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Technology Column

By China Internet Weekly

The Search Technology articles in China Internet Weekly are dedicated to Microsoft Research Asia and Search Technology Center. It began in January 2009 and alternates between featuring human interest stories, which introduces the people and culture at Microsoft Research Asia and Search Technology Center, and technology stories, which feature cool inventions coming out of Beijing.

Sensing Green IT 

China Internet Weekly, August 5, 2009

 

“Microsoft Research Asia is a fascinating place, with rapid innovation and intensive research. There was a palpable chemistry between Microsoft Research Asia and me from the very start.”
 

- Feng Zhao, Assistant Managing Director, Microsoft Research Asia

   

Green IT and Energy efficiency has become a commonly discussed topic among responsible corporate citizens. The current trend is to slow down and think more about the environment, while IT technology is advancing at the speed of light. On August 5th, China Internet Weekly published an enlightening article on their Microsoft Research Asia-STCA special column, exploring Microsoft’s efforts and achievements in promoting Green IT. Entitled “Sensing Green IT”, the piece is based on an interview with Dr. Feng Zhao, assistant managing director of Microsoft Research Asia, where he talks about his unique chemistry with Microsoft Research Asia, the importance of energy efficiency, the purpose of sensor, the reason behind Microsoft doing research on hardware, and one of Microsoft’s main achievements in this area – SensorMap. According to Feng, Microsoft’s sensor technology goes beyond IT, and integrates multiple disciplines with the common goal of improving the environment. It can also be considered as the stairway to the Cloud. SensorMap is not only designed for Microsoft’s internal use, but has already seen its applications in several natural resorts. Innovating through energy-efficient technologies is one of Microsoft’s future development directions. With Feng joining Microsoft Research Asia, more Green IT dreams will be incubated at this Microsoft think tank.

Microsoft Image Search Log 

China Internet Weekly, July 20, 2009

 

“This is the first commercial search, which is based on intensive image contents. In the research area, image contents-based search is not a new topic. But this technology has never been applied to manage the huge amounts of images on the internet.”
 

- Jian Sun, Lead Researcher, Visual Computing group

   

Two months after its global release, Bing has been gaining both public attention and market share in China and around the world. One of Bing’s most popular features is “Show Similar Image”, the first image search engine of this type in the world, created by Jian Sun and Fang Wen’s team from the Visual Computing Group. On July 20th, China Internet Weekly published an article on their Microsoft Research Asia-STCA special column, talking about this technology breakthrough from Microsoft Research Asia. Entitled “Microsoft Image Search Log”, this piece highlights the revolutionary change “Show Similar Image” has brought to Microsoft photo search, as well as the efforts of Jian and Fang’s team in improving user experience. The article also introduced how Jian and Fang’s team initiated the idea and endeavoured to have it transferred into a product with the joint efforts from the image search product team. According to the article, Microsoft Research Asia’s image search technology chooses to return to the nature of computer arithmetic and improves user experience through another train of thought. “Show Similar Image” firstly opens up a new dimension for image search and it also advances Microsoft image search into a new era.

See the World through Microsoft

China Internet Weekly, July 5, 2009

 

“Most of my friends are Microsoft colleagues. We all have different cultural backgrounds. We find this cultural mix very interesting. In fact, there also lies a huge cultural difference between inside and outside the Sigma building! The outside is defined by traditional Beijing culture, where as inside one finds the unique culture of Microsoft Research Asia. My friends sometimes say that I am a Japanese working for an American company in China!”
 

— Yasuyuki Matsushita, Lead Researcher, Visual Computing group

   

It is often noted that Microsoft Research Asia’s culture is one full of diversity. As a “Japanese working for an American company in China”, Yasuyuki Matsushita from Visual Computing Group is the perfect person to talk to about this diversity. On July 5th, China Internet Weekly published a new article in its Microsoft Research Asia-STCA technology Column, based on the interview with Yasuyuki. Entitled “See the World through Microsoft”, the piece talks about Yasuyuki and his team’s innovative research in computer vision, why he joined Microsoft Research Asia and the diverse culture of Microsoft Research Asia. Just as innovation is more of a surprise, Yasuyuki’s story is also a “surprise” of sorts. What first attracted Yasuyuki to Microsoft Research Asia was its fame and achievements in computer vision area, but what keeps Yasuyuki here is the research environment and life at Microsoft Research Asia. Microsoft Research Asia is a cultural melting pot, where people from different parts of the world with different backgrounds get together and get “baptized” by the mixed culture. This diverse culture of Microsoft Research Asia even differentiates it from the traditional Beijing culture outside the building. This is what Yasuyuki finds most interesting, and this is what Microsoft Research Asia’s glamour is all about.

