Method and Apparatus for Extracting Product Attributes from Packaging

A computer-implemented method of auditing stored product information in a database, the method comprising:

• retrieving product information from a database;
• applying a model created by machine learning to candidate product information within a digital representation of product packaging to discern indicators of product attributes on the packaging from indicators of non-product attributes;
• processing representations of the product attributes to enable storage of the representations in corresponding fields of a database;
• and
• auditing the product information retrieved from the database by comparing the product information with corresponding representations of the product information gleaned by applying the model to the candidate product information.

A system for determining product information, the system comprising:

• an image scanner configured to identify candidate product information within an image of product packaging of a product;
• a data processor configured to:
• apply a model created by machine learning to the candidate product information to discern indicators of product attributes from indicators of non-product attributes of the candidate product information;
• extract individual indicators from the indicators of product attributes;
• in response to a determination that additional confidence is needed for a given individual indicator, apply a rule to identify unique product information from the given individual indicator;
• apply a taxonomy to the product attributes based on the individual indicators to generate categorized product attributes representing the product;
• and
• a database configured to store the categorized product attributes.