US 12,380,770 B2
Object classification at point of sale
Brad M. Johnson, Raleigh, NC (US); and Charles R. Kirk, Durham, NC (US)
Assigned to Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, Inc., Durham, NC (US)
Filed by Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, Inc., Durham, NC (US)
Filed on Mar. 8, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/118,867.
Prior Publication US 2024/0304067 A1, Sep. 12, 2024
Int. Cl. G07G 1/00 (2006.01); G01H 5/00 (2006.01); G01H 7/00 (2006.01); G06N 3/02 (2006.01)
CPC G07G 1/0036 (2013.01) [G01H 5/00 (2013.01); G01H 7/00 (2013.01); G06N 3/02 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method, comprising:
by a point of sale (POS) system having processing circuitry operationally coupled to a transducer operable to radiate a pressure wave and a sensor operable to sense a pressure wave, with the transducer and the sensor being positioned on or about the POS system so that a field of radiation of the transducer and a field of detection of the sensor are directed towards a certain region of the POS system,
receiving, by the processing circuitry, from the sensor, a reflected signal that represents the pressure wave radiated by the transducer that is reflected from a surface of an object when in or about the certain region of the POS system so that the object can be classified as at least one of a set of object types based on the reflected signal;
determining a magnitude and a phase of primary and secondary reflection components of the reflected signal based on a pressure wave signal that represents the pressure wave radiated by the transducer and the reflected signal, wherein the primary reflection component corresponds to a direct reflection of the radiated pressure wave from the object and the secondary reflection corresponds to an indirect reflection of the radiated pressure wave from the object or a reflection of the radiated pressure wave from another object, with a time delay of the secondary reflection component being greater than a time delay of the primary component, with the time delay being associated with a time period from radiation of the pressure wave by the transducer to sensing a reflection of that radiated pressure wave by the sensor;
obtaining the primary reflection component of the reflected signal based on the magnitude and the phase of the primary and secondary reflection components;
classifying the object as at least one of the set of object types based on the primary reflection component to obtain a classified object type of the object; and
identifying the object as at least one of a set of objects based on the classified object type of the object.