Generating clusters of images for search results

• US 7,725,451 B2
• Filed: 01/23/2006
• Issued: 05/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Wang, Chang-Hu, Ma, Wei-Ying, Li, Mingjing, Zhang, Lei, Jing, Feng
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo; Tim T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Engelskirchen; Jeremy D
• Application Number:
  US11/337,825
• Publication Number:
  US 20070174269A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,583 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/707
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

A method and system for generating clusters of images for a search result of an image query is provided. When an original image query is received, the search system identifies text associated with the original image query by submitting the original image query to a search engine. The search system identifies phrases from the text of the web page containing the search result. The search system uses each of the identified phrases as an image query and submits the image queries to an image search engine. The search system considers the image search result for each image query to represent a cluster of related images. The search system then presents the clusters of images as the images of the image search result of the original image query.

Claims

1. A computing device for generating clusters of images, comprising:

a memory containing computer-executable instructions comprising;

a component that receives an image query having search terms;

a component that submits the image query to a web-based search engine and receives search results that include links to web pages and text associated with each link, the text being a snippet describing content of the linked-to web page, the web-based search engine being a search engine that maintains an index of keywords to web pages and when a query is submitted, the web-based search engine identifies web pages for search results using the index of keywords to identify web pages that match the submitted query and returns as search results links to the identified web pages and associated snippets;

a component that identifies phrases associated with the image query by identifying phrases from the snippets of the search results;

a component that identifies images associated with each identified phrase by submitting each identified phrase to an image search engine and receiving identifications of images as search results for each submitted phrase wherein the identified images associated with each submitted phrase represent a cluster of images related to that submitted phrase, the image search engine being a search engine that maintains an index of keywords to images and when a query is submitted, the image search engine identifies images for the search results using the index of keywords to identify images that match the submitted query and returns as search results links to the identified images, the image search engine being different from the web-based search engine; and

a component that displays an indication of each cluster of images as search results for the received image query; and

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

2. The computing device of claim 1 including a component that generates sub-clusters of the cluster of images.

3. The computing device of claim 1 wherein the component that identifies phrases scores phrases based on learned scores for attributes of the phrases.

4. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for controlling a computing device to generate clusters of images, by a method comprising:

receiving an image query having search terms;

submitting the image query to a web-based search engine and receives search results that include links to web pages and text associated with each link, the text being a snippet describing content of the linked-to web page, the web-based search engine being a search engine that maintains an index of keywords to web pages and when a query is submitted, the web-based search engine identifies web pages for search results using the index of keywords to identify web pages that match the submitted query and returns as search results links to the identified web pages and associated snippets;

identifying phrases associated with the image query by identifying phrases from the snippets of the search results;

identifying images associated with each identified phrase by submitting each identified phrase to an image search engine and receiving identifications of images as search results for each submitted phrase wherein the identified images associated with each submitted phrase represent a cluster of images related to that submitted phrase, the image search engine being a search engine that maintains an index of keywords to images and when a query is submitted, the image search engine identifies images for the search results using the index of keywords to identify images that match the submitted query and returns as search results links to the identified images, the image search engine being different from the web-based search engine; and

displaying an indication of each cluster of images as search results for the received image query.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 4 including generating sub-clusters of the cluster of images.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 4 wherein the identifying of phrases scores phrases based on learned scores for attributes of the phrases.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 4 wherein a submitted phrase represents a name for the cluster.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 4 including generating sub-clusters of the clusters of images based on visual similarity of images of a cluster.

9. A method performed by a computing device for generating clusters of images, by a method comprising:

receiving an image query having search terms;

submitting by the computing device the image query to a web-based search engine and receives search results that include links to web pages and text associated with each link, the text being a snippet describing content of the linked-to web page, the web-based search engine being a search engine that maintains an index of keywords to web pages and when a query is submitted, the web-based search engine identifies web pages for search results using the index of keywords to identify web pages that match the submitted query and returns as search results links to the identified web pages and associated snippets;

identifying by the computing device phrases associated with the image query by identifying phrases from the snippets of the search results;

identifying by the computing device images associated with each identified phrase by submitting each identified phrase to an image search engine and receiving identifications of images as search results for each submitted phrase wherein the identified images associated with each submitted phrase represent a cluster of images related to that submitted phrase, the image search engine being a search engine that maintains an index of keywords to images and when a query is submitted, the image search engine identifies images for the search results using the index of keywords to identify images that match the submitted query and returns as search results links to the identified images, the image search engine being different from the web-based search engine; and

displaying an indication of each cluster of images as search results for the received image query.

10. The method of claim 9 including generating sub-clusters of the cluster of images.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the identifying of phrases scores phrases based on learned scores for attributes of the phrases.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein a submitted phrase represents a name for the cluster.

13. The method of claim 9 including generating sub-clusters of the clusters of images based on visual similarity of images of a cluster.