Visual and textual query suggestion
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- receiving, at a first computing device, a search request from a second computing device of a user, the search request for images associated with a textual query;
determining, by the first computing device and based at least in part on the received textual query, multiple images that are associated with the received textual query;
determining, by the first computing device, a first keyword that is associated with a first set of the multiple images and determining, by the first computing device, a second keyword that is associated with a second set of the multiple images;
clustering, by the first computing device, the first set of the multiple images into two or more clusters and clustering, by the first computing device, the second set of the multiple images into two or more clusters;
determining, by the first computing device;
(i) an image from the first cluster of the first set of the multiple images that is representative of the first cluster of the first set of the multiple images;
(ii) an image from the second cluster of the first set of the multiple images that is representative of the second cluster of the first set of the multiple images;
(iii) an image from the first cluster of the second set of the multiple images that is representative of the first cluster of the second set of the multiple images, and (iv) an image from the second cluster of the second set of the multiple images that is representative of the second cluster of the second set of the multiple images;
providing the first keyword and the second keyword and the respective representative images of the first and the second clusters of the first set and the respective representative images of the first and the second clusters of the second set, to the second computing device of the user, in a suggestion to refine the search request based at least on the first keyword or the second keyword and based at least on one of the respective representative images; and
responsive to receiving a selection of one of the first keyword or the second keyword and a selection of one of the respective representative images, refining the search request based at least on the selected keyword and based at least on the selected representative image.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques described herein enable better understanding of the intent of a user that submits a particular search query. These techniques receive a search request for images associated with a particular query. In response, the techniques determine images that are associated with the query, as well as other keywords that are associated with these images. The techniques then cluster, for each set of images associated with one of these keywords, the set of images into multiple groups. The techniques then rank the images and determine a representative image of each cluster. Finally, the tools suggest, to the user that submitted the query, to refine the search based on user selection of a keyword and a representative image. Thus, the techniques better understand the user'"'"'s intent by allowing the user to refine the search based on another keyword and based on an image on which the user wishes to focus the search.
97 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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receiving, at a first computing device, a search request from a second computing device of a user, the search request for images associated with a textual query; determining, by the first computing device and based at least in part on the received textual query, multiple images that are associated with the received textual query; determining, by the first computing device, a first keyword that is associated with a first set of the multiple images and determining, by the first computing device, a second keyword that is associated with a second set of the multiple images; clustering, by the first computing device, the first set of the multiple images into two or more clusters and clustering, by the first computing device, the second set of the multiple images into two or more clusters; determining, by the first computing device;
(i) an image from the first cluster of the first set of the multiple images that is representative of the first cluster of the first set of the multiple images;
(ii) an image from the second cluster of the first set of the multiple images that is representative of the second cluster of the first set of the multiple images;
(iii) an image from the first cluster of the second set of the multiple images that is representative of the first cluster of the second set of the multiple images, and (iv) an image from the second cluster of the second set of the multiple images that is representative of the second cluster of the second set of the multiple images;providing the first keyword and the second keyword and the respective representative images of the first and the second clusters of the first set and the respective representative images of the first and the second clusters of the second set, to the second computing device of the user, in a suggestion to refine the search request based at least on the first keyword or the second keyword and based at least on one of the respective representative images; and responsive to receiving a selection of one of the first keyword or the second keyword and a selection of one of the respective representative images, refining the search request based at least on the selected keyword and based at least on the selected representative image. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method comprising:
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receiving, at a search engine, a request, sent over a communications network, for images that are associated with a query; determining a plurality of images that are associated with the received query; determining a plurality of keywords based at least in part on at least one of the plurality of images and the query, wherein each keyword is associated with a corresponding subset of determined images, each subset of determined images being a part of the plurality of determined images; for each respective subset of the determined images, determining at least one image of the respective subset that is representative of the respective subset of the determined images; suggesting to refine the request for images based at least on selection of one of the multiple keywords and based at least on selection of one of the representative images; and refining the request based at least on both the selected keyword and the selected representative image. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A computing device comprising:
a search engine configured to; receive a request for images associated with a query; determine images that are associated with the received query; determine keywords that are associated with the determined images, wherein each of the determined keywords is associated with a group of the images that are associated with the received query; cluster, for each keyword, the group of images associated with the respective keyword into multiple clusters; for each cluster of the multiple clusters, determine an image of the cluster that is representative of the cluster; provide in a suggestion a plurality of keywords of the determined keywords and a plurality of images of the determined images, each provided image being associated with a respective keyword of the provided keywords, to refine the request based at least on selection of one keyword of the determined keywords and selection of an image that is associated with the selected keyword; and refine the query based at least on both the selected keyword and the selected image. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
Specification