Household article inventory management method

Abstract

According to one embodiment, a method, a computer system, and a computer program product for item management are provided. The invention may include identifying all items within a sensor feed of a set of sensors within a venue; creating a list of entries including the identified item, the entries including a name, a location, and a presence status of the item; dynamically updating the list to track the location and / or presence status of the item in real time based on continuously monitoring the sensor feed; in response to receiving a query from a user requesting for a lost item, selecting an item in the list that matches the name of the lost item; and directing the user to the location of the selected item.

Description

Background Art

[0001] The present invention relates generally to the field of computing, and more particularly to mixed reality.

[0002] Mixed reality is a field that involves merging the real and virtual worlds so that physical and digital objects coexist and interact in real time. Mixed reality does not occur exclusively in the physical or virtual world, but is a mixture of real and virtual reality; therefore, mixed reality describes everything except the two extremes of the reality-virtual continuum, namely, purely physical environments and purely virtual environments. Therefore, mixed reality includes augmented virtuality (AV), augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR). Mixed reality has found practical applications in fields such as remote work, architecture, gaming, and military, academic, and commercial training. Summary of the invention

[0003] According to one embodiment, a method, computer system, and computer program product for item management are provided. The invention may include identifying all items within a sensor feed of a sensor set within a location; creating a list of entries including the identified items, the entries including the name, location, and presence status of the items; dynamically updating the list to track the location and / or presence status of the items in real time based on continuously monitoring the sensor feed; in response to receiving a query from a user requesting a lost item, selecting an item in the list that matches the name of the lost item; and directing the user to the location of the selected item. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004] These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments of the present invention, which is to be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The various features of the drawings are not drawn to scale, as the illustrations are intended to clearly facilitate understanding of the present invention by those skilled in the art in conjunction with the detailed description. In the drawings:

[0005] Figure 1 An exemplary networked computer environment is shown in accordance with at least one embodiment;

[0006] Figure 2 is an operational flow diagram illustrating an initial list creation process of a home inventory management process according to at least one embodiment; and

[0007] Figure 3 is an operational flow diagram illustrating a home inventory management process in accordance with at least one embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0008] The present invention discloses detailed embodiments of the claimed structures and methods; however, it is understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely illustrative of the claimed structures and methods that may be embodied in various forms. However, the present invention may be implemented in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the exemplary embodiments set forth herein. In the description, details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the presented embodiments.

[0009] Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of computing, and more particularly to mixed reality. The exemplary embodiments described below provide a system, method, and program product to identify items in a location via a sensor, create an item list, dynamically update the list with the item location, and, in response to a user query about the item, highlight the item in mixed reality based on the location information in the list, etc.

[0010] As mentioned above, mixed reality is a field that involves merging the real world and the virtual world so that physical objects and digital objects coexist and interact in real time. Mixed reality systems use software to generate images, sounds, tactile feedback and other sensations to enhance the real world environment. Although mobile devices such as cellular phones or tablets can be used to create such an enhanced environment, more dedicated devices are also used, usually in the form of glasses or headsets, in which computer-generated elements are overlaid onto the view of the real world by being projected or mapped onto the lenses in front of the user's eyes. With the help of computer enhancement, information about the user's surrounding world and other digital elements overlaid on the world become interactive and digitally manipulable.

[0011] People lose things all the time. The average person may lose thousands of items in their lifetime, and may spend days or even weeks of their life searching for those lost items in total. Many solutions have been tried to help forgetful individuals locate lost items. One such approach involves using tracking devices such as Bluetooth-based key ring locators, devices such as RFID tags, and even larger GPS tracking devices attached to frequently lost items, etc. However, these solutions require the tracking device to be attached to any given object that may be lost. It would be expensive, cumbersome, and inconvenient to place trackers only on objects that people expect to lose; it would be almost impossible to place trackers on all objects that may need to be found.

[0012] Other attempted solutions may use a camera or other device to locate an item once it is identified as lost. However, this approach is imperfect because tracking an object once it is determined to be lost can be a time-consuming and unreliable process without knowing the location of the item before it was identified as lost. Additionally, the attempted solution may attempt to use images, auditory or text descriptions, etc. to convey the location of the lost item; these may be imperfect communication methods and may not accurately convey the location of the lost item to the user. Mixed reality devices may be better suited to convey the location of the lost object in a place by highlighting it to the user, so that it becomes visible to the user even through walls and other objects. Therefore, it may be advantageous to implement a system that automatically creates a list of all items in a place based on sensor data collected in the place, dynamically updates the list based on the location and presence of these items in the place, and uses the list to identify the presence and / or location of the item in the place when the user asks about the location of the item, and uses mixed reality to highlight the item in the place. This approach would not require bulky and expensive tracking hardware and would therefore be cheaper and more convenient, would have the superior ability to communicate the location of the lost item to the user, and would have the item's data on hand and would therefore be faster than approaches attempted in the art.

[0013] According to at least one embodiment, the present invention may be a method of creating and maintaining an inventory of items within a facility using a collection of sensors.

[0014] In embodiments of the present invention, a place may be any discretely defined geographic location, such as a home, factory, store, etc., that includes a collection of multiple items and sensors. The area including the place may be demarcated by a geofence, which may be a virtual perimeter describing a real-world geographic area that defines the geographic location of the place. The geofence may be pre-provisioned to the system by a user or a human administrator or programmer. A user may be any individual within and / or associated with a place who wants to locate an item. In embodiments of the present invention, a user may own a place, may own an item, may own and / or control a collection of sensors exclusively or jointly.

