Embodiments programmatically analyze each of a plurality of images in order to determine one or more visual characteristics about an item shown in each of the plurality of images. Data is stored corresponding to the one or more visual characteristics. An interface in is provided for which a user is able to specify one or more search criteria. In response to receiving the one or more search criteria, a search operation is performed to identify one or more items that have a visual characteristic that satisfies at least some of the one or more search criteria.
Description
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/864,781, filed Nov. 7, 2006, entitled AN IMAGE SIMILARITY SYSTEM, the aforementioned priority application being hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/777,894, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ENABLING IMAGE RECOGNITION AND SEARCHING OF REMOTE CONTENT ON DISPLAY, filed Jul. 13, 2007, (i) which claims benefit to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/909,414, filed Mar. 30, 2007, entitled TECHNIQUE FOR ACTIVATING IMAGES ON WEBSITES IN ORDER TO ENABLE VISUAL SEARCH OF IMAGE PORTIONS BY WEBSITE USERS, the aforementioned priority applications being hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety; and (ii) which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/246,742, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ENABLING THE USE OF CAPTURED IMAGES THROUGH RECOGNITION, filed on Oct. 7, 2005; which claims benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/679,591, entitled METHOD FOR TAGGING IMAGES, filed May 9, 2005
This application also incorporates by reference in its entirety PCT Application PCT/US07/83935, filed Nov. 7, 2007.
TECHNICAL FIELD
The disclosed embodiments relate generally to the field of digital image processing.
BACKGROUND
Digital photography has become a consumer application of great significance. It has afforded individuals convenience in capturing and sharing digital images. Devices that capture digital images have become low-cost, and the ability to send pictures from one location to the other has been one of the driving forces in the drive for more network bandwidth.
Due to the relative low cost of memory and the availability of devices and platforms from which digital images can be viewed, the average consumer maintains most digital images on computer-readable mediums, such as hard drives, CD-Roms, and flash memory. The use of file folders are the primary source of organization, although applications have been created to aid users in organizing and viewing digital images. Some search engines, such as GOOGLE, also enables users to search for images, primarily by matching text-based search input to text metadata or content associated with images.
Patent History
Patent number: 7657100
Type: Grant
Filed: Nov 7, 2007
Date of Patent: Feb 2, 2010
Patent Publication Number: 20080152231
Assignee: Like.com (San Mateo, CA)
Inventors: Salih Burak Gokturk (Mountain View, CA), Baris Sumengen (San Francisco, CA), Diem Vu (San Jose, CA), Navneet Dalal (Bangalore), Danny Yang (Foster City, CA), Xiaofan Lin (Sunnyvale, CA), Azhar Khan (San Francisco, CA), Munjal Shah (Palo Alto, CA), Dragomir Anguelov (San Francisco, CA), Lorenzo Torresani (Cambridge), Vincent Vanhoucke (Menlo Park, CA)
Primary Examiner: Charles Kim
Attorney: Mahamedi Paradice Kreisman LLP
Application Number: 11/936,705