Shopping cart corral system and associated systems and methods

A method of estimating a customer count, comprising:

• providing a shopping cart corral system, the shopping cart corral system including (i) a corral structure including a proximal end, a distal end and an enclosure configured and dimensioned to extend between the proximal and distal ends, the enclosure defining an interior area for receiving one or more shopping carts, the proximal end of the corral structure including an opening for entrance and exit of the one or more shopping carts from the enclosure, (ii) a radio-frequency transmitter, (iii) a radio-frequency receiver, and (iv) a controller operatively coupled to the radio-frequency receiver;
• transmitting a radio-frequency signal with the radio-frequency transmitter into the interior area of the enclosure, the radio-frequency signal interacting with the one or more shopping carts in the corral structure to generate a reflected radio-frequency signal having at least one property that differs from the radio-frequency signal based on interference of the one or more shopping carts with the radio-frequency signal;
• receiving the reflected radio-frequency signal with the radio-frequency receiver;
• and
• estimating a quantity of shopping carts that are disposed in the interior area of the enclosure with the controller based on the at least one property of the reflected radio-frequency signal received by the radio-frequency receiver, a degree to which the one or more shopping carts interfere with the radio-frequency signal indicative of the quantity of shopping carts that are disposed in the interior area of the enclosure.

A customer count estimation system, comprising:

• a corral structure including a proximal end, a distal end, and an enclosure configured and dimensioned to extend between the proximal and distal ends, the enclosure defining an interior area for receiving one or more shopping carts, the proximal end of the corral structure including an opening for entrance and exit of the one or more shopping carts from the enclosure;
• a first radio-frequency transmitter to transmit a first radio-frequency signal into the interior area of the enclosure, the first radio-frequency signal interacting with the one or more shopping carts in the corral structure to generate a first reflected radio-frequency signal having at least one property that differs from the first radio-frequency signal based on interference of the one or more shopping carts with the first radio-frequency signal;
• a first radio-frequency receiver being configured to receive the first reflected radio-frequency signal;
• a second radio-frequency transmitter disposed at an entrance of a retail environment to transmit a second radio-frequency signal into the entrance of the retail environment, the second radio-frequency signal interacting with one or more shopping carts passing through the entrance of the retail environment to generate a second reflected radio-frequency signal having at least one property that differs from the second radio-frequency signal;
• a second radio-frequency receiver being configured to receive the second reflected radio-frequency signal;
• and
• a controller operatively coupled to the first radio-frequency receiver and the second radio-frequency receiver, the controller being configured to (i) estimate a quantity of shopping carts that are disposed in the interior area of the enclosure based on the at least one property of the reflected first radio-frequency signal received by the first radio-frequency receiver, a degree to which the one or more shopping carts interfere with the first radio-frequency signal indicative of the quantity of shopping carts that are disposed in the interior area of the enclosure, (ii) estimate a quantity of shopping carts that are disposed within the retail environment based on the at least one property of the reflected second radio-frequency signal received by the second radio-frequency receiver, and (iii) estimate a customer count using a shopping cart within the retail environment based on the quantity of shopping carts that are disposed in the interior area of the enclosure and the quantity of shopping carts that are disposed within the retail environment.