Pickup system and pickup method

• US 9,544,552 B2
• Filed: 07/05/2012
• Issued: 01/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Inspeedia Inc.
• Original Assignee: Inspeedia Inc.
• Inventors: Takahashi, Masaki
• Primary Examiner(s): FINDLEY, CHRISTOPHER G
• Application Number:
  US14/130,698
• Publication Number:
  US 20140139654A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,650 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/245 by locating a pattern; Special marks for positioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/185 from a mobile camera, e.g. for remote control

Abstract

Article specifying information for specifying articles collected in an article collection site is detected from an image captured by an imaging unit (101). When the article specifying information is detected, a position of the article in the article collection site are determined from the position of the article specifying information in the captured image, and article information in which the detected article specifying information is correlated with position information indicating the determined position of the articles is stored. The position information of a pickup target article corresponding to the article specifying information of the pickup target article is acquired with reference to the article information. A laser beam output unit (108) presents the position of the pickup target article to a pickup operator so as to recognize the presented position by irradiating the position of the pickup target article with a laser beam on the basis of the acquired position information.

Claims

1. A pickup system comprising:

an imaging unit that captures an image;

an article specifying information detecting unit that detects article specifying information which is information for specifying articles collected in an article collection site from the image captured by the imaging unit;

a position determining unit that determines a position of an article in the article collection site from the position of the article specifying information in the captured image when the article specifying information is detected;

an article information storage unit that stores article information in which the detected article specifying information is correlated with position information indicating the determined the position of the article;

a pickup information storage unit that stores the article specifying information of a pickup target article;

a position information acquiring unit that acquires the position information of the pickup target article corresponding to the article specifying information of the pickup target article from the article information stored in the article information storage unit, when the article specifying information detecting unit detects the article specifying information of the pickup target article in the image captured by the imaging unit;

a laser beam output unit that outputs a visible laser beam; and

a position presenting unit that visually presents the position of the pickup target article to a pickup operator on the basis of the acquired position information of the pickup target article by irradiating the pickup target article with the visible laser beam output from the laser beam output unit to cause the pickup operator to recognize that the pickup target article is to be picked up,

wherein when the position of the article specifying information in the captured image departs from a predetermined area in the captured image, the position presenting unit presents the position of the pickup target article to the pickup operator by drawing a figure or a character indicating the position and the direction of the pickup target article with the visible laser beam instead of irradiating the pickup target article with the visible laser beam.

2. The pickup system according to claim 1, wherein the imaging unit, the article specifying information detecting unit, the position determining unit, the article information storage unit, the pickup information storage unit, the position information acquiring unit, the position presenting unit, and the laser beam output unit are disposed in a shape which is mountable on the pickup operator'"'"'s head.

3. The pickup system according to claim 1, wherein the imaging unit captures the captured image in a direction identical to the pickup operator'"'"'s eye line.

4. The pickup system according to claim 1, wherein the imaging unit captures the captured image in a direction different from the pickup operator'"'"'s eye line, and

wherein the position determining unit determines the position of the article on the basis of the imaging direction of the imaging unit and the position of the article specifying information in the captured image.

6. The pickup system according to claim 1, wherein the imaging unit, the article specifying information detecting unit, the position determining unit, the article information storage unit, the pickup information storage unit, the position information acquiring unit, the position presenting unit, and the laser beam output unit are disposed in a shape which is mountable on the pickup operator'"'"'s head.

5. A pickup system comprising an information terminal, a portable terminal communicating with the information terminal, and a pickup indicating device communicating with the portable terminal in a short-range radio communication manner,

wherein the pickup indicating device includes:

an imaging unit that captures an image;

a captured image transmitting unit that transmits the image captured by the imaging unit to the information terminal;

a position presenting unit that visually presents the position of a pickup target article; and

a laser beam output unit that outputs a visible laser beam,

wherein the information terminal includes;

an article specifying information detecting unit that detects article specifying information which is information for specifying an article collected in an article collection site in a captured image transmitted from the pickup indicating device;

a position determining unit that determines a position of the article in the article collection site from the position of the article specifying information in the captured image when the article specifying information is detected;

an article information storage unit that stores article information in which the detected article specifying information is correlated with position information indicating the determined position of the article;

a pickup information storage unit that stores the article specifying information of the pickup target article;

a position information acquiring unit that acquires the position information of the pickup target article corresponding to the article specifying information of the pickup target article from the article information stored in the article information storage unit, when the article specifying information detecting unit detects the article specifying information of the pickup target article in the image captured by the imaging unit; and

a first position information transmitting unit that transmits the acquired position information to the portable terminal,

wherein the portable terminal is a terminal carried by a pickup operator and includes;

a position information storage unit that receives and stores the position information transmitted from the information terminal; and

a second position information transmitting unit that transmits the position information stored in the position information storage unit to the pickup indicating device in a short-range radio communication manner, and

wherein the position presenting unit that visually presents the position of the pickup target article to the pickup operator on the basis of the position information of the pickup target article transmitted from the portable terminal by irradiating the pickup target article with the visible laser beam output from the laser beam output unit to cause the pickup operator to recognize that the pickup target article is to be picked up, and

wherein when the position of the article specifying information in the captured image departs from a predetermined area in the captured image, the position presenting unit presents the position of the pickup target article to the pickup operator by drawing a figure or a character indicating the position and the direction of the pickup target article with the visible laser beam instead of irradiating the pickup target article with the visible laser beam.

