TECHNIQUES FOR IMAGE-BASED SEARCH USING TOUCH CONTROLS

• US 20150052431A1
• Filed: 02/01/2013
• Published: 02/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Zhu, Junmin, Min, Hongbo, Hu, Ningxin Patrick, Zhu, Yongsheng, Yu, Zhiqiang Nelson
• Granted Patent: US 9,916,081 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/716
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/532 Query formulation, e.g. graphical querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/235 based on user input or interaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/20 in augmented reality scenes

Abstract

Techniques for image-based search using touch controls are described. An apparatus may comprise: a processor circuit; a gesture component operative on the processor circuit to receive gesture information from a touch-sensitive screen displaying an image and generate a selection area corresponding to the gesture information; a capture component operative on the processor circuit to extract an image portion of the image corresponding to the selection area; and a search component operative on the processor circuit to perform an image-based search using the extracted image portion. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor circuit;

a gesture component operative on the processor circuit to receive gesture information from a touch-sensitive screen displaying an image and generate a selection area corresponding to the gesture information;

a capture component operative on the processor circuit to extract an image portion of the image corresponding to the selection area; and

a search component operative on the processor circuit to perform an image-based search using the extracted image portion.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, the image comprising a frame from a video, the image presented as part of a playback of the video.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, the gesture component operative to recognize a scratch gesture based on the received gesture information and generate the selection area corresponding to the scratch gesture.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, the gesture component operative to determine the selection area as a minimized rectangle bounding the scratch gesture, the capture component operative to extract the image portion contained within the determined minimized rectangle.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, the scratch gesture comprising a substantially-parallel substantially-simultaneous swipe of a plurality of touch-points downwards across the touch-sensitive screen.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, the image displayed in combination with user interface elements, the capture component operative to exclude the user interface elements from the extracted image portion.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, the user interface elements comprising elements surrounding the displayed image, the capture component operative to exclude the user interface elements by constraining the selection area to a portion of the touch-sensitive screen corresponding to the displayed image.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, the user interface elements comprising elements overlaying the displayed image, the capture component operative to exclude the user interface elements by extracting the image portion from a display buffer storing the image without the overlaid user interface elements.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, the touch-sensitive screen operative to detect objects positioned on a surface of the touch-sensitive screen.

10. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

displaying an image on a touch-sensitive screen;

receiving gesture information from the touch-sensitive screen;

generating a selection area corresponding to the received gesture information;

extracting an image portion of the image corresponding to the selection area;

performing an image-based search using the extracted image portion to produce search results; and

displaying the search results on the touch-sensitive screen.

11. The method of claim 10, the image comprising a frame from a video, the image presented as part of a playback of the video.

12. The method of claim 10, comprising:

recognizing a scratch gesture based on the received gesture information; and

generating the selection area corresponding to the scratch gesture.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining the selection area as a minimized rectangle bounding the scratch gesture; and

extracting the image portion contained within the determined minimized rectangle.

14. The method of claim 12, the scratch gesture comprising a substantially-parallel substantially-simultaneous swipe of a plurality of touch-points downwards across the touch-sensitive screen.

15. The method of claim 10, the image displayed in combination with user interface elements, further comprising:

excluding the user interface elements from the extracted image portion.

16. The method of claim 15, the user interface elements comprising elements surrounding the displayed image, excluding the user interface elements comprising:

constraining the selection area to a portion of the touch-sensitive screen corresponding to the displayed image.

17. The method of claim 15, the user interface elements comprising elements overlaying the displayed image, excluding the user interface elements comprising:

extracting the image portion from a display buffer storing the image without the overlaid user interface elements.

18. At least one computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a system to:

receive gesture information from a touch-sensitive screen displaying a video;

generate a selection area corresponding to the received gesture information;

extract an image portion of the video corresponding to the selection area;

request an image-based search from an image-based search system based on the extracted image portion; and

receive search results from the image-based search system.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, the image displayed in combination with user interface elements, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the system to:

exclude the user interface elements from the extracted image portion.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, the user interface elements comprising elements surrounding the displayed image, excluding the user interface elements comprising instructions that when executed cause the system to:

constrain the selection area to a portion of the touch-sensitive screen corresponding to the displayed image.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, the user interface elements comprising elements overlaying the displayed image, excluding the user interface elements comprising instructions that when executed cause the system to:

extract the image portion from a display buffer storing the image without the overlaid user interface elements.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the system to:

recognize a scratch gesture based on the received gesture information; and

generate the selection area corresponding to the scratch gesture.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the system to:

determine the selection area as a minimized rectangle bounding the scratch gesture; and

extract the image portion contained within the determined minimized rectangle.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, the scratch gesture comprising a substantially-parallel substantially-simultaneous swipe of a plurality of touch-points downwards across the touch-sensitive screen.