Color name based search

• US 10,430,857 B1
• Filed: 08/01/2014
• Issued: 10/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Haitani, Robert Yuji, Dorner, Charles Shearer
• Primary Examiner(s): Palavecino, Kathleen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cai, Lance Y
• Application Number:
  US14/450,032
• Time in Patent Office: 1,887 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9532 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/22 Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/231 Hierarchical techniques, i.e. dividing or merging pattern sets so as to obtain a dendrogram
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0627 using item specifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10024 Color image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/90 Determination of colour characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/56 relating to colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/761 Proximity, similarity or dissimilarity measures
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/7625 Hierarchical techniques, i.e. dividing or merging patterns to obtain a tree-like representation; Dendograms

Abstract

Systems and methods are described that facilitate searches based at least in part on a color name. Given a reference color name, one or more additional color names that are associated with the reference color name can be identified. Colors corresponding to these color names can be determined, which in turn serve as basis for determining one or more search colors for the reference color name in a search context. The system may further identify images that contain the determined search colors. The identified images and associated metadata can be analyzed, sorted and provided as a list of items.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for recommending items based at least in part on a color name, the computer-implemented method comprising:

under control of a hardware computing device configured with specific computer executable instructions,

obtaining, from a user computing device, a first color name;

identifying at least one second color name associated with the first color name, wherein at least a portion of the at least one second color name linguistically matches at least a portion of the first color name;

determining a plurality of root colors, wherein each root color of the plurality of root colors corresponds to the first color name or the at least one second color name;

determining a plurality of color ranges, wherein each color range of the plurality of color ranges is determined for a respective root color of the plurality of root colors, wherein determining the plurality of color ranges further comprises;

determining a first color range for a first root color of the plurality of root colors based at least in part on first statistical data associated with the first color name, wherein the first statistical data indicates a first color distance for the first root color in a color space, the first color distance different than a second color distance indicated by second statistical data associated with another color name, wherein the color space corresponds to a coordinate system, and wherein the first root color corresponds to a first coordinate within the coordinate system;

identifying a plurality of search color candidates from the plurality of color ranges, wherein each search color candidate of the plurality of search color candidates is determined from a color range of the plurality of color ranges and is associated with a respective color name;

causing display, in a user interface, of at least an indication of a first color candidate and a second color candidate of the plurality of search color candidates, the first color candidate associated with a first candidate color range and the second color candidate associated with a second candidate color range;

receiving, from the user computing device, a selection of the first color candidate;

determining a refined color range from the first candidate color range that excludes the second candidate color range, wherein the refined color range corresponds to an area within the coordinate system of the color space;

selecting a refined search color from the refined color range;

identifying one or more corresponding items from a plurality of items, each item of the plurality of items associated with an image of the item, wherein identifying the one or more corresponding items further comprises;

extracting an image color from a first image of a first item;

comparing the image color from the image to the refined search color in the color space, wherein comparing the image color to the refined search color further comprises;

calculating an integer search range, wherein calculating the integer search range further comprises interleaving bits from a color distance threshold of the refined search color;

initiating a search of a data store based at least in part on a search query comprising the integer search range as a search parameter, the data store comprising a record associated with at least one indexed integer color value; and

receiving a search result from the data store, the search result comprising a first record associated with a first indexed integer color value for the image color, an indication of the search result corresponding to the image color and the refined search color being within the color distance threshold; and

selecting the first item from the plurality of items based at least in part on the indication of the search result; and

providing information regarding the one or more corresponding items to the user computing device for display.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least one root color of the plurality of root colors is determined based, at least in part, on a relationship between at least one color name of a plurality of color names and at least one color of a plurality of colors.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the relationship between the at least one color name and the at least one color is derived, at least in part, from a survey of a set of users.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first statistical data comprises a standard deviation of at least one of color values or color distances derived, at least in pert from a survey of a set of users.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the second candidate color range corresponds to a second area, and wherein the area of the refined color range excludes the second area.

6. A computer-implemented method comprising:

under control of a hardware computing device configured with specific computer-executable instructions,

determining at least one root color based, at least in part, on a first color name;

determining a first color range for the at least one root color based at least in part on first statistical data associated with the first color name, wherein the first statistical data indicates a first color distance for the at least one root color in a color space, the first color distance different than a second color distance indicated by second statistical data associated with another color name, wherein the color space corresponds to a coordinate system, and wherein the at least one root color corresponds to a first coordinate within the coordinate system;

identifying a plurality of search color candidates, wherein each search color candidate of the plurality of search color candidates is associated with a respective color name and is similar to the at least one root color in accordance with the first color range;

causing display, in a user interface, of at least an indication of a first color candidate and a second color candidate of the plurality of search color candidates, the first color candidate associated with a first candidate color range and the second color candidate associated with a second candidate color range;

receiving a selection of the first color candidate;

determining a refined color range from the first candidate color range that excludes the second candidate color range, wherein the refined color range corresponds to an urea within the coordinate system of the color space;

selecting a refined search color from the refined color range;

identifying one or more corresponding items from a plurality of items, each item of the plurality of items associated with an image of the item, wherein identifying the one or more corresponding items further comprises;

extracting an image color from first image of a first item;

comparing the image color from the image to the refined search color in the color space, wherein comparing the image color to the refined search color further comprises;

calculating an integer search range, wherein calculating the integer search range further comprises interleaving bits from a color distance threshold of the refined search color,

