Image search apparatus, image search method, and system

An image search apparatus comprising:

• a management unit configured to manage, respectively in association with category information, an object of an image stored in a storage medium and a browsing user;
• a setting unit configured to set the object serving as a search target;
• a specifying unit configured to specify the browsing user who is to browse a detected image;
• a decision unit configured to decide a search condition of an image by comparing a category associated with the object acquired by the setting unit, and a category associated with the browsing user specified by the specifying unit;
• and
• an image search unit configured to search for the image in the storage medium based on the search condition decided by the decision unit.

An image search method of searching for an image containing an object requested from a distribution destination apparatus by using object category information for managing an object for each category, and distribution destination user category information for managing a user of the distribution destination apparatus for each category, the method comprising:

• a reception step of receiving, from the distribution destination apparatus, information about the user of the distribution destination apparatus, and information about the requested object;
• a user category determination step of determining, based on the information about the user, a distribution destination user category to which the user of the distribution destination apparatus belongs;
• an object category determination step of determining, based on the information about the object, an object category to which the object requested from the distribution destination apparatus belongs;
• a search condition decision step of deciding a search condition of an image based on a result of comparing the distribution destination user category with the object category;
• and
• an image search step of searching for an image based on the search condition decided in the search condition decision step.

A system which searches for an image containing an object requested from a distribution destination apparatus, and transmits an image obtained as a result of search to the distribution destination apparatus, wherein

• an image search apparatus serving as a distribution source includes:
• a management unit configured to manage an object of an image and a user of the distribution destination apparatus by categories, respectively;
• a reception unit configured to receive, from the distribution destination apparatus, information about the user of the distribution destination apparatus, and information about the requested object;
• a user category determination unit configured to determine, based on the information about the user, a distribution destination user category to which the user of the distribution destination apparatus belongs;
• an object category determination unit configured to determine, based on the information about the object, an object category to which the object requested from the distribution destination apparatus belongs;
• a search condition decision unit configured to decide a search condition of an image based on a result of comparing the distribution destination user category with the object category;
• and
• an image search unit configured to search for an image based on the search condition decided by the search condition decision unit, and
• the distribution destination apparatus includes:
• a transmission unit configured to transmit information about the user of the distribution destination apparatus and information about the requested object;
• and
• a reception unit configured to receive the image obtained as a result of search by the image search unit of the image search apparatus.

An image search method of managing, respectively in association with category information, an object of an image stored in a storage medium and a browsing user, and searching for an image containing an object requested from the browsing user by using the category information, comprising:

• a setting step of setting the object serving as a search target;
• a specifying step of specifying the browsing user who is to browse a detected image;
• a decision step of deciding a search condition of an image by comparing a category associated with the object set in the setting step, and a category associated with the browsing user specified in the specifying step;
• and
• an image search step of searching for the image in the storage medium based on the search condition decided in the decision step.