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Methods and systems for monitoring a retail shopping facility

  • US 10,565,554 B2
  • Filed: 05/03/2017
  • Issued: 02/18/2020
  • Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2016
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A shopping cart apparatus comprising:

  • a cart frame with a plurality of cart wheels coupled to the cart frame; and

    an image capturing assembly including;

    an electronic image capturing device coupled to the cart frame, the electronic image capturing device configured to capture electronic images of shelves within a retail shopping facility, the electronic images usable to indicate a stock level of retail items within the retail shopping facility;

    a memory configured to store at least some of the electronic images taken with the electronic image capturing device until the at least some of the electronic images are transferred to a central computer;

    at least one sensor configured to measure cart conditions effecting image quality of the electronic images captured by the electronic image capturing device;

    a power storage device configured to store electrical energy sufficient to periodically capture electronic images and store the at least some of the electronic images; and

    a control circuit operably coupled to the electronic image capturing device, the memory, the at least one sensor, and the power storage device, the control circuit configured to;

    determine when to capture the electronic images based, in part, on information from the at least one sensor;

    instruct the electronic image capturing device to capture an electronic image; and

    store the captured electronic image in the memory;

    wherein the control circuit instructs the electronic image capturing device to capture the electronic image when the at least one sensor indicates that the cart frame is within a predetermined distance from one of the shelves and when the shopping cart apparatus is moving below a predetermined speed or the shopping cart apparatus is not moving.

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