System and methods for shopping in a physical store
AssigneeIMAGR Limited
InventorsWilliam CHOMLEY, Peter Szoldan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and system for assisting in shopping at a physical store (104) is described. The method includes receiving image data of the inside of a shopping cart (108) and processing the image data to detect one or more events. An event is the addition of an item (114) to the shopping cart (108) or the removal of an item (114) from the shopping cart (108). Responsive to detecting an event, the method processes the image data to identify an item associated with the event, and generates cart information based on the identified item. The cart information includes a record of items currently in the shopping cart (108). The method also communicates the cart information with respect to the identified item to a customer device (118).
Claims28
A computer implemented method for assisting in shopping at a physical store, the method including:
- receiving image data of the inside of a shopping cart;
- processing the image data to detect one or more events and, for each event, determine the event type, the event type being an item addition event involving the addition of an item to the shopping cart or an item removal event involving the removal of an item from the shopping cart;
- responsive to detecting an event:
- processing the image data to identify an item associated with the event;
- generating cart information based on the identified item, the cart information including a record of items currently in the shopping cart;
- and
- communicating the cart information with respect to the identified item to a customer device.
(canceled)
(canceled)
(canceled)
A shopping support system for assisting in shopping at a physical store, including:
- a cart system mechanically coupled to a shopping cart at the physical store, the cart system configured to capture footage of the inside of the shopping cart during a shopping session;
- and
- a backend system communicatively coupled to the cart system to receive image data and including a computer processing unit, and a computer readable memory in communication with the computer processing unit, the computer readable memory including:
- an event detector module executable by the computer processing unit to process the image data to detect one or more events and, for each event, determine the event type, the event type being an item addition event involving the addition of an item to the shopping cart or an item removal event involving the removal of an item from the shopping cart;
- an item identifier module executable by the computer processing unit to process the image data to identify an item associated with an event, responsive to detecting the event;
- a payment module executable by the computer processing unit to:
- generate cart information based on the identified item, the cart information including a record of items currently in the shopping cart;
- and
- communicate the cart information with respect to the identified item to a customer device.
(canceled)
(canceled)
-29. (canceled)
A cart system for securing to a shopping cart, the cart system including:
- a controller;
- a camera controlled by the controller and which, when the cart system is secured to the shopping cart, has a field of view covering the interior of the shopping cart;
- and
- a network interface,
- wherein the controller is configured to:
- receive, from a backend system via the network interface, an activation signal;
- on receipt of the activation signal, activate the camera to capture image data of the interior of the shopping cart and to communicate the image data to the backend system via the network interface.
-34. (canceled)
The cart system of claim 34, wherein the controller is further configured to:
- receive, from a backend system via the network interface, an error signal, the error signal indicating that the backend system has been unable to identify an item that has been added to or removed from the cart, and
- on receipt of the error signal, control the output device to indicate an error has occurred.
(canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.