Patent ID: 7548936

Claim:
A computer implemented method executed by a processor for presenting web image search results, the method comprising: generating task-based attention objects for each of multiple images associated with image search results returned by a search engine; creating thumbnail images from respective ones of the images as a function of at least the task-based attention objects to emphasize image region(s) of greater priority to a user in view of a keyword or an expanded keyword associated with the search results; calculating similarity measurements between the images as a function of one or more of content of the task-based attention objects and features associated with the images as a whole, the features comprising one or more of features extracted from the images and context associated with the images; and mapping the thumbnail images to a 2-D layout space for presentation to the user as a function of the similarity measurements, wherein the mapping comprises positioning thumbnail images with similar task-based attention objects in close proximity to one another and positioning thumbnail images with a higher search engine rank in front of thumbnail images with a lower search engine rank; and wherein the similarity is measured by: VM ij =αRM ij +(1−α)IM ij , wherein IM is an image similarity matrix between an ith image (I i ) and a jth image (I j ), RM is a region similarity matrix between an attention region of I i and I j , and α is a weight to factor in overall similarity and attention region similarity, wherein the overall similarity represents content of a mined image.