Fusion of sensor data for detecting interactions at an inventory location

US11042836B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC. · US

Inventors

• Michel Leonard Goldstein · Dover, US
• Ramanathan Palaniappan · Bengaluru, IN
• Fan Sun · Fremont, US
• Liefeng Bo · Seattle, US
• Ohil Krishnamurthy Manyam · Bellevue, US
• Navid Shiee · Seattle, US
• Gerard Guy Medioni · Seattle, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 7, 2019
• Grant date: Jun 22, 2021
• Expiry date: Jul 5, 2039

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06Q20/208
• WIPO field: IT methods for management
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

Items may be stowed in an inventory location, such as a shelf. An interaction may take place where one of the items is picked from or placed on the inventory location. Sensor data can be acquired from two or more sensors, such as cameras or weight sensors, configured to collect such sensor data for the inventory location. Hypotheses to describe interactions at the inventory location may be determined using sensor data from each different sensor. However, the confidence value for such hypotheses may not be reliable. Fusion of sensor data may be performed where sets of hypotheses from the different sensors are combined and the resulting hypotheses are more accurate.