US6345274B1
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Method and computer program product for subjective image content similarity-based retrieval
Assignee: Monument Peak Ventures LLC
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Filing: 1998-06-29
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Granted: 2002-02-05
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Expires: 2018-06-29
Abstract
Abstract A user preference for a desired image is determined by using one or more examples and counterexamples of a desired image in order to define the user preference. A relative preference of a user for one or more image components or one or more depictive features is automatically extracted from the examples and counterexamples of the desired image. Then, a user subjective definition of a desired image is formulated using the relative preferences for either the image components or the depictive features.
Inventors
- 👤 Wei Zhu
- 👤 Rajiv Mehrotra
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-24 11:32
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F16/00; G06F16/50; G06F16/58; G06F16/583; G06F16/5838; G06Q; G06Q10/00; G06Q10/02; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S707/00; Y10S707/99931; Y10S707/99932; Y10S707/99933; Y10S707/99934; Y10S707/99935; Y10S707/99936; Y10S707/99941; Y10S707/99943; Y10S707/99944
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 52
Claim 1
Independent Claim
99 words
A method for learning a user preference for a desired image, the method comprising the steps of: (a) using one or more examples and counterexamples of a desired image for defining a user preference; (b) computing a relative preference of a user for either one or more image components or one or more depictive features based on a frequency of occurrence of the image component or depictive feature in the examples and counterexamples of a desired image; and (c) formulating a user subjective definition of a desired image using the relative preference for either image components or depictive features.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
99 words
A method for learning a user preference for a desired image, the method comprising the steps of: (a) using one or more examples and counterexamples of a desired image for defining a user preference; (b) computing a relative preference of a user for either one or more image components or one or more depictive features based on a frequency of occurrence of the image component or depictive feature in the examples and counterexamples of a desired image; and (c) formulating a user subjective definition of a desired image using the relative preference for either image components or depictive features.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method as in claim 1 , wherein step (b) further comprises identifying similar and dissimilar image components among examples and counterexamples of said desired image.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method as in claim 2 , where in an image component can be either an entire image or a segment of the image.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method as in claim 1 , wherein step (b) further comprises identifying similar and dissimilar depictive features of either the image components or the image among the examples and counterexamples of said desired image.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method as in claim 4 , wherein depictive features include color, color composition, texture, structure, and shape.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method as in claim 1 , wherein step (b) further comprises computing the relative preference for an image component based on a similarity of the image components among examples and counter examples of said desired image.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method as in claim 1 , wherein step (b) further comprises computing the relative preference for a depictive feature based on a similarity of the depictive feature among examples and counter examples of said desired image.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method as in claim 1 , wherein step (c) of formulating the definition of said desired image includes a list of either desired or undesired image components and the relative preferences of said components to the user.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
43 words
The method as in claim 1 , wherein step (c) of formulating the definition of said desired image includes a list of either desired or undesired depictive features of either an image component or an image and their relative preferences to the user.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method as in claim 1 , further comprising the step of storing the user subjective definition.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
98 words
A method for retrieving user desired images comprising the steps of (a) formulating a user subjective definition of a desired image using either image components or depictive features from one or more examples and counterexamples of a desired image comprising; (a1) extracting a relative preference of a user for either an image component or a depictive feature based on the frequency of occurrence of the image component or depictive feature in the examples and counterexamples of a desired image; and (b) applying the user subjective definition of a desired image to identify and retrieve a user desired image.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
98 words
A method for retrieving user desired images comprising the steps of (a) formulating a user subjective definition of a desired image using either image components or depictive features from one or more examples and counterexamples of a desired image comprising; (a1) extracting a relative preference of a user for either an image component or a depictive feature based on the frequency of occurrence of the image component or depictive feature in the examples and counterexamples of a desired image; and (b) applying the user subjective definition of a desired image to identify and retrieve a user desired image.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method as in claim 11 , wherein step (a) further comprises identifying similar and dissimilar image components among examples and counterexamples of said desired image.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method as in claim 12 , wherein said image component can be either an entire image or a segment of the image.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method as in claim 11 , wherein step (a) further comprises identifying similar and dissimilar depictive features of either image components or image among the examples and counterexamples of said desired image.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method as in claim 14 , wherein depictive features include color, color composition, texture, structure, and shape.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method as in claim 11 , wherein step (a) further comprises computing the relative preference for an image component based on a similarity of the image components among examples and counter examples of said desired image.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method as in claim 11 , wherein step (a) further comprises computing the relative preference for a depictive feature based on a similarity of the depictive feature among examples and counter examples of said desired image.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method as in claim 11 , wherein step (a) of formulating the definition of said desired image includes a list of either desired or undesired image components and their relative preferences to the user.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
43 words
The method as in claim 11 , wherein step (a) of formulating the definition of said desired image includes a list of either desired or undesired depictive features of either an image component or an image and their relative preferences to the user.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method as in claim 11 wherein step (b) further comprises selecting images containing either one or more desired image components or one or more desired depictive features from a database.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method as in claim 11 wherein step (b) comprises applying the user subjective definition of said desired image to a user specified query image to retrieve desired images.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
41 words
The method as in claim 21 , wherein step (b) comprises applying a subset of the user subjective definition of said desired image consisting of the relative preferences for either the image components or depictive features present in the query image.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method as in claim 11 , wherein step (b) further comprising the step of ranking retrieved images based on the relative preference of either the image components or the depictive features.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
