System and method for inventory identification and quantification

A system for object identification and quantification using a portable computing device (“PCD”) comprising a camera subsystem, the method comprising:

• means for capturing a video stream, wherein the video stream comprises a series of frames;
• means for, in a first frame and a second frame, identifying a set of tracking points;
• means for calculating a set of coordinates defining a global center of the first frame;
• means for, based on a first location of the tracking points in the first frame and a second location of the tracking points in the second frame, determining an optical flow direction from the first frame to the second frame;
• means for, based on the optical flow direction and a delta of the second location of the tracking points in the second frame relative to the first location of the tracking points in the first frame, calculating a set of coordinates defining a global center of the second frame;
• means for identifying objects captured in the first frame;
• for each identified object captured in the first frame, means for calculating global coordinates relative to the global center of the first frame and recording the global coordinates in association with the identified object;
• for each identified object captured in the second frame, means for calculating global coordinates relative to the global center of the second frame and recording the global coordinates in association with the identified object;
• for each identified object from the second frame, means for comparing its global coordinates with global coordinates associated with objects identified from the first frame;
• and
• for each identified object from the second frame having global coordinates that are statistically insignificantly different from global coordinates associated with an object identified from the first frame, means for flagging such identified object from the second frame as a duplicate capture and declining to tally it in a final quantification.

A computer program product comprising a computer usable memory device having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code executable to implement a method for object identification and quantification using a portable computing device (“PCD”) comprising a camera subsystem, the method comprising:

• capturing a video stream, wherein the video stream comprises a series of frames;
• in a first frame and a second frame, identifying a set of tracking points;
• calculating a set of coordinates defining a global center of the first frame;
• based on a first location of the tracking points in the first frame and a second location of the tracking points in the second frame, determining an optical flow direction from the first frame to the second frame;
• based on the optical flow direction and a delta of the second location of the tracking points in the second frame relative to the first location of the tracking points in the first frame, calculating a set of coordinates defining a global center of the second frame;
• identifying objects captured in the first frame;
• for each identified object captured in the first frame, calculating global coordinates relative to the global center of the first frame and recording the global coordinates in association with the identified object;
• for each identified object captured in the second frame, calculating global coordinates relative to the global center of the second frame and recording the global coordinates in association with the identified object;
• for each identified object from the second frame, comparing its global coordinates with global coordinates associated with objects identified from the first frame;
• and
• for each identified object from the second frame having global coordinates that are statistically insignificantly different from global coordinates associated with an object identified from the first frame, flagging such identified object from the second frame as a duplicate capture and declining to tally it in a final quantification.