VIMA Technologies Extends Its Image Filtering Product Portfolio with Launch of Pornography Detection Software

Using patented Perception-Based Image Recognition (PBIR) technology; ImageBeagle scans, detects, and eliminates unwanted adult images on your PC or Macintosh computer

Santa Barbara, CA - July 10th, 2003 - VIMA Technologies' release of ImageBeagle and ImageBeagle Lite has filled a void in the content filtering market where web filtering and blocking, time-limiting and monitoring controls, and pre-selected content services fall short. Using patent-pending Perception-Based Image Recognition (PBIR) technology, ImageBeagle scans and analyzes a user's or company's hard drive and internet cache for adult images and provides an effective tool for parents and companies to detect the presence of inappropriate material on their computers.  ImageBeagle displays the images in list or thumbnail view for easy selection and deletion or to exclude files from future scans, and provides an activity report listing date and time of scan, total images scanned, and list of specific image files identified for review.

Nearly all content filtering products rely on text-based analysis, which uses keywords to identify images.  This approach must rely on whatever name has been given to an image file, and therefore often misses images with innocuous names, or over-filters images with ambiguous names.  It also requires the scanning software to be implemented in multiple languages.  Other products that do attempt image analysis depend heavily on simple detection of skin-tones, which severely reduces their accuracy in identifying classes of images, making it difficult to differentiate between art, pornography, and medical photos.

ImageBeagle recognizes images using Perception-Based Image Recognition (PBIR), which combines artificial intelligence and cognitive psychological concepts to analyze visual images the way a set of human eyes does.  The PBIR process breaks an image down into more than 150 features.  These image features are then compared in multiple dimensions to determine an image's similarity with one or more other images.  Based on a training set of sample images containing both positive and negative examples of pornography, the ImageBeagle learning engine gains the capability to score images as more or less "objectionable," and therefore worthy of review.

"The number of porn sites published daily and the increase of unsolicited e-mails containing pornographic images has changed the way families and companies view the Internet." said Michael Crandell, CEO and President of VIMA Technologies.  "Because ImageBeagle's high accuracy and simple interface, it is a great tool to double check what objectionable material is a problem and may even be falling through the cracks of your existing web filters and parental control software."

About VIMA Technologies VIMA Technologies is an industry leader of image filtering and analyzing software, providing customers with a wide range of integrated multimedia filtering, retrieval, and organization solutions.  With innovative patent-pending technologies, VIMA's PBIR-based modules are easily integrated into existing databases, web crawlers, and text-based search engines across almost all platforms, using standard interfaces.  VIMA is revolutionizing the way people filter, search for, manage, and interact with visual information.

VIMA Technologies, Inc. is headquartered at 3944 State Street, Suite 340, Santa Barbara, CA 93105 and can be reached at 805-569-9022 or at www.vimatech.com or www.imagebeagle.com.

For Media Inquiries, contact:

David Telleen-Lawton
Phone: (805) 685-7067
Fax: (805) 685-2178
DTL@VIMAtech.com,