In stock analytic monitoring

• US 8,325,036 B1
• Filed: 11/06/2009
• Issued: 12/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Target Brands Inc. (Target Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Target Brands Inc. (Target Corporation)
• Inventors: Fuhr, Jaclyn, Ascher, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Benjamin C
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tang, Sigmund
• Application Number:
  US12/614,029
• Time in Patent Office: 1,124 Days
• Field of Search: 340/540, 705/22, 705/14, 705/28, 705/10, 348/143
• US Class Current: 340/540
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19613 Recognition of a predetermined image pattern or behaviour pattern indicating theft or intrusion
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/14 Central alarm receiver or annunciator arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/00 Alarm systems in which the alarm condition is signalled from a central station to a plurality of substations

Abstract

In selected embodiments video footage is automatically analyzed to determine whether product stock levels at particular product locations are low. Video analytics may be employed to track product removal from shelves and determine approximate quantities of product remaining on each shelf based on product size and dedicated shelf area. In selected implementations an alarm notification is generated to alert store personnel that restocking is appropriate. Such an alarm notification optionally includes a still image of the area corresponding to the alarm together with data related to the product and projected quantities needed to restock the shelf. In some embodiments the system automatically identifies the store personnel who are currently located in areas near where the alarm event occurred and the notification is wirelessly distributed to their mobile devices.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring the stock level of an item at a location of a retail facility, comprising:

receiving video of a product location in a retail facility, the video being captured by a video monitoring device with a field of view that includes the product location;

providing a threshold stock value that corresponds to a minimum acceptable stock level of an item located in the product location;

detecting an item removal event by analyzing, with a computing device, the video of the product location, the item removal event being detected when an item has been removed from the product location;

in response to detection of an item removal event, adjusting, with a computing device, an in stock value corresponding to the stock level of the item located in the product location;

comparing the in stock value to the threshold stock value;

generating a low-stock alarm notification, with a computing device, if the in stock value is less than the threshold stock value, the low-stock alarm notification including an image of the product location at substantially the same time as the low-stock alarm notification is generated;

identifying one or more user devices to receive the low-stock alarm notification, the user devices located remotely from the computing device, wherein identifying one or more user devices includes determining the user devices that are located in closest proximity to the product location; and

distributing the low-stock alarm notification to the identified one or more user devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a customer loiter time by analyzing, with a computer device, the video of the product location;

generating a loiter alarm;

distributing a loiter notification to one or more user devices.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting further includes determining a number of items removed from the product location during the item removal event.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the identified user devices is a mobile device, and wherein distributing includes sending the low-stock alarm notification to the mobile device via a wireless data transmission.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the video monitoring device is one of a plurality of video monitoring devices, each of the video monitoring devices being a part of a video monitoring system of the retail facility.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the user devices includes querying a user device location database for location information corresponding to the user devices.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the low-stock alarm notification includes identification information relating to the item, the identification information including at least two members of the group consisting of i) SKU (stock keeping unit) number;

ii) product location;

iii) item name;

iv) item type; and

v) stock room location of the item.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold stock level is based on a size of the item and a dimensional capacity of the product location.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, at a computing device, supplemental video of the product location, the supplemental video being captured by a supplemental video monitoring device with a field of view that includes the product location, the supplemental video monitoring device being different than the video monitoring device;

and detecting an item removal event by analyzing, with a computing device, the supplemental video of the product location, the item removal event being detected when an item has been removed from the product location.

10. A computer program product tangibly embodied in a computer-readable storage device, the computer program product including instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform operations to monitor a stock level of an item at a location of a marketplace, the operations comprising:

receiving video data of an item area in a marketplace, the video data being captured by a video data monitoring device that is directed towards the item area;

providing a minimum stock level that corresponds to a minimum acceptable stock level of an item located in the item area;

detecting an item removal event by analyzing the video data of the item area, the item removal event being detected when an item has been removed from the item area;

in response to detection of an item removal event, adjusting an actual stock level corresponding to the stock level of the item located in the item area;

comparing the actual stock level to the minimum stock level;

generating a minimum stock level alarm notification if the actual stock level is less than the minimum stock level, the minimum stock level alarm notification including an image of the item area at substantially the same time as the minimum stock level alarm notification is generated;

identifying one or more handheld reporting devices to receive the minimum stock level alarm notification;

determining a first proximity of the one or more handheld reporting devices to the product location; and

distributing the minimum stock level alarm notification to the identified one or more handheld reporting devices.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the video data is captured by two or more video data monitoring devices that are directed towards the item area.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the identified one or more reporting devices are identified based in part on an employee associated with the reporting device.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the employee associated with the reporting device is associated with one of the item area or a department that includes the item area.

14. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the operations further include:

determining a customer loiter time by analyzing, with the computer device, the video data of the item area;

generating a loiter alarm; and

distributing a loiter notification to one or more reporting devices.

15. A system for monitoring merchandise availability, the system including:

a merchandise area;

merchandise in the merchandise area, the merchandise being displayed at a plurality of stocking locations within the merchandise area;

a video system that includes one or more video cameras, wherein the video system is configured to record video footage of the merchandise area;

a plurality of handheld devices; and

a notification server communicatively coupled to the video system and the handheld devices to receive the video footage from the video system, to create a low merchandise notification in response to a determination that the video footage reflects that merchandise has been removed from the merchandise area and that as a consequence a stock level has fallen below a predetermined threshold, and to send the low merchandise notification to one or more of the handheld devices the notification server being further configured to determine a first proximity of the one or more hand held devices to the product location.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the video system controls the field of view of one or more of the video cameras.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the low merchandise notification includes a textual, graphical, or audio description of the location of the merchandise area.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the notification server sends the low merchandise notification to the handheld devices of users which have job responsibilities linked to a retail department that is the subject of the video footage.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the video system determines a customer loiter time by analyzing the video footage, generates a loiter alarm, and distributes a loiter notification to one or more of the handheld devices.