Self-Service Checkout Camera Presence Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Self-service checkout systems lack the ability to monitor customer presence during the registration and payment processes, leading to potential issues when customers start but fail to complete the checkout process.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a camera interface and processor in the checkout apparatus to detect customer presence through image analysis, issuing an alert if the customer leaves the work region after starting the registration process but before completing the payment process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If self-service checkout apparatus is used to reduce manual intervention, then productivity is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to inability to monitor customer presence
Solution Approach 1:
A camera system acts as an intermediary monitoring device that observes customer presence and transaction progress without interfering with the self-service operation. The camera captures images of the customer and checkout interface, providing indirect monitoring that maintains automation while ensuring reliability through alert generation when customers abandon their transactions.
2Reliability
If camera monitoring system is added to detect customer presence, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The camera system serves multiple functions: it monitors customer presence, tracks transaction progress, and provides visual records for analysis. By consolidating these monitoring functions into a single camera-based system rather than using separate sensors for each function, the patent reduces overall system complexity while maintaining reliable customer presence detection.
Data Source
AI summary
According to one embodiment, a checkout apparatus includes a camera interface and a processor. The camera interface acquires an image from a camera positioned to image a work region of the checkout apparatus and its surroundings in which a person performs a registration of items in a sales transaction and settlement of the sales transaction. The processor performs a registration process for registering items in the sales transaction and also a payment process for settlement of the sales transaction based on the items registered in the registration process. The processor detects whether a person has left the work region based on the image from the camera, then output an alert if it is detected that the person left the work region after performance of the registration process is started but before the payment process is completed.