System and method for acquisition of related graphical material in a digital graphics album

摘要

An apparatus and method for adding graphical material to a digital graphics album is disclosed. Reference material in a digital graphics album is specified. Annotation data is extracted from the reference material and may be processed by a natural language processor to produce search keywords. In addition to the keywords, user directives may be provided, both of which are used to conduct a search for related graphical materials. The search is conducted by querying a graphical material database through a network connection. The search results are received and the user can select from the resultant materials for inclusion in the digital graphics album. If no satisfactory material is found, the user can specify a reference graphical image that is processed to produce search criteria that are image content descriptors. The database is again queried in accordance with these descriptors to provide search results for possible inclusion.