Image search engine employing image correlation

Abstract

Searching of images by correlating a search image with a plurality of images hosted in Internet based servers by an image search server. The image search server supports delivery of search result pages to a client device based upon a search string or search image, and contains images from a plurality of Internet based web hosting servers. The image search server delivers a search result page containing images upon receiving a search string and/or search image from the web browser. The selection of images in the search result page is based upon: (i) word match, that is, by selecting images, titles of which correspond to the search string; and (ii) image correlation, that is, by selecting images, image characteristics of which correlates to that of search image. The selection of images in the search result page also occurs on the basis of popularity.

1 . A search server comprising:
 a network interface;   memory; and   processing circuitry coupled to the network interface and to the memory, the processing circuitry, the memory, and the network interface are operable to:
 receive a search string and a search image from a client device; 
 select a first set of images, the titles of which correspond to the search string; 
 select a second set of images, one or more image characteristics of each image of the second set of images correlate to that of the search image; and 
 transmit a search result page comprising a portion of the first set of images and a portion of the second set of images to the client device. 
   
     
     
         2 . The search server of  claim 1 , wherein the search result page comprises a ‘next’ button. 
     
     
         3 . The search server of  claim 2 , wherein the processing circuitry, the memory, and the network interface are further operable to respond to the clicking of the ‘next’ button by delivering a next search result page. 
     
     
         4 . The search server of  claim 3 , wherein the next search result page comprises a subsequent few of the first set of images and a subsequent few of the second set of images. 
     
     
         5 . The search server of  claim 1 , wherein the first search result page comprises a ‘prey’ button. 
     
     
         6 . The search server of  claim 5 , wherein the processing circuitry, the memory, and the network interface are further operable to respond to the clicking of the ‘prey’ button by delivering an exact previous search result page. 
     
     
         7 . The search server of  claim 1 , wherein the search result page comprises an ‘Adult Content Filter’ button. 
     
     
         8 . The search server of  claim 7 , wherein the processing circuitry, the memory, and the network interface are further operable to respond to the clicking of the ‘Adult Content Filter’ button by filtering images with adult content, using image correlation. 
     
     
         9 . A method comprising:
 receiving a search string and a search image from a client device;   selecting a first set of images, the titles of which correspond to the search string;   selecting a second set of images, one or more image characteristics of each image of the second set of images correlate to that of the search image; and   transmitting a search result page comprising a portion of the first set of images and a portion of the second set of images to the client device.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the search result page comprises a ‘next’ button. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising responding to the clicking of the ‘next’ button by delivering a next search result page. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the next search result page comprises a subsequent few of the first set of images and a subsequent few of the second set of images. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first search result page comprises a ‘prey’ button. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising responding to the clicking of the ‘prey’ button by delivering an exact previous search result page. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the search result page comprises an ‘Adult Content Filter’ button. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising responding to the clicking of the ‘Adult Content Filter’ button by filtering images with adult content, using image correlation. 
     
     
         17 . A method comprising:
 receiving a plurality of images from a plurality of web servers;   receiving a search string and a search image from a client device;   selecting a first set of images from the plurality of images, the titles of which correspond to the search string;   selecting a second set of images from the plurality of images, one or more image characteristics of each image of the second set of images correlate to that of the search image; and   transmitting a search result page comprising a portion of the first set of images and a portion of the second set of images to the client device.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein receiving the plurality of images from a plurality of web servers comprises crawling the plurality of web servers for images. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein receiving the plurality of images from a plurality of web servers comprises receiving a plurality of images from at least one client device. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein receiving the plurality of images from a plurality of web servers comprises:
 crawling the plurality of web servers for images; and   receiving a plurality of images from at least one client device.