View-Based Web Page Retrieval using Interactive Sketch Query

We propose a novel view-based Web page retrieval system that enables a user to search Web pages using a visual query, namely the user's freehand sketch. We believe the proposed method will suit retrieval from a set of web pages such as a user's local browsing history. The system aims to help the user revisit a particular Web page without using query words. Using color signature features and Earth-Mover's distance, the system evaluates the similarity between web pages and the user's sketch drawn via the GUI of the system. In order to accelerate the interaction, the results of the similarity evaluations are shown immediately after the user draws each stroke of the sketch, with the results being interactively reordered. Experiments using our prototype system showed that users find their target pages after only a few strokes. Experimental results for inexperienced users showed that 71% of search tasks were completed within one minute, using the prototype system. The median time for the tasks was 40 seconds.