Portable Product Scanner with Visual Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
The retail industry faces challenges in accurately identifying products due to misidentification issues, which can lead to significant losses and inefficiencies, often requiring costly customized scanners that are limited in use and location.
Innovation Solution
A mobile retail scanner system with a control circuit, imaging system, and display that captures images, detects identifier patterns, and provides feedback to users through virtual targeting graphics and a scan timer, enhancing the reliability and speed of product identification by maintaining the identifier pattern within a threshold distance of the field of view for a defined duration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If customized scanners are used to accurately identify products, then product identification accuracy is improved, but device cost and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by enabling standard mobile devices to perform product identification functions that previously required customized scanners. The system uses existing cameras and processors in smartphones and tablets, making the technology universally accessible without requiring specialized hardware for each scanning application.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses copying by creating a virtual representation of the physical product through image capture. The imaging system captures images of the product, and software algorithms process these images to identify and extract product information, replacing the need for physical contact or specialized scanning hardware.
2Reliability
If customized scanners are deployed to ensure accurate product identification, then reliability is improved, but adaptability and mobility are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by transitioning from static, fixed-location scanners to dynamic, mobile scanning capability. The system allows users to scan products at any location using portable mobile devices, enabling movement and flexibility while maintaining identification reliability through software-based processing that adapts to various environments and lighting conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical scanning systems with fixed positions and physical scanner hardware with software-based image processing algorithms. The system substitutes mechanical identification methods with computational approaches that analyze captured images, eliminating the need for specialized hardware at each scanning location.
3Device complexity
If traditional scanning methods are used, then device simplicity is maintained, but product identification accuracy and speed decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies continuity by implementing real-time image capture and processing during the scanning action. The system continuously captures images as the user moves the device, and software algorithms continuously process these frames to track and identify the product, maintaining uninterrupted identification throughout the scanning process rather than requiring precise positioning at a single moment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback by providing real-time visual confirmation to users during the scanning process. The system displays captured images and provides feedback on whether the product is being successfully identified, allowing users to adjust their scanning approach immediately and ensuring accurate product recognition before final identification is confirmed.
Data Source
AI summary
Some embodiments product identifying systems comprising: a scanner control circuit; an imaging system; a display; and a memory storing a product identifier module executed by the control circuit to: detect, through a series of images, a machine-readable identifier pattern; control the display to render the series of images on the display; activate a scan timer having a scan duration; render, on the display, a scan timer graphic overlaid on a subset of the series of images and corresponding to a changing remaining time of the scan duration as the remaining time expires; confirm that the identifier pattern was maintained within a threshold distance of the center of the field of view over at least a threshold read duration of the scan duration; extract identifying information; and obtain a product identifier corresponding to the identifying information and add the product identifier to a virtual shopping cart.