Patent Publication Number: US-2022222299-A1

Title: Method, apparatus and computer program for displaying search information

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation in part of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/577,458, entitled “METHOD, APPARATUS AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR DISPLAYING SEARCH INFORMATION”, filed Nov. 28, 2017, which claims priority to and is a 35 U.S.C. § 371 national phase application of PCT/KR2016/005785 (WO2016/195368), filed on Jun. 1, 2016, entitled “METHOD, APPARATUS AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR DISPLAYING SEARCH INFORMATION” which application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2015-0080152, filed Jun. 5, 2015, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Any disclaimer that may have occurred during the prosecution of the above-referenced applications is hereby expressly rescinded, and reconsideration of all relevant art is respectfully requested. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for offering search information in an electronic device. 
     More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for requesting a search for relevant products and/or services and acquiring matching shopping information without inputting any search term while an electronic device is displaying content. 
     BACKGROUND ART 
     In the recent growing wired/wireless Internet environment, online promotions, business transactions and trading are becoming more popular. Once a consumer discovers a product that the consumer likes while searching for magazines, blogs, or YouTube videos on an Internet-connected desktop or mobile terminal, the consumer finds out the product name and purchases the product. The brand of a bag carried by a famous actress to the airport or the name of a baby product shown on a TV show ranks highly on a list of search terms entered into a portal site. However, a user needs to individually open a webpage to search for and find a product name and a store, sometimes having difficulty in finding a product without knowing a product name. 
     Sellers spend a lot of money not only on commercials but on media sponsorship and the collection of online consumer reviews in order to promote products, since word-of-mouth online advertising functions as an important factor for the sale of products. However, it is frequently not allowed to release product information including a product name and a store despite paying promotional expenses because it is impossible to obtain prior approval for the display of a product name from individual media viewers, thus bringing about an issue affecting indirect advertising. 
     There is a need from both a user and a seller for shopping information on an online product image that is offered in an intuitive User Interface (UI) environment. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Technical Problem 
     The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems. In particular, an aspect of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for efficiently providing shopping information, such as price information, online store site information, advertisement information, coupon information, and promotion information, relating to content included in an arbitrary page, which is being displayed by an electronic device. 
     Further, an aspect of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for providing, using various intuitive options, a user interface for requesting a shopping information search for content displayed on an electronic device. 
     Technical Solution 
     A method for displaying search information by an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: transmitting a query about a displayed page; and displaying search information that matches content included in the page, wherein the transmitting of the query includes transmitting the query including a history log of a web browser displaying a webpage or data extracted from the history log when the page is a webpage, or includes transmitting the query including a screenshot or uploadable data when the page is not a webpage. 
     A method for displaying search information by an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: displaying an arbitrary page; displaying a search icon on the page when it is possible to retrieve content included in the page; and displaying search information that matches the content when an input to select the icon is received. 
     A method for displaying search information by an electronic device according to another embodiment of the present invention includes: receiving an input to select a search icon included in at least one of a notification list and a share menu list while displaying an arbitrary page; and displaying search information that matches content included in the page. 
     An application stored in a medium that performs processing to display search information in an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a function of running in the background, instead of terminating, when a product search function of the application is activated; a function of transmitting a query about an arbitrary page displayed by another application to a shopping information provision server; and a function of displaying search information that matches the page, wherein the function of transmitting the query is implemented to transmit the query including a history log of a web browser running a webpage or data extracted from the history log when the page is a webpage, or to transmit the query including a screenshot or uploadable data when the page is not a webpage. 
     An electronic device for displaying search information according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a display configured to display an arbitrary page; and a controller configured to transmit a query about the page to a shopping information provision server and to control display of search information that matches the page, wherein the controller transmits the query including a history log of a web browser running a webpage or data extracted from the history log when the page is a webpage, or transmits the query including a screenshot or uploadable image data when the page is not a webpage. 
     A method for providing search information by a server to a client according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: generating a database of a plurality of products and extracting feature information on an image included in the database; receiving a query from the client; determining a product or a service that matches a query image acquired from the query by retrieving the feature information on the image in the database; and offering search information on the matching product or service to the client, wherein the determining of the matching product or service includes: indexing the feature information on the image in the database by classifying the feature information into one or more categories according to preset criteria; acquiring an image from the query and extracting feature information on the query image; and determining whether the feature information on the query image matches the feature information on the image in the database using indexing information on the image in the database. 
