System and method for monitoring display unit compliance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10360613-B2
Application number	US-201515512545-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 1, 2015
Priority date	Oct 1, 2014
Publication date	Jul 23, 2019
Grant date	Jul 23, 2019

Abstract

Examples of the disclosure provide a compliance monitoring system suitable for display units in a retail store. A wearable device is configured to be worn by a user while in use. The wearable device may be coupled to a server. The wearable device is configured to capture an image of a product label on a display unit. The wearable device may process the captured image to extract product identity information from a machine-readable portion of the product label. The wearable device may retrieve stored label information from the server based on the extracted product identity information. The wearable device may display the retrieved stored label information in a field of view of the user while the user views a human readable portion of the product label, thereby allowing a compliance comparison therebetween.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for monitoring compliance of a display unit in a retail store, comprising:
a wearable device configured to be worn by a user while in use;
a server coupled to the wearable device by a communication network;
wherein the wearable device is configured to:
capture an image of a product label on a display unit;
process the captured image to extract product identity information from a machine readable portion of the product label in the captured image;
retrieve stored label information from the server based on the extracted product identity information; and
display the retrieved stored label information by the wearable device simultaneously in a field of view of the user with a human readable portion of the product label, thereby allowing a compliance comparison therebetween.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the wearable device is further configured to:
extract displayed label information from the human readable portion of the product label in the captured image;
compare the extracted displayed label information from the human readable portion of the product label with the stored label information as retrieved from the server, and
display an alert in the field of view of the user if the retrieved stored label information is not the same as the extracted displayed label information.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the wearable device is configured to extract the displayed label information using optical character recognition.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the wearable device is configured to operate in a scanning mode, in which the wearable device continuously captures images.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the machine readable portion of the product label comprises a barcode.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the stored label information is stored in a database, and the database is configured to be updated on a periodic basis to reflect changes in the stored label information.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the wearable device is a pair of smart glasses.

8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a second wearable device configured to communicate with the first wearable device,
wherein the first wearable device is configured to create a task message and transmit the task message to the second wearable device, and
wherein the second wearable device is configured to display the task message.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the second wearable device is configured to transmit a confirmation that the task has been completed to the first wearable device.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the second wearable device comprises a second image capture unit configured to capture an image showing evidence of the completed task, and wherein the confirmation includes the captured image showing evidence of the completed task.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the first wearable device is configured to communicate with the second wearable device via the server.

12. A method of ensuring display unit compliance in a retail store, comprising:
capturing an image of a product label on a display unit using a wearable device;
processing the captured image to extract product identity information from a machine readable portion of the product label in the captured image;
retrieving stored label information based on the extracted product identity information; and
displaying, by the wearable device, the retrieved stored label information simultaneously in a field of view of the user with a human readable portion of the product label, thereby allowing a compliance comparison therebetween.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
extracting displayed label information from a human readable portion of the product label in the captured image;
comparing the extracted label information with the stored label information, and
displaying, by the wearable device, an alert in the field of view of the user if the retrieved stored label information is not the same as the extracted label information.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
creating a task message;
transmitting the task message to a second wearable device; and
displaying the task message on the second wearable device.

15. A computer readable medium having instructions recorded thereon which when executed cause a wearable computer device to perform a method of ensuring display unit compliance in a retail store, comprising:
capturing an image of a product label on a display unit using the wearable computer device;
processing the captured image to extract product identity information from a machine readable portion of the product label in the captured image;
retrieving stored label information based on the extracted product identity information; and
displaying, by the wearable computer device, the retrieved stored label information simultaneously in a field of view of the user with a human readable portion of the product label, thereby allowing a compliance comparison therebetween.

Assignees

• Asda Stores Ltd
• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Stout Philip

Classifications

• G06K7/10554

  Moving beam scanning · CPC title

• G06K9/209

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06K9/344

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06K9/6202

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06Q30/02

  Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising · CPC title