Patent ID: 8718369

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for facilitating a shape-based search of content items, comprising: under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions, receiving information from a request by a user for a search of content, the received information indicating an image of a first item and including a glyph that is input by the user on the image and that indicates a shape of the first item without tracing an outline of the first item in the image; extracting one or more features associated with the first item from an area of the image on which the glyph is input; identifying a shape category of the first item based at least in part on the indicated shape of the glyph; conducting a search for items having features that match the extracted features of the first item, the search being conducted among a plurality of items associated with the identified shape category; providing search results including one or more additional items having features that match the extracted features of the first item, the provided search results including a second image for each of the one or more additional items; receiving second information from a second search request by the user that indicates the second image for a second item of the one or more additional items, the received second information including a second glyph input by the user that indicates a second shape of the second item and that represents a refined shape of the first item; identifying a second shape category based on the second shape indicated by the second glyph; and conducting a second search for items among a plurality of items associated with the second shape category, the second search being based on at least one of the extracted one or more features associated with the first item, and one or more additional features extracted from the second image that are associated with the second item.