     Advantageous Effects 
     According to the present invention, a user can retrieve relevant products and/or services and can be provided with search information without visiting a separate search page or inputting text while browsing through arbitrary content on an electronic device. Therefore, convenience in shopping may be improved for purchasers, while advertising effects may be increased for sellers. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a flowchart illustrating an electronic device displaying search information according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a search method according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIGS. 3A and 3B  illustrate an example of a user interface displaying a search icon according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a search method according to another embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIGS. 5A through 5C  illustrate an example of a user interface displaying a search icon according to another embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  illustrates a search method according to still another embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 7  illustrates a service server offering search information according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION 
     It will be obvious that the present invention is not limited to the details of the embodiments described below and may be variously modified without departing from the technical gist of the present invention. In describing the embodiments, descriptions of technologies which are well-known in the technical field to which the present invention pertains and are not directly related to the technical gist of the present invention may be omitted. 
     Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the accompanying drawings. Further, in the drawings, some elements may be exaggerated, omitted, or schematically illustrated, which serves to clarify the gist of the present invention by omitting unnecessary descriptions not related to the gist of the present invention. Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
       FIG. 1  is a flowchart illustrating an electronic device displaying search information according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     Although the following description is made assuming that the electronic device is a mobile device, the present invention is not limited thereto. That is, it should be understood that the electronic device according to the present invention includes any type of electronic device that is capable of requesting a product search and displaying search information, for example, a desktop, a smartphone, and a tablet PC. 
     Although the term ‘background’ may be used with various meanings in the IT industry, herein the term is to be understood to indicate that an application is running without displaying an execution screen in the present specification. Further, the term ‘foreground’ may be construed to indicate that an application is running while an execution screen thereof is displayed. 
     Further, in the present specification, the term ‘displayed page in an electronic device’ may be understood to indicate a screen loaded on an electronic device to be immediately displayed on the screen by a user&#39;s scrolling and/or content in the loaded screen. For example, the page may refer to the entire execution screen of an application that extends lengthwise in the horizontal or vertical direction and is displayed by a user&#39;s scrolling on a display of the mobile device, and may also refer to a camera rolling screen. 
     In operation  110  of  FIG. 1 , the electronic device may run an information search program according to an embodiment of the present invention. The search program may be an application, a plug-in, an ActiveX control, or an advertising SDK (module or API), which is installed in the mobile device, software installed on a desktop, or an extension program installed in a web browsing tool. 
     The program may be downloaded and installed by the electronic device from a service server and/or an open application market according to an embodiment of the present invention. Further, the program may be run as an advertising SDK (API or module) mounted in another application. 
     In operation  110 , the electronic device may perform a process for user authentication and security with the installation of the application, and may also perform a procedure for offering user consent for the provision of information to the service server or a separate website server. 
     In operation  120 , the electronic device may offer at least one or more search options through a setting menu of an application execution screen. The search options are for setting up a search mode. 
     According to the embodiment of the present invention, the search options may include a mode of automatically retrieving a relevant product and/or service without any user search request upon displaying arbitrary content on the electronic device, a mode of receiving a user search request through a search icon only when it is possible to retrieve displayed content, and/or a mode of conducting a product search only upon receipt of an explicit user search request. 
     In particular, an information search according to the embodiment of the present invention may be conducted without running a search application, opening a separate search page, or receiving additional search term input. That is, according to the present invention, the search may be conducted with specific content being displayed without any separate action for a search. Various search modes according to embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     In operation  130 , when an arbitrary search option is selected, the information search application according to the embodiment of the present invention is run in the background to conduct a search. For example, even if an application termination command is received from a user (operation  135 ), the application according to the embodiment of the present invention may be run in the background, without being completely terminated (operation  140 ), which is for conducting a search without any separate action for a search, for example, running the search application or displaying a search page. 
     When no search option is selected in operation  130 , which is interpreted to mean that the user does not want an information search using the application (operation  132 ), the running application is terminated according to the termination command (operation  133 ). 
     In operation  150 , the electronic device may run various other applications in the foreground while simultaneously running the search application in the background. In this case, the execution screens of the foreground applications may be displayed in a single layer or multiple layers. 
     In operation  155 , the electronic device may conduct an information search for a related product and/or service while displaying arbitrary content. When the electronic device has sufficient resources, the electronic device may directly determine a matching product and/or service. Otherwise, the electronic device may conduct a search by transmitting a query to the service server that conducts an information search. 