[0015] An item may be any physical object associated with a place or a user that a user may wish to find, such as a cell phone, a breakfast sandwich, keys, industrial tools, instruction manuals, etc., and which is currently within the place or was within the place at some time in the past. An item may be owned by and / or associated with a user, associated with an individual of a group of users, and / or owned by and / or associated with an individual who is not a user. In some embodiments, items may include only objects that are small enough to be portable; for example, less than a threshold size and / or less than a threshold weight, where the threshold size and weight represent values ​​of size and weight, respectively, above which the item is no longer considered portable. Larger, non-portable items may not be carried or moved frequently and are therefore less likely to be misplaced.

[0016] The collection of sensors may be one or more Internet of Things (IoT) devices that may be located within a venue and may be capable of collecting data about the environment within the venue, including data about objects disposed within the venue, and sending that data to the system. The sensors may be installed at static locations within the venue, and / or may be attached to a device that may be movable within the venue (e.g., a mobile phone or tablet), and / or may be movable around the venue and may leave or enter the venue. The collection of sensors may include infrared and / or optical cameras, and may additionally include accelerometers, GPS receivers, motion sensors, sonar / lidar transmitters, etc., and may be integrated into mobile devices such as laptops, tablets, and mobile phones, wearable devices such as smart watches and MR headsets, and / or fixed devices such as wall-mounted security cameras, webcams, desktop computers, etc. The collection of sensors may be owned and / or exclusively controlled and / or accessed by a user, may be owned and / or controlled by multiple individuals including the user, may be publicly controlled and / or accessed by multiple users, may be owned and / or exclusively controlled by multiple users, etc.

[0017] In an embodiment of the present invention, the system can create a list of items by monitoring data from a collection of sensors. The system can use optical recognition to identify all items or all portable items within the camera lens captured within the venue. The system can retrieve or be provided with a reference list of common objects, which can include the name and physical description of each of a plurality of common objects, including, for example, the size, weight, color, etc. of the common objects. The system can search for candidate items within a frame of a camera feed including sensor data, and if the object visually matches a common object on the initial list, the object can be identified as a candidate item. In some embodiments of the present invention, the system can continuously monitor sensor data of objects that have entered the venue, so that when an object is brought into the venue, the object can be identified and added to the list in real time or near real time.

[0018] The terms "real-time", "near real-time" and "dynamic" herein refer to computer processes that are executed on a time scale of milliseconds in response to received information, so that any delay between the receipt of the information and the actual output is eliminated. The term "real-time" colloquially describes a seemingly instantaneous human sense of time (rather than machine time), but should be understood herein to refer to the guaranteed level of computer response within a specified time constraint of milliseconds or microseconds between an event and a response deadline marking the limit of the specified time constraint. Thus, real-time updates of a list may appear to a person to smoothly track the movement of items, although in reality several milliseconds may have passed between updates. Unlike mainframe batch processing computers where processes can be grouped and scheduled for processing at a later time, real-time computer processes can occur without delays beyond transmission and processing times. In some embodiments of the present invention, such as where it may be desirable to reduce resource usage, the system may introduce delays into the execution of a computer process so that it can no longer be said to occur in real time, but instead occurs at continuous and regular intervals spaced apart on the order of milliseconds or microseconds; such embodiments may be referred to as occurring in near real time in the present invention. However, any embodiments ranging between real-time execution and execution occurring at approximately five minute intervals may still be referred to as "dynamic" in the present invention.

[0019] In some embodiments of the invention, if the identified object does not match any generic object in the reference list, the system may prompt the user to identify the identified object, such as by highlighting the object in mixed reality, making an audible request to the user using a synthesized and / or pre-recorded voice, sending a text and / or graphic prompt to a computing device equipped with a display associated with the user, etc. The prompt may request the name and / or physical description of the object. The system may then receive the user's answer, for example, by a text or audible response to the prompt sent to the system and / or received by one or more microphones including a sensor set. The system may enter the object into the list as an item under the provided name and with the provided description. In some embodiments of the invention, the system may prompt the user to identify whether the object should be counted as an item and whether it should be included in the list.

[0020] If the detected object matches a generic object in the reference list, and / or is identified to the system by the user in response to a prompt, the object may thereby be designated as a candidate item. The system may add the candidate item to the list as an item having a description provided by the reference list and / or by the user and the location and positioning of the object identified by the sensor set. In an embodiment of the present invention, the system may determine that the candidate item is too large or too heavy to carry based on the size and / or weight of the corresponding generic object in the description from the reference list, and may exclude the candidate item from being entered into the list.

[0021] In some embodiments of the invention, the system may assign priorities to items in a list. The priority associated with an item may reflect the importance of the item to the user, and more broadly, the importance of the item being found quickly if lost. For example, a user's cell phone may be an item that the user relies heavily on in her daily life. As such, the cell phone item may be rated "high priority." Similarly, tools such as fire extinguishers may be rarely used, but may be absolutely critical to find quickly when needed, and thus may also be "high priority." The system may base its assessment of the priority of an item on usage patterns of that item identified by a machine learning model based on sensor data from a collection of sensors.

[0022] In some embodiments of the invention, the system may assign a loss rating to an item. The loss rating may indicate the likelihood that an item may be lost or that a user may need to find the item. For example, a tool such as a socket wrench set may be rarely used and therefore less likely to be misplaced or moved; thus, the system may assign a lower loss rating to the socket wrench set item. On the other hand, an item such as a favorite hair tie may be an item that the user uses every day and therefore more likely to be misplaced; the system may accordingly assign a high loss rating to the hair tie item. The system may base its assessment of the priority of an item on usage patterns of the item identified by a machine learning model based on sensor data from a sensor set.

