OBJECT RECOGNITION ENCODER

• US 20170161529A1
• Filed: 12/03/2015
• Published: 06/08/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2015
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: CHECKPOINT SYSTEMS, INC. (CCL Industries Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: CHECKPOINT SYSTEMS, INC. (CCL Industries Incorporated)
• Inventors: Vachranukunkiet, Petya
• Application Number:
  US14/958,503
• Publication Number:
  US 20170161529A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0063 with means for detecting the geometric dimensions of the article of which the code is read, such as its size or height, for the verification of the registration
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/009 the reader being an RFID reader
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/246 Check out systems combined with EAS, e.g. price information stored on EAS tag anti-theft systems in point of sale systems G07G3/003
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/08 using communication transmission lines G08B13/19658, G08B21/0286, G08B25/016 take precedence

Abstract

In one embodiment, the disclosure can be a method for associating data to an RFID tag, the method including obtaining an image associated with a product to which an RFID tag is to be attached; processing the image to determine a physical attribute of the product; generating a physical attribute identifier associated with the physical attribute; and writing a tag identifier to the RFID tag, the physical attribute identifier forming part of the tag identifier.

Claims

1. A method of associating data to an RFID tag, the method comprising:

obtaining an image associated with a product to which an RFID tag is to be attached;

processing the image to determine a physical attribute of the product;

generating a physical attribute identifier associated with the physical attribute; and

writing a tag identifier to the RFID tag, the physical attribute identifier forming part of the tag identifier.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the image associated with the product is, or forms part of, a video.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the image associated with the product is an image of the product.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein:

the physical attribute of the product is a size of the product; and

the image of the product includes an image of a reference object having a known size, the image of the reference object used in determining the physical attribute.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the physical attribute of the product is a shape, pattern, or color of the product.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

obtaining a UPC associated with the product; and

wherein the UPC forms part of the tag identifier.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein a serial number forms part of the tag identifier, the serial number being unique to the product, and the physical attribute identifier forms part of the serial number.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the physical attribute identifier is a code that represents the physical attribute and no other physical attribute.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the physical attribute identifier indicates the physical attribute without requiring reference to an external database.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing product-related information in memory on the tag, wherein the product-related information includes a data file, the data file including the image of the product.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the image associated with the product is an image of an informational tag associated with the product, the informational tag having visible information printed thereon.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the processing of the image to obtain the physical attribute of the product includes using optical character recognition to obtain the physical attribute of the product from the tag.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein:

a measuring device measures the physical attribute of the product; and

the image associated with the product is an image of the measuring device when the measuring device is measuring the physical attribute of the product.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the image of the measuring device is an image of a display of the measuring device, and the processing of the image uses optical character recognition.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the physical attribute of the product is a weight of the product.

16. A system comprising:

a camera configured to obtain an image associated with a product to which an RFID tag is to be attached;

a processor configured to;

process the image to obtain a physical attribute of the product; and

generate a physical attribute identifier associated with the physical attribute; and

an RFID reader configured to write a tag identifier to the RFID tag, the physical attribute identifier forming part of the tag identifier.

17. The system of claim 16 further comprising:

a reference object located proximate to the product, the reference object having a known size;

wherein the image associated with the product is an image of the product;

wherein the physical attribute of the product is a size of the product; and

wherein the image associated with the product includes an image of the reference object.

18. The system of claim 16 further comprising:

a measuring device configured to measure a physical attribute of the product;

wherein the image associated with the product is an image of the measuring device when the measuring device is measuring the physical attribute of the product.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein the measuring device is a scale.

20. The system of claim 16 further comprising:

a bar code scanner configured to obtain a UPC from a bar code associated with the product;

wherein the UPC forms part of the tag identifier.

21. A method of identifying an attempted theft, the method comprising:

receiving a product presented for purchase at a point of sale (POS), an RFID tag being attached to the product;

reading a tag identifier of the RFID tag at the POS;

determining a physical attribute of the product from the tag identifier, the determination of the physical attribute not requiring reference to a database external to the POS;

displaying, on a display at the POS, the physical attribute; and

determining whether the physical attribute corresponds to the product presented for purchase.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein a physical attribute identifier forms part of the tag identifier, the physical attribute identifier being a number that is fixed to represent the physical attribute and no other physical attribute.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein the physical attribute is at least one of size, shape, pattern, color, and weight.

24. The method of claim 21 wherein the tag identifier is determined by:

obtaining an image associated with the product;

processing the image to determine the physical attribute of the product; and

generating a physical attribute identifier associated with the physical attribute, the physical attribute identifier forming part of the tag identifier.