     For example, when a search for a webpage is requested (that is, a search request is received while a web browser is running), the electronic device may transmit URL information on the displayed webpage via a search request query, or may extract text, image, and video data from a URL and transmit the extracted data via the query. Here, when it is impossible to acquire the URL information or to extract the text, image, and video data from the URL, the electronic device may acquire a screenshot of the webpage and may transmit the screenshot via the query. 
     According to another embodiment of the present invention, when a search request is received while an application other than a web browser is running, the electronic device may acquire a screenshot and/or data that can be uploaded on a relevant page and may transmit the screenshot or data to the service server via a search request query. For example, when a photo viewer application is running, the electronic device may transmit a photo file via the query. In another example, when a video player application is running, the electronic device may transmit a screenshot, taken at a particular time, via the query. In another example, when a shopping application is running, the electronic device may transmit a data that is extracted from a page being displayed through the shopping application and is uploadable or a screenshot of the corresponding page to the service server. In addition to the above-described applications, an SNS application and a game application may be run in the electronic device. Applications that may be executed in the electronic device are not limited to those described. 
     In operation  160 , the electronic device may receive matching search information from the service server. For example, the service server may: extract an image, a video, or text included in a query; retrieve a matching product from a database; and offer related shopping information. A specific example in which the service server determines a matching product will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     When matching shopping information is received, the electronic device may switch the search application into the foreground to display the matching shopping information (operation  165 ). The shopping information may include price information on a matching product/service, lowest-price information, an online store offering the lowest price, similar goods, a coupon, and/or promotion information. Further, the shopping information may also include information on other products/services recommended based on a search history log of the user. 
     For example, when the user browses through a webpage including a flower image, the shopping information may display a flower delivery advertisement list, floral arrangement lesson promotion information, and/or rose festival discount coupon information according to the embodiment of the present invention. 
     In another example, when the user browses through an SNS including an image of shoes, the shopping image may display other shoes of the same brand as that of the shoes or shopping information on recommended shoes with the same or similar colors and shapes and/or for the same season according to the embodiment of the present invention. 
     In still another example, when the user browses through a picture including a toy image, the shopping image may display a toy name, a manufacturer, the year of manufacture, lowest-price information, price variation information, an online store, product reviews, user age, and/or usage according to the embodiment of the present invention. 
     The information may be displayed in text, an image, and/or ActionScript, each of which may be linked to an online store. In addition, the information may be displayed in a separate page or with an icon including a shopping information link around a relevant product on the page that the user is browsing through. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a search method according to an embodiment of the present invention. In describing  FIG. 2 , details overlapping those of  FIG. 1  are omitted or are briefly mentioned. 
     According to the embodiment of  FIG. 2 , when there is a search request from a user, a query requesting a search is transmitted. In a mode according to this embodiment, when a search application is run in the background, a search icon is displayed in a notification list and/or a share menu list, and the user browsing through a specific page selects the search icon in the share menu to request a shopping information search for a product included in the page. 
     Further, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the search icon may be created, but not limited to, not only in the notification list and/or the share menu list but also on a corresponding page in a general case where a user search request is expected to be made. 
     For example, when a screenshot is created by user request, a user device may create an icon for a search request on a screenshot screen at the same time as creating the screenshot. In addition, when a camera application operates to create an image, the user device may create an icon for requesting a search for an object included in the image on an image viewer screen at the same time as creating the image. 
     Moreover, the user device may create a search icon only when a preset object is detected from a screenshot or a camera-created image depending on the configuration. 
     More specifically, when the foregoing mode is set as a search option in operation  210 , the application may switch to background execution (operation  220 ) and the search icon may be created in the notification list, the share menu list, and/or a page for an expected search request (operation  230 ). 
     In operation  240 , the user may browse through a plurality of pages, content, and/or an application while running the application of the electronic device. 
     When the user wants to perform a related shopping information search while browsing through a specific page, the user may open a notification window to select the search icon included in the notification list or may open a share menu to select the search icon included in the share list in operation  250 . According to the embodiment of the present invention, the notification window or share menu including the search icon may be open according to a conventional technology, which serves to improve the intuitiveness of a product search by using a user-friendly user interface (UI). 
     According to another embodiment of the present invention, when the user creates a screenshot, a search icon may be displayed at the same time as the screenshot is created. When the user creates an image using a camera application, a search icon may be displayed on an image viewer screen. A specific UI for displaying the search icon will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     When the application running in the foreground is a web browser (operation  260 ), the electronic device may transmit a query including a history log of the web browser to a service server (operation  270 ). The history log may include a browsing execution history of the web browser. Particularly, the electronic device may transmit URL information on the most recently visited webpage, that is, URL information on the webpage browsed by the user right before selecting the search icon, via the query. 
