A line string image representation for image storage and retrieval

Efficient storage and flexible retrieval are two principle needs in an image database. Image representation is the crucial factor in fulfilling these requirements. The paper proposes an image representation, including an image data structure and a spatial knowledge representation, that will facilitate the above two demands. The proposed data structure, called a line string, encodes an image via a string of skeletal lines and retrieves an image through string matching. The proposed spatial representation, called an OOLS, provides a structural and easy way to specify the line string in a database query. The paper also compares space needs and matching speed of line strings to other string data structures.