Method and system for inventory verification

• US 8,438,084 B1
• Filed: 06/09/2004
• Issued: 05/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tesler, Lawrence, Manber, Udi, Siegel, Hilliard B, Gordon, Charles, Narang, Varun
• Primary Examiner(s): ADE, OGER GARCIA
• Application Number:
  US10/864,291
• Time in Patent Office: 3,254 Days
• Field of Search: 705/29
• US Class Current: 705/29
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

Verification of an inventory of stored products may be achieved by obtaining an image of the stored products and using text, optical character, and other feature recognition techniques to determine product identification and storage location. A comparison between earlier and current images of the same storage location is used to identify which locations have changed, i.e., from which locations have products been moved, removed, or added. The earlier and current images of the changed locations may be displayed to a user to visually inspect the differences between the images and verify the changes in inventory represented by those differences.

Claims

1. A computer-accessible medium having instructions for managing an inventory of stored products, the instructions, when executed by a computing apparatus, causing the computing apparatus to:

obtain a current image of a location in which products are stored;

compare the current image to a previously obtained image of the same location at an earlier point in time;

display both images to a user when the comparison reveals differences that indicate an apparent addition or removal of products from the location;

prompt the user to inspect the displayed images and to confirm whether the apparent addition or removal of products from the location is consistent with an inventory of the products depicted in the current image; and

receive an input from the user to resolve the apparent addition or removal of products from the location that is not consistent with the inventory of the products depicted in the current image.

2. The computer-accessible medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the computing apparatus to obtain the inventory of the products depicted in the current image.

3. The computer-accessible medium of claim 2, wherein the instructions further cause the computing apparatus to scan the current image for obtaining product and location information, wherein the product and location information respectively indicate an identification of the products depicted in the image and where they are stored.

4. The computer-accessible medium of claim 3, wherein the product information comprises at least one attribute appearing in the current image, where the attribute aids in the identification of at least one of the products depicted in the image.

5. The computer-accessible medium of claim 4, wherein the attribute comprises text describing at least one of an author, performer, title, and publisher of at least one of the products in the image.

6. The computer-accessible medium of claim 4, wherein the attribute comprises a graphic indicating a distinguishing feature of at least one of the products in the image.

7. The computer-accessible medium of claim 4, wherein the attribute comprises a physical characteristic indicating a distinguishing feature of the product.

8. The computer-accessible medium of claim 3, wherein the location information comprises at least one of a bin identifier of a random stow bin in a warehouse, an aisle identifier, a shelf identifier, a product category identifier, and a room identifier.

9. The computer-accessible medium of claim 1, where the obtained image of products as they appear in a location in which they are stored is a digital image of the location at a point in time.

10. The computer-accessible medium of claim 1, wherein the products include at least one of a book, an audiobook, an audiocassette, a videocassette, a CD, and a DVD.

11. The computer-accessible medium of claim 1, wherein the products as they appear in the location in which they are stored include at least one product that appears substantially horizontal.

12. The computer-accessible medium of claim 1, wherein the products as they appear in the location in which they are stored include at least one product that appears substantially vertical.

13. The computer-accessible medium of claim 1, wherein the products as they appear in the location in which they are stored include at least one product that appears substantially inclined.

14. The computer-accessible medium of claim 1, wherein the current image was captured in a photograph of a storage unit in which the products are stored.

15. The computer-accessible medium of claim 14, wherein the current image is a digital image.

16. The computer-accessible medium of claim 14, wherein the storage unit is a bookshelf in a user'"'"'s home, and the photograph of the bookshelf was captured by the user periodically taking photographs of products stored in his bookshelf.