TRANSMISSION OF IMAGES FOR INVENTORY MONITORING

• US 20140152874A1
• Filed: 12/04/2012
• Published: 06/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Symbol Technologies, LLC (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: CLAYTON, RICHARD M., STERN, MIKLOS, LAKSHMINARAYANAN, KARTHIK
• Granted Patent: US 9,380,222 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/239
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20221 Image fusion; Image merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30108 Industrial image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/50 using two or more images, e.g. averaging or subtraction
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0008 checking presence/absence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/001 using an image reference approach
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00204 with a digital computer or a digital computer system, e.g. an internet server programmed control between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device H04N1/32561
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0084 Digital still camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/272 Means for inserting a foreground image in a background image, i.e. inlay, outlay
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

A method and apparatus for transmitting an image for inventory monitoring is provided herein. During operation, a camera may take a series of images of a particular area to be monitored. Each image will be broken into a plurality of regions and a determination will be made if a region is at least partially blocked. Those regions deemed unblocked will be utilized to generate a composite image. The camera continues acquiring images, using unblocked regions until a complete composite image is formed without obstructions. The composite image will then be transmitted and used for inventory monitoring.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting an image, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a first image;

determining if a portion of the first image is unblocked; and

using the unblocked portion to create a composite image, wherein the composite image is created from multiple unblocked portions from multiple images.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

transmitting the composite image.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

determining that a portion of the composite image remains blocked;

requesting a second image from a camera when it is determined that the portions of the composite image remains blocked;

receiving the second image; and

merging unblocked regions of the second image with unblocked regions of the first image to form the composite image.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of determining if the portion of the first image is unblocked and determining that the portion of the composite image remains blocked comprises the steps of:

identifying the presense of absence of specifc image features at specific locations in an image; and

where the absence of one or more features is used to determine that an area of the image is blocked.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising the steps of:

determining that the portion of the composite image has remained blocked for longer than a predetermined period of time;

including the blocked portion in the composite image.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

identifying the relative level of blockage of a each region in the current image;

comparing this level of blockage to the level of blockage of the corresponding region in the composite image; and

merging the current image region into the corresponding composite region if the current image region has less blockage.

7. An apparatus comprising:

a camera receiving a first image;

a processor determining if a portion of the first image is unblocked and using the unblocked portion to create a composite image, wherein the composite image is created from multiple unblocked portions from multiple images.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 further comprising:

a communications interface transmitting the composite image.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein:

the processor determines that a portion of the composite image remains blocked and requests a second image from the camera when it is determined that the portions of the composite image remain blocked, receives the second image, and merges unblocked regions of the second image with unblocked regions of the first image to form the composite image.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the processor determines if the portion of the first image is unblocked and determines that the portion of the composite image remains blocked by identifying the presence or absence of specific image features at specific locations in an image and where the absence of one or more features is used to determine that an area of the image is blocked.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein if the processor determines that the portion of the composite image has remained blocked for longer than a predetermined period of time, the processor includes the blocked portion in the composite image.