Patents by Inventor Yinghua Zhou

Yinghua Zhou has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8024314
    Abstract: A method and system for generating a hybrid index for indexing objects based on location and keyword attributes and performing location-based searching is provided. A search system performs a location-based search using a hybrid index that indexes both location and keyword attributes of objects. The search system generates the hybrid index either using the location attribute as the primary index or the keyword attribute as the primary index. When the location attribute is the primary index, the keyword attribute is the secondary index, and vice versa. To generate the hybrid index, the search system identifies the values for the keyword and location attributes of each object. The search system generates the primary index to map each value of a first attribute to a secondary index. The search system thus generates, for each value of the first attribute, a secondary index to map values of a second attribute to objects that have the associated values of the first and second attributes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Chuang Wang, Wei-Ying Ma, Xing Xie, Yinghua Zhou
  • Patent number: 7860317
    Abstract: A method and system for searching for content relating to a target or query image by identifying duplicate images with associated content is provided. An image search system identifies visual parts of objects within the target image based on analysis of two or more versions of the target image. The image search system identifies visual parts based on analysis of the versions. The image search system then identifies images of an image database that have visual parts that are similar to the visual parts of the target image. The image search system may rank the identified images based on their likelihood of being duplicates of the target image and provide their associated content as the search result ordered according to the ranking of the images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Xing Xie, Wei-Ying Ma, Xin Fan, Yinghua Zhou
  • Publication number: 20090019066
    Abstract: A method and system for generating a hybrid index for indexing objects based on location and keyword attributes and performing location-based searching is provided. A search system performs a location-based search using a hybrid index that indexes both location and keyword attributes of objects. The search system generates the hybrid index either using the location attribute as the primary index or the keyword attribute as the primary index. When the location attribute is the primary index, the keyword attribute is the secondary index, and vice versa. To generate the hybrid index, the search system identifies the values for the keyword and location attributes of each object. The search system generates the primary index to map each value of a first attribute to a secondary index. The search system thus generates, for each value of the first attribute, a secondary index to map values of a second attribute to objects that have the associated values of the first and second attributes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 19, 2008
    Publication date: January 15, 2009
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Chuang Wang, Wei-Ying Ma, Xing Xie, Yinghua Zhou
  • Patent number: 7444343
    Abstract: A method and system for generating a hybrid index for indexing objects based on location and keyword attributes and performing location-based searching is provided. A search system performs a location-based search using a hybrid index that indexes both location and keyword attributes of objects. The search system generates the hybrid index either using the location attribute as the primary index or the keyword attribute as the primary index. When the location attribute is the primary index, the keyword attribute is the secondary index, and vice versa. To generate the hybrid index, the search system identifies the values for the keyword and location attributes of each object. The search system generates the primary index to map each value of a first attribute to a secondary index. The search system thus generates, for each value of the first attribute, a secondary index to map values of a second attribute to objects that have the associated values of the first and second attributes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 28, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Chuang Wang, Wei-Ying Ma, Xing Xie, Yinghua Zhou
  • Publication number: 20070237426
    Abstract: A method and system for searching for content relating to a target or query image by identifying duplicate images with associated content is provided. An image search system identifies visual parts of objects within the target image based on analysis of two or more versions of the target image. The image search system identifies visual parts based on analysis of the versions. The image search system then identifies images of an image database that have visual parts that are similar to the visual parts of the target image. The image search system may rank the identified images based on their likelihood of being duplicates of the target image and provide their associated content as the search result ordered according to the ranking of the images.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 4, 2006
    Publication date: October 11, 2007
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Xing Xie, Wei-Ying Ma, Xin Fan, Yinghua Zhou
  • Publication number: 20070233649
    Abstract: A method and system for generating a hybrid index for indexing objects based on location and keyword attributes and performing location-based searching is provided. A search system performs a location-based search using a hybrid index that indexes both location and keyword attributes of objects. The search system generates the hybrid index either using the location attribute as the primary index or the keyword attribute as the primary index. When the location attribute is the primary index, the keyword attribute is the secondary index, and vice versa. To generate the hybrid index, the search system identifies the values for the keyword and location attributes of each object. The search system generates the primary index to map each value of a first attribute to a secondary index. The search system thus generates, for each value of the first attribute, a secondary index to map values of a second attribute to objects that have the associated values of the first and second attributes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2006
    Publication date: October 4, 2007
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Chuang Wang, Wei-Ying Ma, Xing Xie, Yinghua Zhou