     In operation  270 , the electronic device may extract image, video, or text data included in the URL of the webpage and may transmit the extracted data via the query. Further, when it is impossible to extract the URL and the image, video, or text data, the electronic device may extract a screenshot and may transmit the screenshot via the query. 
     According to another embodiment of the present invention, when the application running in the foreground is a photo viewer (operation  262 ), the electronic device may transmit a query including an image file displayed by the photo viewer (operation  275 ). Alternatively, the electronic device may extract a screenshot of the foreground application and may transmit the screenshot via a query (operation  268 ). 
     For example, when the user shopping in a hypermarket is curious about the lowest online price of a telephone being displayed, the user may take a picture of the telephone using a camera application of the electronic device and may open the notification window to select a product search icon, with the picture displayed. In this case, the electronic device may transmit a telephone picture file to the service server via a query. 
     Subsequently, when shopping information on a matching object is received from the service server in response to the query, the electronic device may switch the shopping information search application to run in the foreground in operation  280  and may display shopping information in operation  290 . 
       FIGS. 3A and 3B  illustrate an example of a user interface displaying a search icon according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
       FIG. 3A  illustrates a search icon  310  displayed in a notification list of a notification window according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     For example, while browsing through a page, the user may perform a drag starting from the top edge of a display to open the notification window illustrated in  FIG. 3A , and may select the search icon  310  displayed in the notification list to request a search on the browsing page. 
       FIG. 3B  illustrates a search icon  320  displayed in a share list according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     For example, while browsing through a page, the user may select a share menu to open the share list illustrated in  FIG. 3B  and may select the search icon displayed in the share list to request a search on the browsing page. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates a search method according to another embodiment of the present invention. In describing  FIG. 4 , details overlapping those of  FIG. 2  are omitted or are briefly mentioned. 
     In  FIG. 4 , the electronic device may first determine whether it is possible to retrieve a specific page, and may display a search icon only when possible. According to the embodiment, when a product search is possible, the electronic device notifies the user that the product search is possible using a search icon, and transmits a query only when the user selects the icon, thus reducing the amount of resources required to transmit and process the query. 
     When the foregoing mode is set as a search option (operation  405 ), a search application may switch to background execution (operation  410 ), and the user may browse through a plurality of pages while running other applications in operation  420 . 
     According to the embodiment of the present invention, the search icon is displayed only when it is possible to retrieve the page (operations  440  and  450 ). For example, the electronic device may determine whether it is possible to retrieve content included in a displayed page using the number of images included in the page, the size of each image, the form of each image, whether it is possible to extract text or an image from the page, and/or the URL type or address of the page, and may display the search icon on the page only when possible. 
     A description on a user interface displaying a search icon will be made below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     When the user selects the displayed search icon, a query about the page may be transmitted (operations  460  and  470 ). When matching shopping information is received in response to the query, the product search application may switch to foreground execution and the received matching shopping information may be displayed (operations  480  and  490 ). Operations  470  to  490  are substantially the same as operations  260  to  290  described above in  FIG. 2  and thus are briefly mentioned. 
     In the embodiment, a procedure for identifying whether it is possible to retrieve a product included in the page is essential. To reduce the amount of resources required for the procedure, the electronic device may periodically identify whether the web browser is running, may periodically identify the history log of the web browser when the web browser is running, and may identify whether it is possible to retrieve the product only when the web browser is updated (operation  425 ). 
     More specifically, the search application according to the embodiment of the present invention may periodically identify whether the web browser is running in the background, and may periodically identify the history log of the web browser when the web browser is running. In this manner, the search application may identify the possibility of a search only when the web browser is updated, instead of identifying the possibility of a search with respect to all webpages. 
       FIGS. 5A and 5B  illustrate an example of a user interface displaying a search icon according to the search mode illustrated in  FIG. 4 . 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 5A , according to the embodiment of the present invention, even though a page displays a plurality of products, when the page does not have a format suitable for a product search, no search icon is displayed. 
