UPC SUBSTITUTION FRAUD PREVENTION

• US 20090060259A1
• Filed: 09/04/2007
• Published: 03/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Datalogic Adc, Inc. (Datalogic S.p.A.)
• Original Assignee: Evolution Robotics Retail Incorporated (Datalogic ADC Incorporated)
• Inventors: GONCALVES, LUIS
• Granted Patent: US 8,068,674 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: A47F 9/047 for recording self-service articles without cashier or assistant
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30108 Industrial image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/001 using an image reference approach
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/757 Matching configurations of points or features
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0045 with a code reader for reading of an identifying code of the article to be registered, e.g. barcode reader or radio-frequency identity [RFID] reader
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/12 electronically operated digital data processing aspects G06Q20/00

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and method for detecting fraudulent identification tags, such as Universal Product Codes (UPC) applied to goods to be purchased. The invention may store in a database images of the goods to be purchased and feature models of these images. When a customer desires to purchase an item containing a UPC, a scanned image of the item about to be purchased may be acquired and a feature model of the scanned image may be created. The system may retrieve from the database the image and feature model previously stored for the item associated with the just-scanned UPC. A variety of image processing techniques may be used to compare the scanned and database images and/or the scanned and database feature models. In one embodiment of the invention, these image processing techniques may include determining a geometric transformation that maps the features of the scanned image onto the features of a database model.

Claims

1. A method of confirming the identity of an item having an identifier, the method comprising:

acquiring an image of the item having the identifier;

extracting a first set of geometric point features from the image of the item;

reading identification code data from the identifier on the item;

retrieving a second set of geometric point features from a feature database based on the identification code data, the database comprising geometric point features associated with a plurality of known items;

comparing the first set of geometric point features from the image with the second set of geometric point features corresponding to the identification code data; and

determining whether the item in the image corresponds to the identification code data read from the identifier on the item based on comparison of the first set of geometric point features with the second set of geometric point features.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier is a universal product code (UPC) barcode or a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of geometric point features and second set of geometric point features are scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) features.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second set of geometric point features corresponds to a feature model of one of the plurality of known items in the database.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method of verifying the identity of an item having an identifier is implemented in a point of sale system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of comparing the first set of geometric point features with the second set of geometric point features comprises:

generating a geometric transform for mapping one or more of the first set of geometric point features to one or more of the second set of geometric point features.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein generating the geometric transform minimizes an error associated with the mapping of one or more of the first set of geometric point features to one or more of the second set of geometric point features.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the geometric transform is an affine transform or homography.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of comparing further comprises:

generating an image correlation between the acquired image of the item and an image of at least one of the plurality of known items.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of generating an image correlation comprises:

determining an overlapping region between the acquired image of the item and the image of one of the plurality of known items; and

determining a correlation value for the overlapping region.

11. A system for confirming the identity of an object having an identification code, the system comprising:

a scanner comprising a visual sensor for capturing at least one image of the item with the identification code;

a feature extractor coupled to the optical sensor for extracting geometric point features from the at least one image;

a database comprising a plurality of feature models, each feature model comprising one or more geometric point features associated with one of a plurality of known items; and

a processor configured to;

a) compare extracted geometric point features to at least one of the plurality of feature models associated with the identification code with the item; and

b) determine whether the item in the image corresponds to the identification code with the item based on comparison of the extracted geometric point features with the plurality of feature models.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the scanner further comprises a code reader for reading an identification code with the item.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the code reader comprises a laser incorporated in the scanner.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the visual sensor comprises a two-dimensional imager.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the code reader comprises a processor configured to read the identification code based on the at least one image of the item captured by the two-dimensional imager.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the scanner is substantially fixed in a horizontal or vertical position, whereby the identification code can be read when the item is passed by the scanner.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the scanner is a handheld scanner (gun or wand) adapted to be pointed at or waived over the identification code.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the handheld scanner comprises a distance indicator configured to signal the user whether to move the scanner closer to the item or further away from the item.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the handheld scanner is configured to signal the user to move the scanner away from the item if only a portion of the item is visible by the visual sensor.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the geometric point features extracted from the at least one image are scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) features.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the feature extractor is further configured to:

generate difference of Gaussian images from the at least one image of the item;

locate pixel amplitude extrema in the difference of Gaussian images;

assign an orientation to each of the geometric point features at each extremum; and

generate a feature descriptor for each of the geometric point features at the assigned orientation.

22. A method of preventing fraudulent purchases of products having identification codes comprising:

scanning an identification code of a product using a point of sale system;

acquiring an image of the product;

generating geometric feature data from the acquired image of the product;

retrieving feature data associated with merchandise based on the scanned identification code;

identifying matching features between the generated feature data and the retrieved feature data based on the geometric transform;

generating a geometric transform for mapping the generated feature data to the retrieved feature data; and

generating an alert if the number of identified matching features is below a predetermined threshold.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the step of identifying matching features comprises:

comparing scale-invariant feature transformation vectors associated with the generated feature data with scale-invariant transformation vectors associated with the retrieved feature data;

identifying pairs of features with a minimal difference in scale-invariant feature transformation vectors;

determining if the difference in scale-invariant feature transformation vectors is below a second threshold; and

selecting pairs of features as matching pairs if the difference in scale-invariant feature transformation vectors is below the second threshold.

24. A method of verifying the identity of an item having an identifier, the method comprising:

acquiring an image of the item having the identifier;

reading identification code data from the identifier on the item;

extracting a first set of geometric point features from the image of the item;

comparing the first set of geometric point features from the image with geometric point features from a feature database, the geometric point features from the database being associated with a plurality of known items;

retrieving identification code data from the feature database based on a match between the first set of geometric point features and one of the plurality of known items; and

determining whether the identification code data read from the identifier on the item matches the identification code data retrieved from the feature database.