Product Storage Counts Using Cached Image Templates

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Solution Overview

Problem

Manual inspection of price tag labels and products in large product storage facilities is time-consuming and increases operational costs, as workers could be performing other tasks if not involved in manual inspections.

Innovation Solution

An image capture device moves about the facility, capturing images of product storage structures, processing them to detect and recognize products, and generating templates for each product, which are stored in an electronic database for subsequent identification and counting.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If manual inspection of price tag labels and products is performed, then product storage areas can be monitored for proper labeling, but time consumption and operational costs increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveproduct labeling verificationVSAvoidinspection time

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces the manual mechanical inspection system with an automated image processing system. Image capture devices photograph product storage areas, and computer processing systems automatically analyze these images to detect price tag labels and verify product-label associations, eliminating the need for manual visual inspection while maintaining verification reliability

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The system creates digital copies (images) of the physical product storage areas. These image copies are then processed by computer algorithms to detect price tag labels and verify product-label associations, allowing the inspection function to be performed on replicas rather than the original physical space, thus saving time

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

2Reliability

If manual inspection of price tag labels and products is performed, then product storage areas can be monitored for proper labeling, but operational costs increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveproduct labeling verificationVSAvoidoperational cost

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The system enables self-service inspection where the computer processing system automatically performs label detection and verification without human intervention. The system serves itself by using algorithmic image analysis to complete the inspection task that previously required paid human labor, thereby reducing operational costs

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

3Measurement precision

If image processing is performed on all products to detect and recognize individual items, then accurate product identification and counting is achieved, but processing time and computational resources increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveproduct identification accuracyVSAvoidprocessing time

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the image processing task by first detecting price tag labels and using their known locations as reference points. Individual products are then identified and counted based on their spatial relationships to these segmented label regions, rather than processing each product independently, which reduces overall processing time while maintaining identification accuracy

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary detection of price tag labels and their locations before proceeding to identify individual products. This preliminary action establishes reference points that guide subsequent product detection, reducing the computational complexity and time required for full product identification while maintaining accuracy

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS20250329164A1Systems and methods of using cached images to determine product counts on product storage structures of a product storage facility

Publication Date: 2025.10.23 WALMART APOLLO LLC

AI summary

Systems and methods of detecting and recognizing products on product storage structures of a product storage facility include an image capture device that moves about and captures images of the product storage structures at the product storage facility. A computing device processes the obtained images to detect and identify the products on the product storage structure, crops each of the identified individual products from the image to generate a plurality of cropped images and generates an image histogram template, feature vector template and location information template for each of the cropped images. The cropped images are stored in an electronic database and represent a reference model for each of the identified individual products and are stored in association with the generated image histogram template, feature vector template and location information template to facilitate recognition of products subsequently captured on the product storage structure by the image capture device.