The WINDSURF library for the efficient retrieval of multimedia hierarchical data

Several modem multimedia applications require the management of complex data, that can be defined as hierarchical objects consisting of several component elements. In such scenarios, the concept of similarity between complex objects clearly recursively depends on the similarity between component data, making difficult the resolution of several common tasks, like processing of queries and understanding the impact of different alternatives available for the definition of similarity between objects. To overcome such limitations, in this paper we present the WINDSURF library for management of multimedia hierarchical data. The goal of the library is to provide a general framework for assessing the performance of alternative query processing techniques for efficient retrieval of complex data that arise in several multimedia applications, such as image/video retrieval and the comparison of collection of documents. We designed the library so as to include characteristics of generality, flexibility, and extensibility: these are provided by way of a number of different templates that can be appropriately instantiated in order to realize the particular retrieval model needed by the user.