System and methods for automatic detection of product insertions and product extraction in an open shopping cart
AssigneeTracxone Ltd.
InventorsMoshe MEIDAR, Gidon MOSHKOVITZ, Edi BAHOUS, Itai WINKLER
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Abstract
The disclosure relates to systems and methods for automatic detection of product insertion and product extraction in an Artificial Intelligent Cart (AIC). Specifically, the disclosure relates to systems and methods of ascertaining insertion and extraction of product into and from an open shopping cart, by continuously monitoring triggered content changes.
Claims23
An open shopping cart comprising:
- a. a cart body, the cart body having a floor, and walls rising from the floor, forming an apically open container;
- b. an inward-looking imaging module, adapted and configured to detect a first predetermined set of triggers associated with at least one of:
- a product insertion, and a product extraction;
- c. optionally an outward-looking imaging module adapted and configured to detect a second predetermined set of triggers associated with at least one of:
- a product insertion, and a product extraction, wherein the second set of predetermined triggers is different than the first set of predetermined triggers;
- and
- d. a central processing module (CPM), the CPM being in communication with the inward looking imaging module, and optionally the outward-looking imaging module.
A computerized method of detecting insertion and/or extraction of a product from an open shopping cart implementable in a system comprising a cart body, the cart body having a floor, and walls rising from the floor, forming an apically open container;
- an inward-looking imaging module, adapted and configured to detect a first predetermined set of triggers associated with at least one of a product insertion or a product extraction;
- optionally an outward-looking imaging module adapted and configured to detect a second predetermined set of triggers associated with at least one of a product insertion or a product extraction, wherein the second set of predetermined triggers is different than the first set of predetermined triggers;
- and a central processing module (CPM), the CPM being in communication with the inward-looking imaging module, and the outward-looking imaging module;
- the method comprising:
- a. capturing a first image of the open container using the inward-looking imaging module;
- b. in response to a predetermined triggering event, capturing a second image of the open container using the inward-looking imaging module;
- and
- c. using the central processing module, comparing the first image to the second image, wherein if the second image is different than the first image, provide an indication of a product insertion or a product extraction.
The method of claim 15, wherein the image captured by the outward looking imaging module is of at least one of:
- a hand gesture of a cart user, a cart user removing the product from a store shelf, the store shelf, a cart user holding a product, a motion of a product on a shelf, and a motion of a product across the open shopping cart walls.
The method of claim 16, wherein at least one of:
- the inward-looking imaging module, and the outward-looking imaging module comprise at least one of at least one RGB camera, at least one Infrared (IR) camera, at least one RGBD camera, and at least one depth camera.
The method of claim 17, wherein the CPM is further in communication with at least one of:
- a user interface module, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a data acquisition module, a product recognition module, a data fusion module, and a decision module.
The method of claim 18, further comprising at least one of:
- a. providing at least one trigger associated with at least one of product insertion and product extraction to the data acquisition module and the product recognition module,
- b. recognizing at least one of an insertion location of the inserted product, its weight and its shape,
- c. filtering false events of product insertions and/or product extraction;
- and
- d. detecting missed events.
The method of claim 19, wherein the inward-looking imaging module comprises a plurality of cameras, positioned and configured to have an overlapping field of view, whereby the image captured by all of the plurality of cameras, optionally in combination with a signal provided by the load cell provides at least one of:
- the location of the inserted product within the shopping cart, optionally the weight of the inserted product, the shape of the product, and the heat signature characteristic of the product.
The method of claim 21, further comprising the step of:
- using the CPM, calculating an optical flow of a parameter and determining the flow direction of the parameter.
The method of claim 22, wherein the parameter is at least one of:
- the hand gesture of the cart user, and the product.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.