SHOPPING FACILITY DISCARDED ITEM SORTING SYSTEMS, DEVICES AND METHODS
First Claim
1. A system for sorting items discarded in a shopping facility, comprising:
- a motorized transport unit configured to travel around discarded items collected from the shopping facility and placed in a sorting area in the shopping facility, the motorized transport unit comprises a sensor device and an item mover device;
an item characterization database storing characteristics corresponding to a plurality of items likely to be found in the shopping facility; and
a central computer system coupled to the motorized transport unit and the item characterization database, and configured to;
receive data from the sensor device on the motorized transport unit;
determine an item characteristic of an item among the discarded items in the sorting area based on the data from the sensor device;
determine a sorting category of the item from a plurality of predefined categories based on the item characterization database, each of the plurality of predefined categories corresponds to a method of discarded item deposition; and
cause the motorized transport unit to move the item, with the item mover device, from the sorting area into a category area associated with the sorting category.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems, apparatuses, and methods are provided herein for sorting items discarded in a shopping facility. A system for sorting discarded items comprises a motorized transport unit configured to travel around discarded items placed in a sorting area in the shopping facility, the motorized transport unit comprises a sensor device and an item mover device, an item characterization database storing characteristics corresponding to a plurality of items likely to be found in the shopping facility, and a central computer system. The central computer system is configured to receive data from the sensor device on the motorized transport unit, determine an item characteristic of an item among the discarded items in the sorting area, determine a sorting category of the item from a plurality of predefined categories, and cause the motorized transport unit to move the item, with the item mover device, from the sorting area into a category area.
-
Citations
21 Claims
-
1. A system for sorting items discarded in a shopping facility, comprising:
-
a motorized transport unit configured to travel around discarded items collected from the shopping facility and placed in a sorting area in the shopping facility, the motorized transport unit comprises a sensor device and an item mover device; an item characterization database storing characteristics corresponding to a plurality of items likely to be found in the shopping facility; and a central computer system coupled to the motorized transport unit and the item characterization database, and configured to; receive data from the sensor device on the motorized transport unit; determine an item characteristic of an item among the discarded items in the sorting area based on the data from the sensor device; determine a sorting category of the item from a plurality of predefined categories based on the item characterization database, each of the plurality of predefined categories corresponds to a method of discarded item deposition; and cause the motorized transport unit to move the item, with the item mover device, from the sorting area into a category area associated with the sorting category. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A method for sorting items discarded in a shopping facility, comprising:
-
receiving, at a control circuit, data from a sensor device on a motorized transport unit configured to travel around discarded items collected from the shopping facility and placed in a sorting area in the shopping facility; determining, by the control circuit, an item characteristic of an item among the discarded items in the sorting area based on the data from the sensor device; determining, by the control circuit, a sorting category of the item from a plurality of predefined categories based on an item characterization database storing characteristics corresponding to a plurality of items likely to be found in the shopping facility, wherein each of the plurality of predefined categories corresponds to a method of discarded item deposition; and causing the motorized transport unit to move the item from the sorting area into a category area associated with the sorting category with an item mover device of the motorized transport unit. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. An apparatus for sorting items discarded in a shopping facility comprising:
-
a non-transitory storage medium storing a set of computer readable instructions; and a control circuit configured to execute the set of computer readable instructions which causes to the control circuit to; receive, at a control circuit, data from a sensor device on a motorized transport unit configured to travel among discarded items collected from the shopping facility and placed in a sorting area in the shopping facility; determine, by the control circuit, an item characteristic of an item among the discarded items in the sorting area based on the data from the sensor device; determine, by the control circuit, a sorting category of the item from a plurality of predefined categories based on an item characterization database storing characteristics corresponding to a plurality of items likely to be found in the shopping facility, each of the plurality of predefined categories corresponds to a method of discarded item deposition; and cause the motorized transport unit to move the item from the sorting area into a category area associated with the sorting category with an item mover device of the motorized transport unit.
-
Specification