On hierarchical multimedia information retrieval

This paper presents a data warehousing approach to hierarchical multimedia information retrieval. To tackle the key issues such as multimedia data representation, storage, integration, indexing, similarity measures, searching methods and query processing, the proposed algorithms allow one: 1) to extend the concepts of conventional data warehouse and multimedia databases to multimedia data warehouses for effective data representation and storage; 2) to develop a multimedia starflake schema to integrate multiple data streams for hierarchical data representation and indexing; 3) to apply data aggregation techniques for decision support to speed up query processing and searching. In addition, the new system architecture is compared with a conventional database structure. Furthermore, a case study is presented to illustrate the development of a content-based image retrieval system for cyclone pattern recognition. We conclude that the proposed approach can be applied to other multimedia systems with effective data storage, retrieval and integration.