US 12,136,061 B2
Retail shelf image processing and inventory tracking system
Arun Patil, Bengaluru (IN); Prakash Mall, Bengaluru (IN); and Snigdha Samal, Bengaluru (IN)
Assigned to Target Brands, Inc., Minneapolis, MN (US)
Filed by Target Brands, Inc., Minneapolis, MN (US)
Filed on Feb. 25, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/681,470.
Prior Publication US 2023/0274226 A1, Aug. 31, 2023
Int. Cl. G06Q 10/087 (2023.01); G06T 3/4038 (2024.01); G06T 3/608 (2024.01); G06T 7/00 (2017.01); G06T 7/194 (2017.01); G06T 7/70 (2017.01); G06T 11/60 (2006.01); G06V 10/24 (2022.01); G06V 10/25 (2022.01); G06V 10/28 (2022.01); G06V 10/75 (2022.01); G06V 20/52 (2022.01); G06V 30/224 (2022.01)
CPC G06Q 10/087 (2013.01) [G06T 3/4038 (2013.01); G06T 3/608 (2013.01); G06T 7/0008 (2013.01); G06T 7/194 (2017.01); G06T 7/70 (2017.01); G06T 11/60 (2013.01); G06V 10/243 (2022.01); G06V 10/25 (2022.01); G06V 10/28 (2022.01); G06V 10/751 (2022.01); G06V 20/52 (2022.01); G06V 30/224 (2022.01); G06T 2207/20081 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30232 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for identifying anomalies within a shelf, the method comprising:
receiving, by a processor, one or more images of the shelf from one or more imaging devices;
generating, by the processor, an item-identifier tagged image from the one or more images, wherein the item-identifier tagged image is generated by:
stitching together the one or more images to create a single shelf image, wherein the single shelf image includes a plurality of shelf products;
generating a bounding box to enclose each of the plurality of shelf products;
determining an item identifier that identifies each of the plurality of shelf products on the single shelf image; and
assigning a common pixel value to all pixels within each bounding box associated with each of the plurality of shelf products to generate the item-identifier tagged image, wherein the common pixel value for each bounding box corresponds to the item-identifier associated with the shelf product enclosed within the bounding box;
retrieving a reference background image from a data store;
comparing the item-identifier tagged image to the reference background image; based on the comparison, identifying foreground objects within the item-identifier tagged image;
determining that the identified foreground objects correspond to anomalies associated with the shelf; and
sending an item-identifier tag associated with each of the identified foreground objects to a user electronic computing device as a notification of anomalies within the shelf.