Systems and methods for monitoring shopping cart wheels
AssigneeWalmart Apollo, LLC
InventorsNicholaus Adam Jones, Matthew Dwain Biermann, Steven Jackson Lewis
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods and systems are provided for evaluating shopping cart wheels using a sensor module or one or more microphones engaged with the shopping cart. The microphones can be used to detect sounds generated by the wheels of the shopping cart. A sound signature can be determined from the detected sound and compared to sound signatures in a database. If the detected sound indicates that a wheel of the shopping cart is failing, an alert can be generated using an associate alert system.
Claims18
A system for monitoring the status of a wheel of a manually driven shopping cart, the system comprising:
- a shopping cart including a frame, a basket supported by the frame, and wheels configured to support the frame;
- a sensor module engaged with the shopping cart, the sensor module including one or more microphones positioned on the shopping cart to detect sounds generated by the wheels of the shopping cart and a communication module configured to emit wireless transmissions in response to the sounds detected by the one or more microphones;
- a wireless receiver configured to receive the wireless transmissions from the sensor module;
- and
- a server in communication with the wireless receiver, the server including an associate alert system and a processor that can execute instructions to:
- receive the wireless transmissions from the sensor module via the wireless receiver, the wireless transmissions including signals associated with the sounds generated by the wheels detected by the one or more microphones of the sensor module;
- and
- generate an alert using the associate alert system in response to determining that the signals received by the server indicate that at least one of the wheels of the shopping cart is failing.
A method of monitoring the status of a wheel of a manually driven shopping cart, the method comprising:
- detecting sounds generated by the wheels of a shopping cart using a sensor module engaged with the shopping cart, the sensor module including one or more microphones positioned on the shopping cart;
- receiving, at a server including an associate alert system and a processor, wireless transmissions from a communication module of the sensor module including signals associated with the detected sounds generated by the wheels;
- generating an alert using the associate alert system in response to determining that the signals received by the server indicate that at least one of the wheels of the shopping cart is failing.
A shopping cart, comprising:
- a frame;
- a basket supported by the frame;
- wheels configured to support the frame;
- one or more microphones disposed on the frame or the basket and positioned to detect sounds generated by rotation of at least one of the wheels;
- a frequency pre-filter configured to filter signals output by the one or more of the microphones;
- a communication module;
- and
- a digital signal processor operatively coupled to the one or more microphones via the frequency pre-filter and operatively coupled to the communication module,
- wherein the digital signal processor is configured to control the communication module to transmit a message corresponding to the signals output by the one or more microphones to a server.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.