Activate Image Search

Procedure

1. Sign in to the Alibaba Cloud official website.

2. Go to the Image Search product page and click Buy Now.

3. On the product purchase page, configure the parameters, enter an Instance Name, and then click Buy Now. Parameters include Region, Service Type, Queries per second (QPS), Maximum Image Capacity, Instance Name, Plan Type, Package, and Subscription Duration. The Instance Name is required and cannot be changed after creation. It must be 4 to 20 characters long, start with a lowercase letter, and consist of only lowercase letters and digits.

   Parameter	Description
   Region	The region where the Image Search service is deployed. In China, Image Search is available in the China (Shanghai), China (Hangzhou), China (Beijing), and China (Shenzhen) regions. Important The region cannot be changed after it is selected. Proceed with caution.
   Service type	Image Search provides eight service types for different business scenarios. The following table describes the service types. Product Search This service type is suitable for scenarios such as visual search and product recommendations on e-commerce platforms. You can upload a product image to find identical or similar products in your product database. Generic Search This service type is suitable for scenarios such as image copyright protection and similar image recommendations. You can upload an image to find identical or similar images that contain the same elements or main subject in a large image database. Fabric Search This service type is suitable for scenarios such as fabric e-commerce and fabric search in textile production. You can upload a fabric image to find fabrics that have the same or a similar texture in your fabric database and return the related fabric information. Trademark Search This service type is suitable for scenarios such as trademark search and deduplication. You can upload a trademark image to find identical or similar trademarks in your trademark database and return the related trademark information. Copyrighted Image Search This service type is suitable for scenarios such as image infringement detection and copyrighted image tracing. You can upload an image to find the original image from your self-managed copyrighted image database. This helps reduce the impact of image splicing, logos, watermarks, flipping, cropping, and color changes on search results. Furniture and Home Goods Search This service type is suitable for searching for furniture and home goods images. You can find identical or similar furniture and home goods in your image database. This is useful for scenarios such as quick content monetization based on images. Industrial Hardware Search This service type allows you to quickly search for images of industrial hardware products. You can quickly find identical or similar products in an industrial hardware database. This improves the efficiency of information retrieval on industrial hardware websites. Multi-modal Product Search This service type is suitable for scenarios such as visual search and product recommendations on e-commerce platforms. You can provide a product image or a text description to find identical or similar products in a product database. Important The service type cannot be changed after it is selected. Proceed with caution.
   Queries per second (QPS)	The maximum number of image query requests that you can send to the Image Search service per second. A higher QPS allows you to process a larger number of concurrent requests. For example, if you purchase an Image Search instance with a QPS of 5, you can perform five image query operations per second. The QPS for image deletion operations is fixed at 20. For more information, see Queries per second (QPS).
   Maximum image capacity	The maximum number of images that you can index. For more information, see Maximum image capacity. Note For Product Search, this parameter specifies the number of images, not the number of products.
   Instance name	The instance name is required. It must meet the following requirements: Consist of only lowercase letters and digits. Start with a lowercase letter. Be 4 to 20 characters in length. If you receive an error about an invalid instance name format, make sure that you have entered a name and that the name meets all the specified requirements. Important The instance name cannot be changed after the instance is created. Proceed with caution.
   Subscription duration	The duration of your service subscription.
   Auto-renewal	Enabling this feature automatically renews your instance nine days before it expires. Important If a renewal payment fails, the instance is not renewed and is automatically released upon expiration.

4. On the payment page, confirm your order details, read and select the Terms of Service checkbox, and then click Pay.

5. After your payment is successful, a confirmation message is displayed and the service begins activating. This process typically takes 1 to 5 minutes. After activation is complete, you can use the Image Search service. You can then click Console to go to the console and manage your instance, or click Documentation to view the user guides.