initiating a search of a data store based at least in part on a search query comprising the integer search range as a search parameter, the data store comprising a record associated with at least one indexed integer color value; and

receiving a search result from the data store, the search result comprising a first record associated with a first indexed integer color value for the image color, an indication of the search result corresponding to the image color and the refined search color being within the color distance threshold; and

selecting the first item from the plurality of items based at least in part on the indication of the search result; and

causing display, in the user interface, of information regarding the one or more corresponding items.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 further comprising:

identifying at least one second color name, wherein the at least one second color name is linguistically associated with the first color name and wherein the determining of the at least one root color is further based at least in part on the at least one second color name.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the at least one root color comprises a combined color based at least in part on a weighted average of distinct colors corresponding to the first color name or the at least one second color name in accordance with a relationship between at least one of the first or second color names and at least one of the distinct colon.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein identifying the plurality of search color candidates is based, at least in part, on at least a distribution of the search color candidates in the color space.

10. A system comprising:

a data store configured to at least store computer-executable instructions; and

a hardware processor in communication with the data store, the hardware processor configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to at least;

determine at least one root color based, at least in part, on a color name;

determine a first color range for the at least one root color based at least in part on first statistical data associated with the color name, wherein the first statistical data indicates a first color distance for the at least one root color in a color space, the first color distance different than a second color distance indicated by second statistical data associated with another color name, wherein the color space corresponds to a coordinate system, and wherein the at least one root color corresponds to a first coordinate within the coordinate system;

identify a plurality of search color candidates, wherein each search color candidate of the plurality of search color candidates is associated with a respective color name and is similar to the at least one root color in accordance with the first color range;

cause display, in a user interface, of at least an indication of a first color candidate and a second color candidate of the plurality of search color candidates, the first color candidate associated with a first candidate color range and the second color candidate associated with a second candidate color range;

receive a selection of the first color candidate;

determine a refined color range from the first candidate color range that excludes the second candidate color range, wherein the refined color range corresponds to an area within the coordinate system of the color space;

select a refined search color from the refined color range;

identify an image from a plurality of images based, at least in part, on the refined search color, wherein identifying the image further comprises;

extracting an image color from the image;

comparing the image color from the image to the refined search color in the color space, wherein comparing the image color to the refined search color further comprises;

calculating an integer search range, wherein calculating the integer search range further comprises interleaving bits from a color distance threshold of the refined search color;

initiating a search of a data store based at least in part on a search query comprising the integer search range as a search parameter, the data store comprising a record associated with at least one indexed integer color value; and

receiving a search result from the data store, the search result comprising a first record associated with a first indexed integer color value for the image color, an indication of the search result corresponding to the image color and the refined search color being within the color distance threshold; and

selecting the image from the plurality of images based at least in part on the indication of the search result; and

cause display, in the user interface, of the image.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

identify an item associated with the image; and

cause display, in the user interface, of information regarding the item.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the second candidate color range corresponds to a second area.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the refined color range excludes the second area.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to execute computer-executable instructions to at least generate the user interface, wherein the user interlace is configured to display at one or more color names associated with the plurality of search color candidates.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions that when executed by a processor perform operations comprising:

determining at least one root color based, at least in part, on a color name;

determining a first color range for the at least one root color based at least in part on first statistical data associated with the color name, wherein the first statistical data indicates a first color distance for the at least one root color in a color space, the first color distance different than a second color distance indicated by second statistical data associated with another color name, wherein the color space corresponds to a coordinate system, and wherein the at least one root color corresponds to a first coordinate within the coordinate system;

identifying a plurality of search color candidates, wherein each search color candidate of the plurality of search color candidates is associated with a respective color name and is similar to the at least one root color in accordance with the first color range;

causing display, in a user interface, of at least an indication of a first color candidate and a second color candidate of the plurality of search color candidates, the first color candidate associated with a first candidate color range and the second color candidate associated with a second candidate color range;

receiving a selection of the first color candidate;

determining a refined color range from the first candidate color range that excludes the second candidate color range, wherein the refined color range corresponds to an area within the coordinate system of the color space;

selecting a refined search color from the refined color range;

identifying one of more corresponding items from a plurality of items, each item of the plurality of items associated with an image of the item, wherein identifying the one or more corresponding items further comprises;

extracting an image color from a fast image of a first item; and

comparing the image color from the image to the refined search color in the color space, wherein comparing the image color to the refined search color further comprises;

calculating an integer search range, wherein calculating the integer search range further comprises interleaving bits from a color distance threshold of the refined search color;

initiating a search of a data store based at least in part on a search query comprising the integer search rang as a search parameter, the data store comprising a record associated with at least one indexed integer color value; and

receiving a search result from the data store, the search result comprising a first record associated with a first indexed integer color value for the image color, an indication of the search result corresponding to the image color and the refined search color being within the color distance threshold; and

selecting the first item from the plurality of items based at least in part on the indication of the search result; and

causing display, in the user interface, of information regarding the one or more corresponding items.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the second candidate color range corresponds to a second area, and wherein the area of the refined color range excludes the second area.

17. The no-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise determining a context of the color name.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the context of the color name corresponds to at least one of an item, a category of items, a time, a trend, a language, a geographic region, a culture, a gender, an age, or a social community.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein at least one of the determining the at least one root color, the identifying the plurality of search color candidates, or the determining the refined search color is based, at least in part, on the context of the color name.