HTC, a fast P2P image browser based on JXTA

Hunt the Cluster (HTC) is an interactive image browser for small to medium-sized P2P networks that uses methods that are likely to scale also to larger networks. In Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks, computers with equal rights form a logical (overlay) network in order to provide a common service that lies beyond the capacity of each single participant. Current research on retrieval in P2P systems focuses largely on keyword-based retrieval and other weakly interactive query paradigms. In contrast, interaction is at the center of our contribution. We demo a Bayesian, PicHunter-like image browser that helps the user in finding images in distributed collections. Such browsers operate by presenting sequences of thumbnail-based collection overviews to the user, at each step collecting user feedback that is used to update a Bayesian model. Our approach is scalable in that the state of the Bayesian model is maintained locally in the browsing peer and only a few thumbnails are requested from the network at each step. Each query step is thus done in a short timeframe. At the conference we will present one peer that is connected to a P2P network consisting of 50 peers, letting visitors try the browsing functionality of our system.