[0023] In embodiments of the present invention, the system may maintain a list of items by continuously monitoring sensor data to detect the movement of items, and by dynamically updating the location and positioning of the list items in real time or near real time as the items move within the venue. The system may analyze live camera feeds from a sensor collection to identify the location of the items, and modify the list with the updated location and position of the items as the items move. In some embodiments, the system may analyze the movement of an area of ​​sensor feeds recorded from a stationary camera, and may only update the location and position of items visible in the area of ​​the sensor feed where the movement is detected. In some embodiments of the present invention, the system may prioritize monitoring and updating the location of items in the order of highest to lowest priority and / or highest to lowest loss level, so that the location and / or changes in the location of high priority and / or high loss level items are detected and / or updated in the list first. In some embodiments of the present invention, the system may detect when an item enters or leaves a venue, such as by determining that the item has crossed a geo-fence marking the perimeter of the venue based on the location of the item. The system may update the list to reflect whether the item is inside or outside the venue. In some embodiments of the present invention, the system may feed the location and position of the items into a machine learning algorithm to derive usage patterns of different items. Usage patterns may include the time of day that items are moved, the locations where items are moved, the frequency with which users interact with items, the times when items leave and / or enter a location, and the like.

[0024] In embodiments of the invention, if the system has previously identified an item, but the item is no longer at the previously recorded location and the system cannot identify the item's current location, the system may prompt the user to locate the item and provide the location to the system, such as by describing the item's location, taking a video of the item, indicating that the item is in the view of a camera of a sensor collection, etc. In some embodiments of the invention, such as where a list includes priorities and / or loss levels, the system may prompt the user only to locate high priority and / or high loss level items, or may prompt the user with a frequency and / or urgency commensurate with the priority and / or loss level of the item.

[0025] According to at least one embodiment, the present invention may be a method of identifying a lost item within a list in response to a user query and guiding the user to the lost item using mixed reality.

[0026] In embodiments of the present invention, a user query may be a text request sent to the system from a user's computing device (such as a laptop, cell phone, tablet, etc.), and / or may be an audible voice request made by the user and received at, for example, a microphone integrated into a cell phone, voice assistant device, laptop, etc. A query may include a request to find a lost item, which may be an item that the user has misplaced and wishes to find.

[0027] In an embodiment of the present invention, a mixed reality session may be a discrete period of time during which a user interacts with a mixed reality experience through a mixed reality device. A mixed reality program may be a software program that creates or provides one or more mixed reality experiences for a user to interact with through a mixed reality device, such as a training simulator, a game, a narrative experience such as a movie, a social platform, etc. A mixed reality device or a device with mixed reality capabilities may be any device or combination of devices capable of recording real-world information, and a mixed reality program may overlay real-world information with computer-generated perceptual elements to create a mixed reality environment experienced by the user; the mixed reality device may further record the user's actions, positions, movements, etc. to track the user's movement within the mixed reality environment and the interaction with the mixed reality environment. The mixed reality device may display the mixed reality environment to the user. The mixed reality device may be equipped with or include a plurality of sensors that may include a sensor set, such as a camera, a microphone, an accelerometer, etc., and / or may be equipped with or include a plurality of user interface devices, such as a display, a touch screen, a speaker, etc. In some embodiments, the mixed reality device may be a headset worn by the user.

[0028] In an embodiment of the present invention, the system can identify a lost item by retrieving the location and location data of the list item corresponding to the item identified in the user query. If the system cannot find the lost item identified in the query, the system can request the user to describe the object, and can compare the user's description with the description in the list.

[0029] The system may guide the user to the item by overlaying a graphical element onto the item within the mixed reality session currently experienced by the user to highlight or otherwise indicate the item. The system may prompt the user to initiate a mixed reality session on the user's mixed reality-capable device (such as a tablet or cellular phone), and may indicate the missing object within the mixed reality session using a graphical element overlaid on the location of the object. In some embodiments of the present invention, the system may guide the user to the item by audibly or textually describing the location of the lost item to the user. If the lost item is not present in the place, the system may notify the user that the item is not in the place, for example, through a text box, an audible voice message, and / or a graphical element. The system may further notify the user of the last time the item was in the place, and / or its last known location, and / or the date, time, and / or location at which the item left the place.

[0030] In some embodiments of the present invention, the system may store video clips recorded by a mixed reality device associated with a user; in response to receiving a query from the user, the system may search for objects within the recorded video clips from the most recently recorded video clip to the most distant recorded video clip until the system has identified the lost item. The system may then play the recorded video clip back to the user on a display and / or in a mixed reality environment to guide the user to the lost item or convey the last known location of the lost item to the user. As an example, Grandma Sadie uses her trowel in the garden of her house equipped with security cameras on Monday. The system monitors the activity via the security camera and saves the footage. The system analyzes the saved footage and identifies the trowel within a clip of recorded footage captured by an external security camera covering the garden. The system adds the location of the identified trowel to the virtual home inventory list and updates the recorded video footage with metadata indicating that the trowel is present in the video footage, including the time and location of the trowel appearance within the video footage. Come Saturday, Grandma Sadie wants to go to the garden again but has forgotten where she left her trowel. Grandma Sadie can ask the system, "Where's my trowel?" The system searches for the entry "trowel" in its home inventory list and retrieves the most recent footage associated with the trowel entry. The system then activates the display on Grandma Sadie's tablet and plays back the video from the camera footage in the garden as Grandma Sadie used the trowel on Monday.

[0031] Various aspects of the present disclosure are described by narrative text, flow charts, block diagrams of computer systems, and / or block diagrams of machine logic included in computer program product (CPP) embodiments. With respect to any flow chart, depending on the technology involved, the operations may be performed in an order different from the order shown in a given flow chart. For example, again depending on the technology involved, two operations shown in consecutive flow chart blocks may be performed in reverse order, as a single integrated step, simultaneously, or in a manner that at least partially overlaps in time.