Microsoft Map Search Adventure

China Internet Weekly, June 20, 2009

 

“Many features of map search come from global technologies, but localized innovation also contributes to Microsoft’s global product development. At Microsoft Research Asia, localization and global technology advantage perfectly complement each other.”
 

— Zhenyu, Group Program Manager, STCA

   

Since the day Bing was launched, its outstanding features have been drawing a lot of attention. The map search, a key function specifically designed for the Chinese users, is being particularly applauded by the Chinese media. China Internet Weekly published an article about Bing Ditu today on their Microsoft Research Asia-STCA technology column, based on its interview with Dr. Zhenyu Qian, group program manager of Mobile/Local/Virtual Earth at STCA. Entitled “Microsoft Map Search Adventure”, the story covers the predecessor, development path and the current achievements of Bing Ditu, emphasizing on many of its excellent and localized features. Based on their profound understanding of Chinese users’ needs and with their comprehensive knowledge of technology and ardent passion, Zhenyu and his team are dedicated to provide Chinese people the information they are looking for in a quick and convenient way. From Live Ditu to Bing Ditu, there has been an essential upgrade in terms of innovative functions, design and localized features, which greatly enhanced user experience in terms of map search. STCA’s achievements in technology breakthrough and localization will not only make Bing Ditu a success but also contribute to Microsoft ’s global development.

Digital Existence of Cultural Heritage

China Internet Weekly, May 20, 2009

 

“Microsoft Research Asia being a corporate research lab has the same faith and goals as other academies and institutes have in terms of protection of cultural heritage. It believes in the power of digitization and spares no efforts in endeavouring to serve the protection of cultural heritage.”
 

— China Internet Weekly, May 20, 2009

   

A two-page article was published by China Internet Weekly on May 20, 2009 as part of their special column on Microsoft Research Asia-STCA. Entitled the “Digital Existence of Cultural Heritage,” this piece outlines, reinforces and reminds us of the importance of cultural heritage and talks about Microsoft Research Asia's contribution toward the protection and preservation of these cultural treasures. Microsoft Research Asia’s University Relations team launched the eHeritage project in 2008 and through collaboration with academies and institutes, the University Relations team serves as the bridge between Microsoft Research Asia and cultural heritage. According to Xin Ma, project manager at University Relations, eHeritage is designated to help people contribute to society with the help of Microsoft Research Asia’s technologies. Also in this piece, Dr. Moshe Ben-Ezra, project manager at Microsoft Research Asia Visual Computing Group, introduces a custom-made Digital GigaPixel Camera, which is capable of capturing high quality images that are over one gigapixel in size. This is perfect for data collection purposes, when there is the need to photograph rare treasures and historical relics that are difficult to touch and move. With the help of Microsoft Research Asia’s cultural heritage project, we will be able to discover the ancient mystery and to hear the echoes of ancient dreams.

Watch Seventy Two Changes at Microsoft

China Internet Weekly, May 5, 2009

 

“No one could predict the future. Microsoft Research Asia’s culture inspires researchers to achieve their potential and create the future. Where there is innovation there is change.”
 

— China Internet Weekly, May 5, 2009

   

On May 5, 2009 China Internet Weekly published a two-page story on its Microsoft Research Asia special column exploring the nature of change at Microsoft. Titled “Watch Seventy Two Changes at Microsoft,” the piece is based on an interview with Jonathan Tien from IEG and presents aview of Microsoft culture of change through the individual experiences of Jonathan, including his unique childhood during the Cultural Revolution, college life, anadventurous job at a start-up and the challenging but meaningful work at Microsoft Research Asia. According to Jonathan, technology transfer is the bond between research and product teams. How to connect research with development requires a skillful balance. He considers Microsoft Research Asia’s culture as one that inspires researchers to achieve their potential and create the future. This is how Microsoft Research Asia changes people’s lives through innovation. The future is changing since technology is changing. But through technology transfer, today’s dreams at Microsoft Research Asia will become tomorrow’s reality.

