18. The method of claim 16 , wherein a search system and the reference media database are combined in a portable device and the portable device identifies a reference traversal hash signature that is a closest match to a query signature providing access to the selected image feature and associated media content in the reference media database.
16. A method for creating a media database, the method comprising: determining a center x coordinate, a center y coordinate, a scale factor sx in the x direction, and a scale factor sy in the y direction for a selected image feature in a selected frame of a video clip; generating an N-dimensional descriptor having K digit values for the selected image feature based on a matrix of pixels centered on the center x and center y coordinates and with a spatial extent around the selected image feature determined by dimensions of A*sx by B*sy, wherein A and B are predetermined factors; applying a first threshold to the N-dimensional descriptor to generate a binary signature having K digit values; combining bits associated with the N-dimensional descriptor to generate a combined descriptor having H digit values, H<K; and applying a second threshold to the combined descriptor to generate a reference traversal hash signature having H digit values, wherein the reference traversal hash signature provides a link to the selected image feature and associated media content in a reference media database.