Patent ID: 8285713

Claim:
A method for searching images using face detection, the method comprising: executing with a processor of an information processing system the following: receiving a query submitted by a user, wherein the query comprises at least one query word; searching, in response to receiving the query, a set of image resources; obtaining, in response to the searching, an initial set of images from the set of image resources that is associated with the query word; identifying a set of images in the initial set of images that comprises at least one face, the set of images comprising a first order; analyzing a set of text comprising the query word and associated with each image in the set of images that has been identified; determining, in response to the analyzing, if the query word within the set of text indicates a person's name; in response to the query word indicating a person's name, analyzing the query to obtain a number, M, of people's names in the query; counting a number, N, of faces in each image in the set of images that have been identified; dividing the initial set of images into a set of three groups of images comprising a first group of M=N, a second group of M<N, and a third group of M>N; re-ordering the initial set of images in a second order based on the set of three groups with the group M=N being a first ordered group in the second order; and returning one or more images in the initial set of images that have been re-ordered in the second order in response to the query word in the set of text associated with the one or more images indicating a person's name.