Mobile Phones Recognize People

China Internet Weekly, April 20, 2009

 

“This breakthrough innovation which is applied to the file sharing between mobile devices is another advance in the mobile device user experience."
 

— China Internet Weekly, April 20, 2009

   

China Internet Weekly published a two-page article on April 20, 2009 as part of its Microsoft Research Asia Series. Entitled “Mobile Phones Recognize People,” this piece tells a very interesting story about an amazing technology developed by Microsoft Research Asia researchers. “Throw-to-Share”, which won the best Demo Display in 2006 and 2007 at Mobisys, the most reputable international academic conference on mobile computing organized by ACM and USENIX, is a magical device attachment which simplifies the file sharing process through natural gestures and movements. By pointing a mobile phone onto another, with two “beeps,” a desired file is transferred. Developed by Jacky Shen and his team, Microsoft Research Asia has managed to realize a scene from a science fiction movie. “Throw-to-Share,” a 30+ KB software, has the huge potential and can be applied as a Windows Mobile function. According to Jacky and his team, bringing convenience to people’s lives with their thoughtful and stunning innovations is what really excites them.

Microsoft’s Fourth Dimension

China Internet Weekly, April 5, 2009

China Internet Weekly just published an article about Microsoft Research Asia’s University Relations Team under their Microsoft Research Asia-STCA special column. Entitled “Microsoft’s Fourth Dimension," this piece was based on an interview with Gao Zhang (Regional UR Manager) and vividly referred Microsoft Research Asia’s UR Program as Microsoft’s fourth dimension- absorbing resources for Microsoft and the whole industry. According to Gao, corporate research labs such as Microsoft Research Asia are more sensitive toindustry demand andshorten the distance between academia and industry, added to the fact that all joint lab projects are based on the real needs of students and professors, this provides awin-win situationfor both Microsoft Research Asia and universities.

The article also talked about the “Great Wall Plan,” a cooperative project between Microsoft and the Ministry of Education in China established in 2002. Microsoft Research Asia made a tremendous effort and gained huge success by supporting the education industry to foster young talent in China. Microsoft’s development is not solely limited to the IT industry — the Microsoft Research Asia University Relation programs are being very proactive in helping Microsoft’s future diversification.

Fantasy to Reality - Writing in the Air

China Internet Weekly, March 20, 2009

The sixth story of our special column has been published by China Internet Weekly. Entitled “Fantasy to Reality - Writing in the Air”, the piece is based on an interview with Qiang Huo and Lei Ma from the Speech Group, introducing their latest research, which was very popular in TechFest 2009.

In the reporter’s opinion, if keyboards and writing pads represent the first and second generation of human-computer interaction, then Microsoft Research Asia’s “Write in the Air” is a definite push into a new era. Graphical Analysis and Character Recognition is still a challenge in IT today, especially with the ongoing development of interface interaction. According to China Internet Weekly, Microsoft Research Asia’s contribution to this field of study is exciting, clearly demonstrating the lab’s strong talents and innovative capacity to positively change the world.

The Pursuit of Perfection

China Internet Weekly, March 5, 2009

 

“Only by inspiring the innovative capacity of the team members, can we achieve more and see better results.”
 

— Dongmei Zhang, User Interface Group, Microsoft

   

With the approach of Women’s Day on March 8, in their latest issueChina Internet Weeklypublished a two-page story, titled the Pursuit of Perfection. The overall story is based on an exclusive interview with Dongmei Zhang (User Interface Group), who shared her touching stories and work experience at Microsoft. The piece highlights Dongmei’s amazing spirit in both work and life. Through this story is about Dongmei’s experience, it shows that Microsoft culture affords not only variety, openness and tolerance, but also opportunities. According to Dongmei, members of Microsoft Research Asia regard themselves as one big team - where teamwork is the key weapon in the battlefield, which outshines any individual success.

