An alternative image retrieval system based on visual and thematic corpus organisation

Retrieving images in large databases involves either thematic or visual querying capabilities. We think that both approaches can be efficiently combined to provide a thematically and visually relevant retrieval. This paper deals with bi-modal access in image retrieval systems. Our approach relies on a corpus organisation based on both visual and thematic clustering, allowing access to non-indexed images. An adapted retrieval process has been designed to reformulate queries, taking into account users´ judgements that deal with thematic and visual aspects of their information needs