Shopper ID Correlation via Manual Input for Lost Tracking

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing shopper management systems face difficulties in accurately tracking and managing shoppers when they are temporarily lost from the monitoring system, leading to potential misidentification and incorrect monitoring of individuals.

Innovation Solution

A shopper management device and system that includes a determining unit, an input unit, and a correlating unit to identify and correlate shopper IDs with target person IDs, ensuring accurate tracking and management even if a shopper is lost and later re-detected.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a large number of sensors are used to monitor shopper actions, then monitoring coverage is improved, but system complexity and difficulty of proper sensor disposal increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemonitoring coverageVSAvoidsensor disposal complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the core identification function from the complex sensor system and implements it through a dedicated identification device that uses simpler detection mechanisms (such as cameras or RFID readers) to capture shopper information. This separates the monitoring function from the complex sensor disposal requirements, allowing reliable identification without needing to manage numerous sensors throughout the store.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

2Productivity

If automatic tracking is implemented, then monitoring efficiency is improved, but difficulty in determining identity continuity after loss increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemonitoring efficiencyVSAvoididentity continuity determination
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the identification device continuously provides shopper identification information to the management device. When a shopper is lost from automatic tracking, the system receives feedback about the lost shopper's characteristics and uses this information to properly re-identify them when re-detected, ensuring continuous and accurate tracking across detection events.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary actions by capturing and storing shopper identification data (such as appearance characteristics, clothing, or RFID tags) at the moment of detection. This preliminary data collection ensures that when a shopper is lost and later re-detected, the system already has the reference information needed to correctly determine identity continuity without delay or error.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentEP3839907B1Shopper management device, information processing program, shopper management method, and shopper management system
Publication Date: 2024.11.06 TOSHIBA TEC KK
  • EP3839907B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP3839907B1 patent drawingFigure 3~5
  • EP3839907B1 patent drawingFigure 6~7

AI summary

A shopper management device includes a processing circuit. The processing circuit is configured to store a first list of first identifiers for identifying a plurality of tracked people within a store, store a second list of second identifiers for specifying a plurality of shoppers within the store, determine that a respective first identifier from the first list of first identifiers for identifying a respective tracked person is not correlated with a respective second identifier from the second list of second identifiers for specifying a respective shopper, receive an input that links the respective tracked person to the respective shopper according to an operation performed by an operator, and correlate the respective second identifier with the respective first identifier such that the respective tracked person is identified as the respective shopper.