Method and system for dynamically overlay content provider information on images matched with content items in response to search queries

A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations of matching images with content items, the operations comprising:

• receiving a content item including text, that was identified in response to a search query received from a client;
• searching in an image store using an image selection algorithm which is a part of a set of image matching rules, based on one or more keywords associated with the search query to identify a list of one or more image candidates, including ranking each of the identified image candidates, wherein the set of image matching rules includes a keyword-to-image image mapping table, wherein each mapping entry maps one or more keywords to one or more image identifiers;
• selecting one of the identified image candidates to be matched with the content item by selecting an image from the identified image candidates which is ranked above a predetermined threshold, the selected image serving as a background image to the text of the content item;
• performing a lookup operation in a content provider to metadata (content provider/metadata) mapping table based on a content provider identifier identifying the content provider to identify metadata to be inscribed, wherein the content provider/metadata mapping table comprises a plurality of mapping entries, each mapping entry mapping a content provider ID to a set of metadata to be inscribed on an image to be matched with a content item provided by the corresponding content provider;
• inscribing the metadata on the selected image to generate a customized image, the metadata including information describing a content provider that provides the content item, wherein the inscribed metadata is preselected or specified by the content provider, which is stored as a part of the set of image matching rule;
• and
• incorporating the content item with the customized image to generate a composite content item to be transmitted to the client.

A data processing system, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor to store instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations of matching images with content items, the operations including
• receiving a content item including text, that was identified in response to a search query received from a client,
• searching in an image store using an image selection algorithm which is a part of a set of image matching rules, based on one or more keywords associated with the search query to identify a list of one or more image candidates, including ranking each of the identified image candidates, wherein the set of image matching rules includes a keyword-to-image image mapping table, wherein each mapping entry maps one or more keywords to one or more image identifiers,
• selecting one of the identified image candidates to be matched with the content item by selecting an image from the identified image candidates which is ranked above a predetermined threshold, the selected image serving as a background image to the text of the content item,
• performing a lookup operation in a content provider to metadata (content provider/metadata) mapping table based on a content provider identifier identifying the content provider to identify metadata to be inscribed, wherein the content provider/metadata mapping table comprises a plurality of mapping entries, each mapping entry mapping a content provider ID to a set of metadata to be inscribed on an image to be matched with a content item provided by the corresponding content provider;
• inscribing the metadata on the selected image to generate a customized image, the metadata including information describing a content provider that provides the content item, wherein the inscribed metadata is preselected or specified by the content provider, which is stored as a part of the set of image matching rule, and
• incorporating the content item with the customized image to generate a composite content item to be transmitted to the client.