Systems and methods for detecting vehicle attributes

• US 10,176,383 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2017
• Issued: 01/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Inventors: Jones, Nicholaus Adam, Taylor, Robert James, Vasgaard, Aaron James, Jones, Matthew Allen
• Primary Examiner(s): Azarian, Seyed
• Application Number:
  US15/632,912
• Publication Number:
  US 20180018526A1
• Time in Patent Office: 561 Days
• Field of Search: 382100, 382103, 382104-106, 382140, 382155, 382162, 382168, 382173, 382180-181, 382190, 382199, 382209, 382219, 382224, 382232, 382254, 382274, 382276, 382286-291, 382395, 382312, 382321, 705 1439, 705 261, 705 13, 320109, 368 90, 340 1033
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0278 Product appraisal
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/00 Arrangements or apparatus for collecting fares, tolls or entrance fees at one or more control points handling coins or valuable papers, e.g. banknotes, G07D; apparatus for vending or hiring articles or services activated by coins, credit cards, paper currency or the like G07F7/00, G07F17/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/08 Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time

Abstract

Described in detail herein are methods and systems for detecting attributes of vehicles using an images captured by an image capturing device disposed at a facility. The system detects attributes of the vehicles from the image, retrieves information associated with each vehicle based on the attributes and generates a score for each vehicle based on the information associated with each vehicle. Based on the score a distribution of physical objects is triggered to the facility.

Claims

1. A system for detecting vehicle attributes, the system comprising:

a first still image or moving image camera disposed at a first location of a first facility, the first still image or moving image camera configured to detect at least a first vehicle in response to the first vehicle entering a first field of view of the first still image or moving image camera and to capture an first image of the first vehicle;

a second still image or moving image camera disposed at a second location of a second facility that is remote from the first facility, the second still image or moving image camera configured to detect a second vehicle in response to the second vehicle entering a second field of view of the second still image or moving image camera and to capture a second image of the second vehicle;

a computing system including a processor and operatively coupled to the first and second still image or moving image cameras and a plurality of databases, the processor configured to (i) extract a first plurality of vehicle attributes associated with the first vehicle from the first image using a machine vision algorithm, (ii) extract a second plurality of vehicle attributes associated with the second vehicle from the second image using the machine vision algorithm, (iii) determine that the first vehicle and the second vehicle have comparable vehicle attributes, (iv) access a first one of the databases to retrieve information associated with the at least one of the plurality of vehicle attributes associated with the first vehicle, (v) generate a score based on the information associated with the at least one of the plurality of vehicle attributes, (vi) query a second one of the databases for physical objects based on the score, (vii) query a third one of the databases for a quantity of the physical objects disposed at the first facility, and (viii) in response to determining the quantity of the physical objects is less than a predetermined quantity trigger distribution of a first quantity of physical objects to the first facility or the second facility,

wherein the machine vision algorithm can include one or more of;

Stitching/Registration, Filtering, Thresholding, Pixel counting, Segmentation, Inpainting, Edge detection, Color Analysis, Blob discovery &

manipulation, Neural net processing, Pattern recognition, Optical character recognition, and/or Gauging/Metrology.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the vehicle attributes includes a body type, a cleanliness, custom parts, a condition of the vehicle, a type of rims on the vehicle, or a type of tire on the vehicle.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing system is further configured to generate a second score associated with the second vehicle.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein in response to determining the second score is equal to the score of the first vehicle, querying the third one of the databases to determine whether a second quantity of the physical objects at the second facility.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein in response to determining the second quantity of the physical objects is less than the predetermined quantity, trigger distribution of the first quantity to the second facility.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the information associated with the first and second vehicle includes a value of the first vehicle or a value of at least one of the vehicle attributes.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the first vehicle is detected by the first still image or moving image camera based on a change to at least one pixel in the first field of view.

8. A method for detecting vehicle attributes, the method comprising:

detecting, via a first still image or moving image camera disposed at a first location of a first facility at least a first vehicle in response to the first vehicle entering a first field of view of the first still image or moving image camera and to capture an first image of the first vehicle;

detecting, via a second still image or moving image camera disposed at a second location of a second facility that is remote from the first facility, a second vehicle in response to the second vehicle entering a second field of view of the second still image or moving image camera and to capture a second image of the second vehicle;

extracting, via a processor of a computing system operatively coupled to the first and second still image or moving image cameras and a plurality of databases, a first plurality of vehicle attributes associated with the first vehicle from the first image using a machine vision algorithm;

extracting, via the processor, between a second plurality of vehicle attributes associated with the second vehicle from the second image using the machine vision algorithm;

determining, via the processor, that the first vehicle and the second vehicle have comparable vehicle attributes;

accessing, via the processor, a first one of the databases to retrieve information associated with the at least one of the plurality of vehicle attributes associated with the first vehicle, (v) generate a score based on the information associated with the at least one of the plurality of vehicle attributes,

querying, via the processor, a second one of the databases for physical objects based on the score;

querying, via the processor, a third one of the databases for a quantity of the physical objects disposed at the first facility;

and

in response to determining the quantity of the physical objects is less than a predetermined quantity triggering, via the computing system, distribution of the first quantity of physical objects to the first facility,

wherein the machine vision algorithm can include one or more of;

Stitching/Registration, Filtering, Thresholding, Pixel counting, Segmentation, Inpainting, Edge detection, Color Analysis, Blob discovery &

manipulation, Neural net processing, Pattern recognition, Optical character recognition, and/or Gauging/Metrology.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein at least one of the vehicle attributes includes a body type, a cleanliness, custom parts, a condition of the vehicle, a type of rims on the vehicle, or a type of tire on the vehicle.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising, generating, via the computing system, a second score associated with the second vehicle.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein in response to determining the second score is equal to the score of the first vehicle, further comprising querying, via the computing system, the third one of the databases to determine whether a second quantity of the physical objects at the second facility.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein in response to determining the second quantity of the physical objects is less than the predetermined quantity, further comprising triggering, via the computing system, distribution of the first quantity to the second facility.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the information associated with the first and second vehicle include a value of the vehicle or a value of at least one of the vehicle attributes.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the first vehicle is detected by the first still image or moving image camera based on a change to at least one pixel in the first field of view.