Qualitative spatial relationships for image interpretation by using a conceptual graph

In this paper, a new way to express complex spatial relations is proposed in order to integrate them in a Constraint Satisfaction Problem with bilevel constraints (CSPBCCSPBC). The two levels of constraint were introduced to deal with the non bijective matching between segmented regions of an image and the nodes of a conceptual graph describing the semantic content of the image. This new system of spatial relations allows to build conceptual graphs describing more precisely the spatial relations between subparts of a composite object that we look for in an image. For example, it allows to express complex spatial relations such as “is surrounded by”. This approach can be applied to image interpretation and some examples on real images are presented.