7. A pickup system comprising:

an imaging unit that captures an image;

an article specifying information detecting unit that detects article specifying information which is information for specifying articles collected in an article collection site from the image captured by the imaging unit;

a position determining unit that determines a position of an article in the article collection site from the position of the article specifying information in the captured image when the article specifying information is detected;

an article information storage unit that stores article information in which the detected article specifying information is correlated with position information indicating the determined the position of the article;

a pickup information storage unit that stores the article specifying information of a pickup target article;

a position information acquiring unit that acquires the position information of the pickup target article corresponding to the article specifying information of the pickup target article from the article information stored in the article information storage unit, when the article specifying information detecting unit detects the article specifying information of the pickup target article in the image captured by the imaging unit;

a laser beam output unit that outputs a visible laser beam; and

a position presenting unit that visually presents the position of the pickup target article to a pickup operator on the basis of the acquired position information of the pickup target article by irradiating the pickup target article with the visible laser beam output from the laser beam output unit to cause the pickup operator to recognize that the pickup target article is to be picked up,

wherein when the article specifying information detecting unit does not detect the article specifying information of the pickup target article in the image captured by the imaging unit, the position presenting unit visually presents to the pickup operator by irradiating a location with the visible laser beam output from the laser beam output unit to cause the pickup operator to recognize that the pickup target article is not detected in the captured image.

8. A pickup method which is performed by a pickup system having an imaging unit, an article specifying information detecting unit, a position determining unit, an article information storage unit, a pickup information storage unit, a position information acquiring unit, a laser beam output unit, and a position presenting unit, the pickup method comprising:

capturing, by the imaging unit, an image;

detecting, by the article specifying information detecting unit, article specifying information which is information for specifying an article collected in an article collection site from the image captured by the imaging unit;

determining, by the position determining unit, a position of the article in the article collection site from the position of the article specifying information in the captured image when the article specifying information is detected;

storing, by the article information storage unit, to hold article information in which the detected article specifying information is correlated with position information indicating the determined position of the article;

reading, by the position information acquiring unit, the article specifying information of a pickup target article from the pickup information storage unit;

acquiring, by the position information acquiring unit, the position information of the pickup target article corresponding to the read article specifying information of the pickup target article from the article information stored in the article information storage unit, when the article specifying information of the pickup target article is detected by the article specifying information detecting unit in the image captured by the imaging unit;

outputting, by the laser beam output unit, a visible laser beam; and

presenting, by the position presenting unit, visually the position of the pickup target article to a pickup operator on the basis of the acquired position information of the pickup target article, by irradiating the pickup target article with the visible laser beam output from the laser beam output unit to cause the pickup operator to recognize that the pickup target article is to be picked up,

wherein when the position of the article specifying information in the captured image departs from a predetermined area in the captured image, the presenting step presents the position of the pickup target article to the pickup operator by drawing a figure or a character indicating the position and the direction of the pickup target article with the visible laser beam instead of irradiating the pickup target article with the visible laser beam.

9. A pickup system comprising:

an imaging unit that captures an image;

an article specifying information detecting unit that detects article specifying information which is information for specifying articles collected in an article collection site from the image captured by the imaging unit;

a position determining unit that determines a position of an article in the article collection site from the position of the article specifying information in the captured image when the article specifying information is detected;

an article information storage unit that stores article information in which the detected article specifying information is correlated with position information indicating the determined the position of the article;

a pickup information storage unit that stores the article specifying information of a pickup target article;

a position information acquiring unit that acquires the position information of the pickup target article corresponding to the article specifying information of the pickup target article from the article information stored in the article information storage unit;

a position presenting unit that visually presents the position of the pickup target article to a pickup operator on the basis of the acquired position information so as to cause the pickup operator to recognize that the pickup target article is to be picked up;

a laser beam output unit that outputs a visible laser beam; and

a position presenting unit that visually presents the position of the pickup target article to a pickup operator on the basis of the acquired position information of the pickup target article by irradiating the pickup target article with the visible laser beam output from the laser beam output unit to cause the pickup operator to recognize that the pickup target article is to be picked up,

wherein when the position of the article specifying information in the captured image departs from a predetermined area in the captured image, the position presenting unit presents the position of the pickup target article to the pickup operator by drawing a figure or a character indicating the position and the direction of the pickup target article with the visible laser beam instead of irradiating the pickup target article with the visible laser beam.