Linearized search of visual media

A computer system, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• memory;
• and
• one or more programs stored in the memory and configured for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:
• displaying a slitscan graphic comprising a concatenated array of slit-compressed images corresponding to an ordered sequence of images, wherein each slit-compressed image is formed by compressing a respective one of the ordered sequence of images to create a respective single line of pixels, the slit-compressed images are concatenated along a single dimension in order according to the ordered sequence of images, and the slit-compressed images are grouped into a plurality of segments;
• associating each segment with a corresponding query that has search terms based on the respective images corresponding to the respective segment;
• displaying a moveable slider that moves along the single dimension and identifies a current location within the slitscan graphic, and displaying a respective thumbnail representation of the respective image corresponding to the respective slit-compressed image at the current location;
• receiving user input to move the moveable slider along the single dimension to a new location;
• and
• in response to the user action:
• displaying a thumbnail representation of the image corresponding to the slit-compressed image at the new location;
• determining that the new location corresponds to a first segment of the plurality of segments;
• executing the query corresponding to the first segment to retrieve documents from a document repository related to the image corresponding to the slit-compressed image at the new location;
• and
• displaying the retrieved documents for user selection.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by one or more processors of a computer system, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

• displaying a slitscan graphic comprising a concatenated array of slit-compressed images corresponding to an ordered sequence of images, wherein each slit-compressed image is formed by compressing a respective one of the ordered sequence of images to create a respective single line of pixels, the slit-compressed images are concatenated along a single dimension in order according to the ordered sequence of images, and the slit-compressed images are grouped into a plurality of segments;
• associating each segment with a corresponding query that has search terms based on the respective images corresponding to the respective segment;
• displaying a moveable slider that moves along the single dimension and identifies a current location within the slitscan graphic, and displaying a respective thumbnail representation of the respective image corresponding to the respective slit-compressed image at the current location;
• receiving user input to move the moveable slider along the single dimension to a new location;
• and
• in response to the user action:
• displaying a thumbnail representation of the image corresponding to the slit-compressed image at the new location;
• determining that the new location corresponds to a first segment of the plurality of segments;
• executing the query corresponding to the first segment to retrieve documents from a document repository related to the image corresponding to the slit-compressed image at the new location;
• and
• displaying the retrieved documents for user selection.