Image annotations on web pages

• US 8,838,432 B2
• Filed: 02/06/2012
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Baker, Simon John, Ramnath, Krishnan, Kannan, Anitha, Lin, Dahua, Ke, Qifa, Uyttendaele, Matthew, Bernstein, Juliet Anne
• Primary Examiner(s): PULLIAS, JESSE SCOTT
• Application Number:
  US13/366,385
• Publication Number:
  US 20130204608A1
• Time in Patent Office: 953 Days
• Field of Search: 704/1, 704/9, 704/10, 707705-788, 709201-203, 719311-317
• US Class Current: 704/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/583 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes

Abstract

An image in a web page may be annotated after deriving information about an image when the image may be displayed on multiple web pages. The web pages that show the image may be analyzed in light of each other to determine metadata about the image, then various additional content may be added to the image. The additional content may be hyperlinks to other webpages. The additional content may be displayed as annotations on top of the images and in other manners. Many embodiments may perform searching, analysis, and classification of images prior to the web page being served.

Claims

1. A method performed on at least one computer processor, said method comprising:

receiving a first image to display on a first web page;

identifying at least one additional web page comprising a second image related to said first image;

analyzing each of said web pages to determine a context for said first image;

from said context, identifying one or more annotations related to said first image;

evaluating each identified annotation to determine which annotations to display with said first image;

selecting one or more annotations based on the evaluation of the identified annotations;

creating an annotated image for rendering that includes the selected one or more annotations; and

displaying an updated first web page with the annotated image.

2. The method of claim 1, said image to display being performed by a web browser.

3. The method of claim 2, said selected annotation being displayed by said web browser with a hyperlink.

4. The method of claim 3, said selected annotation being displayed as a hot spot on said image.

5. The method of claim 4, said analyzing being performed prior to said receiving an image to display.

6. The method of claim 5, said selected annotation being provided from a source other than said at least one additional web page.

7. The method of claim 1, said context being metadata derived from tags associated with said image.

8. The method of claim 7, said selected annotation being text on said at least one additional web page comprising said image.

9. The method of claim 7, said annotation being text retrieved from a source other than a website comprising said image.

10. The method of claim 1, said second image being the same as said first image.

11. The method of claim 1, said second image comprising an image found in said first image.

12. A system comprising:

a processor;

an application operating on said processor;

said application that;

receives an image to display, said image coming from a first source;

transmits metadata associated with said image to a remote source for annotation;

receives one or more annotations for said image, said annotations based on the metadata associated with said image;

evaluates each annotation to determine which annotations to display with said image;

selects one or more annotations based on the evaluation of the annotations; and

creates an annotated image for rendering that includes the selected one or more annotations.

13. The system of claim 12, said application having a plug in that transmits said metadata.

14. The system of claim 12, said metadata comprising information derived from said image.

15. The system of claim 12, said annotation comprising a link to a second web page comprising said image.

16. The system of claim 15, said annotation being made visible on a mouseover performed on said image.

17. The system of claim 16, said remote source comprising a predefined annotation for said image.

18. A method comprising:

receiving a web page to display, said web page comprising an image;

transmitting said image to a remote source for annotation;

receiving one or more annotations for said image;

evaluating each annotation to determine which annotations to display with said image;

selecting one or more annotations based on the annotation evaluations; and

creating an annotated image for rendering that includes the selected one or more annotations.

19. The method of claim 18, said image being transmitted by transmitting a link to a source for said image.

20. The method of claim 19, said annotation comprising a link to a second web page comprising said image.