US 12,243,305 B2
Identifying scanning motions during checkout using overhead cameras
Christopher Brakob, Minneapolis, MN (US); and Ethan Sommer, Minneapolis, MN (US)
Assigned to Target Brands, Inc., Minneapolis, MN (US)
Filed by Target Brands, Inc., Minneapolis, MN (US)
Filed on May 9, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/659,328.
Application 18/659,328 is a continuation of application No. 17/878,644, filed on Aug. 1, 2022, granted, now 12,014,544.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/281,436, filed on Nov. 19, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/235,530, filed on Aug. 20, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2024/0296677 A1, Sep. 5, 2024
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06V 20/40 (2022.01); G06N 20/00 (2019.01); G06Q 20/20 (2012.01); G06V 20/52 (2022.01)
CPC G06V 20/44 (2022.01) [G06N 20/00 (2019.01); G06Q 20/208 (2013.01); G06V 20/52 (2022.01)] 29 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A checkout system comprising:
a scanning area configured to receive one or more products to be purchased by a guest in a store;
a point of sale (POS) terminal configured to perform a checkout process for the one or more products moved through the scanning area to be purchased by the guest, wherein the checkout process includes detecting the products to be purchased by a scanning device;
a camera mounted adjacent the scanning area with a field of view that includes the scanning area, wherein the camera is configured to capture and transmit image data of the scanning area; and
a computer system configured to determine whether the one or more products are scanned in the scanning area during the checkout process, wherein the computer system is configured to:
receive, from the camera, the image data;
provide the image data as input to a machine learning model that was previously trained to identify physical scanning actions in image training data;
receive, as output from the machine learning model, an indication that a physical scanning action was performed by the guest based on the image data during the checkout process;
receive, from the POS terminal, scanning data;
determine, based on the indication and the scanning data, that no product was detected by the scanning device during the physical scanning action performed by the guest as part of the checkout process; and
generate an alert in response to (i) the indication that the physical scanning action was performed and (ii) no product was detected by the scanning device, wherein the alert causes the POS terminal to output an audio or visual signal indicating that no product was detected.