Embodiments enable searching of portions of objects in images, including programmatically analyzing each image in a collection in order to determine image data that, for individual images in the collection, represents one or more visual characteristics of a portion of an object shown in that image. A user is enabled to specify one or more search criteria that includes image data, and a search result may be determined based on one or more images in the collection that show a corresponding object that has a portion that satisfies a threshold. The threshold is defined at least in part by 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: 7657126
Type: Grant
Filed: Nov 7, 2007
Date of Patent: Feb 2, 2010
Patent Publication Number: 20080212899
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: 11/936,734