Microsoft Teaches English Writing

China Internet Weekly, Feb. 20, 2009

China Internet Weekly published a two-page tech story on Feb. 20 in the Microsoft Research Asia-STCA special column. The piece introduced Engkoo, a tool that helps Chinese people write authentic English. The overall story is based on an interview with Matt Scott from the IEG group and Xiaohua Liu from the NLC group who describes Engkoo as a newcomer in the crowded market of online dictionaries. Highlighting the unique technology features of Engkoo, the article makes it clear that this product was made possible by the brilliant minds and hard work of Microsoft Research Asia through joint efforts with multiple research groups. According to China Internet Weekly, Engkoo is regarded as a bridge bringing the communication gap closer together. Engkoo is therefore not just another search engine or online dictionary, but a channel sharing Microsoft Research Asia’s innovative technologies with China.

Engkoo is based on countless adventures and experiments, bound together by the collective wisdom of many research groups. And it has been proven and tested by the “smartest of researchers” of Microsoft Research Asia. Weikun Wang (the Member of Microsoft technical club at Beijing Institute of Technology) thought that other online dictionaries might be already perfect for searching function, but Engkoo is really taking into consideration the needs of the users. It does not only have comprehensive vocabulary, but also focus on users’ experience. Engkoo will become one of the most popular online dictionaries in the future.

Matthew Scott, who is in charge of the technology thinks that Engkoo “keeps pace with the times” because its vocabulary is based on supreme authenticated dictionaries and includes the latest online vocabularies. Microsoft devotes itself to help Chinese people write original English essay easily, and brings the communication gap closer together. He also believed that the language is the tool of communicating with people; technology closed the gap of communicating. Engkoo is only the beginning to provide good user experience to all types of English learners.

Microsoft’s Tradition Predilection

China Internet Weekly, Feb. 5, 2009

China internet Weekly published a two-page human interest story in its special column for Microsoft Research Asia on Feb. 5, 2009. The article covers Ming Zhou, Research Manager of the Natural Language Computing Group, and his major research interest- Chinese couplet. His masterpiece, Microsoft Couplet System, makes it possible for the general public to make up their own Chinese couplets, and inevitably promotes the Chinese culture as well.

The first two parts of the article introduces Dr. Zhou‘s research interest, and the stories behind the development process. Although having a strong science and tech background, Dr. Zhou has been fascinated by Chinese culture, traditions, and language. Seeing Japan’s preservation of its culture, Zhou decided to protect his own country’s culture by using natural language. Thus, he jointed Microsoft Research Asia right after he came back from Japan in the spring of 1999.

Under Harry Shum’s encouragement, Zhou chose Chinese couplet system as his research direction. In 2005 the Couplet System made its first public show, though it was far from perfect then, its impressive performance still won a lot of approval from the audience, which greatly encouraged Zhou to carry on his research. The Microsoft Couplet System released its third version during the Spring Festival with more services like Chinese couplet search, cell phone couplet message etc. harmoniously combining this thousand-year-long tradition with new era technology.

The second half of the article focuses on Zhou’s intentions and plans for the future. Doctor Zhou wants to make the couplet system as common as karaoke, so everyone can experience the pleasure of making up Chinese couplets, making it no longer a privilege of those who are good at literature. It will not only promote traditional Chinese culture, but also help Chinese see its culture in a new light and make it a bigger part of everyday life.

Doctor Zhou’s choice no doubt opens a new door to Chinese culture, but this is just the beginning - his ultimate goal is to realize China’s cultural renaissance. Although there’s still a long way to go, Zhou and his team have already mapped out the strategy, of which the main thinking is to improve the system according to the feedbacks from the users by the vehicle of web platform. Their major intention is to add some spices to people’s daily life.

Live Search Blossoms in Spring Festival

China Internet Weekly, Jan. 20, 2009

China internet Weekly published a two-page article in its special column for Microsoft Research Asia on Jan. 20. The piece introduces Microsoft’s Live Search Spring Festival Release from Search Technology Center Asia, and explores Microsoft Research Asia’s innovative technologies such as Renlifang, Chinese Couplets System and video search. Overall, the story positions Microsoft as taking a significant step on its journey into Chinese Culture through search. It shows Microsoft’s attention to localization, and its efforts in promoting Chinese culture through innovative technologies. Throughout the article, it emphasizes that with several vertical search technologies the new release is tailored specifically for the Chinese New Year - with the intention of facilitating millions of Chinese people eager to get train tickets, transport information and greeting messages. According to the article, Live Search Spring Festival release offers users an exploring search experience, underlining Microsoft’s strong efforts in search.

