User interface for viewing clusters of images

• US 7,644,373 B2
• Filed: 01/23/2006
• Issued: 01/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Jing, Feng, Deng, Kefeng, Ma, Wei-Ying, Zhang, Lei, Li, Ming Jing
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Ting
• Assistant Examiner(s): ZAHR, ASHRAF A
• Application Number:
  US11/337,945
• Publication Number:
  US 20070174790A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,443 Days
• Field of Search: 715/233, 715/838, 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 715/838
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/51 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/54 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• 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 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning

Abstract

A method and system for providing a user interface for presenting images of clusters of an image search result is provided. The user interface system displays the search result in a cluster/view form using a cluster panel and a view panel. The cluster panel contains a cluster area for each cluster. The view panel may contain thumbnails of images of the search result in a list view or a mix view. When a user selects a cluster area from the cluster panel, the user interface system displays a list view of thumbnails for that cluster in the view panel. The user interface system may display a thumbnail list near a cluster area of the cluster panel. The thumbnail list contains mini-thumbnails of the images of the selected cluster. The user interface system may also display a detail view of an image in the view panel when a user selects an image.

Claims

1. A method for presenting an image search result having clusters of images, the method comprising:

receiving a image search query;

identifying an image search result of images that are relevant the image search query, each image having an relevance score indicating relevance of the image to the image query search, the images being organized into clusters;

displaying in a cluster panel a cluster indication of each cluster, the cluster indication including thumbnails of multiple images from the cluster, the cluster indications being ordered based on relevance of the images in the cluster to the image search query;

when in mix view, displaying in a view panel thumbnails of the images of the clusters in which the images of all the clusters are ordered into a combined ordering such that the most relevant image taken from each cluster are listed first in the combined ordering followed by a listing of the second most relevant image taken from each cluster in the combined ordering, wherein the other images of all the clusters are further listed in the combined ordering in an order based on relevance of each image within its the cluster; and

when in list view,

when a user selects a cluster indication using a first selection, displaying in the view panel thumbnails of images of the cluster corresponding to the selected cluster indication;

when a user selects a cluster indication using a second selection, displaying adjacent to the selected cluster indication a mini-thumbnail of images of the cluster corresponding to the selected cluster indication; and

when a user selects a thumbnail of an image, displaying a detail view of that image in the view panel.

2. The method of claim 1 including displaying along with the detail view a thumbnail scroll list of the thumbnails of the view panel when the user selected the thumbnail.

3. A computer-readable storage medium containing computer-executable instructions for controlling a computer to present an image search result having clusters of images, by a method comprising:

receiving an image search query;

identifying an image search result of images that are relevant to the image search query, each image having a relevance score indicating relevance of the image to the image query search, the images being organized into clusters;

displaying in a cluster panel a cluster indication of each cluster, the cluster indication including thumbnails of multiple images from the cluster, the cluster indications being ordered based on relevance of the images in the cluster to the image search query;

when in mix view, displaying in a view panel thumbnails of the images of the clusters in which the images of all the clusters are ordered into a combined ordering such that the most relevant image taken from each cluster are listed first in the combined ordering followed by a listing of the second most relevant image taken from each cluster in the combined ordering, wherein the other images of all the clusters are further listed in the combined ordering in an order based on relevance of each image within its the cluster; and

when in list view,

when a user selects a cluster indication using a first selection, displaying in the view panel thumbnails of images of the cluster corresponding to the selected cluster indication;

when a user selects a cluster indication using a second selection, displaying adjacent to the selected cluster indication a mini-thumbnail of images of the cluster corresponding to the selected cluster indication; and

when a user selects a thumbnail of an image, displaying a detail view of that image in the view panel.

4. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 3 including displaying along with the detail view a thumbnail scroll list of the thumbnails of the view panel when the user selected the thumbnail.

5. A computing device for an image search result having clusters of images, comprising:

a memory storing computer-executable instructions comprising;

a component that receives an image search query;

a component that identifies an image search result of images that are relevant to the image search query, each image having a relevance score indicating relevance of the image to the image query search, the images being organized into clusters;

a component that displays in a cluster panel a cluster indication of each cluster, the cluster indication including thumbnails of multiple images from the cluster, the cluster indications being ordered based on relevance of the images in the cluster to the image search query;

a component that, when in mix view, displays in a view panel thumbnails of the images of the clusters in which the images of all the clusters are ordered into a combined ordering such that the most relevant image taken from each cluster are listed first in the combined ordering followed by a listing of the second most relevant image taken from each cluster in the combined ordering, wherein the other images of all the clusters are further listed in the combined ordering in an order based on relevance of each image within its the cluster; and

a component that, when in list view,

when a user selects a cluster indication using a first selection, displays in the view panel thumbnails of images of the cluster corresponding to the selected cluster indication;

when a user selects a cluster indication using a second selection, displays adjacent to the selected cluster indication a mini-thumbnail of images of the cluster corresponding to the selected cluster indication; and

when a user selects a thumbnail of an image, displays a detail view of that image in the view panel;

a processor for executing the computer-executable instructions stored in memory.

6. The computing device of claim 5 including a component that displays along with the detail view a thumbnail scroll list of the thumbnails of the view panel when the user selected the thumbnail.