APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SPECIFYING AND AIMING CAMERAS AT SHELVES

• US 20160112628A1
• Filed: 10/20/2014
• Published: 04/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Symbol Technologies, LLC (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Symbol Technologies, Inc. (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Inventors: Super, Boaz J., Patel, Ankur R.
• Granted Patent: US 9,706,105 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/62 Control of parameters via user interfaces

Abstract

An apparatus including a display screen displaying input fields for accepting user-input a list of input parameters that includes a height of the camera, a distance from the camera to the shelf, at least one of a width-span and a height-span. The apparatus also includes a memory to store a required minimum pixel-resolution of a selected label and to store a list of camera types, and includes a microprocessor configured to determine at least an elevation angle from the list of input parameters. The display screen can also be configured for displaying at least one camera type selected from the list of camera types based a selection criterion that depends upon at least some of said output parameters.

Claims

1. An apparatus for positioning a camera at the vicinity of a shelf comprising:

a user interface including a display screen displaying input fields for accepting user-input a list of input parameters that includes a height of the camera, a distance from the camera to the shelf, and one of a width-span and a height-span that specify a shelf space on the shelf;

a memory configured to store a required minimum pixel-resolution of a selected label and to store a list of camera types;

a microprocessor configured to determine output parameters from the list of input parameters, wherein said output parameters include an elevation angle, one of a vertical resolution and a horizontal resolution, and one of a vertical field of view and a horizontal field of view; and

wherein the user interface further includes the display screen displaying at least one camera type selected from the list of camera types based a selection criterion that depends upon at least some of said output parameters.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said display screen is further configured to display at least the elevation angle.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said list of input parameters further includes the required minimum pixel-resolution of said selected label.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selected label is the smallest label that needs to be automatically recognized by an analytics algorithm, with the smallest label being on an object placed on the shelf.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the object placed on the shelf is associated with a SKU number, and said list of input parameters further includes the SKU number associated with said object.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the microprocessor is further configured to map the SKU number to the required minimum pixel-resolution of said selected label.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising an imaging capture device configured to capture an image of a barcode to determine the required minimum pixel-resolution of said selected label.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said display screen is further configured to display one of modes selected from a portrait mode and a landscape mode.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory is further configured to store a list of lens-components, and wherein said display screen is further configured to display at least one lens-component selected from the list of lens-components based a lens selection criterion that depends upon at least some of said output parameters.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said list of input parameters include both the width-span and the height-span of the shelf space on the shelf.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said output parameters include both the vertical resolution and the horizontal resolution.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said output parameters include both the vertical field of view and the horizontal field of view.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising an imaging capture device configured to capture an image of a barcode to determine the required minimum pixel-resolution of said selected label.

13. An apparatus for positioning a camera at the vicinity of a shelf comprising:

a user interface including a display screen displaying input fields for accepting user-input a list of input parameters that includes a height of the camera, a distance from the camera to the shelf, and one of a width-span and a height-span that specify a shelf space on the shelf;

a memory configured to store a required minimum pixel-resolution of a selected label;

a microprocessor configured to determine output parameters from the list of input parameters, wherein said output parameters include an elevation angle, one of a vertical resolution and a horizontal resolution, and one of a vertical field of view and a horizontal field of view; and

wherein the user interface further includes the display screen displaying at least the elevation angle.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the memory is further configured to store a list of camera types, and wherein said display screen is further configured to display at least one camera type selected from the list of camera types based a selection criterion that depends upon at least some of said output parameters.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the memory is further configured to store a list of camera types and a list of lens-components, and wherein said display screen is further configured to display at least one camera type selected from the list of camera types and at least one lens-component selected from the list of lens-components based a selection criterion that depends upon at least some of said output parameters.

17. A method for positioning a camera at the vicinity of a shelf comprising:

providing to a computing device a list of input parameters that includes a height of the camera, a distance from the camera to the shelf, and one of a width-span and a height-span that specify a shelf space on the shelf;

capturing with an imaging capture device of the computing device an image of a selected label to determine a required minimum pixel-resolution of the selected label;

storing a list of camera types in a memory of the computing device;

determining with the computing device output parameters from the list of input parameters, wherein said output parameters include an elevation angle, one of a vertical resolution and a horizontal resolution, and one of a vertical field of view and a horizontal field of view; and

displaying on a display screen of the computing device at least one camera type selected from the list of camera types based a selection criterion that depends upon at least some of said output parameters.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising

displaying on the display screen of the computing device at least the elevation angle.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising

displaying on the display screen of the computing device one or more of said output parameters.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

storing a list of lens-components in the memory of the computing device; and

displaying on the display screen of the computing device at least one lens-component selected from the list of lens-components based a lens selection criterion that depends upon at least some of said output parameters.