A new semantic text-image search engine for car designers

The Trends Research ENabler for Design Specifications (TRENDS) system integrates flexible content-based image retrieval facilities with database management and other useful functionalities that aim at improving the inspirational information gathering process in the early design stages. TRENDS is a 6th Framework Programme IST project, funded by the EC that started 01/01/2006 and will end 31/12/2008. It aims at elaborating the design trend boards dedicated to product designers in business to consumer markets such as for the automotive and original equipment manufacturers. The main innovation is related to the content based image and semantic text information search engines and to the integration of the elements under a cutting edge user interface specially designed to fulfill the designerspsila requirements.