[0032] Computer program product embodiments ("CPP embodiments" or "CPP") are terms used in this disclosure to describe any collection of one or more storage media (also referred to as "media") collectively included in a collection of one or more storage devices that collectively include machine-readable code corresponding to instructions and / or data for performing the computer operations specified in a given CPP claim. A "storage device" is any tangible device that can retain and store instructions for use by a computer processor. Without limitation, a computer-readable storage medium may be an electronic storage medium, a magnetic storage medium, an optical storage medium, an electromagnetic storage medium, a semiconductor storage medium, a mechanical storage medium, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Some known types of storage devices that include these media include: magnetic disks, hard disks, random access memories (RAM), read-only memories (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROM or flash memory), static random access memories (SRAM), compact disk read-only memories (CD-ROM), digital versatile disks (DVD), memory sticks, floppy disks, mechanical encoding devices (such as punch cards or pits / land formed in a major surface of a disk), or any suitable combination of the foregoing. The term computer-readable storage medium as used in this disclosure should not be interpreted as storage in the form of a transitory signal itself, such as a radio wave or other freely propagating electromagnetic wave, an electromagnetic wave propagating through a waveguide, a light pulse through a fiber optic cable, an electrical signal transmitted through an electric wire and / or other transmission medium. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, during normal operation of a storage device, such as during access, defragmentation, or garbage collection, data is typically moved at some occasional point in time, but this does not make the storage device transitory because the data is not transitory when it is stored.

[0033] The exemplary embodiments described below provide a system, method, and program product for identifying items in a location via a sensor, creating a list of items, dynamically updating the list with the location of the items, and in response to a user query about the item, highlighting the item in mixed reality based on the location information in the list.

[0034] Reference now Figure 1, the computing environment 100 includes an example of an environment for executing at least some of the computer codes (such as code blocks 145) involved in executing the methods of the present invention, which may include a virtual assistant program 107 and a home inventory management program 108. In addition to the code blocks 145, the computing environment 100 also includes, for example, a computer 101, a wide area network (WAN) 102, an end-user device (EUD) 103, a remote server 104, a public cloud 105, and a private cloud 106. In this embodiment, the computer 101 includes a processor set 110 (including a processing circuit 120 and a cache 121), a communication structure 111, a volatile memory 112, a permanent memory 113 (including an operating system 122 and code blocks 145, as described above), a peripheral device set 114 (including a user interface (UI), a device set 123, a memory 124, and an Internet of Things (IoT) sensor set 125) and a network module 115. The remote server 104 includes a remote database 130. The public cloud 105 includes a gateway 140 , a cloud orchestration module 141 , a host physical machine set 142 , a virtual machine set 143 , and a container set 144 .

[0035] Computer 101 may take the form of a desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet computer, smart phone, smart watch or other wearable computer, mainframe computer, quantum computer, or any other form of computer or mobile device now known or developed in the future that is capable of running programs, accessing a network, or querying a database (such as remote database 130). As is well understood in the field of computer technology, and depending on the technology, the execution of the computer-implemented method may be distributed among multiple computers and / or among multiple locations. On the other hand, in this presentation of computing environment 100, the detailed discussion focuses on a single computer, particularly computer 101, to keep the presentation as simple as possible. Computer 101 may be located in the cloud, even if it is not in the cloud. Figure 1 On the other hand, except to any extent that can be indicated with certainty, there is no requirement that computer 101 be in the cloud.

[0036] Processor set 110 includes one or more computer processors of any type known now or developed in the future. Processing circuit 120 can be distributed over multiple packages, for example, multiple coordinated integrated circuit chips. Processing circuit 120 can implement multiple processor threads and / or multiple processor cores. Cache 121 is a memory located in (one or more) processor chip packages, and is generally used for data or code that should be available for fast access by threads or cores running on processor set 110. Cache memory is generally organized into multiple levels according to relative proximity to the processing circuit. Alternatively, some or all of the caches for the processor set may be located "off-chip". In some computing environments, processor set 110 may be designed to work with quantum bits and perform quantum computing.

[0037] Computer readable program instructions are typically loaded onto the computer 101 to cause the processor set 110 of the computer 101 to perform a series of operating steps to implement a computer-implemented method, so that the instructions so executed will instantiate the method specified in the flowchart and / or the narrative description of the computer-implemented method (collectively referred to as the "method of the present invention") included in this document. These computer readable program instructions are stored in various types of computer readable storage media, such as cache 121 and other storage media discussed below. The program instructions and associated data are accessed by the processor set 110 to control and direct the execution of the method of the present invention. In the computing environment 100, at least some of the instructions for executing the method of the present invention can be stored in a code block 145 in the permanent storage 113.

[0038] The communication fabric 111 is the signal conduction paths that allow the various components of the computer 101 to communicate with each other. Typically, the fabric is made of switches and conductive paths, such as those that make up a bus, a bridge, physical input / output ports, etc. Other types of signal communication paths may be used, such as fiber optic communication paths and / or wireless communication paths.

[0039] The volatile memory 112 is any type of volatile memory now known or developed in the future. Examples include dynamic type random access memory (RAM) or static type RAM. Typically, volatile memory is characterized by random access, but this is not required unless affirmatively indicated. In the computer 101, the volatile memory 112 is located in a single package and is internal to the computer 101, but alternatively or additionally, the volatile memory may be distributed over multiple packages and / or located externally relative to the computer 101.

