Image retrieval using spatial icons

We propose an adaptive semantic image indexing framework based on the notion of semantic support regions. Semantic support regions are salient image regions that exhibit semantic meanings and that can be derived statistically to span a new indexing space. We perform the learning and indexing of semantic support regions for 2400 heterogeneous consumer photos using support vector machines. We demonstrate the uniqueness and effectiveness of query by spatial icons, supported by our semantic indexing framework, with 12 queries.