Shopping cart monitoring using computer vision
US11203370B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 9, 2021 |
| Grant date | Dec 21, 2021 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 9, 2041 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06V2201/10
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A system for monitoring shopping carts uses cameras to generate images of the carts moving in a store. In some implementations, cameras may additionally or alternatively be mounted to the shopping carts and configured to image cart contents. The system may use the collected image data, and/or other types of sensor data (such as the store location at which an item was added to the basket), to classify items detected in the shopping carts. For example, a trained machine learning model may classify item in a cart as “non-merchandise,” “high theft risk merchandise,” “electronics merchandise,” etc. When a shopping cart approaches a store exit without any indication of an associated payment transaction, the system may use the associated item classification data, optionally in combination with other data such as cart path data, to determine whether to execute an anti-theft action, such as locking a cart wheel or activating a store alarm. The system may also compare the classifications of cart contents to payment transaction records (or summaries thereof) to, e.g., detect underpayment events.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.