Method and apparatus for translating graphical symbols into query keywords
AssigneeAltera Corporation
InventorsKhan Seng Teong, Denis Chuan Hu Goh
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Computer equipment operable to translate a graphical symbol into keywords is disclosed. The computer equipment includes a database of keywords. An input analyzer tool may be used to retrieve a list of keywords from the database based on the graphical symbol. The input analyzer tool may be implemented using processing circuitry that accepts graphical input and performs symbol translation to formulate a search query related to the graphical input. An information search may be performed with the formulated search query using a search engine.
Claims20
A method for using computing equipment having a display, processing circuitry, and storage, the method comprising:
- with the display, providing a user with an on-screen opportunity to select a graphical symbol from a plurality of graphical symbols for searching;
- with the processing circuitry, retrieving a list of keywords related to the selected graphical symbol from the storage;
- and
- with the processing circuitry, performing an information search using a search engine based on the retrieved list of keywords to obtain search results.
Computing equipment for searching information using a graphical input, comprising:
- storage circuitry configured to store a database of keywords;
- an input analyzer tool that retrieves a list of keywords from the database based on the graphical input;
- and
- a processing circuitry that implements the input analyzer tool, accepts the graphical input and returns a search result based on a search query, wherein the search query is generated from the list of keywords retrieved from the database.
A method of searching for information related to a collection of graphical symbols selected by a user, the method comprising:
- with a display, providing the user with an on-screen opportunity to select a graphical symbol from the collection of graphical symbols for searching;
- with processing circuitry, retrieving a list of keywords related to the collection of graphical symbols from a storage;
- with processing circuitry, formulating a search query from the list of retrieved keywords to search information related to the collection of graphical symbols;
- and
- with the display, providing the user with an on-screen opportunity to customize the database.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.