IMAGE SEARCH ENGINE EMPLOYING USER SUITABILITY FEEDBACK
First Claim
1. A computing device comprising:
- a web browser contained in the computing device that support searching of images and displaying of the images;
a first module for providing a search string to a communication interface output of the computing device;
a second module for providing search image data to the communication interface output of the computing device;
a third module for receiving search image search results back from a communication interface input of the computing device, the search image search results correlating to at least one of either the search string or the search image data;
input options within the web browser that allows the computing device to obtain input from at least one user, the input providing image feedback for at least one of the search image search results whereby the image feedback is used to refine image search operations.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An Internet infrastructure that supports searching of images by correlating a search image and/or search string with that of plurality of images hosted in Internet based servers. The image search server supports delivery of search result pages to a client device based upon a search string or search image, and contains images from a plurality of Internet based web hosting servers. The image search server delivers a search result page containing images upon receiving a search string and/or search image from the web browser. The selection of images in the search result page is based upon: (i) word match, that is, by selecting images, titles of which correspond to the search string; and (ii) image correlation, that is, by selecting images, image characteristics of which correlates to that of search image. The selection of images in the search result page also occurs on the basis of popularity and may be refined by taking into account user feedback/preferences.
94 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A computing device comprising:
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a web browser contained in the computing device that support searching of images and displaying of the images; a first module for providing a search string to a communication interface output of the computing device; a second module for providing search image data to the communication interface output of the computing device; a third module for receiving search image search results back from a communication interface input of the computing device, the search image search results correlating to at least one of either the search string or the search image data; input options within the web browser that allows the computing device to obtain input from at least one user, the input providing image feedback for at least one of the search image search results whereby the image feedback is used to refine image search operations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An image search server that supports delivery of images to a plurality of web browsers based upon search criteria, the image search server comprising:
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one or more processing units; memory coupled to the one or more processing units; and network communication circuitry coupled to the one or more processing units, wherein the one or more processing units, memory, and network communication circuitry are adapted to interoperate to; receive one or both of an image search string or an exemplary search image via the network communication circuitry to begin an image search operation; process the image search string, if received for this image search operation, against a plurality of images to create text correlation quotients between the image search string and each of the plurality of images; process the exemplary search image, if received for this image search operation, against a plurality of images to create image correlation quotients between the image search string and each of the plurality of images; use one or more of the image correlation quotients or the text correlation quotients to derive image search results from the plurality of images; process feedback associated with images to further refine which image search results are best suited for a user; and provide the image search results out through the network communication circuitry for eventual provision to an end user requesting the image search operation. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method performed by an image search server that supports delivery of images to a client device containing a web browser, the method comprising:
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receiving a search string and a search image from the client device through network interface circuitry to begin a search operation that indicates certain user desires; matching words in the search string with that of text data associated with images in a database, and using this step of matching to select images that correlate with the user desires; correlating the search image with that of images in the database, to further select images that correlate with the user desires; performing adult content filtering, if enabled for this search operation; sorting selected images based upon a strength of correlation to the user desires; filtering images from the sorted images using image suitability feedback information provided by the user as search results are provided to the user; forming a first search result page for presentation to the user that contains user feedback interfaces for the search images and comprises the filtered images as search results; and delivering the first search result page to the user.
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Specification