PRODUCT MONITORING DEVICE, PRODUCT MONITORING SYSTEM, AND PRODUCT MONITORING METHOD

• US 20160300181A1
• Filed: 10/29/2014
• Published: 10/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: IWAI, Kazuhiko, KAKIZAWA, Tetsurou
• Granted Patent: US 10,304,032 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69

Abstract

To enable a notification instructing a goods management work to be made at an appropriate and effective timing, a goods monitoring device for monitoring a display state of goods based on captured images of a display area in a store includes: a goods detection unit that detects goods in the display area based on captured images of the display area; a goods state detection unit that detects a goods display state in the display area; a person detection unit that detects persons staying in the store; a person state detection unit that detects a person staying state in the store; a notification determination unit that determines propriety of a notification instructing a store staff member to perform a goods management work; and a notification unit that makes the notification based on a result of determination by the notification determination unit.

Claims

1. A goods monitoring device for monitoring a display state of goods based on captured images of a display area in a store, the device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores an instruction, the device further comprising, as a configuration when the processor executes the instruction stored in the memory;

a goods detector that detects goods in the display area based on captured images of the display area;

a goods state detector that detects a goods display state in the display area based on a result of detection by the goods detector;

a person detector that detects persons staying in the store based on captured images of an interior of the store;

a person state detector that detects a person staying state in the store based on a result of detection by the person detector;

a notification determiner that determines propriety of a notification instructing a store staff member to perform a goods management work based on a result of detection by the goods state detector and a result of detection by the person state detector; and

a notifier that makes the notification based on a result of determination by the notification determiner.

2. The goods monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein:

the person state detector detects a person staying state in a payment area where a customer making payment stays; and

the notification determiner does not make the notification when the person staying state in the payment area detected by the person state detector is such that makes it difficult to perform the goods management work.

3. The goods monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein:

the person state detector detects a person staying state in a goods access area where a customer taking a look at the goods displayed in the display area stays; and

the notification determiner does not make the notification when the person staying state in the goods access area detected by the person state detector is such a state that makes it difficult to perform the goods management work in the goods access area.

4. The goods monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein:

the person state detector detects a person staying state in a payment area where a customer making payment stays and in a goods access area where a customer taking a look at the goods displayed in the display area stays; and

the notification determiner makes the notification when the goods display state detected by the goods state detector is such a state that requires a goods management work, the person staying state in the payment area detected by the person state detector is not such a state that makes it difficult to perform the goods management work, and the person staying state in the goods access area detected by the person state detector is not such a state that makes it difficult to perform the goods management work in the goods access area.

5. The goods monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein:

the goods state detector detects, as the goods display state, at least one of a display disturbance state and a display shortage state; and

the notifier makes a notification instructing the store staff member to perform, as the goods management work, at least one of an arranging work for resolving a disturbance in goods display and a replenishing work for resolving a shortage of goods.

6. The goods monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein the notification determiner determines the propriety of a notification based on at least one of inventory information, sales information and store staff assignment information, in addition to the result of detection by the goods state detector and the result of detection by the person state detector.

7. The goods monitoring device according to claim 1, further comprising:

an information storage that stores information relating to the goods display state at each detection time acquired by the goods state detector, and information relating to the notification made by the notifier;

an aggregator that acquires a result of aggregation relating to a temporal transition of the goods display state and a state of generation of the notification based on the information stored in the information storage; and

a display information generator that generates display information integrating together the temporal transition of the goods display state and the state of generation of the notification based on the result of aggregation acquired by the aggregator.

8. The goods monitoring device according to claim 7, wherein:

the goods state detector detects, as the goods display state, a display disturbance state and a display shortage state; and

the goods monitoring device further comprises an input information acquirer that, in accordance with an input operation by a user, acquires an input information for selecting a type of notification corresponding to each of the display disturbance state and the display shortage state,

wherein the aggregator acquires a result of aggregation relating to the state of generation of the notification of the type selected by the user based on the input information acquired by the input information acquirer, and

wherein the display information generator generates the display information relating to the result of aggregation.

9. The goods monitoring device according to claim 7, wherein:

the person state detector acquires, as the person staying state, a number of staying persons at each detection time;

the information storage stores the number of staying persons at each detection time acquired by the person state detector;

the aggregator acquires a result of aggregation relating to a temporal transition of the number of staying persons based on the information stored in the information storage; and

the display information generator generates display information that integrates the temporal transition of the number of staying persons with the temporal transition of the goods display state and the state of generation of the notification based on the result of aggregation acquired by the aggregator.

10. The goods monitoring device according to claim 1, further comprising:

an information storage that stores the result of detection of the goods display state at each detection time acquired by the goods state detector;

a goods state aggregator that aggregates, for each predetermined aggregation period, the detection result at each detection time stored in the information storage, and acquires s goods display state for each aggregation period; and

a display information generator that generates display information relating to the goods display state for each aggregation period acquired by the goods state aggregator.

11. A goods monitoring system for monitoring a display state of goods based on captured images of a display area in a store, the system comprising:

a camera for capturing images of an interior of the store; and

a plurality of information processing devices,

wherein any one of the plurality of information processing devices comprises;

a goods detector that detects goods in the display area based on captured images of the display area;

a goods state detector that detects a goods display state in the display area based on a result of detection by the goods detector;

a person detector that detects persons staying in the store based on captured images of the interior of the store;

a person state detector that detects a person staying state in the store based on a result of detection by the person detector;

a notification determiner that determines propriety of a notification instructing a store staff member to perform a goods management work based on a result of detection by the goods state detector and a result of detection by the person state detector; and

a notifier that makes the notification based on a result of determination by the notification determiner.

12. A goods monitoring method for monitoring a display state of goods based on captured images of a display area in a store, the method comprising, when a processor of an information processing device executes instructions stored in a memory of the information processing device:

detecting goods in the display area based on captured images of the display area;

detecting a goods display state in the display area based on a result of detection by the detecting of goods;

detecting persons staying in the store based on captured images of an interior of the store;

detecting a person staying state in the store based on a result of detection by the detecting of persons;

determining propriety of a notification instructing a store staff member to perform a goods management work based on a result of detection by the detecting of a goods display state and a result of detection by the detecting of a person staying state; and

making the notification based on a result of determination by the determining of propriety of a notification.