Multimedia semantic features and image content description

Content based indexing and retrieval of images and video requires a proper semantic description for image content. The paper discusses the mapping of high level, application specific features to the visual primitives that are accessible through image processing techniques. A major difficulty is that there are currently no established methodologies for describing the contents of an image in terms of semantic features, and we suggest that semiotic approaches could be adapted to the task of image description in limited areas of expertise. After reviewing current trends in the mapping of high level to low level features, we present preliminary results that suggest a possible strategy for mapping semiotic descriptions to image processing primitives.