Automated shelf stock management

A first network node device, comprising:

• processing circuitry;
• and
• a memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry;
• wherein the first network node device is operationally coupled over a network to an optical sensor device having a field of view towards a shelf structure having a set of stocked items and operable to capture an image of the shelf structure and to a set of display devices disposed on the shelf structure with each display device being specific to and proximate a certain stocked item on the shelf structure and operable to display stocked item information of the certain stocked item, with the shelf structure having shelves with each shelf having a portion of the stocked items with any of the same stocked items being transversely arranged on that shelf;
• and
• wherein the memory contains instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the processing circuitry is configured to:
• obtain information associated with a current arrangement of the stocked items and the corresponding display devices on the shelf structure so as to determine whether the stocked item information of a certain stocked item on the shelf structure is associated with the stocked item information displayed by the corresponding display device, wherein to obtain the current arrangement information, the processing circuitry is configured to:
• receive, from the optical sensor device over the network, image data that includes an image of the shelf structure;
• pre-process the image data to perform at least one of noise reduction, contrast enhancement, image resizing, color correction, image segmentation and feature extraction;
• and
• determine the current arrangement information of the shelf structure based on the image data.

A system, comprising:

• an optical sensor device having a field of view towards a shelf structure having a set of stocked items and operable to capture an image of the shelf structure, with the shelf structure having shelves with each shelf having a portion of the set of stocked items with any of the same stocked items being transversely arranged on that shelf;
• a set of display devices disposed on the shelf structure with each display device being specific to and proximate a certain stocked item of the shelf structure and operable to display stocked item information specific to the certain stocked item;
• and
• a first network node device operationally coupled over a network to the optical sensor device and the set of display devices, with the first network node device having processing circuitry and a memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the processing circuitry is configured to:
• obtain information associated with a current arrangement of the stocked items and the corresponding display devices on the shelf structure so as to determine whether the stocked item information of a certain stocked item on the shelf structure is associated with the stocked item information displayed by the corresponding display device, wherein to obtain the current arrangement information, the processing circuitry is configured to:
• receive, from the optical sensor device over the network, image data that includes an image of the shelf structure;
• pre-process the image data to perform at least one of noise reduction, contrast enhancement, image resizing, color correction, image segmentation and feature extraction;
• and
• determine the current arrangement information of the shelf structure based on the image data.