     However, when the user selects a specific object in  FIG. 5A  and thus a product specification page is displayed, as in  FIG. 5B , if the page has a format suitable for a search, the search icon  510  may be displayed. The search icon  510  may be displayed inside the page. For example, the search icon  510  may be displayed around or overlapped with content included in the page. In addition, a part of shopping information searched for by the service server may be displayed inside or around the search icon  510 . For example, representative information such as a product name, a product image, and price information among shopping information retrieved from the service server may be displayed. In addition, a part of the shopping information received from the service server may be displayed inside of around the search icon  510  in a preview format of at least one of a thumbnail format and a text format.  FIG. 5C  illustrates a screen in which a preview having a text format is displayed around the search icon  510 . 
     According to this mode, when the search icon is displayed on a page that the user is browsing through, the user may recognize that it is possible to retrieve a corresponding product. Further, shopping information is immediately displayed upon selecting the search icon, and thus the icon may be considered to be a link for visiting a shopping information page. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates a search method according to another embodiment of the present invention. In describing  FIG. 6 , details overlapping those of  FIG. 2  to  FIG. 4  are omitted or are briefly mentioned. 
     According to the search method of  FIG. 6 , a query for a shopping information search on a displayed page may be automatically transmitted without any type of user input for requesting a search. 
     When the foregoing mode is set as a search option (operation  610 ), a search application may switch to background execution (operation  620 ), and the user may browse through a plurality of pages while running other applications in operation  630 . 
     For example, when the application running in the foreground is a web browser, a URL of a webpage may be transmitted via the query (operation  650 ), and a service server may determine a matching product and/or service using data offered through the URL. 
     Here, when the service server offers shopping information, the search application may switch to foreground execution in operation  660  and the shopping information may be displayed in operation  670 . Here, even though the shopping information is received from the service server, the shopping information may be set to be displayed only when the users wants to display the shopping information. Operations  650  to  670  are substantially the same as operations  260  to  290 , described above with reference to  FIG. 2 , and thus are briefly mentioned. 
     In the embodiment, since the query is automatically transmitted, the electronic device may be set to transmit the query only when the web browser is updated. 
     More specifically, the search application according to the embodiment of the present invention may periodically identify whether the web browser is running in the background, and may periodically identify the history log of the web browser when the web browser is running (operation  640 ). 
     In this manner, the search application may transmit the query only when the web browser is updated, instead of identifying the possibility of a search with respect to all webpages (operation  650 ). Further, when matching shopping information is received in response to the query and is displayed (operation  670 ), if the history log of the browser is changed or the screen moves to the previous page from the webpage transmitting the query, the display of the matching shopping information may be stopped. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates a service server offering search information according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     In operation  710 , a shopping information provision server may create a shopping information database. The shopping information may include a product name, product images of different sizes from different angles, the usage of a product, product reviews, manufacturer information, store information, price information, advertising information, coupon information, and/or promotion information, and may also include a link to similar goods and recommended products based on a user history log. Methods for collecting the shopping information from different routes and for designing and storing the database may follow conventional techniques. 
     Further, the service server may generate feature information on product images stored in the database to create a database. For example, the service server may extract a point of interest of a product image, may calculate a feature descriptor, and may index feature information on images to at least one or more categories for efficiency of retrieval. 
     The service server may receive a query from an electronic device in operation  720 , and may convert data included in the query in operation  730 . 
     For example, when the query includes URL information, the service server may extract image, video, and/or text data offered by the URL and may select only data on a product. 
     Further, when the query includes image data, the service server may extract a unique value (hash information, header information, or the like) of an image from a query image and/or may extract feature information on the image to process the unique value or the feature information so as to have a form appropriate for an image search. For example, the service server may convert a feature descriptor for the query image based on the same criteria as for indexing a feature descriptor for a database image, which enables a subsequent search process to be performed quickly and efficiently. 
     In operation  740 , the service server may determine whether the query data matches a product and/or service included in the database. 
     For example, the service server may retrieve a set of feature descriptors for the database image in order to determine whether the distance between a feature descriptor vector value of the database image and a feature descriptor vector value of the query image is within a preset threshold. Further, the service server may determine the degree of consistency (geometric consistency) between the query image and the database image using attributes of the feature information, such as positional information, scale, rotation degree, and distribution information on the point of interest or feature descriptor for the image, and may determine whether the degree of consistency is higher than a preset threshold and thus retrieve a matching product and/or service. In operation  750 , the service server may offer shopping information on a matching product/service. 
     The embodiments of the present invention disclosed in this specification and the drawings show specific examples only to easily explain technical contents of the present invention and to help comprehension of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. It will be obvious to those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains that other modified embodiments on the basis of the spirits of the present invention besides the embodiments disclosed herein may be carried out.