Patent ID: 8296280

Claim:
An image-based search system, comprising: at least one user terminal configured to transmit any one or more of a search term entry, an image selection and an image combination to a search server and receiving relevant search results from the search server; an information communication network for connecting the user terminal, the search server and a web server to one another; the search server configured to determine whether gathered search object images include attribute information, and as a result decode the image when the gathered search object images includes the attribute information, then store the search object images and the attribute information and search in conformity with a search request, and then output search results, determine whether a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) meta tag exists in the search object images when the search object images do not include the attribute information, encode the image when the HTML meta tag exists in the search object images, then store the search object images and the attribute information, and search in conformity with a search request, and then output search results, and perform image file name encoding when the HTML meta tag does not exist in the search object images then store the search object images and the attribute information, and search in conformity with a search request, and then output search results; and the web server for forming a physical space over the information communication network, in which websites, which are objects from which information is gathered by the search server, exist.