中的人为因素问题。这项研究不仅可能对未来多媒体信息系统的设计产生影响，而且还将被证明是有益于其他领域的，包括地理信息检索、规划和数据库系统上的推理应用。Http://www-mars.cs.uiuc.edu

This research focuses on developing an integrated multimedia information retrieval and database management infrastructure that provides support for multimedia information as first-class objects capable of being stored and retrieved based on their rich internal content. Specifically, techniques are being explored to (1) extract and represent multimedia content at multiple semantic levels useful for retrieval; (2) generalize text-based information retrieval approaches for content-based multimedia retrieval; (3) map high-level queries to lower-level representations supported by the database; (4) perform feature indexing that overcomes the high-dimensionality and non-euclidean nature of multimedia feature spaces; (5) integrate feature indexing mechanisms as access paths in database management systems; and (6) support ranked retrieval in database management systems. Based on the research, a prototype system, entitled Multimedia Analysis and Retrieval System (MARS), that seamlessly integrates multimedia data with structured information traditionally stored in databases is being designed. On the educational front, the existing database curriculum is being modified to incorporate evolving research and development in multimedia information systems. Also, the MARS prototype system is being made available as a teaching, education, and research tool to study human factors issues in supporting content-based retrieval. This research not only has the potential to impact the design of future multimedia information systems but will also prove beneficial to other areas including geographical information retrieval, planning and reasoning applications over database systems. http://www-mars.cs.uiuc.edu