Systems and methods for determining label positions

• US 10,482,750 B2
• Filed: 11/01/2017
• Issued: 11/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Inventors: Taylor, Robert James, Jones, Matthew Allen, Vasgaard, Aaron James, Jones, Nicholaus Adam
• Primary Examiner(s): Aziz, Adnan
• Application Number:
  US15/800,632
• Publication Number:
  US 20180151052A1
• Time in Patent Office: 748 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90335 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06028 using bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06037 multi-dimensional coding
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/182 Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/08 using communication transmission lines G08B13/19658, G08B21/0286, G08B25/016 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 3/204 specially adapted to be attached to a shelf or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds

Abstract

Described in detail herein are methods and systems for a label position determination. A label position determination system can include labels mounted on the front face of the shelving units. The labels can include conductive patterns on the back face of the label. The conductive patterns of the labels can be electrically coupled with electrically conductive wires extending along a front face of a shelf. The system can further include a controller coupled to with electrically conductive wires, configured to transmit electrical pulses through the electrically conductive wires. The controller can determine at least one of: an identity of each of the labels mounted to the front face, whether a label has been mounted at an incorrect location on the front face of the shelf, or whether a label is missing from the front face of the shelf based on a response to the electrical pulse.

Claims

1. A label position monitoring system, the system comprising:

a shelving unit disposed in a facility having a shelf with a front face;

a plurality of electrically conductive wires extending along the front face of the shelf;

a set of labels configured to be disposed along the front face of the shelf, each of the labels having a front surface that includes a machine-readable element and a back surface upon which one of a plurality of passive conductive patterns is disposed, each one of the plurality of passive conductive patterns on the back surface of each of the labels has an impedance and is configured to electrically couple to at least one of the plurality of conductive wires to generate different circuits with different effective impedances, where the different circuits and the effective impedances change based on a number of labels coupled to the plurality of conductive wires;

a controller electrically coupled to the plurality of electrically conductive wires, the controller being configured to;

transmit an electrical pulse through a generated one of the different circuits; and

determine, based on a response of the electrical pulse to the change in effective impedances of the generated one of the different circuits, at least one of (i) an identity of each label mounted to the front face, (ii) at least one of the labels from the set has been mounted at an incorrect location on the front face of the shelf, or (iii) at least one of the labels is missing from the front face of the shelf.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is in communication with an impedance database configured to store impedances of the different circuits based on the location of the label in the facility, and the controller is further configured to:

detect an impedance of the different circuits based on an interaction of the electrical pulse and the different circuits; and

query impedance database to identify each label by comparing the detected impedance of the different circuits with the stored impedance of the different circuits.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:

calculate the time delay of a reflected pulse received by the controller in response to transmission of the electrical pulse by the controller;

calculate a position of the at least one of the labels based on the time delay;

determine that the position of the at least one of the labels is incorrect; and

transmit an alert in response to determining the position of the at least one of the labels is incorrect.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein to change the effective impedance of the different circuits based on the location of the label in the facility, the plurality of passive conductive patterns are formed to create parallel electrical connections with at least one of the plurality of electrically conductive wires to alter an effective impedance of the at least one of the plurality of electrically conductive wires.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein calculating the time delay further includes determining a time period between transmission of the electrical pulse and a reflection of the electrical pulse from a location at which at least one of the labels is mounted.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein calculating the position of the at least one of the labels along the front face of the shelf is based on the time period.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein a planogram of the facility including the designated positions of each label is stored in the database.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein determining the position of the at least one label is incorrect further includes querying the database to retrieve the planogram, comparing the determined position of the at least one label with the designated position of the label in the planogram.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein each of the conductive patterns generates a unique impedance for each label.

10. The system in claim 9, wherein the controller is further configured to query the database to identify the label based on the unique impedance.

11. A label position monitoring method, the method comprising:

electrically coupling, labels along a front face of a shelf of a shelving unit, each of the labels having a front surface that includes a machine-readable element and a back surface upon which one of a plurality of passive conductive patterns is disposed, each one of the plurality of passive conductive patterns on the back surface of each of the labels having an impedance and being electrically coupled to at least one of a plurality of electrically conductive wires extending along a front face of a shelf to generate different circuits with different effective impedances, where the different circuits and the effective impedances change based on a number of labels coupled to the plurality of conductive wires;

transmitting, via a controller electrically coupled to the plurality of electrically conductive wires an electrical pulse through a generated one of the different circuits;

determining, based on a response to the electrical pulse to the change in effective impedances of the generated one of the different circuits, via the controller, at least one of;

an identity of each of the labels mounted to the front face, at least one of the labels has been mounted at an incorrect location on the front face of the shelf, or at least one of the labels is missing from the front face of the shelf.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

detecting, via the controller, an impedance of the different circuits based on an interaction of the electrical pulse and the different circuits; and

querying, via the controller, an impedance database, to identify each label by comparing the detected impedance of the different circuits with the stored impedance in the impedance database for different circuits based on the location of the label in the facility.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

calculating, via the controller, a time delay of a reflected pulse received by the controller in response to transmission of the electrical pulse by the controller;

determining, via the controller, a position of the at least one of the labels along the front face of the shelf is incorrect; and

transmitting, via the controller, an alert in response to determining the position of the at least one of the labels is incorrect.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein to change the effective impedance of the different circuits based on the location of the label in the facility, the plurality of passive conductive patterns are formed to create parallel electrical connections or series electrical connections with at least one of the plurality of electrically conductive wires to alter an effective impedance of the at least one of the plurality of electrically conductive wires.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising calculating the time delay further by determining a time period between transmission of the electrical pulse and a reflection of the electrical pulse from a location at which at least one of the labels is mounted.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising calculating, via the controller, the position of the at least one of the labels along the front face of the shelf is based on the time period.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein a planogram of the facility including the designated positions of each of the labels is stored in the impedance database.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein determining the position of the at least one of the labels is incorrect further comprising querying, via the controller, the impedance database to retrieve the planogram, comparing the determined position of the at least one of labels with the designated position of the at least one of the labels in the planogram.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising generating, via each of the conductive patterns, a unique impedance for each of the labels.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising querying, via the controller, the impedance database to identify each of the labels based on the unique impedance.