System and method for using on-image gestures and multimedia content elements as search queries

A system for searching a plurality of information sources using a multimedia content element, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor, the memory contains instructions that when executed by the processor cause the system to:
• receive an input search query including the multimedia content element and at least one on-image gesture detected thereon;
• analyze the at least on-image gesture to determine at least one portion of the multimedia content element in which a user is interested;
• generate, by a signature generator, at least one first signature for each of the at least one portion of the multimedia content element, wherein the signature generator includes a plurality of at least partially statistically independent computational cores;
• generate a textual search query using the at least the one signature, wherein generating the textual search query further comprises matching the at least one first signature to a plurality of second signatures, wherein the textual search query is generated based on text associated with at least one matching second signature;
• search the plurality of information sources using the generated textual search query;
• and
• cause the display of search results retrieved from the plurality of information sources on a user device.