Visual Marker Tag Survey for Accurate Shelf Label Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for associating tags with objects in retail environments, such as electronic shelf labels, require a manual double scan process, which is time-consuming and prone to human error, and consume unnecessary battery power through display updates.
Innovation Solution
A fast tag survey system using visual markers, where a camera-mounted robot captures images of tags with fiducial markers, aligning them with a map to automate the tag-to-object mapping and eliminate the need for double scanning, while conserving battery power by avoiding display updates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual double scan process is used to associate tags with objects, then tag-to-object mapping can be achieved, but the process is time-consuming and prone to human error
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical scanning process with an automated optical system. A camera captures images of visual markers on tags, and image processing algorithms automatically detect and decode the markers to identify tags and their associated objects, eliminating the need for manual double scanning and reducing both time and human error.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses visual markers (such as fiducial markers or barcodes) as optical copies that encode tag identification information. Instead of manually scanning and interpreting tag data, the system captures visual copies through imaging and automatically processes them to establish tag-to-object mappings, significantly improving speed and accuracy.
2Loss of information
If display updates are performed on tags to show identification information, then tag identification is enabled, but battery power is consumed unnecessarily
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies visual markers to tags in advance during manufacturing or installation. These markers contain encoded identification information that can be read optically without requiring the tag's display to be activated. This preliminary encoding allows the system to identify tags using passive visual markers rather than active display updates, conserving battery power.
3Productivity
If automated camera-based survey system is implemented, then tag survey speed and accuracy are improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a multi-functional integrated system where a single camera unit performs multiple tasks: capturing images of visual markers, detecting marker positions and orientations, decoding identification information, and transmitting data to the central server. This universal approach consolidates what could be multiple separate systems into one unified device, improving productivity while managing complexity through integration.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and techniques are described for surveying devices. For example, an apparatus can obtain, from at least one camera sensor while the at least one camera sensor is traveling along a path, a plurality of images comprising a plurality of devices. Each image is obtained from a respective position of the at least one camera sensor along the path. Each device of the plurality of devices includes a respective visual marker. The apparatus can detect visual markers of the plurality of devices in the plurality of images and can determine an arrangement of the visual markers detected in the plurality of images. The apparatus can pair, based on aligning the arrangement of the visual markers with a first map comprising a corresponding arrangement of a plurality of objects, a respective object of the plurality of objects to each device of the plurality of devices.