Dynamic Planogram Monitoring for Shelf Placement Deviations
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for monitoring product placement in retail stores are inefficient and non-uniform, lacking continuous monitoring capabilities and often result in compliance gaps due to manual checks, which do not account for dynamic changes in product displays.
Innovation Solution
A system and method utilizing image processing and sensors to capture, analyze, and compare actual product placement with desired placement, triggering alerts for disparities and providing incentives for non-employee individuals to correct deviations, while also identifying perishable products and generating offers based on inventory analysis.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If manual monitoring methods are used to check product placement, then compliance can be monitored, but the monitoring is inefficient and results in non-uniform compliance and significant gaps due to inability to continuously monitor dynamically changing displays
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical monitoring with an automated image processing system using cameras and computer vision algorithms. The system captures images of store shelves, automatically identifies products and their positions, and compares actual placement with desired planogram specifications, eliminating the need for manual inspection while providing continuous monitoring capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service monitoring where the retail environment itself provides the data for compliance checking through automatically placed cameras and sensors that capture shelf conditions without human intervention. The image processing system autonomously analyzes the captured data and generates compliance reports.
2Reliability
If continuous automated monitoring is implemented using image processing, then monitoring efficiency and reliability improve, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The image processing system is designed to perform multiple functions: capturing shelf images, identifying products, determining product positions, comparing with planograms, and generating compliance reports. This multi-functionality consolidates what would otherwise require separate systems into a single integrated platform, managing complexity while enhancing reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary image processing layer between the physical shelf environment and the compliance assessment. Cameras capture visual data, which is then processed through computer vision algorithms to extract meaningful information about product placement, serving as a mediator that translates physical conditions into analyzable data.
3Loss of time
If manual monitoring is used, then system complexity remains low, but significant gaps in compliance monitoring occur due to lack of continuous monitoring capability
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements continuous monitoring by having cameras continuously or periodically capture images of store shelves. The image processing system continuously analyzes these images to detect changes in product placement, ensuring uninterrupted surveillance of compliance conditions without manual intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary identification and classification of products in the image database before compliance checking. Products are pre-tagged with identifying features and stored in a reference database, allowing rapid comparison during actual compliance monitoring without time-consuming manual identification.
Data Source
AI summary
A method may include analyzing first images to determine an actual placement of first products displayed on shelves of a retail store; determining a deviation of an actual placement of some of the first products from the desired placement of products associated with a first planogram; receiving second images; analyzing the second images to determine an actual placement of the second products displayed on the shelves; identifying a deviation of the actual placement of some of the second products from the desired placement of products associated with the first planogram; using the second planogram to determine whether an arrangement associated with a second products conforms to the second planogram rather than to the first planogram; and when the arrangement associated with the second products conforms to the second planogram, avoiding issuance of a notification indicating a deviation relative to the first planogram.