Method and system for approving documents based on image similarity

• US 7,639,898 B1
• Filed: 05/10/2004
• Issued: 12/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Chan, Wesley
• Primary Examiner(s): COUSO, YON JUNG
• Application Number:
  US10/841,833
• Time in Patent Office: 2,059 Days
• Field of Search: 382/305, 382/181, 382/190, 382/209, 382/218, 358/403, 705/1.4, 707/1, 707/3, 707/4, 707/6
• US Class Current: 382/305
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access

Abstract

A system and method for comparing graphical content (e.g., images) of documents for approval, rating, and other uses are provided. Information may be stored about one or more graphical documents. Graphical content of a first graphical document being evaluated for distribution may be compared to at least one second graphical document. An approval determination may be made for the first graphical document based on the stored information about the at least one second graphical document and the comparison.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of approving a graphical document, comprising:

storing one or more graphical documents;

storing information about the one or more graphical documents, the information including rating information that the graphical document includes acceptable or objectionable content;

comparing graphical content of a first graphical document being evaluated for distribution with the graphical content of each of the stored graphical documents by a processor;

determining matches between the first graphical document and one or more of the stored graphical documents by the processor;

making an approval determination for allowing distribution of the first graphical document based on the stored information for one or more matching graphical documents, wherein an approval determination is made only if matches are determined with graphical documents that include rating information associated with acceptable content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the comparing act comprises determining whether the first graphical document is substantially identical to the one or more graphical documents.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more graphical documents comprise advertisement images and further comprising determining that the first graphical document is substantially identical to the at least one approved advertisement image and approving the first graphical document.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating the first graphical document with one or more ideas based on the act of comparing;

receiving a request for an advertisement, wherein the request is associated with a concept;

delivering the first graphical document based on a correlation between the concept and the one or more ideas.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the request is a search query.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more graphical documents are associated with the one or more ideas.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining rating information associated with the first graphical document based on the act of comparing;

receiving a signal identifying a concept; and

delivering the first graphical document in response to the signal based on the concept and the rating information.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the one or more graphical documents in an approved graphical document database.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of comparing comprises comparing one or more image files associated with the first graphical document with one or more image files associated with the one or more graphical documents.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing using optical character recognition to identify characters in the first graphical document, and wherein the act of comparing comprises comparing the characters of the first graphical document with characters of the one or more graphical documents.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing first image data of the first graphical document, and wherein the act of comparing comprises comparing the first image data with second image data associated with the one or more graphical documents.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first graphical document is associated with an advertising entity, and wherein the act of comparing comprises comparing the first graphical document to one or more graphical documents associated with a same advertising entity.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of comparing comprises comparing at least one of an image, animation, pop-up ability, and sound of the first graphical document to at least one corresponding image, animation, pop-up ability, and sound of the one or more graphical documents.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of comparing comprises comparing at least one of the color scheme, objects, text, size, shape, formatting, file type, and source of the first graphical document with a corresponding color scheme, objects, text, size, shape, formatting, file type, and source of the one or more graphical documents.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more graphical documents are stored in at least one file of a common file type, further comprising:

converting the first graphical document to a first file of the common file type prior to the act of comparing.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving negative feedback associated with the first graphical document;

passing the first graphical document to an evaluator; and

receiving rating information associated with the first graphical document from the evaluator.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the first graphical document from an advertisement server.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing the first graphical document including

reading optical data from the first graphical document by an image processor;

processing the optical data to identify at least one image in the first graphical document, and wherein the act of comparing comprises comparing the identified image to at least one second image corresponding to the one or more graphical documents.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of approving is based on at least one trust score associated with the one or more graphical documents.

20. A computer-readable medium encoded with computer program code to approve a graphical document, the program code effective to perform the following:

process a first graphical document for distribution by a processor executing the program code;

compare graphical content of the first graphical document to graphical content of at least one approved graphical document, the at least one approved graphical document comprising one or more documents approved by a publisher for display with publisher content; and

approve the first graphical document for distribution based on the act of comparing;

providing the first graphical document for display to a user based upon approving the first graphical document for distribution.

21. A computer-implemented method of rating a graphical document, comprising:

processing a first graphical document for distribution by a processor, the first graphical document comprising graphical content;

comparing the graphical content of the first graphical document to at least one second graphical document by the processor;

flagging the first graphical document for review based on the comparison; and

providing the first graphical document to one or more evaluators for review if flagged.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

based on the comparison, determining that the first graphical document is substantially identical to the at least one second graphical document, wherein the second graphical document is determined to contain inappropriate material.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

receiving rating information from the one or more evaluators;

determining whether to approve the first graphical document for distribution based on the rating information.

24. A computer-implemented method for approving a graphical document, the method comprising:

processing a first graphical document for distribution by a processor;

comparing the first graphical document to at least one second graphical document associated with one or more ideas by the processor;

based on the act of comparing, approving the first graphical document for distribution and associating the first graphical document with the one or more ideas;

receiving a request for an advertisement associated with a concept;

selecting the first graphical document from among a plurality of graphical documents based on a correlation between the one or more ideas associated with the first graphical document and the concept associated with the received request; and

based on the selecting action, delivering the first graphical document to at least one of an end user.