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Microsoft Shoots for Photo Search

Amin N.Karimi   on 16 April 2006 - 22:04 · 42 comments & 19692 views

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Microsoft this week revealed that it is at work on a way to search the Internet using photos captured by cell phone cameras.

So rather than typing in an Internet search query, someone can e-mail Microsoft a photo of what they're searching for. Photo2Search, as Microsoft calls the nascent feature, returns Web pages either with information about the objects in the photo, or sites that contain similar images.
Microsoft is the latest example of how search engines continuously try to expand Internet search's utility, whether by using cell phone text messages to make inquiries as most search engines now allow, or using photos as is the case at Microsoft.

News of Photo2Search comes a few days after Google, which views Microsoft as a chief rival, learned it received a patent for an alternative way to search the Internet using spoken words, rather than written text.

View: Photo2Search Article
News source: eWeek

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(3 replies) #1 hotdog963al on 17 Apr 2006 - 09:47
Surely it's easier to search with words.
#1.1 enzo on 17 Apr 2006 - 13:40
Actually that depends heavily on what you are searching for.
#1.2 chainsaw_007 on 17 Apr 2006 - 16:17
it dependeds on what your searching for and what information you have about the subject your searching for, but there is no doute in my mind that voice search will become more popular then photo search. It is true that photo search can be usefull time to time, but voice search is a MUCH better idea.
#1.3 enzo on 17 Apr 2006 - 17:56
You see a car driving down the street that you like and want to know more about. You see a tree that has a fruit growing on it but you don't know what it is. You see a product in a store and you want more information about it. Picture search would come in handy in all these situations. Let's face it, speech recognition is nothing new. Picture search would be more useful anywhere. So I think picture search is a better idea.
(2 replies) #2 osirisX on 17 Apr 2006 - 10:28
Seems pointless. Same with Google's new search method.
#2.1 MrCobra on 17 Apr 2006 - 16:32
I agree.
#2.2 TRC on 17 Apr 2006 - 22:45
In other words you don't understand it. If you did you'd know that it was far from pointless. Enzo gave some very good examples above. If you have a picture of something but know nothing about it which is easier, trying to describe it to a normal search engine and coming up with thousands of irrelevant links or searching with the actual picture and finding exactly what you want?
#3 Matt T on 17 Apr 2006 - 10:49
Sounds like a great idea.
#4 omgbomb on 17 Apr 2006 - 11:13
more options for search can really only mean better things

at least they are trying something new in the search world, i personally think this will be a good idea if it doesn't cost and incredibly amount of money
(1 reply) #5 shirike on 17 Apr 2006 - 11:17
I can only imagine what people will take pictures of to find, er, adult imagery.
#5.1 Jugalator on 17 Apr 2006 - 19:00
Hehe, maybe for laughs, but hardly because it would be more efficient than just using words.
(1 reply) #6 mr_skrilla on 17 Apr 2006 - 11:19
I know there are some cases that this will be useful and I am excited to see how well it works! I wonder if it will work with "adult" photos
#6.1 chainsaw_007 on 17 Apr 2006 - 16:21
i wonder.....
#7 Croquant on 17 Apr 2006 - 11:57
All you photos are belong to Microsoft.
:LOL:
(2 replies) #8 Saadu on 17 Apr 2006 - 12:46
Im sure it has potential for use as its a great idea. We see it in movies all the time. Take a picutre, no matter how obscure, send it to "the computer" and it sends you an analysis. Question is how can a common man on the street make use of this? Can i take a picture of say a building and tell it to gimme directions FROM that point to the nearest metro station? I got lost in Mardid... didnt speak the language, can this thing be used to take pictures of sign boards and translate them right away? All this happening from the mobile.
#8.1 callumy on 17 Apr 2006 - 13:11
Saadu, this could quite possibly be one of the uses for this. If Microsoft or somebody hasn't done so already, maybe you should patent this and make a fortune!!! If you could really do this, then people wouldn't even need to know where they're going - just take a picture of the nearest roadsign (that shows routes at an intersection) and find your way from there. It could revolutionize travel and getting around cities (especially on holiday).

Cal
#8.2 Jugalator on 17 Apr 2006 - 19:21
I have actually heard this talked about elsewhere (was it Slashdot?), but someone countered it with the photo needing to at least have enough landmarks on the picture for a computer to be able to figure it out. But it is an interesting idea though, however, there obviously needs to be a huge image database for it to work efficiently and the system having enough images to match on, and then I'm not even counting the headaches from automatic perspective corrections, etc.

Anyway, a lot of things are possible these days though, and Window Live Local already have these modes where it shows "street images", so at least for parts of the US, this could maybe be made to work. Globally, where it would be truly useful for travellers, I'm not so sure though, and it would need to beat the ease of just asking a citizen or pulling up a map (which is not necessarily in paper form these days, but just as well on a little PDA in a pocket, possibly connectable to a GPS system too -- tough competition ).
(1 reply) #9 chisss on 17 Apr 2006 - 12:52
this is sooooo useless.....
#9.1 TRC on 17 Apr 2006 - 22:47
"I don't know how this works so it's useless."

LOL, just because you don't understand it doesn't make it useless.
(5 replies) #10 Andre on 17 Apr 2006 - 13:13
Useless?! If Google came up with this, you would be all over it. Stupid hypocrites.
#10.1 markjensen on 17 Apr 2006 - 14:03
I agree with you. So many people are missing how convenient it could be. It's like being able to submit a Google search on something by a quick pic with the cellphone. Snap an image of an interesting monument or statue, and get some background information on what it is, and what significance it has.