The article first introduces the newly released Live Search Spring Festival search platform which was mainly developed by Search Technology Center Asia combined with quite a few technologies from Microsoft Research Asia. People can get all sorts of information related to Spring Festival from this platform, including Chinese couplet, train tickets selling, traffic state, Renqibang, etc.

The article explains the reason why Microsoft chose to issue this new Live Search on the next day after the Spring Festival passenger transport officially started. It is the best time to enter the market as millions of people search online for a ticket to get back home. Microsoft has launched a series of search services which were designed to accommodate the needs of Chinese customers. The new Spring Festival release is just the beginning of Microsoft’s search releases, indicating the Big Gun’s ambition to take a bigger part of the pie.

The new platform conveys the intense Chinese New Year atmosphere. From web decoration to the special train ticket and Chinese couplet search, everything delivers the message — Chinese New Year is coming.

The unique search experience the platform provides for its users is also highlighted in this article. Besides information the user is interested in it also offers info about what other people are searching for and focusing on, giving a navigation-like search experience. The piece emphasizes Microsoft’s strong efforts put into the search field. From a total outsider to today’s comprehensive vertical search technologies, it only took Microsoft two and a half years. Yet, there’s a long way to go.

Renlifang: Mapping Anyone and Everyone

China Internet Weekly, Sep. 5, 2008

China Internet Weekly published an interesting 2-page article on Renlifang, an Object-level Vertical Search technology from Microsoft Research Asia, on September 5. The article, generated from an interview with Zaiqing Nie from Web Data Management team, introduces the remarkable features of Renlifang. CIWeekly had once explained the Guanxi search to the audience, and now it is once again introducing Renlifang, an upgraded version of Guanxi, which has gone through a revolutionary overhaul.

Renlifang, a new-generation search engine, selects information from over one billion Chinese Web pages and computes possible relations between them automatically. The results are shown clearly in the form of colorful graphics: various characters resemble stars in the galaxy, with colors and lines connecting them and illustrating their relationships. This can save users time and effort while searching for useful information from numerous results. The release of Renlifang shows Microsoft’s ambitions for the search market. What Microsoft wants to achieve is not only progress in the technical front but also rapid growth in the search market. Users’ different experiences with search engines, is like the giant leap from DOS to Windows.

Drawing the "Relation" Matrix

China Internet Weekly

China Internet Weekly published an in-depth article on a new type of search engine designed by Microsoft Research Asia called "Guanxi". The functions and properties of the new technology are carefully explained, including the ability for Guanxi to provide people with detailed results regarding related terms, including everything from related people and places to organizations. It is explained that Guanxi is a brand new application of the Object-level Vertical Search technology. The article says that Guanxi is not only a tool that helps acquire information, but also has the ability for active information organization, collection, guidance, and navigation. It is hoped that with this new technology, search engines will not only be providing people with mere answers, but also with additional relevant information, so as to save them from the burden of performing countless searches on multiple websites.

The articles acknowledges the Six Degrees of Separation theory formed by Stanley Milgram in 1967, which fully illustrates the complicated relationships between everyone in the world, as well as how easily one could be connected to another. For those curious about the intricacies of relationships, Guanxi provides the perfect solution. The results page of Guanxi is divided into two sections, where the right hand side is basically the same as that shown by traditional search engines and the left hand side displays a list of related terms. Those terms are the highlight of Guanxi and can be turned into new searches themselves, allowing users to fully grasp the relationship between people, places, and other things. Visual effects are also described, including the placing of pictures to match names, where the size of the picture indicates the popularity of the person, and where its distance from the object of the search indicates the closeness of their relationship. Boosting efficiency with its ability to judge the relevance of search results and provide pertinent information, Guanxi has yet to display even greater potential.

Use Voice to "Watch" Videos

China Internet Weekly

China Internet Weekly published a full page article on Microsoft Research Asia's new progress in the field of voice recognition systems. New possibilities in the area for further research are examined, as well as existing problems that are being dealt with by Microsoft Research Asia, such as performing efficient searches amongst the increasing amount of audio and video files on the Internet, and improving the accuracy of search results when the quality and content of videos and audios could be rather poor. The new technologies developed by Microsoft Research Asia are highly impressive.

