Scalable visual search system simplifying access to network and device functionality

• US 20070106721A1
• Filed: 11/04/2006
• Published: 05/10/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Schloter, Philipp
• Granted Patent: US 8,849,821 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/200
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold

Abstract

In one embodiment, an indication of information desired by a user is received, and a list of candidates for the desired information is provided for presentation on a mobile device of the user.

Claims

1. A computerized method comprising:

receiving an indication of information desired by a user; and

providing a list of candidates for the desired information for presentation on a mobile device of the user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the indication of the desired information comprises media content associated with one or more objects in a real world, and/or meta-information providing one or more characteristics associated with at least one of the media content, the mobile device, and the user.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

searching a database for data matching the indication of the desired information; and

retrieving the list of candidates from the database.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein searching the database comprises:

constraining a scope of a search based on the meta-information.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein:

the media content is produced by the mobile device and comprises at least one of a digital photograph, a video, or an audio recording; and

the meta-information comprises at least one of a characteristic of the media content, an environmental characteristic associated with the mobile device, a geographic characteristic associated with the mobile device, a personal characteristic associated with the user of the mobile device, or an online behavior characteristic.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein each candidate in the list is a link that maps the one or more objects and/or the one or more characteristics to a desired information item.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the desired information item is any one of a web site, a phone number, a message template, an application, an application state, a web page entry, a phone functionality, a keyword, a computer functionality, a document, a television program, a radio program, or a music recording.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

creating a plurality of links automatically or based on user input;

associating each of the plurality of links with media content and/or meta-information; and

storing the plurality of links in a database.

9. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

creating an intermediate representation of the media content, the intermediate representation being used to search the database for data matching the indication of the desired information.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein:

the indication of the desired information is received when the user points the mobile device to one or more objects;

the list of candidates for the desired information is provided in real time once the user points the mobile device to the objects; and

the list of candidates is presented to the user for selection in real time without requiring the user to make any clicks from the time the user starts pointing the mobile device to the objects.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

allowing the user to select a candidate from the link via a single click, the single click providing user access to the desired information.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein:

at least one candidate from the list has a title that includes a preview of the desired information; and

the method further comprises displaying the title including the preview of the desired information when presenting the list of candidates to the user,

wherein the displaying provides user access to the preview of the desired information without requiring the user to make any clicks.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein each of the plurality of links has statistics data and one or more properties, the one or more properties comprising at least one of a title, a timestamp, a creator identifier, or access information.

14. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

facilitating load balancing based on media content and/or meta-information.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a user selection of a candidate from the list;

creating an association between the selected candidate and the received indication of the desired information; and

storing the created association in a database.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining that the user has not selected a candidate from the list;

presenting a directory of information items to the user;

allowing the user to select an information item from the directory;

creating a link mapping the selected information item to the received indication of the desired information; and

storing the link in a database.

17. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

periodically modifying links by re-linking previously linked objects and/or characteristics to new or existing information items via a system management application controlled by the user or an administrator.

18. A computer-readable medium having executable instructions to cause a computer system to perform a method comprising:

receiving an indication of information desired by a user; and

providing a list of candidates for the desired information for presentation on a mobile device of the user.

19. A system comprising:

a back-end module to receive an indication of information desired by a user, and to provide a list of candidates for the desired information for presentation on a mobile device of the user.

20. The system of claim 19 further comprising:

a front-end module to capture the indication of the desired information, and to present the list of candidates for the desired information on the mobile device.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein:

the indication of the desired information comprises media content associated with one or more objects in a real world, and/or meta-information providing one or more characteristics associated with at least one of the media content, the mobile device, and the user; and

each candidate in the list is a link that maps the one or more objects and/or the one or more characteristics to a desired information item.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein:

the front-end module resides on the mobile device and at least a portion of the back-end module reside on the mobile device.

23. The system of claim 22 further comprising:

a server, coupled to the client device via a network, to manage storage of media content and/or meta-information for a plurality of users; and

a cache on the client device to store media content and/or meta-information relevant to the user.

24. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein:

the front-end module resides on the mobile device and the back-end module reside on a server coupled to the mobile device via a network; and

the apparatus further comprises a media content storage to store media content, and a link database to store meta-information and links, the media content storage and the link database being managed by the server.