Method, System and Computer Program For Interactive Spatial Link-Based Image Searching, Sorting and/or Displaying

摘要

A web-based application provides more accurate and clearer methods of searching, sorting, and displaying a set of images stored in a database. A first aspect of the present invention is the method by which image data is stored. Typical, content-based systems use colour information, whereas the present invention uses an image-location tagging method. A second aspect of the present invention is the method by which the set of images are sorted in relevancy. Tag data of the images allows for a new and last method of searching through an entire set. A third aspect of the present invention is the method by which the sorted images are displayed to the user. Instead of the common method of just displaying the images in a rectangular array, where each image is the same size, the web-based application positions and sizes each image based on how relevant it is.

主权项

1. A computer-implemented method for searching, sorting and displaying images of an environment for exploration of said environment, the method comprising:
(a) identifying one or more objects within a first image of a plurality of images of the environment, each of the one or more objects being associated with a first location in the first image, and undertaking the following steps for each of the one or more objects:
(i) identifying the object within at least one of the remaining images of the plurality of images to define second images, the object being associated with one or more second locations in the second images; and(ii) creating links by means of one or more computer processors, between the first location and the one or more second locations, said links defining a link structure between the first image and the second images; (b) obtaining a user selection of a location of a selected image that identifies a search object, said search object being a linked object or an unlinked object in the first image; (c) sorting the plurality of images by utilizing the search object as input for a sorting mode operable to: (i) identify the distance between the search object and at least one secondary object in the first image as a first image proximity; (ii) use the links between first and second locations to locate associated objects in the remaining images of the plurality of images; (iii) interpolate the location of the search object in the remaining images by using the distance between the search object and at least one secondary object in the first image, and the locations of the associated objects in the remaining images of the plurality of images; and (iv) sort the plurality of images by a review of relative distances between image objects in the plurality of images based on the first image proximity; (d) displaying the sorted plurality of images to show one or more images most relevant to the search object in the environment.