[0040] Permanent memory 113 is any form of non-volatile memory for computers known now or developed in the future. The non-volatility of the memory means that the stored data is maintained regardless of whether power is supplied to the computer 101 and / or directly to the permanent memory 113. Permanent memory 113 may be a read-only memory (ROM), but typically at least a portion of the permanent memory allows data to be written, deleted, and rewritten. Some familiar forms of permanent memory include disks and solid-state storage devices. Operating system 122 may take several forms, such as various known proprietary operating systems or operating systems of the open source portable operating system interface type using a kernel. The code included in code block 145 typically includes at least some of the computer code involved in performing the method of the present invention.

[0041] The peripheral device set 114 includes a peripheral device set of the computer 101. The data communication connection between the peripheral device and other components of the computer 101 can be implemented in various ways, such as a Bluetooth connection, a near field communication (NFC) connection, a connection by a cable (such as a universal serial bus (USB) type cable), a plug-in type connection (e.g., a secure digital (SD) card), a connection through a local area communication network, and even a connection through a wide area network (such as the Internet). In various embodiments, the UI device set 123 may include components such as display screens, speakers, microphones, wearable devices (such as goggles and smart watches), keyboards, mice, printers, touchpads, game controllers, and tactile devices. The memory 124 is an external memory, such as an external hard drive, or a pluggable memory, such as an SD card. The memory 124 can be permanent and / or volatile. In some embodiments, the memory 124 can take the form of a quantum computing storage device for storing data in the form of quantum bits. In embodiments where it is necessary for computer 101 to have a large amount of storage (e.g., where computer 101 locally stores and manages a large database), the storage may be provided by a peripheral storage device designed to store very large amounts of data, such as a storage area network (SAN) shared by multiple geographically distributed computers. IoT sensor set 125 consists of sensors that can be used in IoT applications. For example, one sensor may be a thermometer and another sensor may be a motion detector.

[0042] The network module 115 is a collection of computer software, hardware, and firmware that allows the computer 101 to communicate with other computers via the WAN 102. The network module 115 may include hardware (such as a modem or a Wi-Fi signal transceiver), software for packetizing and / or depacketizing data for transmission over a communication network, and / or web browser software for transmitting data over the Internet. In some embodiments, the network control function and the network forwarding function of the network module 115 are executed on the same physical hardware device. In other embodiments (e.g., embodiments utilizing software defined networks (SDN)), the control function and the forwarding function of the network module 115 are executed on physically separate devices, so that the control function manages several different network hardware devices. Computer-readable program instructions for executing the method of the present invention can typically be downloaded to the computer 101 from an external computer or an external storage device via a network adapter card or a network interface included in the network module 115.

[0043] WAN 102 is any wide area network (e.g., the Internet) capable of transmitting computer data over non-local distances by any technology now known or developed in the future for transmitting computer data. In some embodiments, the WAN may be replaced and / or supplemented by a local area network (LAN) (such as a Wi-Fi network) designed to transmit data between devices located in a local area. A WAN and / or LAN typically includes computer hardware such as copper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wireless transmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers, and edge servers.

[0044] End-user device (EUD) 103 is any computer system used and controlled by an end-user (e.g., a customer of an enterprise operating computer 101), and may take any of the forms discussed above in connection with computer 101. EUD 103 typically receives helpful and useful data from the operation of computer 101. For example, in the hypothetical case where computer 101 is designed to provide recommendations to an end-user, the recommendations would typically be transmitted from network module 115 of computer 101 to EUD 103 via WAN 102. In this manner, EUD 103 may display or otherwise present the recommendations to the end-user. In some embodiments, EUD 103 may be a client device, such as a thin client, a heavy client, a mainframe computer, a desktop computer, or the like.

[0045] Remote server 104 is any computer system that provides at least some data and / or functionality to computer 101. Remote server 104 may be controlled and used by the same entity that operates computer 101. Remote server 104 represents a machine that collects and stores helpful and useful data for use by other computers, such as computer 101. For example, in the hypothetical case where computer 101 is designed and programmed to provide recommendations based on historical data, then this historical data may be provided to computer 101 from remote database 130 of remote server 104.

[0046] The public cloud 105 is any computer system available for use by multiple entities that provides on-demand availability of computer system resources and / or other computer capabilities, particularly data storage (cloud storage) and computing capabilities, without direct active management by users. Cloud computing typically utilizes resource sharing to achieve consistency and economies of scale. The direct and active management of the computing resources of the public cloud 105 is performed by the computer hardware and / or software of the cloud orchestration module 141. The computing resources provided by the public cloud 105 are typically implemented by virtual computing environments running on various computers that constitute the host physical machine set 142, which is the totality of physical computers in and / or available for the public cloud 105. The virtual computing environment (VCE) typically takes the form of a virtual machine from a virtual machine set 143 and / or a container from a container set 144. It should be understood that these VCEs can be stored as images and can be transmitted among and between various physical machine hosts as images or after instantiation of the VCE. The cloud orchestration module 141 manages the transmission and storage of images, deploys new instantiations of VCEs, and manages active instantiations of VCE deployments. Gateway 140 is a collection of computer software, hardware, and firmware that allows public cloud 105 to communicate over WAN 102 .

[0047] Some further explanation of virtualized computing environments (VCEs) will now be provided. A VCE can be stored as an "image". A new active instance of a VCE can be instantiated from an image. Two common types of VCEs are virtual machines and containers. Containers are VCEs that use operating system-level virtualization. This refers to an operating system feature where the kernel allows multiple isolated user space instances (called containers) to exist. From the perspective of the programs running in them, these isolated user space instances typically behave like real computers. Computer programs running on a normal operating system can utilize all of the resources of that computer, such as connected devices, files and folders, network shares, CPU power, and quantifiable hardware capabilities. However, programs running within a container can only use the contents of the container and the devices assigned to the container, a feature known as containerization.

