Efficient navigation in an image retrieval system

The authors describe the main features of a prototype image retrieval system. The assumptions that the database is located at a remote site and that the network connecting it to the user´s workstation is relatively poor in bandwidth force the design of sophisticated navigation procedures together with user-friendly interaction interfaces. In order to have an acceptable response time the user must be able to identify the desired images easily without having to transfer a large number of eventually useless ones. Besides a general presentation of the system, the authors detail its navigational structure and the superimposed user interface