Editing Content-based image retrieval (section)

===Query By Example===
'''QBE''' ([[Query by example|'''Q'''uery '''B'''y '''E'''xample]]) is a query technique<ref>{{cite web
|quote=QBE is a language for querying ...
|url=https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SS9UMF_11.2.1/ugr/ugr/tpc/dsq_query_by_ex.html
|title=Query-by-Example |website=IBM.com KnowledgeCenter}}</ref> that involves providing the CBIR system with an example image that it will then base its search upon.  The underlying search algorithms may vary depending on the application, but result images should all share common elements with the provided example.<ref name="Shapiro2001" />{{See also|Reverse image search}}

Options for providing example images to the system include:
* A preexisting image may be supplied by the user or chosen from a random set.
* The user draws a rough approximation of the image they are looking for, for example with blobs of color or general shapes.<ref name="Shapiro2001">{{cite book | last=Shapiro | first=Linda |author-link=Linda Shapiro|author2=George Stockman | title=Computer Vision | isbn=978-0-13-030796-5 | year=2001 | publisher=Prentice Hall | location=Upper Saddle River, NJ }}</ref>

This query technique removes the difficulties that can arise when trying to describe images with words.