I am not a Microsoft fan, but this sounds like a great alternate way to search. I'm sure not that all searching is best done with an image, but this is a great search option.

Last edited by markjensen on 17 Apr 2006 - 14:30
#10.2 vetmalebolgia on 17 Apr 2006 - 14:13
Agree with you 100% Andre.
#10.3 Jugalator on 17 Apr 2006 - 19:03
I am often a fan of Google's services, but I liked this idea.

Maybe not uber useful for everyone and very often either, but I can definitely see the uses for it in some cases.

At least if the MS web devs grows a brain and makes it an interoperable web service. I can probably count their online services launched the past few years and looking the same across IE, Firefox and Opera on one hand, and the same can't be said about Google's.
#10.4 osirisX on 17 Apr 2006 - 22:14
Nope, if Google came up with this I'd still say it was pointless.
#10.5 TRC on 17 Apr 2006 - 22:52
BS, I can't begin to recall the number of times I could have used this. In fact I searched all over for something EXACTLY like this for a school project where I was trying to identify a type of plant. I posted on message boards all over the place looking for a way to scan a picture and actually search for information about that image instead of trying to put it into words. Don't think that you are so important that just because you don't have any use for something that it's pointless, because you are not that important. Go ahead and email MS and tell them you don't think it's useful, I'm sure they'll just drop the whole thing because of what you think.
#11 icecaveman on 17 Apr 2006 - 13:58
Wonder what the search resaults are for your behind ... it might become handy in the futurue but.
#12 peterish on 17 Apr 2006 - 14:04
great features, but LOL @ the name "Photo2Search"
(2 replies) #13 Rikku on 17 Apr 2006 - 14:10
I think the idea is great, but how are they planning to code this? I'd love to see the programming required to pull this off...
#13.1 chainsaw_007 on 17 Apr 2006 - 16:20
yea that is true, the programming will be hard and complexe.
#13.2 Jugalator on 17 Apr 2006 - 19:08
Pattern recognition has been explored quite a bit already, and especially adult filters without preset URL's to block come to mind. Some of these works fairly well, but reports false negatives sometimes, which sucks a bit. However, a web search reporting, say, 20 matches for your image per page with 1 maybe a bit mismatching wouldn't be as a big and annoying deal as the same thing happen with a censoring filter, so I think this could work.
(3 replies) #14 Sub on 17 Apr 2006 - 15:40
Patents Patents Patens. Voice Search will be ruined by patents. Dont ever expect to put voice search on your homepage without paying roylaties.
#14.1 chainsaw_007 on 17 Apr 2006 - 16:22
what???? what does that mean???
#14.2 Jugalator on 17 Apr 2006 - 19:09
I think it's about the last paragraph in the summary above and Google being granted a voice search patent.

But I'm not sure if Google will demand royalties for others implementing voice searches. They haven't so far, and I know several database search mechanisms using human voices, for example in the phone bank business.

And I don't really understand what he means with "putting a voice search on your homepage". :-S
Google *wants* you to use their search engine for your homepage anyway.

Last edited by Jugalator on 17 Apr 2006 - 19:16
#14.3 TRC on 17 Apr 2006 - 22:58
The only use for voice search I can think of is for people who are disabled and can't type easily, or maybe for people who can't type at all and have to hunt and peck at the keyboard. How many voice recognition products have came out over the years and flopped? I remember it being a big deal with OS/2 Warp 4, being able to run programs by talking to your computer. Well most people don't want to talk to their computer. If feels terribly silly unless you are a big Star Trek nerd, and in many cases inconvenient. Imagine a library full of computers with everyone yakking to them.
#15 xxpor on 17 Apr 2006 - 16:40
In Soviet Russia, the photos search you!
#16 Shining Arcanine on 17 Apr 2006 - 16:43
I recall posting this idea on Channel9 forums a while back. I am glad Microsoft used it.
#17 StarSabers on 17 Apr 2006 - 17:42
Very interesting idea ... I was actually wondering why no one had thought of this a few days ago. Seems impossible, but ideas to software are more possible than ever ...
(2 replies) #18 TRC on 17 Apr 2006 - 23:05


You need to know what kind of plant this leaf comes from. How do you put it into words if you want to search for it on Google for example? It's kind of round and green? Yeah I'm sure that would be helpful. Even after trying your best to describe it you're going to come up with hundreds or even thousands of results that have nothing to do with what you actually want to know. Now imagine on the other hand you could simply search for the photo and the image recognition could match it to the Alder plant and give you a page like this. Now please tell me how such a feature is useless or pointless? Personally I think if this works it would be an amazing step forward in search technology.
#18.1 markjensen on 18 Apr 2006 - 02:11
You need to know what kind of plant this leaf comes from.
I would just look at the URL of your image and tell you it is an Alder leaf. :shiftyninja:
#18.2 TRC on 19 Apr 2006 - 02:06
LOL, sometimes it's not that easy.
#19 brianshapiro on 18 Apr 2006 - 03:21
its not 'pointless.'

i dont know what you all use search for, but one thing i study is art history. sometimes i get a picture of a painting and i dont know the artist or title.

at times i've wanted to know what the name of a type of tree or flower is
#20 toadeater on 18 Apr 2006 - 18:26
I don't get the whole cell phone connection part. Don't they mean ANY photo?

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