Abstract
This paper reports a generic object-oriented framework for content-based image retrieval systems. It is designed so that basic data structures and functionality of a typical content-based image retrieval (CBIR) system are provided without sacrificing speed and flexibility. The framework is based on a 5-tier architecture that allows modules in different tiers to be developed independently and thus flexibility is ensured. We show in this paper that our framework is able to adapt to a wide range of CBIR applications by applying the framework to the development of two on-going projects: a trademark image retrieval system and a medical (histological) image retrieval system. These applications are briefly discussed.