Patent US 8,775,428

Method and apparatus for predicting properties of a target object comprise application of a search manager for analyzing parameters of a plurality of databases for a plurality of objects, the databases comprising an electrical, electromagnetic, acoustic and thermal spectral database (ESD), a micro-body assemblage database (MAD) and a database of image data whereby the databases store data objects containing identifying features, source information and information on site properties and context including time and frequency varying data. The method comprises application of multivariate statistical analysis and principal component analysis in combination with content-based image retrieval for providing two-dimensional attributes of three dimensional objects, for example, via preferential image segmentation using a tree of shapes and to predict further properties of objects by means of k-means clustering and related methods. By way of example, an evidence tree display showing a target object linked by a pathway to a predicted property comprises a similarity value, a speculation value and a model-based rank.