The article states that computers can easily handle text, but voice presents as a much greater challenge. In the past 20 years, researchers have exerted great effort in harmonizing computers and human needs, and through that effort, voice recognition technology has become more mature. In response to the problem of inaccurate search results, Microsoft Research Asia has developed a technology that is based on video content and allows computers to "learn" from content appearance.

Another technology that helps to solve the problem of matching voices to the correct words is the analysis of voice content and the following provision of multiple possibilities. The system also has two models, "voice" and "language," which come together to produce the most logical results, greatly enhancing accuracy. These are only a sample of the many developments made in Microsoft Research Asia, with more to be expected in the near future to even better facilitate voice recognition.

News Search Results Threaded Together

China Internet Weekly

China Internet Weekly published a one-page article on Microsoft Research Asia's ongoing project to develop an internet program capable of considerably improving results provided by online search engines. The great potential of the tool is explored in the article, with detailed examples of how it would work in certain situations. The appropriateness of this research item is examined, placing it in context of the current stage of internet development.

The article points out that nowadays, people no longer need to rely on traditional television broadcasts for news. In the age of the Internet, people can now obtain news from a whole variety of sources online. However, with the increasingly complicated amount of online information, adequate search engine technology is needed to sort out the vast number of search results. Microsoft Research Asia addresses this issue with its development of a new type of technology that would categorize search results, grouping together and clarifying the context of loose news reports. For example, if you searched for "terrorist attack," you would be presented, not with bits and pieces of news from here and there, but with clearly sectioned results such as "911," "London explosion," etc. The article notes that this is not an easy task and Microsoft Research Asia has been trying its best since 2004 to progress with its development. According to Microsoft Research Asia researcher Mingjing Li, remaining tasks include gathering information from major news websites around the world, which is difficult because of the fast speed at which they are updated; and categorization of the news, which includes the extraction of important information from each piece of news such as time, place, and people involved, to better facilitate people's search process. Related information, pictures and videos will also be identified and grouped together to speed up the search and add to the results with rich detail. In addition to major news websites, Microsoft Research Asia also plans on excavating news information from online blogs and forums to help complete the picture. Microsoft Research Asia hopes to deliver satisfying online news experiences to users through all of the above.

Organization Counter for Image Search

China Internet Weekly

Image search engines currently available in the market are in many ways insufficient in providing quick, well-organized results. When a key word is entered, usually a long list of image results that covers a whole range of themes appears, often because of simplicity or ambiguity in the key word entered. Raking through these results could be extremely tedious, like searching for the right outfit in a chaotic closet. However, it has been found that people are more likely to flip through the given results than alter their key word, possibly due to uncertainty as to what exactly to enter in the search box.

In response to this problem, two researchers at Microsoft Research Asia, Feng Jing and Shuo Wang, have introduced a new research project called "IGroup" (Image Group), which, taking on the characteristics of its creators, is a unique innovation, stemming from a breakthrough out of traditional ideas. Many of the key technology involved have already gone for patent applications.

IGroup can be built upon any basic image search engine. It splits the search results page into two sections, one section displaying topic groups related to the key word plus thumbnails, and another section displaying the full image search results. This is similar to a closet that can automatically organize different clothes types into different sections of itself. For example, if you search for "Tiger," not only will the topic groups display all the different tiger species, but will also have listed anything else related to the word, such as golf player Tiger Woods. Users can first choose from the list of topics or thumbnails offered to narrow the search, and then look at the images resulting from the more specific search in the other section.

In actuality, the idea of grouping image results has been around for a while. Traditionally, images have been grouped based on identification of similar features, but this can prove to be slow and lacking in effectiveness. IGroup, on the other hand, uses a clever method with multiple search processes to obtain a wide range of results in a short amount of time.

IGroup still faces certain problems, such as how to group topics together accurately and how to eliminate irrelevant images. However, users can be assured that the future for image search is bright, with smarter and more convenient search options to be introduced.

Media Cooperation

If you have any question about the media or need more information.
Please contact:

June Jin
Microsoft Research Asia