IMAGE OVERLAYING AND COMPARISON FOR INVENTORY DISPLAY AUDITING

• US 20130051611A1
• Filed: 08/24/2011
• Published: 02/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nielsen Company (US) LLC (RR Donnelley & Sons Company)
• Original Assignee: Nielsen Company (US) LLC (RR Donnelley & Sons Company)
• Inventors: Hicks, Michael A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,917,902 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/22 Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20112 Image segmentation details
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30108 Industrial image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/001 using an image reference approach
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/11 Region-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/90 Determination of colour characteristics

Abstract

Image overlaying and comparison for inventory display auditing is disclosed herein. An example method to perform inventory display auditing disclosed herein comprises overlaying a reference image over a current image displayed on a camera display, the reference image corresponding to an inventory display to be audited, comparing the reference image and the current image to determine whether the current image and the reference image correspond to a same scene and when the reference image and the current image are determined to correspond to the same scene, indicating a difference region in the current image displayed on the camera display, the difference region being a first region of the current image that differs from a corresponding first region of the reference image.

Claims

1. A method to perform inventory display auditing, the method comprising:

overlaying a reference image over a current image displayed on a camera display, the reference image corresponding to an inventory display to be audited;

comparing the reference image and the current image to determine whether the current image and the reference image correspond to a same scene; and

when the reference image and the current image are determined to correspond to the same scene, indicating a difference region in the current image displayed on the camera display, the difference region being a first region of the current image that differs from a corresponding first region of the reference image.

2. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein overlaying the reference image comprises:

combining a ghost version of the reference image with the current image to determine a combined image; and

displaying the combined image on the camera display.

3. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein comparing the reference image and the current image comprises correlating the reference image and the current image.

4. A method as defined in claim 3 wherein the reference image and the current image are determined to correspond to the same scene when a result of correlating the reference image and the current image exceeds a threshold.

5. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein indicating the difference region comprises:

modifying an image characteristic of the first region of the current image to determine a modified current image; and

displaying the modified current image on the camera display.

6. A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising, when the reference image and the current image are determined to correspond to the same scene, comparing segmented regions of the current image and segmented regions of the reference image to determine the difference region.

7. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the current image is a first captured image obtained from a camera corresponding to the camera display, and further comprising, when the reference image and the current image are determined to not correspond to the same scene:

determining a directional difference between the first captured image and the reference image; and

presenting a directional prompt on the camera display, the directional prompt to indicate a direction in which to move the camera to increase a likelihood that a second captured image and the reference image will be determined to correspond to the same scene.

8. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the current image is a first captured image obtained from a camera corresponding to the camera display, and further comprising tracking the difference region in subsequent captured images obtained from the camera.

9. A tangible article of manufacture storing machine readable instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

overlay a reference image over a current image displayed on an imaging display, the reference image corresponding to an inventory display to be audited;

compare the reference image and the current image to determine whether the current image and the reference image correspond to a same scene; and

when the reference image and the current image are determined to correspond to the same scene, indicate a difference region in the current image, the difference region being a first region of the current image that differs from a corresponding first region of the reference image.

10. A tangible article of manufacture as defined in claim 9 wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to:

combine a ghost version of the reference image with the current image to determine a combined image; and

display the combined image on the imaging display.

11. A tangible article of manufacture as defined in claim 9 wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to correlate the reference image and the current image to compare the reference image and the current image.

12. A tangible article of manufacture as defined in claim 11 wherein the reference image and the current image are determined to correspond to the same scene when a result of correlating the reference image and the current image exceeds a threshold.

13. A tangible article of manufacture as defined in claim 9 wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to:

modify an image characteristic of the first region of the current image to determine a modified current image; and

display the modified current image.

14. A tangible article of manufacture as defined in claim 9 wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to compare segmented regions of the current image and segmented regions of the reference image to determine the difference region.

15. A tangible article of manufacture as defined in claim 9 wherein the current image is a first captured image, and when the reference image and the current image are determined to not correspond to the same scene, the machine readable instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to:

determine a directional difference between the first captured image and the reference image; and

present a directional prompt on the imaging display, the directional prompt to indicate a direction in which to move the machine to increase a likelihood that a second captured image and the reference image will be determined to correspond to the same scene.

16. A tangible article of manufacture as defined in claim 9 wherein the current image is a first captured image, and the machine readable instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to track the difference region in subsequent captured images obtained from the machine.

17. An apparatus to perform inventory display auditing, the apparatus comprising:

an image capturing device;

an imaging display to display a sequence of captured images obtained by the image capturing device; and

a positioner to;

overlay a semi-transparent version of a reference image over the sequence of captured images as the sequence of captured images are displayed on the camera display, the reference image corresponding to an inventory display to be audited;

when a captured image in the sequence of captured images is determined to correspond to a same scene as the reference image, automatically select the captured image to represent a current state of the inventory display to be audited.

18. An apparatus as defined in claim 17 wherein the captured image is a first captured image, and when the first captured image is determined to not correspond to the same scene as the reference image, the positioner is further to:

determine a directional difference between the first captured image and the reference image; and

present a directional prompt on the imaging display, the directional prompt to indicate a direction in which to move the apparatus to increase a likelihood that a second captured image and the reference image will be determined to correspond to the same scene as the reference image.

19. An apparatus as defined in claim 17 further comprising a comparator to:

compare the captured image and the reference image to determine a difference region; and

indicate the difference region in the captured image while the matching captured image is presented on the imaging display.

20. An apparatus as defined in claim 19 further comprising a tracker to track the difference region in presentations on the imaging display of subsequent captured images following the matching captured image.