Compact and low-power shelf monitoring system
AssigneeDatalogic USA, Inc.
InventorsAlan Shearin, WenLiang Gao, Brett Howard
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The disclosure relates to an inventory management system including one or more imagers mounted to shelving or other structures displaying items for sale, where the imagers are designed to capture images of the items and relay information to a database for purposes of tracking the items and managing inventory. The imagers are compact, low power devices incorporating wireless means for communicating with the database and may include solar cell arrays for charging purposes.
Claims20
An inventory management system for tracking and monitoring a plurality of items, the system comprising:
- a first retail display including one or more shelves and a second retail display including one or more shelves, the first and second retail displays facing one another;
- a plurality of items arranged on a first shelf of the first retail display, the plurality of items including a frontmost item adjacent a front face of the first shelf, and one or more items arranged on the first shelf behind the frontmost item;
- a reflective material coupled to an underside of a second shelf of the first retail display, the second shelf located above the first shelf with the plurality of items;
- and
- an imager mounted to a first shelf of the second retail display, the imager having a field-of-view directed toward the first shelf of the first retail display, wherein the field-of-view of the imager is reflected downwardly by the reflective material on the underside of the second shelf, the imager operable to capture one or more images of the one or more items arranged on the first shelf behind the frontmost item.
A method for tracking and monitoring a plurality of items, the method comprising:
- arranging a plurality of items on a first shelf of a first retail display, the plurality of items including a frontmost item adjacent a front face of the first shelf, and one or more items arranged on the first shelf behind the frontmost item;
- disposing a reflective material on an underside of a second shelf of the first retail display, the second shelf located above the first shelf with the plurality of items;
- mounting an imager to a first shelf of a second retail display that faces the first retail display;
- directing a field-of-view of the imager toward the first shelf of the first retail display;
- reflecting the field of view of the imager downwardly by the reflective material on the underside of the second shelf;
- and
- capturing, via the imager, one or more images of the one or more items arranged on the first shelf behind the frontmost item.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.