Dr. Klinger is internationally known for his work in the fields of image analysis by means of computers, for which he was elected to the grade of Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, January 1, 1984; vector optimization, for two published contributions, the first in the IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 1964; data structures, for his articles and books, including the section with that title in The Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology, 1987, 1992; and human-computer interaction, where his conference and book contributions (see below) make him an early leader in highlighting this important topic. Prof. A. Rosenfeld introduced him to a multilevel processing conference as "the father of quadtrees." A Russian book on multivariable control cited his vector optimization papers as seminal contributions.

His published books and papers include work in optimization, stochastic control, pattern recognition, data structures, and human-computer interaction. He is particularly famous for his work in surveying Image Pattern Recognition Research in the then Soviet Union: he was the committee chairman for a federally sponsored review, and the editor of the 1990 published report. He has been the initiator of numerous conferences and workshops in the subjects of data structures in pattern recognition, serving as conference chairman several times, and as the technical program chairman of Third International Joint Conference on Pattern Recognition. He is the editor of one book, Human Machine Interactive Systems, Plenum Press, 1991; and co-editor of two others: Data Structures, Computer Graphics and Pattern Recognition, with K. Fu and T. Kunii, Academic Press, 1977; and Structured Computer Vision, (with S. Tanimoto), Academic Press, 1980.