[0048] Private cloud 106 is similar to public cloud 105, except that the computing resources are only available to a single enterprise. Although private cloud 106 is depicted as communicating with WAN 102, in other embodiments, the private cloud may be completely disconnected from the Internet and accessible only through a local / private network. A hybrid cloud is a combination of multiple clouds of different types (e.g., private, community, or public cloud types), typically implemented by different vendors. Each of the multiple clouds remains a separate and discrete entity, but the larger hybrid cloud architecture is bound together by standardized or proprietary technologies that enable orchestration, management, and / or data / application portability between the multiple constituent clouds. In this embodiment, both public cloud 105 and private cloud 106 are part of a larger hybrid cloud.

[0049] According to the present embodiment, the virtual assistant program 107 can be one of any number of software agents that can interact with the user through text or audible voice and provide information or perform tasks based on the user's voice or text input. Examples may include voice-based virtual assistants such as Google Home® (Google Home® and all Google Home®-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Google Inc. and / or its affiliates), Amazon Echo® (Amazon Echo® and all Amazon Echo®-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Amazon Technologies, Inc. and / or its affiliates) and Siri® (Siri® and all Siri®-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Apple Inc. and / or its affiliates). The virtual assistant program 107 does not necessarily need to be located on the client computing device 102; the virtual assistant program 107 can be stored and / or run in any number of devices or combinations of devices, and / or on any other device connected to the WAN 102, including the computer 101, the end-user device 103, the remote server 104, the private cloud 106 and / or the public cloud 105, the peripheral device collection 114, and the server 112. In addition, the virtual assistant program 107 may be distributed in its operation across any number or combination of the foregoing devices. In some embodiments, the virtual assistant program 107 may be stored and / or run on its own dedicated virtual assistant device, which may be a hardware device equipped with a speaker and microphone capable of receiving voice-based user queries and responding with an audible artificial human voice, which may be synthesized and / or composed of pre-recorded segments.

[0050] According to the present embodiment, the home inventory management program 108 may be a program enabled to identify items in a location via sensors, create a list of items, dynamically update the list with the location of the items, and respond to a user query about the item to highlight the item in mixed reality based on the location information in the list. When executed, the home inventory management program 108 may cause the computing environment 100 to perform the home inventory management process 300. The home inventory management process 300 may be described below with respect to Figure 3 Explained in further detail. In embodiments of the present invention, the home inventory management program 108 may be stored and / or run on or by any number of devices or combinations of devices, including the computer 101, the end-user device 103, the remote server 104, the private cloud 106 and / or the public cloud 105, the peripheral device collection 114 and the server 112 and / or any other device connected to the WAN 102. In addition, the home inventory management program 108 may be distributed in its operation across any number of the above devices or combinations thereof.

[0051] Reference now Figure 2 , an operational flow chart illustrating an initial list creation process 200 of a home inventory management process 300 is depicted according to at least one embodiment. At 202, the home inventory management program 108 may identify all objects within a sensor feed of a sensor collection within a venue. The object may be a physical object, such as furniture, a coffee cup, a painting, etc. The sensor collection may be one or more Internet of Things (IoT) devices that may be located within the venue and may be capable of collecting data about the environment within the venue (including data about objects disposed within the venue) and sending the data to the home inventory management program 108. The collected data stream transmitted from the sensor collection to the home inventory management program 108 may be referred to as a sensor feed in the present invention. The sensor collection may include any number of infrared and / or optical cameras and / or a combination of infrared and / or optical cameras, and may additionally include accelerometers, GPS receivers, motion sensors, sonar / lidar transmitters, etc., and may be integrated into mobile devices such as laptops, tablets, and phones, wearable devices such as smart watches and MR headsets, and / or fixed devices such as wall-mounted security cameras, webcams, desktop computers, etc.

[0052] The home inventory management program 108 can use image processing techniques, sonar / lidar processing techniques, and other data processing techniques to extract information about the environment within the venue from the raw sensor data collected by the sensor set. Specifically, the home inventory management process 300 can process the sensor data of the sensor feed to identify objects within the venue. The home inventory management process 300 can search all available sensor feeds from the venue and use any object recognition technology to identify objects within the venue. Identifying an object may require, for example, marking an area in an image or model of the area within the venue created from the sensor data as containing an object. In some embodiments, for example, where the list only includes portable items, the home inventory management program 108 may only identify objects below a certain size.

[0053] At 204, the home inventory management program 108 may identify the identified object as an item based on a list of reference objects. An item may be any physical object associated with a place or a user that a user may wish to find, such as a cell phone, a breakfast sandwich, a key, an industrial tool, an instruction manual, etc., and which is currently within the place or was within the place at some time in the past. The home inventory management program 108 may retrieve or be provided with a reference list of generic objects, which may be a list, a database, or other logical structure, including the name and physical description of each of a plurality of generic objects (including, for example, the size, weight, color, etc. of the generic object). The home inventory management program 108 may compare the identified object within the sensor feed to the list of reference objects, and if the identified object visually matches a generic object on the initial list, the object may be identified as an item. In some embodiments, the items may include only objects that are small enough to be portable; for example, less than a threshold size and / or less than a threshold weight, where the threshold size and / or weight represent values ​​of size and / or weight, respectively, above which the item is no longer considered portable. The home inventory management program 108 may compare the size and / or weight of an item as identified in the description of a matching generic object from a reference list to a threshold size and / or weight; if the item meets or exceeds the threshold, the home inventory management program 108 may not add the item to the list.