15 words
The method as in claim 11 further comprising the step of displaying the retrieved images.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
112 words
A computer program product for learning a user preference for a desired image, comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon for performing the steps of (a) using one or more examples and counterexamples of a desired image for defining a user preference; b) extracting a relative preference of a user for either one or more image components or one or more depictive features based on the frequency of occurrence of the image component or depictive feature in the examples and counterexamples of a desired image; and (c) formulating a user subjective definition of a desired image using the relative preferences for either image components or depictive features.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
112 words
A computer program product for learning a user preference for a desired image, comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon for performing the steps of (a) using one or more examples and counterexamples of a desired image for defining a user preference; b) extracting a relative preference of a user for either one or more image components or one or more depictive features based on the frequency of occurrence of the image component or depictive feature in the examples and counterexamples of a desired image; and (c) formulating a user subjective definition of a desired image using the relative preferences for either image components or depictive features.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
28 words
The computer program product as in claim 25 , wherein step (b) further comprises identifying similar and dissimilar image components among examples and/or counterexamples of said desired image.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
25 words
The computer program product as in claim 26 , wherein an image component can be either an entire image or a segment of the image.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
37 words
The computer program product as in claim 25 , wherein step (b) further comprises identifying similar and dissimilar depictive features of either the image components or the image among the examples and counterexamples of said desired image.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
20 words
The computer program product as in claim 28 , wherein depictive features include color, color composition, texture, structure, and shape.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
39 words
The computer program product as in claim 25 , wherein step (b) further comprises computing the relative preference for an image component based on a similarity of the image components among examples and counter examples of said desired image.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
39 words
The computer program product as in claim 25 , wherein step (b) further comprises computing the relative preference for a depictive feature based on a similarity of the depictive feature among examples and counter examples of said desired image.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
37 words
The computer program product as in claim 25 , wherein step (c) of formulating the definition of said desired image includes a list of either desired or undesired image components and their relative preferences to the user.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
45 words
The computer program product as in claim 25 , wherein step (c) of formulating the definition of said desired image includes a list of either desired or undesired depictive features of either an image component or an image and their relative preferences to the user.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
19 words
The computer program product as in claim 25 , further comprising the step of storing the user subjective definition.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
100 words
A computer program product for retrieving user desired images comprising the steps of (a) formulating a user subjective definition of a desired image using either image components or depictive features from one or more examples and counterexamples of a desired image comprising; (a1) extracting a relative preference of a user for either an image component or a depictive feature based on the frequency of occurrence of the image component or depictive feature in the examples and counterexamples of a desired image; and (b) applying the user subjective definition of a desired image to identify and retrieve the user desired images.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
100 words
A computer program product for retrieving user desired images comprising the steps of (a) formulating a user subjective definition of a desired image using either image components or depictive features from one or more examples and counterexamples of a desired image comprising; (a1) extracting a relative preference of a user for either an image component or a depictive feature based on the frequency of occurrence of the image component or depictive feature in the examples and counterexamples of a desired image; and (b) applying the user subjective definition of a desired image to identify and retrieve the user desired images.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
28 words
The computer program product as in claim 35 , wherein step (a) further comprises identifying similar and dissimilar image components among examples and counterexamples of said desired image.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
25 words
The computer program product as in claim 36 , wherein an image component can be either an entire image or a segment of the image.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
35 words
The computer program product as in claim 35 , wherein step (a) further comprises identifying similar and dissimilar depictive features of either image components or image among the examples and counterexamples of said desired image.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
20 words
The computer program product as in claim 38 , wherein depictive features include color, color composition, texture, structure, and shape.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
39 words
The computer program product as in claim 35 , wherein step (a) further comprises computing the relative preference for an image component based on a similarity of the image components among examples and counter examples of said desired image.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
39 words
The computer program product as in claim 35 , wherein step (a) further comprises computing the relative preference for a depictive feature based on a similarity of the depictive feature among examples and counter examples of said desired image.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
37 words
The computer program product as in claim 35 , wherein step (a) of formulating the definition of said desired image includes a list of either desired or undesired image components and their relative preferences to the user.
Claim 47
Dependent Claim
45 words
The computer program product as in claim 35 , wherein step (a) of formulating the definition of said desired image includes a list of either desired or undesired depictive features of either an image component or an image and their relative preferences to the user.
Claim 48
Dependent Claim
33 words
The computer program product as in claim 35 wherein step (b) further comprises selecting images containing either one or more desired image components or one or more desired depictive features from a database.
Claim 49
Dependent Claim
31 words
The computer program product as in claim 35 wherein step (b) comprises applying the user subjective definition of said desired image to a user specified query image to retrieve desired images.
Claim 50
Dependent Claim
43 words
The computer program product as in claim 45 , wherein step (b) comprises applying a subset of the user subjective definition of said desired image consisting of the relative preferences for either the image components or depictive features present in the query image.
Claim 51
Dependent Claim
34 words
The computer program product as in claim 35 , wherein step (b) further comprising the step of ranking retrieved images based on the relative preference of either the image components or the depictive features.
Claim 52
Dependent Claim
17 words
The computer program product as in claim 35 further comprising the step of displaying the retrieved images.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
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| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2005-02-04 | 2005-08-06 | 2006-02-05 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2009-02-04 | 2009-08-06 | 2010-02-05 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2013-02-04 | 2013-08-06 | 2014-02-05 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |