Anchor Image Identification for Vertical Video Search

• US 20140122458A1
• Filed: 01/03/2014
• Published: 05/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kong, Xiao, Wang, Wei, Cai, Rui, Li, Haifeng, Sun, Yanfeng
• Granted Patent: US 9,430,478 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/710
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/434 using image data, e.g. images, photos, pictures taken by a user
• 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 16/9536 Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering

Abstract

Anchor images and information associated therewith are accumulated during a Web crawling operation. One or more rules are applied to the accumulated candidate anchor images to filter out candidate anchor images that are not appropriate for use as the anchor image for a particular target video. The remaining candidate anchor image is then selected as the anchor image for the particular video.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for accumulating candidate anchor images, the computer-implemented method comprising performing computer-implemented operations for:

identifying an image link, by a computer comprising one or more processors, during a Web crawling operation performed by a video search application;

determining, by the computer, whether the image link points to an image in a Web page having a video page pattern; and

associating the image link with the Web page, by the computer, if it is determined that the image link points to the Web page having a video page pattern.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising disregarding the image link if it is determined, by the computer, that the image link does not point to a Web page having a video page pattern.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying the image link further comprises identifying the image link from a video list.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the video list is included in a channel of a video site, the channel comprising videos associated with a particular subject matter.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the video list is included in a list created by the video site according to a sorting criterion, the sorting criterion comprising one of most viewed, most recent, least recent, highest rated, and lowest rated.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the image link is a hyperlink associated with an image that is representative of a video contained within the Web page.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising storing the image that is representative of the video contained within the Web page in a storage medium in association with the image link and the Web page, wherein the stored image is a candidate anchor image among a plurality of candidate anchor images in the storage medium.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a target page for analysis; and

selecting the stored image from the storage medium as an anchor image for the target page.

9. A computer-implemented method for filtering and selecting an anchor image from a set of candidate anchor images, the computer-implemented method comprising performing computer-implemented operations for:

identifying, by a computer comprising one or more processors, a target image from an image list for consideration as an anchor image for a target video page;

applying, by the computer, one or more rules regarding anchor image selection to the target image;

based upon application of the one or more rules, determining, by the computer, if the target image should be selected as the anchor image;

if it is determined that the target image should not be selected as the anchor image for the target video page, disregarding, by the computer, the target image; and

if it is determined that the target image should be selected as the anchor image for the target video page, identifying, by the computer, the target image as the anchor image for the target video page.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein identifying the target image for consideration as the anchor image for the target video page comprises performing a Web crawling operation, wherein a result of the Web crawling operation identifies the target image as a candidate anchor image for the target video page.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein applying the one or more rules regarding anchor image selection comprises applying an image dimension rule, whereby it is determined that the target image should not be selected as the anchor image for the target video page if the target image does not meet a minimum image dimension or if the target image exceeds a maximum image dimension.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein applying the one or more rules regarding anchor image selection comprises applying an image uniform resource locater (“

URL”

) pattern rule, whereby if the target image is associated with a URL that conforms to a URL pattern that is included in a white list it is determined that the target image should not be selected as the anchor image for the target video page.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein applying the one or more rules regarding anchor image selection comprises applying an image URL pattern rule, whereby if the target image is associated with a URL that does not conform to a URL pattern that is included in a white list or conforms to a URL pattern that is included in a black list it is determined that the target image should not be selected as the anchor image for the target video page.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising generating the one or more rules based upon one or more factors for a Web site to which the target video page belongs and verifying the one or more rules.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein applying the one or more rules regarding anchor image selection comprises applying a rule to determine whether the target image includes text that is the same as text included in a title of the target video page or a video contained therein, whereby if the target image includes text that is the same as text included in the title of the target video page or the video contained therein it is determined that the target image should be selected as the anchor image for the target video page.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising storing the target image as the anchor image for the target video page in a storage medium if it is determined that the target image should be selected as the anchor image for the target video page.

17. A computer storage medium having computer readable instructions stored thereupon that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

identify an image link during a Web crawling operation of a video search application;

determine if the image link points to an image in a Web page having a video page pattern;

disregard the image link if it is determined that the image link does not point to the Web page;

associate the image link with the Web page if it is determined that the image link points to the Web page;

apply one or more rules regarding anchor image selection to a target image associated with the image link;

based upon application of the one or more rules, determine if the target image should be selected as an anchor image;

if it is determined that the target image should not be selected as the anchor image for the Web page, disregard the target image; and

if it is determined that the target image should be selected as the anchor image for the Web page, identify the target image as the anchor image for the Web page.

18. The computer storage medium of claim 17, having further instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to apply an image dimension rule, whereby it is determined that the target image should not be selected as the anchor image for the Web page if the target image does not at least meet a minimum image dimension or if the target image exceeds a maximum image dimension.

19. The computer storage medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to apply the one or more rules regarding anchor image selection further comprise instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to apply an image uniform resource locater (“

URL”

) pattern rule, whereby if the target image is associated with a URL that conforms to a URL pattern that is included in a white list it is determined that the target image should not be selected as the anchor image for the Web page.

20. The computer storage medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to apply the one or more rules regarding anchor image selection further comprise instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to apply a rule to determine whether the target image includes text that is the same as text included in a title of the Web page or a video contained therein, whereby if the target image includes text that is the same as text included in the title of the Web page or the video contained therein it is determined that the target image should be selected as the anchor image for the Web page.