[0054] At 206, the home inventory management program 108 may determine the location of the identified item within the venue based on the sensor feed. The home inventory management program 108 may analyze the area of ​​the sensor feed containing the identified item to determine the location and presence status of the item. The home inventory management program 108 may use, for example, image analysis techniques (such as single-point positioning, laser ranging technology, sonar and lidar ranging technology, etc.) to identify the location of the item within the venue. In some embodiments of the present invention, for example, the home inventory management program 108 may use indoor positioning and object measurement methods to identify the location of the item through image analysis. If the home inventory management program 108 knows the location and angle of the sensor, the home inventory management program 108 can determine the location of the object relative to the sensor because each frame / image in the CCTV (closed-circuit television) or other IoT device continuous footage may include metadata. Metadata may include camera ID, location, time, etc.

[0055] At 208, the home inventory management program 108 can create a list that includes the identified items, locations, and descriptions from the list of reference objects. The list can be a list, database, or other logical structure that includes an entry for each item identified in the sensor feed of the set of sensors within the place, as well as the name of the item, an indicator indicating whether the item is present within the place, and the location of the item within the place when the item is present. Each entry for an item can additionally include a physical description provided by the reference list and / or a user, web service, administrator, etc., an alternative name for the item when the item can be referenced in a variety of different ways, etc. In some embodiments, the entry for an item in the list can also include a video recording or a link to a video recording recorded when the user experiences a mixed reality session within the place, where the item is visible within the place.

[0056] At 210, the home inventory management program 108 may update the list based on continuously monitoring the sensor feed as the location and presence status of the identified items within the sensor feed change. The home inventory management program 108 may analyze the real-time sensor feed from the sensor collection to identify the location of the items and modify the list with the updated location of the items when the items are moved. In some embodiments, the home inventory management program 108 may analyze only those areas of the sensor feed recorded from the stationary sensor where movement is detected, and may only update the location of the items in the areas of the sensor feed where movement is detected. In some embodiments of the present invention, the home inventory management program 108 may continuously monitor the sensor data to identify new objects that have entered the venue, so that the new objects can be identified as items and added to the list in real time or near real time when they are brought into the venue. Similarly, the home inventory management program 108 may continuously monitor the sensor data to identify previously identified items that have entered the venue after having left the venue in the past, so that the presence status data of the previously identified items can be updated in the list to reflect that the items are now present in the venue in real time or near real time when the items are brought into the venue. The home inventory management program 108 can continuously monitor the sensor data to identify that items have left the premises, and update the presence status data of the departing items in the list in real time or near real time to reflect that the items have left the premises when the items leave the premises.

[0057] The home inventory management program 108 can generate a 3D model of the venue and / or area monitored by the sensor collection based on the sensor feed, and can track and represent items from the list within the 3D model. The home inventory management program 108 can update areas of the 3D model not covered by static sensors by operating movable sensors and / or by recording sensor data from mobile devices moving through the venue (e.g., those used or held by the user or other explicitly consented participants).

[0058] In some embodiments of the present invention, the home inventory management program 108 can assign priorities to items in the list. The priority associated with an item can reflect the importance of the item to the user, and by extension, the importance of the item being found quickly once lost. The home inventory management program 108 can base its assessment of the priority of the item on the usage pattern of the item identified by the machine learning model based on sensor data from the sensor set. In some embodiments of the present invention, the home inventory management program 108 can assign a loss level to the item. The loss level can indicate the possibility that the item may be lost or the user may need to find the item. The home inventory management program 108 can base its assessment of the priority of the item on the usage pattern of the item identified by the machine learning model based on sensor data from the sensor set. In some embodiments of the present invention, the home inventory management program 108 can prioritize monitoring and updating the location of the item in the order of highest to lowest priority and / or highest to lowest loss level, so that changes in the location and / or positioning of high priority and / or high loss level items are detected and / or updated first in the list.

[0059] In an embodiment of the present invention, if the home inventory management program 108 has previously identified an item, but the item is no longer at the previously recorded location, and the home inventory management program 108 cannot identify the current location of the item within a predetermined time period, the home inventory management program 108 can prompt the user to locate the item and provide the location to the home inventory management program 108.

[0060] Reference now Figure 3 , an operational flow diagram illustrating a home inventory management process 300 is depicted in accordance with at least one embodiment. At 302, the home inventory management program 108 may receive a query identifying a lost item from a user within a facility. The user query may be a text request sent from a computing device of the user (such as a laptop, cell phone, tablet computer, etc.) to the home inventory management program 108, and / or may be an audible voice request made by the user and received at, for example, a microphone integrated into a cell phone, voice assistant device, laptop computer, etc. The query may include a request to find the lost item, which may be an item that the user has misplaced and wishes to find. The query may alternatively or additionally include a description of the object, such as in the case where the user has forgotten both the object and the name of the object but remembers what it looked like.

[0061] At 304, the home inventory management program 108 can search the list for items that match the name or description of the lost item. The home inventory management program 108 can use database searching techniques to find an exact match for the name and / or description of the item in the list. If an exact match does not exist, the home inventory management program 108 can utilize text processing techniques to identify the names and / or descriptions of the items in the list that fall within a threshold level of similarity to the name / description of the lost item identified in the query.

[0062] At 306, the home inventory management program 108 can retrieve the location and presence status of items in the list that match the name or description of the lost item. After identifying a match, the home inventory management program 108 can retrieve presence status and / or location data from the entry corresponding to the item with the name and / or description that matches the lost item. If the item is not present at the premises, there may be no location data to retrieve.

