Image sensor module
AssigneeAmazon Technologies, Inc.
InventorsZeng Shou Liu, James Jehong Kim
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for adaptive code scanning in smart shopping environments are disclosed. The system includes a smart shopping cart with an optical module comprising an illumination source and an image sensor, and a computing module. The computing module determines sensor and illumination frequencies and adjusts the illumination frequency so that the illumination source and image sensor alternate between aligned and misaligned frames. The image sensor scans codes within a designated area, and the computing module records the resulting scanning data for further processing.
Claims20
A smart shopping cart, comprising:
- a frame having one or more wheels, configured for movement along a support surface;
- an optical module attached to the frame, including:
- an illumination source, configured to illuminate a scanning area;
- and
- an image sensor, configured to scan a code within the scanning area;
- and
- a computing module communicably coupled to the optical module, comprising a processor and a non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
- determining a sensor frequency for the image sensor of the optical module;
- determining an illumination frequency for the illumination source of the optical module;
- adjusting the illumination frequency to define an adjusted illumination frequency, such that the sensor frequency and illumination frequency are intermittently aligned, with one or more misaligned frames occurring between aligned frames, wherein aligned frames are frames in which the illumination source and the image sensor are both active, and misaligned frames are frames in which one of the illumination source or the image sensor is inactive while the other of the illumination sources or the image sensor is active;
- alternating an exposure time of the image sensor between a first exposure time and a second exposure time, wherein alignment of the illumination frequency with the sensor frequency is performed for the second exposure time and misalignment is performed for the first exposure time, the first exposure time being longer than the second exposure time;
- scanning the code, by the image sensor, to produce scanning data;
- and
- recording the scanning data to the computing module.
One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, upon execution by one or more processors of a system, cause the system to perform operations comprising:
- determining a sensor frequency for an image sensor of an optical module;
- determining an illumination frequency for an illumination source of the optical module;
- adjusting the illumination frequency to define an adjusted illumination frequency, such that the sensor frequency and the illumination frequency are intermittently aligned, with one or more misaligned frames occurring between aligned frames, wherein aligned frames are frames in which the illumination source and the image sensor are both active, and misaligned frames are frames in which one of the illumination source or the image sensor is inactive while the other of the illumination source or the image sensor is active;
- scanning a code to produce scanning data based at least in part on the adjusted illumination frequency;
- and
- recording the scanning data to the system.
A system, comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a memory storing instructions that, upon execution by the processor, configure the system to:
- wake up an image sensor, in response to detection of an object within a scanning area;
- receive a sensor frequency for the image sensor;
- receive an illumination frequency for an illumination source;
- adjust the sensor frequency and/or the illumination frequency, such that the sensor frequency and the illumination frequency are intermittently aligned, with one or more misaligned frames occurring between aligned frames, wherein aligned frames are frames in which the illumination source and the image sensor are both active, and misaligned frames are frames in which one of the illumination source or the image sensor is inactive while the other of the illumination source or the image sensor is active;
- scan a code, by the image sensor, to produce scanning data based at least in part on the adjusted illumination frequency;
- and
- record the scanning data to the system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.