Dynamic Inventory Mapping for Stock Room Item Location
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Solution Overview
Problem
In retail facilities, locating items in the stock room for restocking is time-consuming and costly due to the lack of a predefined layout, with items placed arbitrarily on shelving and frequently changing positions, making it difficult for staff to find specific items without a planogram.
Innovation Solution
A mobile device equipped with a camera, tracking sensor, and controller is used to track poses, capture images, detect and decode item identifiers, and generate positions in a facility frame of reference, creating a dynamic inventory mapping system that provides directional guidance and updates a repository with item positions, effectively acting as a planogram in the stock room.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If items are placed arbitrarily on shelving in the stock room without a planned layout, then storage flexibility and ease of receiving items are improved, but the time and cost required to locate items for restocking increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary mapping actions by capturing images and detecting item positions during the receiving process or at scheduled times, storing this spatial information in a repository before restocking operations are needed. This preliminary action creates a digital planogram that enables rapid item location later without requiring physical search.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a digital copy (map) of the physical stock room layout and item positions using image capture and processing. This digital replica stored in the repository allows staff to query item locations virtually rather than physically searching, resolving the contradiction between flexible arbitrary placement and efficient item location.
2Adaptability or versatility
If items are frequently moved to different positions in the stock room, then storage adaptability is improved, but the difficulty of locating specific items increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback by continuously or periodically updating the item position repository based on new image captures and detections. When items are moved to new positions, the system detects these changes and updates the digital map accordingly, ensuring that the stored position information remains current and accurate for efficient item location.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from a static, predefined planogram to a dynamic digital map that automatically adapts to changing item positions. The repository stores current position information that is updated as items are moved, allowing the system to maintain accurate location data despite frequent repositioning, thus resolving the contradiction between storage adaptability and item locatability.
3Measurement precision
If a mobile device with camera and tracking sensor is used to create dynamic inventory mapping, then item location accuracy and directional guidance are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses a mobile device that performs multiple functions: capturing images of items, tracking device poses through sensor data, detecting item identifiers from images, and generating position information. By consolidating these diverse functions into a single multi-functional device rather than separate specialized equipment, the system achieves high measurement precision while managing device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A mobile device includes: a camera; a display; a tracking sensor; and a controller connected to a repository of item identifiers and item positions in a facility frame of reference for items disposed on support surfaces within a facility, the controller configured to: track, via the tracking sensor, successive poses of the mobile device in the facility frame of reference; control the camera to capture a stream of images while tracking the poses, and for each image: determine, based on the tracked poses, whether to perform item detection, and when the determination is affirmative, (i) process the image to detect respective indicia affixed to a subset of the items and decode respective item identifiers from the indicia, (ii) generate positions of the detected indicia in the facility frame of reference, based on the poses of the mobile device, and (iii) update the repository with the decoded item identifiers and the generated positions.