[0063] At 308, the home inventory management program 108 may notify the user that the item is not present in response to determining that the lost item is not present in the premises based on the presence status. If the presence status data indicates that the lost item is no longer in the premises, the home inventory management program 108 may notify the user that the item is not present in the premises, for example, by a graphic, text, or audible prompt. In some embodiments, the home inventory management program 108 may notify the user of the location where the item was last found in the sensor feed, the route the item took to leave the premises, the movement pattern of the item, etc., for example, by displaying a 3D model to the user. The home inventory management program 108 may notify the user of the time when the item was last in the premises, and / or the date and / or time when the item left the premises. In some embodiments, the home inventory management program 108 may provide for displaying the last known location of the item to the user in mixed reality, and may prompt the user to start a mixed reality session. If the user is in a mixed reality session, the home inventory management program 108 may display a recent recording taken when the user was in a previous mixed reality session where the item was visible.

[0064] At 310, the home inventory management program 108 may direct the user to the lost item in response to determining that the lost item is present within the venue. The home inventory management program 108 may direct the user to the item by overlaying a graphical element onto the item within the mixed reality session currently experienced by the user to highlight or otherwise indicate the item. The home inventory management program 108 may prompt the user to initiate a mixed reality session on the user's mixed reality-capable device (such as a tablet or a cellular phone), and may indicate the missing object within the mixed reality session using a graphical element overlaid on the location of the object. In some embodiments of the present invention, the home inventory management program 108 may direct the user to the item by audibly or textually describing to the user the location of the lost item. In some embodiments, for example, in the case where the lost item is present, or in the case where the home inventory management program 108 has not yet determined that the item has left the venue but does not currently know the location of the item within the venue, the home inventory management program 108 may provide to display the last known location of the item to the user in mixed reality, and may prompt the user to start a mixed reality session. If the user is in a mixed reality session, the home inventory management program 108 may display a recent video record taken while the user was in a previous mixed reality session in which the item was visible. In some embodiments of the present invention, the home inventory management program 108 may guide the user to the item by remotely operating an autonomous device (such as a small remote-controlled car, a light drone, a robot dog, etc.) to guide the user to the path of the item and indicate the item to the user.

[0065] Understandably, Figure 2-Figure 3 Only illustrations of various implementations are provided and do not imply any limitations on how different embodiments may be implemented.Many modifications to the depicted environments may be made based on design and implementation requirements.

[0066] The description of various embodiments of the present invention has been given for the purpose of illustration, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the disclosed embodiments. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the described embodiments. The terminology used in the present invention is selected to best explain the principles of the embodiments, practical applications or technical improvements over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enable those of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed in the present invention.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented method for item management, the method comprising: identifying all items within a sensor feed of a set of sensors within the venue; creating a list including entries for the identified items, the entries including the names, locations, and presence status of the items; dynamically updating the list to track the location and / or presence of the items in real time based on continuous monitoring of the sensor feed; In response to receiving a query from a user requesting a lost item, selecting an item in the list that matches the name of the lost item; and The user is directed to the location of the selected item.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the updating further comprises: In response to detecting that one of the items has crossed a geo-fence defining a perimeter of the location, a presence status of the item is updated.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the item is below a threshold size and a threshold weight.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein directing the user to the location of the selected item further comprises: Use graphical elements in the mixed reality environment to highlight the location of the selected item.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: In response to losing track of the location of the lost item, displaying a recorded mixed reality session in which the lost item was last seen by the user.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: Assigning a priority or loss level to the item; and wherein the updating is based on the priority or loss level of the item.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: In response to losing track of the location of one of the items for a threshold period of time, the user is prompted to locate the item.

8. A computer system for article management, the computer system comprising: One or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories, one or more computer-readable tangible storage media, and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more tangible storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, wherein the computer system is capable of performing a method comprising: identifying all items within a sensor feed of a set of sensors within the venue; creating a list including entries for the identified items, the entries including the names, locations, and presence status of the items; dynamically updating the list to track the location and / or presence of the items in real time based on continuous monitoring of the sensor feed; In response to receiving a query from a user requesting a lost item, selecting an item in the list that matches the name of the lost item; and The user is directed to the location of the selected item.

9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the updating further comprises: In response to detecting that one of the items has crossed a geo-fence defining a perimeter of the location, a presence status of the item is updated.

10. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the item is below a threshold size and a threshold weight.

11. The computer system of claim 8, wherein directing the user to the location of the selected item further comprises: Use graphical elements in the mixed reality environment to highlight the location of the selected item.

12. The computer system of claim 8, further comprising: In response to losing track of the location of the lost item, displaying a recorded mixed reality session in which the lost item was last seen by the user.

13. The computer system of claim 8, further comprising: Assigning a priority or loss level to the item; and wherein the updating is based on the priority or loss level of the item.

14. The computer system of claim 8, further comprising: In response to losing track of the location of one of the items for a threshold period of time, the user is prompted to locate the item.

15. A computer program product for item management, the computer program product comprising: One or more computer-readable tangible storage media and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more tangible storage media, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform a method comprising: identifying all items within a sensor feed of a set of sensors within the venue; creating a list including entries for the identified items, the entries including the names, locations, and presence status of the items; dynamically updating the list to track the location and / or presence of the items in real time based on continuous monitoring of the sensor feed; In response to receiving a query from a user requesting a lost item, selecting an item in the list that matches the name of the lost item; and The user is directed to the location of the selected item.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the updating further comprises: In response to detecting that one of the items has crossed a geo-fence defining a perimeter of the location, a presence status of the item is updated.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the item is below a threshold size and a threshold weight.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein directing the user to the location of the selected item further comprises: Use graphical elements in the mixed reality environment to highlight the location of the selected item.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising: In response to losing track of the location of the lost item, displaying a recorded mixed reality session in which the lost item was last seen by the user.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising: Assigning a priority or loss level to the item; and wherein the updating is based on the priority or loss level of the item.

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