Method for dynamically matching images with content items based on keywords 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 based on keywords, the operations comprising:

• in response to a search query received from a client device for searching content, determining one or more first keywords from the search query;
• performing a lookup operation in an image-to-keyword (image/keyword) mapping table based on the first keywords, the image/keyword mapping table including a plurality of entries, each entry mapping an image identifier (ID) identifying an image to one or more second keywords;
• for each of images identified in the image/keyword mapping table, determining a matching degree between the first keywords and the second keywords;
• and
• ranking based on matching degrees a plurality of images identified in the image/keyword mapping table whose second keywords match at least a portion of the first keywords.

A data processing system, comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory coupled to the processor;
• a query analysis module, in response to a search query received from a client device for searching content, to determine one or more first keywords from the search query;
• a matching module to perform a lookup operation in an image-to-keyword (image/keyword) mapping table based on the first keywords, the image/keyword mapping table including a plurality of entries, each entry mapping an image identifier (ID) identifying an image to one or more second keywords;
• and
• a ranking module, for each of images identified in the image/keyword mapping table, to determine a matching degree between the first keywords and the second keywords, and to rank based on matching degrees a plurality of images identified in the image/keyword mapping table whose second keywords match at least a portion of the first keywords.