Fuzzy integral for leaf image retrieval

Generally, the more features utilized, the better the retrieval performance. However, it is a very challenging task to combine different feature sets in a way reflecting human perception. This paper presents the combination of different shape based feature sets using fuzzy integral for leaf image retrieval. The feature sets used in our system include centroid-contour distance curve, eccentricity, and angle code histogram. The fuzzy integral approach can release the user's burden from tuning the combination parameters. In order to reduce the matching time in the retrieval process, a thinning based method is proposed to locate the start point of a leaf contour. Experimental results on 440 leaf images from 44 plant species (10 samples from each plant species) show that the fuzzy integral approach can achieve a comparable retrieval performance with the best case of the weighted summation combination. The results also indicate that our approach, which are more efficient, can achieve a better retrieval performance than both the curvature scale space (CSS) method and the modified Fourier descriptor (MFD) method.