Methods and Systems for Monitoring or Tracking Products in a Retail Shopping Facility

A retail product tracking system for automatically tracking products unloaded from a delivery vehicle, the retail product tracking system comprising:

• a product database of retail items, assigned locations associated with at least some of the retail items, and a planogram for at least some of the retail items;
• at least one overhead electronic image capturing device disposed in a retail facility configured to capture images of workers moving products in the retail facility and data gloves worn by the workers, the data gloves having markings associated with a particular worker wearing the data gloves;
• a portable electronic device configured to be carried by the particular worker of the retail facility;
• a barcode reader at an exit location of a delivery vehicle, the barcode reader configured to recognize a product being unloaded from the delivery vehicle via a product barcode;
• and
• a control circuit in communication with the product database, the barcode reader, the portable electronic device, and the at least one overhead electronic image capturing device, the control circuit configured to:
• correlate a particular product in the product database with a particular worker by receiving the product barcode from the barcode reader;
• receive at least some of the captured images of the retail facility and associating the captured images received with an area of the retail facility;
• determine an updated location of the particular product and the particular worker by analyzing one of the received captured images and a location of the particular worker in the area of the retail facility;
• compare the updated location of the particular product with the planogram;
• and
• upon determining that the updated location of the particular product does not correspond to location information in the planogram, send an alert to the particular worker, via the portable electronic device, that the particular product is not being deposited in its intended location according to the planogram.

A method for tracking retail products as they are stocked in a retail facility, the method comprising:

• maintaining a product database of retail items, facility locations associated with at least some of the retail items, and a planogram of intended locations for the retail items;
• capturing, through overhead electronic image capturing devices disposed in a retail facility, images of workers moving products in the retail facility and data gloves worn by the workers, the data gloves having markings associated with a particular worker wearing the data gloves;
• correlating a particular product in the product database with a particular worker at a dock area of the retail facility;
• associating at least some of the captured images with a specific area of the retail store;
• analyzing one of the captured images of the workers moving products and the data gloves worn by the worker;
• determining an updated location of the particular product and the particular worker in the particular area of the retail facility;
• comparing the updated location of the particular product with the planogram;
• and
• upon determining that the updated location of the particular product does not correspond to the intended location of the particular product in the planogram, sending an alert to the particular worker, via a worker electronic device, that the particular product is not being deposited in its intended location according to the planogram.