ImageTrainer™ is an Industry First -- VIMA Releases Software so that "Anybody" Can Create Custom Image Classifiers

"If the concept is identifiable by a person while viewing at arm’s length, that’s a good rule-of-thumb for whether ImageTrainer will be effective."

Santa Barbara, CA - May 30th, 2006 - VIMA Technologies, Inc. announced today that ImageTrainer™ v4.0 is out of beta testing and is now available for broader distribution. ImageTrainer™ is a simplified application for creating image classifiers which then can be used to block objectionable image, add metatags to images, for quality control on image ingestion, or for many other applications which require recognizing a visual distinction among images. It is packaged with ImageFilter™ 4.0 to provide a complete image classification application.

"We have packaged the same technology that we used to create our industry-leading pornographic image filter into an easy-to-use application. Our customer experience showed us that although filtering of objectionable images is important, there are many other applications for image recognition. We’ve provided packages for quality control – to separate photographic images from computer-generated graphics – and for automatic scene recognition for personal image collections. We can determine an image is a beach scene with almost 90% accuracy," explained David Telleen-Lawton, President and CEO.

ImageTrainer™ uses a proprietary set of image-specific features developed by VIMA since 2001. These features are combined with machine-learning algorithms to create a model file for a particular concept. Telleen-Lawton points out, "If the concept is identifiable by a person while viewing at arm’s length, that’s a good rule-of-thumb for whether ImageTrainer will be effective." So far, companies have used it to modify VIMA’s own Objectionable Image Filter to be more sensitive to their specific traffic and image characteristics and to expand the concept of what is objectionable. Others have used it to lessen the demand on human inspectors to differentiate graphics from photos in image collections where photography is featured.

ImageTrainer™ is thought to be the first commercially available implementation of machine learning for image classification. "Researchers around the country have used graduate students as an economical way to perform the tedious task of preparing images for training classifiers. ImageTrainer™ speeds up that process. Although this is really the first public release of the product, we have called it v4.0 because it works in conjunction with VIMA’s recently announced ImageFilter v4.0 and its latest image features and training algorithms," according to Telleen-Lawton.

VIMA licences ImageTrainer annually on a subscription basis.

About VIMA Technologies, Inc.
VIMA’s patented image search and image categorization processes allow it to lead the industry in content-based image search and categorization for both speed and accuracy. VIMA is probably best known for offering the only active learning image search solution in the market and the only company offering tunable image categorization and filtering solutions. VIMA Technologies, Inc. is a privately-held company located in Santa Barbara, California, just down the street from the University of California at Santa Barbara. For more information, visit: www.VIMAtech.com.

VIMA Technologies, Inc. is located at 5385 Hollister Avenue, Santa Barbara, California 93111.
You can reach us by telephone at 805-681-1658 or via email at info@VIMAtech.com.

For Media Inquiries, contact:

David Telleen-Lawton
Phone: (805)681-1658
Fax: (805)683-1849
DTL@VIMAtech.com