System and method for detecting, tracking and counting human objects of interest using a counting system and a data capture device

• US 9,305,363 B2
• Filed: 04/07/2015
• Issued: 04/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Shoppertrak RCT LLC
• Original Assignee: Shoppertrak RCT Corporation (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Inventors: Marcheselli, Edward A., Dispensa, Gary, Stemen, Thomas D., Kastilahn, William C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Johns, Andrew W
• Application Number:
  US14/680,123
• Publication Number:
  US 20150221094A1
• Time in Patent Office: 364 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5866 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, manually generated location and time information
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/20 Analysis of motion motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/43, H04N19/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/73 using feature-based methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/53 Recognition of crowd images, e.g. recognition of crowd congestion
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/20 Movements or behaviour, e.g. gesture recognition recognition of facial expressions G06V40/16
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00 Individual registration on entry or exit
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence

Abstract

A method for counting and tracking defined objects includes the step of receiving subset data with a data capturing device, wherein the subset data is associated with defined objects and includes a unique identifier, an entry time, an exit time, and location data for each defined object. The method further includes the steps of receiving subset data at a counting system, counting the defined objects, tracking the defined objects, associating a location of a defined object with a predefined area, and/or generating path data by plotting X and Y coordinates for the defined object within the predefined area at sequential time periods.

Claims

1. A method for counting and tracking defined objects, comprising the steps of:

receiving subset data with a data capturing device, wherein the subset data is associated with defined objects and includes a unique identifier, an entry time, an exit time, and location data for each defined object;

receiving subset data at a counting system;

counting the defined objects;

tracking the defined objects;

associating a location of a defined object with a predefined area;

generating path data by plotting X and Y coordinates for the defined object within the predefined area at sequential time periods; and

receiving location data at the data capturing device from tracking technology that detects cellular signals emitted from one or more mobile handsets.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the cellular signals includes T-IMSI, CDMA, or Wi-Fi signals.

3. The method of claim 1, further including the step of receiving data from another independent system regarding physical characteristics of the object.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the other independent system is selected from the group consisting of point of sale systems, loyalty rewards systems, point of sale trigger information, and mechanical turks.

5. The method of claim 1, further including the steps of converting the subset data into sequence records and creating a sequence array of all of the sequence records, wherein a sequence record comprises:

(a) a unique ID, which is an unsigned integer associated with a mobile handset, a telephone number associated with the mobile handset or any other unique number, character, or combination thereof, associated with object;

(b) a start time, which may consist of information indicative of a time when the object was first detected within a coverage area;

(c) an end time, which may consist of information indicative of a time when the object was last detected within the coverage area of the data capturing device; and

(d) an array of references to all tracks that overlap a particular sequence record.

6. The method of claim 1, further including the step of determining a dwell time for an object within a predefined area by subtracting the end time for that predetermined area from the start time for that predetermined area.

7. The method of claim 1, further including the step of using Z coordinates to further track objects within a predefined area defined by multiple floors.

8. The method of claim 1, further including the step of using the subset data to generate reports showing at least one of the number of objects within a predefined area, a number of objects within the predefined area during a specific time period, a number of predefined areas that were visited by an object, or dwell times for one or more predefined areas.

9. The method of claim 1, further including the step of using at least path data and subset data to aggregate the most common paths taken by objects and correlate path data information with dwell times.

10. The method of claim 9, further including the step of generating a report that shows at least one of the following:

(a) the most common paths that objects take in a store, including corresponding dwell times;

(b) changes in shopping patterns by time period or season; and

(c) traffic patterns for use by store security or HVAC systems in increasing or decreasing resources at particular times.

11. The method of claim 1, further including the step of generating a conversion rate by

(a) loading transaction data related to transactions performed;

(b) loading traffic data including a traffic count and sorting by time periods, and

(c) dividing the transactions by the traffic counts for the time periods.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the transaction data includes a sales amount, the number of items purchases, the specific items purchased, the data and time of the transaction, the register used for the transaction, and the sales associate that completed the transaction.

13. The method of claim 11, further including the step of generating a report showing comparisons between purchasers and non-purchasers based on at least one of the dwell times, the predefined areas, or the time periods.