Systems and methods for spatial thumbnails and companion maps for media objects

• US 20070198951A1
• Filed: 02/12/2007
• Published: 08/23/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Original Assignee: Metacarta, Inc.
• Inventors: Frank, John
• Application Number:
  US11/705,269
• Publication Number:
  US 20070198951A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/838
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/438 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/487 using geographical or spatial information, e.g. location
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

Under one aspect, a computer-implemented method of displaying information about search results representing media objects, wherein at least one media object is associated with location-related content corresponding to a location, includes: receiving a query from the user; transmitting the query to a search engine; receiving search results from the search engine based on the query, each search result representing a media object; obtaining a spatial thumbnail for a search result representing a media object that is associated with location-related content corresponding to a location, the spatial thumbnail comprising an image of a spatial domain encompassing the location; and simultaneously displaying both the search results and the obtained spatial thumbnail on a visual display.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of displaying information about search results representing media objects, wherein at least one media object is associated with location-related content corresponding to a location, the method comprising:

receiving a query from the user;

transmitting the query to a search engine;

receiving search results from the search engine based on the query, each search result representing a media object;

obtaining a spatial thumbnail for a search result representing a media object that is associated with location-related content corresponding to a location, the spatial thumbnail comprising an image of a spatial domain encompassing the location; and

simultaneously displaying both the search results and the obtained spatial thumbnail on a visual display.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the search results represent digital media objects stored in a document repository.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the search results represent digital media objects accessible via the World Wide Web.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a summary of the represented media object.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein displaying the summary comprises displaying at least one of a fragment of the represented media object and an image of the represented media object.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the query from the user comprises one of a free-text query, a free-text query with other query constraints, a selection from a list of options, and navigating through a sequence of links.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the spatial thumbnail further comprises a visual indicator indicating the location within the image of the domain.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the visual indicator represents a subset of the location-related content.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the visual indicator comprises a marker icon or arrow.

10. The method of claim 7, comprising selecting a type of visual indicator based on a type of location reference expressed in the location-related content.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the represented media object comprises one of a digital document, text document, living organism, paper document, rock, video, email message, web page, slide show presentation, spread sheet, equation rendering, music, or book.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the spatial domain comprises one of a geographic domain, a physical and non-geographic domain, and a fictional domain.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the spatial domain encompasses location-related content from multiple media objects represented by the search results.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the image comprises at least one of a two-dimensional image, a three-dimensional image, an animated image, a computer-generated hologram, and a sculpture.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the spatial thumbnail of the represented media object comprises one of obtaining the spatial thumbnail from a repository and generating the spatial thumbnail, wherein generating the spatial thumbnail comprises obtaining the location-related content of the represented media object and obtaining the image of the spatial domain encompassing the location.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the location-related content comprises at least one of a geographical reference and a spatial relationship within the represented media object.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the location-related content is generated by an automated geoparsing engine.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the location-related content expresses a subset of geospatial refererences within the represented media object, the subset of geospatial references being selected by the automated geoparsing engine.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the search results comprise at least one of a hyperlink and a bibliographic reference to the represented media object.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically generating the location-related content associated with the represented media object by performing the steps of:

identifying a spatial reference within the represented media object;

associating a location with the identified spatial reference, the location being represented by a set of coordinates of a selected coordinate system; and

encoding the set of coordinates in the location-related content.

21. An interface program stored on a computer-readable medium for causing a computer system with a display device to display information about search results representing media objects, wherein at least some of the media objects are associated with location-related content corresponding to locations, the interface program causing the computer system to perform the functions of:

receiving a query from the user;

transmitting the query to a search engine;

receiving search results from the search engine based on the query, each search result representing a media object;

obtaining a spatial thumbnail for a search result representing a media object that is associated with location-related content corresponding to a location, the spatial thumbnail comprising an image of a spatial domain encompassing the location; and

simultaneously displaying both the search results and the obtained spatial thumbnails on a visual display.