AR Product Mapping in Store Layouts Without Smart Shelf Hardware
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Solution Overview
Problem
Retailers face challenges in efficiently managing store layouts and guiding customers to specific products, requiring new technology that does not rely on costly hardware installations.
Innovation Solution
A method involving data-encoded markers on store structures, scanned by a mobile electronic device, generates virtual objects of products and structures, using augmented reality to guide users to desired items through a calibrated virtual representation of the store.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If RFID tags and smart shelving are used to monitor product levels and automate reordering processes, then inventory management efficiency is improved, but hardware installation costs and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates virtual copies of physical products and store structures in a digital twin environment. Instead of using physical RFID tags and smart shelving hardware, the system uses virtual representations that can be scanned and manipulated digitally, eliminating the need for costly hardware installations while maintaining inventory tracking capabilities
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical and electronic hardware system (RFID tags, smart shelving, sensors) with a software-based augmented reality system. The scanner device with camera and processing algorithms substitutes the physical monitoring infrastructure, achieving the same inventory management functionality through optical scanning and virtual object manipulation rather than electromagnetic RFID communication
2Ease of manufacture
If data-encoded markers are scanned to generate virtual objects, then store layout tracking becomes easier and less costly, but the scanning process time and device calibration complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by pre-calibrating the scanner device with the virtual representation of the store layout before actual scanning begins. The virtual objects are pre-positioned in the digital twin environment, and the system pre-establishes the coordinate transformations needed for accurate mapping, so that during actual scanning, only simple marker detection and object instantiation are required, significantly reducing scanning time
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces data-encoded markers as intermediary elements that bridge the physical and virtual environments. These markers serve as reference points that the scanner can quickly detect and use to locate corresponding virtual objects, eliminating the need for complex computer vision algorithms to identify and track products directly, thus reducing scanning time while maintaining ease of layout tracking
3Measurement precision
If a calibrated virtual representation is used to guide customers to products, then customer navigation accuracy is improved, but system setup complexity and calibration requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal virtual representation system that serves multiple functions: it acts as both the navigation guide for customers and the tracking mechanism for inventory management. The same calibrated virtual model is used for both customer guidance and store layout monitoring, eliminating the need for separate calibration systems and reducing overall system complexity while maintaining high navigation accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a simplified virtual copy of the store layout that captures only the essential geometric and positional information needed for navigation. Rather than creating a fully detailed photorealistic model, the system uses a functional copy with key reference points and product locations, reducing calibration complexity while maintaining sufficient accuracy for customer guidance
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to a method for generating virtual objects of products offered for sale in a real space store environment. The products being exposed on a structure within the real space store environment. The method comprising scanning, one by one, a plurality of data-encoded markers on the structure in the real space store environment, using a scanner of a scanning mobile electronic device. The scanning mobile electronic device being calibrated in a virtual representation of the real space store environment such that the scanning mobile electronic device has a known pose in the virtual representation of the real space store environment. Each of the plurality of data-encoded markers is associated with a product. In connection with each scanning the following are performed: determining, at a moment of scanning, an associated pose of the scanning mobile electronic device in the virtual representation of the real space store environment, generating an associated virtual object of the product associated with the scanned data-encoded marker, and determining an associated position of the associated virtual object within the virtual representation of the real space store environment as an intersection between the structure in the virtual representation of the real space store environment and a raycast from the associated pose of the scanning mobile electronic device in the virtual representation of the real space store environment and in a direction of the scanner. The associated virtual object of the product comprises textual information related to the product.