Picture this - automatic image categorisation

Creating, storing and transmitting visual images has become increasingly easy. Yet the same problem always arises – how to categorise or classify visual images automatically without using external metadata or image thumbnails? There now may be an answer.
Researchers in the IST project LAVA have developed a method of automatically categorising the content of digital images, providing an effective means of storing and retrieving digital image content without having to rely on additional metadata. The developed techniques should be of real value for document and content management, making it much easier for users to search for images as well as text.