Microsoft Seeks Patent For "Search By Sketch"

theodp writes "So, how does one search for images that aren't tagged with keywords? Google does offer its sometimes-spotty search by image, but what if you don't have an image handy that looks like what you're searching for? Microsoft, reports GeekWire, offers a solution that's 'a little like playing Pictionary with a search engine — drawing a sketch and seeing if the algorithm can return pictures that match it.' That's the concept behind Microsoft Research's patent-pending 'MindFinder' project, which has already been incorporated into a Windows Phone app called Sketch Match. A patent application made public Thursday notes that touch computing makes sketching easier than ever, making one wonder if we'll be 'giving Bing the finger' with Windows 8!"

Overaged business model

[vikingpower]

Microsoft, once more, is one the very large corporations that still think they can base their business, in the 21st century, on patents. I wonder how long it is ( yet ) going to taken before corporations of this size realize that such practice is old-fashioned ?

What about false positives?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd be much more concerned about false positives.

Say you're a university lecturer, delivering a lecture to 400 mechanical engineering students. During this lecture, you wish to show your students an image of a mechanical part or tool that vaguely resembles the shape of a penis. Let's assume it's a wrench or a bracket of some sort, where there's a long, straight, relatively thin shaft with a large bulbous D-shaped end with a hole in the middle.

Now, you forgot to find an image beforehand, but your laptop is hooked up the lecture room's projector and the university's wireless network. So go to do a search for some pictures of said mechanical device, and you use a sketching service to find a picture of it. Unfortunately, your wrench or bracket is mistaken for a fat hairy penis.

You're now in a pretty bad position. You've just unexpectedly shown 400 people a grid of penis photos. Some are laughing, but that's the least of your worries. The real problem will be those who are recording it on their cell phones. Soon it'll be all over the Internet. It'll likely go viral.

Unfortunately, a small minority of those in the lecture will take great offense to being shown pictures of penises during a mechanical engineering lecture. They'll launch lawsuits against you and the university.

Basically, your career could be ruined, all over a drawing of a wrench or a bracket that looks vaguely like a penis.