Search system employing multiple image based search processing approaches

Abstract

An Internet infrastructure supports searching of images by correlating a category selection with that of plurality of images hosted in Internet based servers in selected categories. An image search server supports delivery of search result pages to a client device based upon a search image or category selection, and contains images from a plurality of Internet based web hosting servers. The image search server delivers characteristic analysis of an image to the client device upon request. The selection of images is based upon: (i) word match, that is, by selecting images, titles of which correspond to the search image; and (ii) image correlation, that is, by selecting images, image characteristics of which correlates to that of category selection. The selection of images in the search result page also occurs on the basis of popularity. The category selection server also selects category based upon user's choice.

1 . An online search system that services both a plurality of web hosting servers and a plurality of user computing devices via an Internet, the online search system comprising:
 a processing infrastructure configured to crawl the plurality of web hosting servers to gather a plurality of images and to associate at least one of a plurality of image characteristic with each of the plurality of images;   a communication interface through which a user uploaded search image is received by the processing infrastructure; and   the processing infrastructure configured to (i) analyze the user uploaded search image to identify at least one image characteristic, (ii) attempt to match the at least one image characteristic with the at least one of the plurality of image characteristics of the plurality of images so as to yield a group of visually similar images; and (iii) perform adult image recognition upon at least some of the plurality of images.   
     
     
         2 . The online search system of  claim 1 , wherein the processing infrastructure is configured to perform adult image recognition by filtering the plurality of images. 
     
     
         3 . The online search system of  claim 1 , wherein attempting to match the at least one image characteristic with the at least one of the plurality of image characteristics is further based on user preference settings. 
     
     
         4 . The online search system of  claim 3 , wherein performing adult image recognition is based in part on the user preference settings. 
     
     
         5 . The online search system of  claim 3 , wherein the user preference settings are user profile settings. 
     
     
         6 . The online search system of  claim 3 , wherein the user preference settings are uploaded with the uploaded search image. 
     
     
         7 . An online search system that services both a plurality of web hosting servers and a plurality of user computing devices via an Internet, the online search system comprising:
 a processing infrastructure configured to crawl the plurality of web hosting servers to gather a plurality of images and to associate at least one of a plurality of image characteristic with each of the plurality of images;   a communication interface through which an uploaded search image is received by the processing infrastructure; and   the processing infrastructure configured to (i) analyze the user uploaded search image to identify at least one image characteristic, (ii) attempt to match the at least one image characteristic with the at least one of the plurality of image characteristics of the plurality of images so as to yield a group of visually similar images, and (iii) perform a comparison process involving text data associated with each of the plurality of images.   
     
     
         8 . The online search system of  claim 7 , wherein the processing infrastructure is further configured to produce search results based on the analysis and comparison process. 
     
     
         9 . The online search system of  claim 7 , wherein attempting to match the at least one image characteristic with the at least one of the plurality of image characteristics of the plurality of images so as to yield a group of visually similar images is further based upon user preference settings. 
     
     
         10 . The online search system of  claim 9 , wherein the user preference settings are uploaded with the uploaded search image. 
     
     
         11 . The online search system of  claim 9 , wherein the user preference settings are user profile settings. 
     
     
         12 . The online search system of  claim 7 , wherein the processing infrastructure is further configured to perform adult image recognition by filtering the plurality of images. 
     
     
         13 . The online search system of  claim 12 , wherein performing adult image recognition is based in part on user preference settings. 
     
     
         14 . The online search system of  claim 13 , wherein the user preference settings are user profile settings. 
     
     
         15 . The online search system of  claim 13 , wherein the user preference settings are uploaded with the uploaded search image. 
     
     
         16 . An online search system that services both a plurality of web hosting servers and a plurality of user computing devices via an Internet, the online search system comprising:
 a processing infrastructure configured to crawl the plurality of web hosting servers to gather a plurality of images and to associate at least one of a plurality of image characteristic with each of the plurality of images;   a communication interface through which a user uploaded search image is received by the processing infrastructure;   the processing infrastructure configured to (i) analyze the user uploaded search image to identify at least one image characteristic, and (ii) attempt to match the at least one image characteristic with the at least one of the plurality of image characteristics of the plurality of images so as to yield a group of visually similar images as search results; and   wherein the processing infrastructure is configured to perform adult image filtering of at least some of the plurality of images.   
     
     
         17 . The online search system of  claim 16 , wherein performing adult image filtering of the at least some of the plurality of images comprises an analysis of text associated with the at least some of the plurality of images for adult terms. 
     
     
         18 . The online search system of  claim 16 , wherein performing adult image filtering of the at least some of the plurality of images comprises an analysis of the at least some of the plurality of images to recognize adult content. 
     
     
         19 . An online search system that services both a plurality of web hosting servers and a plurality of user computing devices via an Internet, the online search system comprising:
 a processing infrastructure configured to crawl the plurality of web hosting servers to gather a plurality of images and to associate at least one of a plurality of image characteristic with each of the plurality of images;   a communication interface through which an uploaded search image is received by the processing infrastructure;   the processing infrastructure configured to (i) analyze the user uploaded search image to identify at least one image characteristic, and (ii) attempt to match the at least one image characteristic with the at least one of the plurality of image characteristics of the plurality of images so as to yield a group of visually similar images as search results; and   the processing infrastructure configured to generate the search results further based in part on a comparison process involving text data associated with each of the plurality of images.   
     
     
         20 . The online search system of  claim 19 , wherein attempting to match the at least one image characteristic with the at least one of the plurality of image characteristics of the plurality of images so as to yield a group of visually similar images as search results is further based upon user preference settings. 
     
     
         21 . The online search system of  claim 20 , wherein the user preference settings are uploaded with the uploaded search image. 
     
     
         22 . The online search system of  claim 20 , wherein the user preference settings are user profile settings. 
     
     
         23 . The online search system of  claim 19 , wherein the processing infrastructure is further configured to perform adult image recognition by filtering the plurality of images. 
     
     
         24 . The online search system of  claim 23 , wherein performing adult image recognition is based in part on user preference settings. 
     
     
         25 . The online search system of  claim 24 , wherein the user preference settings are user profile settings. 
     
     
         26 . The online search system of  claim 24 , wherein the user preference settings are uploaded with the uploaded search image.