MACHINE VISION TECHNOLOGY FOR SHELF INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
First Claim
1. A system for maintaining shelf inventory data on a shelf, the system comprising:
- a camera configured to capture a shelf image of a plurality of items on the shelf;
an inventory database storing data on a plurality of products, each product associated with a product type, a product image and a current product shelf inventory count;
an image-count correlation database storing a plurality of historical images for each product on the shelf and a product shelf inventory count associated with each of the historical images;
a computer processor configured to;
segment the shelf image into at least a first inventory image, the first inventory image containing only items of a single product type on the shelf;
match the first inventory image with one of the historical images in the image-count correlation database; and
update the inventory database based on the product shelf inventory count associated with the matched historical image in the image-count correlation database.
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Abstract
A system, method and computer program product for maintaining shelf inventory data on a shelf. The system includes a camera for capturing shelf images of items on the shelf. An inventory database stores a product name, type, barcode, image and inventory data. An image-count correlation database stores historical product inventory images and product shelf inventory counts associated with the products in the historical images which are read from the product inventory database. A computer processor segments the shelf images into product inventory images, matches the inventory images with the historical images, and updates the shelf inventory data in the inventory database based on the product shelf inventory counts associated with the matched historical images in the image-count correlation database.
190 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system for maintaining shelf inventory data on a shelf, the system comprising:
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a camera configured to capture a shelf image of a plurality of items on the shelf; an inventory database storing data on a plurality of products, each product associated with a product type, a product image and a current product shelf inventory count; an image-count correlation database storing a plurality of historical images for each product on the shelf and a product shelf inventory count associated with each of the historical images; a computer processor configured to; segment the shelf image into at least a first inventory image, the first inventory image containing only items of a single product type on the shelf; match the first inventory image with one of the historical images in the image-count correlation database; and update the inventory database based on the product shelf inventory count associated with the matched historical image in the image-count correlation database. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for maintaining shelf inventory data on a shelf, the method comprising:
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capturing a shelf image of a plurality of items on the shelf; segmenting the shelf image into at least a first inventory image, the first inventory image containing only items of a single product type on the shelf; matching the first inventory image with a historical image from an image-count correlation database, the image-count correlation database storing historical images of each product type on the shelf and a product shelf inventory count associated with each of the historical images; and updating an inventory database based on the product shelf inventory count associated with the matched historical image in the image-count correlation database, the inventory database storing data for a plurality of products, each product associated with a product type, a product image and a current shelf inventory count. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A computer program product for maintaining shelf inventory data on a shelf, the computer program product comprising:
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a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code configured to; capture a shelf image of a plurality of items on the shelf; segment the shelf image into at least a first inventory image, the first inventory image containing only items of a single product type on the shelf; match the first inventory image with a historical image from an image-count correlation database, the image-count correlation database storing historical images of each product type on the shelf and the product shelf inventory count associated with each of the historical images; and update the shelf inventory data in the inventory database based on the product shelf inventory count associated with the matched historical image in the image-count correlation database. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification