US5751286A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Image query system and method
Assignee: Google LLC
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Filing: 1997-01-24
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Granted: 1998-05-12
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Expires: 2017-01-24
Abstract
Abstract Images in an image database are searched in response to queries which include the visual characteristics of the images such as colors, textures, shapes, and sizes, as well as by textual tags appended to the images. Queries are constructed in an image query construction area in response to values of representations of the visual characteristics and to locations of the representations in the image query construction area.
Inventors
- 👤 Ronald Jason Barber
- 👤 Bradley James Beitel
- 👤 William Robinson Equitz
- 👤 Myron Dale Flickner
- 👤 Carlton Wayne Niblack
- 👤 Dragutin Petkovic
- 👤 Thomas Randolph Work
- 👤 Peter Cornelius Yanker
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-24 05:17
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F16/00; G06F16/50; G06F16/58; G06F16/583; G06F16/5838; G06F16/5854; G06F16/5862; G06V; G06V10/00; G06V10/40; G06V10/50; G06V10/507; G06V10/56; G06V10/70; G06V10/74; G06V10/75; G06V10/758; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S707/00; Y10S707/99931; Y10S707/99933; Y10S707/99934; Y10S707/99936; Y10S715/00; Y10S715/961; Y10S715/965; Y10S715/966; Y10S715/968
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 33
Claim 1
Independent Claim
85 words
A computer-executed method for visually specifying an image database query using a computer display device and a user interface that provides output on the computer display device, comprising: displaying an attribute window that contains a control for setting an attribute of an image characteristic; displaying an image query window; and receiving in the image query window a specification of an image database query that includes one or more depictive representations of image characteristics, each depictive representation representing an image characteristic having at least one attribute.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
85 words
A computer-executed method for visually specifying an image database query using a computer display device and a user interface that provides output on the computer display device, comprising: displaying an attribute window that contains a control for setting an attribute of an image characteristic; displaying an image query window; and receiving in the image query window a specification of an image database query that includes one or more depictive representations of image characteristics, each depictive representation representing an image characteristic having at least one attribute.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
50 words
The method of claim 1, further including: displaying an image characteristic selection window that contains one or more depictive representations of an image characteristic; wherein, receiving the specification includes each of the one or more depictive representations being moved to the image query window from the image characteristic selection window.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 2, wherein receiving a plurality of depictive representations includes receiving thumbnails moved from an image characteristic selection window.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method of claim 2, wherein an image characteristic selection window contains depictive representations of color.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method of claim 2, wherein an image characteristic selection window contains depictive representations of textures.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method of claim 1, further including: displaying a query result window including a plurality of images similar to the query.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method of claim 6, wherein the images are displayed in the query result window in an order of similarity to the query.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more depictive representations form a search image.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more depictive representations are thumbnails.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more depictive representations are obtained from a color picker.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method of claim 1, further including displaying a color picker window including a color picker, each depictive representation representing a color picked from the color picker.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute window includes a control for setting a weight for an image characteristic.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
39 words
The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute window includes at least two controls, a first control for setting a weight for an image characteristic and a second control for setting a euclidian distance threshold for an image characteristic.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
71 words
The method of claim 1, wherein receiving an image database query includes receiving two or more depictive representations, a first depictive representation representing a first color and a second depictive representation representing a second color, the first depictive representation having a layout relationship with the second depictive representation that is determined by respective areas of the image query window where the first depictive representation and the second depictive representation are positioned.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
69 words
The method of claim 1, wherein receiving an image database query includes receiving two or more depictive representations, a first depictive representation representing a first color and a second depictive representation representing a second color, the first depictive representation having a spatial relationship with the second depictive representation that is determined by respective locations of the first depictive representation and the second depictive representation in the image query window.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
43 words
The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the specification includes receiving a plurality of depictive representations, at least one depictive representation having a layout relationship with at least one other depictive representation in the image query window, the specification including the layout relationship.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
43 words
The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the specification includes receiving a plurality of depictive representations, at least one depictive representation having a spatial relationship with at least one other depictive representation in the image query window, the specification including the spatial relationship.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
143 words
A method for computer execution of a query for images in an image database using a computer display device, a user interface, and a query engine, comprising: receiving an attribute value for one or more image characteristics; displaying an image query window; receiving in the image query window a specification of a query for images, the specification including one or more depictive representations of image characteristics, each depictive representation having a position in the image query window and representing a respective image characteristic at the position; executing the query by: determining whether an image in an image database contains an image characteristic of a type represented by, and near a location of, each of the one or more depictive representations; and determining similarity between the image and the query according to the attribute value for each image characteristic represented by a depictive representation.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
143 words
A method for computer execution of a query for images in an image database using a computer display device, a user interface, and a query engine, comprising: receiving an attribute value for one or more image characteristics; displaying an image query window; receiving in the image query window a specification of a query for images, the specification including one or more depictive representations of image characteristics, each depictive representation having a position in the image query window and representing a respective image characteristic at the position; executing the query by: determining whether an image in an image database contains an image characteristic of a type represented by, and near a location of, each of the one or more depictive representations; and determining similarity between the image and the query according to the attribute value for each image characteristic represented by a depictive representation.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method of claim 18, further comprising: accumulating a set of images similar to the query; and displaying the set of images ranked in an order according to a degree of similarity to the query.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
13 words
The method of claim 19, wherein the attribute value is a weight value.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method of claim 20, wherein the weight value represents a weight of the one or more image characteristics with respect to other image characteristics.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
34 words
The method of claim 21, wherein determining similarity includes determining a composite distance between the image and the search image by combining a plurality of image characteristic distances according to a plurality of weights.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method of claim 22, wherein a type of the one or more image characteristics is a color.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method of claim 23, wherein the color is defined by a group of color components.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method of claim 24, wherein the group of color components is a group of (RGB) components.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method of claim 19, wherein the attribute value is a euclidian distance value.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
65 words
The method of claim 19, wherein determining similarity includes, for each image characteristic represented by a depictive representation, calculating a composite distance between the image characteristic and an image characteristic contained in the image near a location corresponding to the location of the depictive representation of the image characteristic in the image query window, and combining a plurality of composite distances according to weight values.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method of claim 27, wherein the one or more image characteristics include color.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method of claim 28, wherein the one or more image characteristics include texture.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
84 words
The method of claim 27, wherein the one or more image characteristics include color and determining similarity includes, for a type of color (color 1 ), determination of color similarity according to a color similarity function s c (color 1 , color 2 ), where color 2 is any color and s c is near a first value when color 1 is similar to color 2 , and s c is near a second value when color 1 is different than color 2 .
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
67 words
The method of claim 30, wherein determining similarity includes determination of color similarity according to: s.sub.c (color.sub.1, color.sub.2)=1-.sub.maxd.sbsb.c.sup.d.sbsb.c.sup.(color.sbsb.1.sup., color.sbsb.2.sup.) where d c is a color distance function in which d c is near zero and s c is near 1 when color 1 and color 2 are similar, while d c is large and s c is near zero when color 1 and color 2 are dissimilar.
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