System and method for detecting scan irregularities at self-checkout terminals

A retail store with a self-check-out process for one or more items, the retail store comprising:

• a self-checkout terminal comprising:
• a scanner configured for use in operably scanning an item when presented within a field of view of the scanner;
• and
• at least one video camera configured to capture a video stream of a scanning zone in real-time, wherein the scanning zone is representative of the field of view of the scanner;
• and
• a system communicably coupled to the scanner and the at least one video camera, the system configured to detect a scan irregularity in the scanning of the one or more items by a user using the scanner, the system comprising:
• an image receiving module configured to receive the video stream of the scanning zone in real-time from the at least one video camera;
• an image processing module configured to process each image frame of the video stream for detecting one or more visual scan intervals in one or more image frames, wherein each detected visual scan interval is a series of image frames in a time interval of the received video stream during which an item is identified, in the series of image frames, in the scanning zone scanned by the scanner;
• and
• a decision module configured to:
• process each detected visual scan interval based on a set of pre-defined rules to generate a processed visual scan interval which includes a scan action and wherein the processed visual scan interval is generated based, at least, on a computed glass motion coverage of the one or more image frames of the visual scan interval;
• detect a scan irregularity in the self-check-out process when an item identified, for scanning in the processed visual scan interval, is absent from a list of items generated by the scanner during the corresponding time interval;
• and
• provide an alert regarding the scan irregularity on at least one of:
• a user computing device and a display of the self-checkout terminal.