SHELF SPACE ALLOCATION MANAGEMENT DEVICE AND SHELF SPACE ALLOCATION MANAGEMENT METHOD

• US 20180002109A1
• Filed: 01/20/2016
• Published: 01/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2015
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: YAMASHITA, Nobuyuki
• Application Number:
  US15/544,750
• Publication Number:
  US 20180002109A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/00 Type of UAV
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/17 Helicopters flying platforms B64U10/13
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/30 for imaging, photography or videography
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/31 for surveillance
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 1/137 with arrangements or automatic control means for selecting which articles are to be removed
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0094 involving pointing a payload, e.g. camera, weapon, sensor, towards a fixed or moving target
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/00 Pattern recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/22 Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0639 Item locations
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/17 using hand-held instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/75 Organisation of the matching processes, e.g. simultaneous or sequential comparisons of image or video features; Coarse-fine approaches, e.g. multi-scale approaches; using context analysis; Selection of dictionaries
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/20 in augmented reality scenes
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/103 Static body considered as a whole, e.g. static pedestrian or occupant recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/172 Classification, e.g. identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/20 Movements or behaviour, e.g. gesture recognition recognition of facial expressions G06V40/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/23 Recognition of whole body movements, e.g. for sport training
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

A shelf space allocation management device manages products allocated on shelves in a store by use of an imaging device. The shelf space allocation management device acquires an image including a position assumed to be changed in allocation status of each product on each shelf; it determines whether each product reflected in the image matches one of pre-recorded images, thus executing a product allocation inspection. Herein, the shelf space allocation management device specifies a position at which a person causes any change in the allocation status of each product on each shelf, and therefore it may control the imaging device to capture an image including the position. It is possible to carry out a product allocation inspection for each period determined in advance depending on the type of each product, or it is possible to carry out a product allocation inspection being triggered by a customer purchasing each product.

Claims

1. A shelf space allocation management device for managing products allocated on a shelf, comprising:

an image acquisition part configured to acquire an image including a position assumed to be changed in an allocation status of each product on the shelf;

an allocation status determination part configured to determine whether a type and an allocation status of each product reflected in the image match a predetermined type and a predetermined allocation status of each product; and

an execution determination part configured to execute a product allocation inspection based on a determination result of the allocation status determination part.

2. The shelf space allocation management device according to claim 1, further comprising a position specifying part configured to specify the position assumed to be changed in the allocation status of each product on the shelf based on the image, wherein the image acquisition part captures the image coving a predetermined scope based on the position specified by the position specifying part.

3. The shelf space allocation management device according to claim 2, further comprising a human detector configured to detect a person included in the image captured by the image acquisition part, wherein the position specifying part specifies a position at which the person conducts a behavior to cause a change in the allocation status of each product on the shelf.

4. The shelf space allocation management device according to claim 3, wherein the human detector detects the person when the image acquisition part captures a predetermined scope of an image around products on the shelf, and wherein the position specifying part specifies the position at which the person conducts a behavior to cause a change in the allocation status of each product on the shelf.

5. The shelf space allocation management device according to claim 2, further comprising a product purchase information acquisition part configured to acquire information of a product selected from the shelf and purchased by a customer, wherein the position specifying part specifies the position assumed to be changed in the allocation status of each product on the shelf based on the information of the product and information representing a predetermined position of allocating the product on the shelf.

6. The shelf space allocation management device according to claim 2, wherein the position specifying part specifies a position of allocating a product on the shelf at a predetermined time depending on a sales condition of the product.

7. The shelf space allocation management device according to claim 1, wherein the image acquisition part acquires an image captured by an imaging device for each period determined m advance depending on an allocated position of each product on the shelf.

8. The shelf space allocation management device according to claim 2, wherein the image acquisition part captures a predetermined scope of an image based on the position specified by the position specifying part, the image acquisition part stops capturing any image based on the same position for a predetermined period of time.

9. A shelf space allocation management system for managing products allocated on a shelf, comprising:

an imaging device configured to capture an image of each product while moving along the shelf; and

the shelf space allocation management device according to claim 1.

10. A shelf space allocation management method for managing products allocated on a shelf, comprising:

acquiring an image including a positon assumed to be changed in an allocation status of each product on the shelf;

determining whether a type and an allocation status of each product reflected in the image match a predetermined type and a predetermined allocation status of each product; and

determining whether to execute a product allocation inspection based on a determination result.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored a program causing a computer to implement the shelf space allocation management method according to claim 10.