Techniques for shape-based search of content

• US 9,607,010 B1
• Filed: 04/03/2014
• Issued: 03/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: A9.com Incorporated (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: A9.com Incorporated (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tompkins, Stephen S., Wang, Leslie K., Dhua, Arnab S., Wah, Catherine L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Seth, Manav
• Application Number:
  US14/244,622
• Time in Patent Office: 1,090 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/532 Query formulation, e.g. graphical querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5838 using colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5846 using extracted text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5854 using shape and object relationship
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation

Abstract

Techniques for facilitating a shape-based search of content items are disclosed. In some situations, the techniques include receiving a request for search of content that includes an image of an item and a glyph input by the user on the image that indicates a shape of the first item, extracting features associated with the item from an area of the image on which the glyph is input; identifying a shape category of the first item based at least in part on the indicated shape of the glyph; and conducting a search for items having features that match the extracted features of the first item, the search being conducted among a plurality of items associated with the identified shape category. The retrieved search results may be returned to a user.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a shape-based search, comprising:

under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions, providing an image of a first item for display to a user on a touch-sensitive screen;

receiving, for use in a search request, input from a user on the displayed image including a glyph that indicates a shape of the first item without tracing an outline of the first item in the image and that identifies a portion of the displayed image having one or more features associated with the first item to use in the search request;

extracting the one or more features from the portion of the image identified by the glyph;

identifying, based at least in part on the shape indicated by the glyph, a shape category of the first item from a plurality of predefined item shapes;

conducting a search for additional items having features that match the extracted features of the first item, the search being conducted among a plurality of items associated with the identified shape category; and

providing search results including one or more of the additional items from the search.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the image is captured by a user device.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the user device includes a display component configured to display images of items to the user and to receive user input comprising glyphs indicating shapes of the displayed item images.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the image is provided to the user in response to the user browsing content items with the user device.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the extracted features include at least one of a texture of the first item and a contour of the first item, and wherein the search for items having features that match the extracted features is based on calculating similarities between the respective features.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the glyph included with the search request is input by the user on the image, wherein the identifying of the shape category of the first item is based on comparing the shape indicated by the glyph with the plurality of predefined item shapes, and wherein the identified shape category is associated with one of the plurality of predefined item shapes that is selected for the first item based on the comparing.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the user input includes an indication of a color of the first item, and wherein the search for additional items is further based on identifying additional items of the indicated color.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the glyph included with the search request is input by the user on the image as a single-stroke figure.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the identified shape category corresponds to one of multiple categories of products, and wherein the search for the additional items is performed among products of the one category.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the identified shape category corresponds to one of multiple types of products, and wherein the search for the additional items is performed among products of the one type.

9. A computer system for facilitating a shape-based search, the system comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory having computer-executable instructions that, when executed on the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to;

receive information from a request by a user for a search of content, the received information indicating an image of a first item and including a glyph that is input by the user for the image and that indicates a shape of the first item;

identify, based at least in part on the shape indicated by the glyph, a shape category for the first item from multiple defined shape categories;

conduct a search among a plurality of items associated with the identified shape category to identify one or more additional items having shapes similar to the first item; and

provide search results indicating the one or more additional items.

10. The computer system of claim 9 wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one processor to extract one or more features associated with the first item from an area of the image corresponding to the glyph, and to conduct the search to identify the one or more additional items by identifying additional items having at least one feature that matches the extracted one or more features.

11. The computer system of claim 10 wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one processor to determine at least one attribute associated with the glyph and to conduct the search to identify the one or more additional items by further identifying additional items having the at least one attribute.

21. The computer system of claim 9 wherein the identified shape category corresponds to one of multiple categories of products, and wherein the search to identify the one or more additional items is performed among products of the one category.

22. The computer system of claim 9 wherein the identified shape category corresponds to one of multiple types of products, and wherein the search to identify the one or more additional items is performed among products of the one type.

23. The computer system of claim 9 wherein the computer system is a user device having an image capture component, and wherein the indicated image is generated by the image capture component.

24. The computer system of claim 23 further comprising a display component configured to display images of items to the user and to receive user input including glyphs indicating shapes of the displayed item images.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for facilitating a shape-based search stored thereon that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive a request from a user for a search of content, the request indicating an image of a first item and including a glyph input by the user to indicate a shape of the first item that corresponds to a partial contour of the first item in the image;

identify, based at least in part on the shape indicated by the glyph, a shape category of the first item that is selected from a plurality of predefined item shapes;

conduct a search among a plurality of items associated with the identified shape category to identify one or more additional items having shapes similar to the first item; and

provide, to the user, search results indicating the one or more additional items.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 wherein the request is received from a user device that includes a display component configured to display images of items to the user and to receive user input including glyphs indicating shapes of the displayed item images.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 wherein the glyph included with the request is input by the user on the image, and wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the computer to extract one or more features associated with the first item from an area of the image corresponding to the glyph, and to conduct the search to identify the one or more additional items by identifying additional items having at least one feature that matches at least one of the extracted one or more features.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 wherein the computer-executable instructions that cause the computer to identify the shape category of the first item further cause the computer to compare the shape indicated by the glyph to the plurality of predefined item shapes to determine a match to at least one predefined item shape of the plurality of predefined item shapes, and wherein the identified shape category is associated with the at least one predefined item shape.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 wherein the computer-executable instructions that cause the computer to identify the shape category of the first item further cause the computer to compare the shape indicated by the glyph with shapes of the one or more additional items, the one or more additional items being distinct from the first item.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 wherein the identified shape category corresponds to one of multiple categories of products, and wherein the search to identify the one or more additional items is performed among products of the one category.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 wherein the identified shape category corresponds to one of multiple types of products, and wherein the search to identify the one or more additional items is performed among products of the one type.