METHOD FOR SEARCHING AND DEVICE THEREOF

• US 20150339391A1
• Filed: 12/31/2014
• Published: 11/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: KANG, Woo-shik, KANG, Min-Jeong, KONG, Won-Keun, JOO, Ga-hyun
• Granted Patent: US 9,990,433 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/433 using audio data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/434 using image data, e.g. images, photos, pictures taken by a user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/532 Query formulation, e.g. graphical querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/634 Query by example, e.g. query by humming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7328 Query by example, e.g. a complete video frame or video sequence graphical querying G06F16/7335
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

Provided are a method and an apparatus for searching for and acquiring information under a computing environment. The apparatus includes: at least one input device configured to receive a first query input of a first query type and a second query input of a second query type; and a controller configured to output a query input window including a first display item corresponding to the first query input and a second display item corresponding to the second query input, to automatically switch, in response to receiving the first query input, the apparatus from a first state to receive the first query input of the first query type to a second state to receive the second query input of the second query type, and to obtain a search result according to a query based on the first query input and the second query input.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

at least one input device configured to receive a first query input of a first query type and a second query input of a second query type; and

a controller configured to output a query input window including a first display item corresponding to the first query input and a second display item corresponding to the second query input, to automatically switch, in response to receiving the first query input, the apparatus from a first state to receive the first query input of the first query type to a second state to receive the second query input of the second query type, and to obtain a search result according to a query based on the first query input and the second query input.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the second query type is an audio query type; and

in response to receiving the first query input, the controller is configured to automatically activate a microphone to receive the second query input.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the second query type is an image query type; and

in response to receiving the first query input, the controller is configured to automatically activate a camera to receive the second query input.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in response to receiving the first query input, the controller is configured to output a visual indicator indicating the second state.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in response to receiving the first query input, the controller is configured to output an audio indicator indicating the second state.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in response to receiving a mode switch input, the controller is configured to switch a search mode from a multimodal input mode, in which the first query input and the second query input are received via the query input window and combined to generate the query, to a single input mode in which an input of one query type is received to generate the query.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the controller outputs a single query input window in the single input mode and outputs a multimodal query input window, as the query input window, in the multimodal input mode.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one input device comprises a first input device configured to receive the first query input and a second input device, different from the first input device, configured to receive the second query input.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one input device comprises at least one of a microphone, a touch screen, a camera, and a keyboard.

10. An apparatus comprising:

a display configured to display a query input window;

at least one input device configured to receive a first query input of a first query type and a second query input of a second query type; and

a controller configured to obtain a search result according to a query based on the first query input and the second query input,

wherein the display is configured to simultaneously display, in the query input window, a first region corresponding to the first query type and a second region corresponding to the second query type.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the controller is configured to determine the first query type of the first query input and the second query type of the second query input, and the display is configured to display the first region according to the determined first query type and the second region according to the determined second query type.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein at least one of a position and a size of the first region is adjustable according to a user input.

13. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the display displays the query input window, in which a first display item corresponding to the first query input and a second display item corresponding to the second query input are simultaneously displayed, such that the first query type and the second query type are distinguishable from each other.

14. A method comprising:

receiving a first query input of a first query type and a second query input of a second query type;

outputting, by an apparatus, a query input window including a first region corresponding to a first query input and a second region corresponding to a second query input;

automatically switching, in response to receiving the first query input, the apparatus from a first state to receive the first query input of the first query type to a second state to receive the second query input of the second query type; and

obtaining a search result according to a query based on the first query input and the second query input.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising, in response to receiving the second query input, simultaneously displaying a second display item corresponding to the second query input in the second region and a first display item corresponding to the first query input in the first region.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein:

the second query type is an audio query type; and

the automatically switching comprises, in response to receiving the first query input, automatically activating a microphone to receive the second query input.

17. The method according to claim 14, wherein:

the second query type is an image query type; and

the automatically switching comprises, in response to receiving the first query input, automatically activating a camera to receive the second query input.

18. The method according to claim 14, wherein the automatically switching comprises, in response to receiving the first query input, outputting a visual indicator or an audio indicator indicating the second state.

19. The method according to claim 14, further comprising, in response to receiving a mode switch input, switching a search mode from a multimodal input mode, in which the first query input and the second query input are received via the query input window and combined to generate the query, to a single input mode in which an input of one query type is received to generate the query.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for executing the search method of claim 14.