Method and system for automatically measuring retail store display compliance

• US 8,429,004 B2
• Filed: 04/12/2006
• Issued: 04/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Merchant-Eyes, LLC
• Original Assignee: Store Eyes, Inc.
• Inventors: Hamilton, Craig, Spencer, Wayne, Ring, Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Coppola, Jacob C.
• Application Number:
  US11/887,599
• Publication Number:
  US 20080306787A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,568 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7.41
• US Class Current: 705/7.41
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations

Abstract

Methods and systems for measuring retail store display compliance are provided. One or more images of one or more retail store conditions are captured and associated with related information. The one or more captured images and the related information are transmitted to a processing location for storage and processing. The one or more captured images and the related information are received at the processing location, stored in a repository and processed. The one or more retail store conditions in the one or more captured images are compared with a library to identify them and obtain identification information. The one or more identified captured images and identification information for the one or more retail store conditions are stored in the repository. The one or more retail store conditions in the one or more captured images and identification information are analyzed and one or more summary reports or one or more alerts are generated based upon the analysis.

Claims

1. A method for measuring retail store display compliance, comprising the steps of:

moving a mobile image capture unit comprising a first computer to multiple positions within a retail store;

capturing a plurality of still images of one or more product displays or product shelves at multiple positions within the retail store with said mobile image capture unit;

associating the still images with related information using the first computer; and

transmitting, by said mobile capture unit the still images and the related information to a second computer for storage and processing;

processing the still images to optimize image quality using the second computer;

stitching the images together to create panoramic views of retail store conditions using the first computer;

comparing the one or more product displays or product shelves in the images with images in a library using the second computer;

obtaining identification information about the one or more product displays or product shelves from the results of the comparison between the one or more product displays or product shelves with images in the library;

storing said identification information for the one or more product displays or product shelves in a computer memory of the second computer;

determining compliance of the one or more product displays or product shelves with reference to an external data repository using the second computer; and

generating one or more summary reports or one or more alerts based upon the determination of compliance using the second computer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a raw picture feed and/or a raw data feed of the one or more product displays or product shelves using the first computer.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating automated alerts when one or more product displays or product shelves meet or exceed predetermined criteria using the second computer.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising accessing still images captured by the mobile image capture unit using the first computer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of capturing, associating, transmitting, processing, comparing, obtaining identification information, storing and determining are automated.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying and verifying a location of the image capture unit using an in-store navigation system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of processing further comprises determining whether the image quality and image content for the still images is sufficient.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the related information comprises date, time, product information and location information.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending one or more summary reports or alerts to a client by a telecommunications link.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising combining multiple alerts together and sending the combined multiple alerts to a client by a telecommunications link.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the capturing step further comprises the steps of reviewing each captured still image and approving its quality and content.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of uploading the still images via a web portal.