Image retrieval using interactive natural language dialog

A computer usable program product comprising a computer-readable storage device, and program instructions stored on the storage device, the stored program instructions comprising:

• program instructions to modify a search engine to perform increasingly precise image searching using iterative Natural Language (NL) interactions, the program instructions to modify comprising:
• program instructions to extract, from an NL search input, a set of input features, the set of input features comprising a set of response features corresponding to an NL statement in the NL search input and a set of image features from a seed image in the NL search input;
• program instructions to perform image analysis on an image result in a result set, the result set being responsive to a query comprising a subset of the input features;
• program instructions to provide at least a subset of the result set as a part of an NL interaction in a next iteration of NL interactions;
• program instructions to add, to the NL search input, an NL response obtained in the next iteration to form a cumulative NL basis for the image searching;
• and
• program instructions to provide a revised result set responsive to the next iteration of NL interactions, wherein the revised result set includes a new image result, and wherein the new image result corresponds to a new response feature extracted from the cumulative NL basis.

A computer system comprising a processor, a computer-readable memory, and a computer-readable storage device, and program instructions stored on the storage device for execution by the processor via the memory, the stored program instructions comprising:

• program instructions to modify a search engine to perform increasingly precise image searching using iterative Natural Language (NL) interactions, the program instructions to modify comprising:
• program instructions to extract, from an NL search input, a set of input features, the set of input features comprising a set of response features corresponding to an NL statement in the NL search input and a set of image features from a seed image in the NL search input;
• program instructions to perform image analysis on an image result in a result set, the result set being responsive to a query comprising a subset of the input features;
• program instructions to provide at least a subset of the result set as a part of an NL interaction in a next iteration of NL interactions;
• program instructions to add, to the NL search input, an NL response obtained in the next iteration to form a cumulative NL basis for the image searching;
• and
• program instructions to provide a revised result set responsive to the next iteration of NL interactions, wherein the revised result set includes a new image result, and wherein the new image result corresponds to a new response feature extracted from the cumulative NL basis.