An Efficient Retrieval Technique for Trademarks Based on the Fuzzy Inference System

The existing trademark image retrieval (TIR) approaches mostly use complex image features, the integration of multi features, a tree structure, etc. to enable highly accurate retrieval. However, there is the heavy computational burden for complex image features and maximum similarity subtree isomorphism (MSSI) measurement. This paper aims to provide an efficient solution for TIR in real-time applications, especially in measuring the similarity between multi-object trademark images. In particular, we propose a novel algorithm for tree similarity measurement based on the fuzzy inference system (FIS) to improve retrieval efficiency. Furthermore, the integration of global and local geometric descriptors is used to enable accurate retrieval. The global descriptor is computed by employing the Hu moments, while the local descriptors are generated by using a tree structure based on the five geometric features: convexity, eccentricity, compactness, circle variance, and elliptic variance. During the retrieval process, the similarity coefficient between the query and the database image is obtained from the similarity of the global and local descriptors. The proposed technique is evaluated using 1800 trademark images, including 12 different classes and 416 trademark images. Additionally, the three common indices, the precision/recall rate, the Bull’s eye score, and the average normalized modified retrieval rank (ANMRR) are used as the performance indices. The experimental results show that the proposed technique is superior to the other two competitive approaches. It shows 19.43% and 26.78% precision/recall improvement, 19.56% and 30.58% improvement in the average Bull’s eye score, and 0.167 and 0.236 improvement in the ANMRR score, respectively, for the 416 query images. It can be concluded from the experimental analysis that the proposed technique not only provides reliable retrieval results but also improves the retrieval efficiency by 151 times in the retrieval process.