Shopping cart corral system and associated systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10481256-B2
Application number	US-201715479658-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 5, 2017
Priority date	Apr 6, 2016
Publication date	Nov 19, 2019
Grant date	Nov 19, 2019

Abstract

Example shopping cart corral systems and associated systems and methods are described. The example shopping cart corral system includes a corral structure, a radio-frequency transmitter, a radio-frequency receiver, and a controller coupled to the radio-frequency transmitter and the radio-frequency receiver. The controller estimates a quantity of shopping carts disposed in the shopping cart corral based on at least one property of the reflected radio-frequency signal. An example shopping cart counter system includes an elongated structure, first and second electrical contacts, a power source and a processing device. The power source applies a voltage or an electrical current to the first electrical contact and the shopping carts complete an electrical circuit between the first and second electrical contacts. The processing device estimates the quantity of shopping carts disposed in the elongated structure based on an electrical resistance associated with the shopping carts.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A shopping cart corral system, comprising:
a corral structure including a proximal end, a distal end, and an enclosure configured and dimensioned to extend between the proximal and distal ends, the enclosure defining an interior area for receiving one or more shopping carts, the proximal end of the corral structure including an opening for entrance and exit of the one or more shopping carts from the enclosure;
a radio-frequency transmitter to transmit a radio-frequency signal into the interior area of the enclosure, the radio-frequency signal interacting with the one or more shopping carts in the corral structure to generate a reflected radio-frequency signal having at least one property that differs from the radio-frequency signal based on interference of the one or more shopping carts with the radio-frequency signal;
a radio-frequency receiver being configured to receive the reflected radio-frequency signal; and
a controller operatively coupled to the radio-frequency receiver, the controller being configured to estimate a quantity of shopping carts that are disposed in the interior area of the enclosure based on the at least one property of the reflected radio-frequency signal received by the radio-frequency receiver, a degree to which the one or more shopping carts interfere with the radio-frequency signal indicative of the quantity of shopping carts that are disposed in the interior area of the enclosure.

2. The shopping cart corral of claim 1 , wherein the radio-frequency transmitter is disposed at the distal end of the corral structure.

3. The shopping cart corral of claim 2 , wherein the radio-frequency transmitter transmits the radio-frequency signal from the distal end towards the proximal end of the corral structure.

4. The shopping cart corral of claim 1 , wherein the radio-frequency transmitter transmits a plurality of radio-frequency signals into the interior area of the enclosure and the radio-frequency receiver receives a plurality of reflected radio-frequency signals.

5. The shopping cart corral of claim 1 , wherein the reflected radio-frequency signal is a radiated wave reflection.

6. The shopping cart corral of claim 1 , wherein the degree to which the one or more shopping carts interfere with the radio-frequency signal increases as a number of shopping carts disposed within the interior area of the enclosure increases.

7. The shopping cart corral of claim 6 , wherein the controller is configured to determine that zero shopping carts are in the interior area of the enclosure of the corral structure in response to a first value of the at least one property of the reflected radio-frequency signal.

8. The shopping cart corral of claim 6 , wherein the controller is configured to determine that half of the interior area of the enclosure of the corral structure is filled with the one or more shopping carts in response to a second value of the at least one property of the reflected radio-frequency signal.

9. The shopping cart corral of claim 6 , wherein the controller is configured to determine that three-quarters of the interior area of the enclosure of the corral structure is filled with the one or more shopping carts based on a third value of the at least one property of the reflected radio-frequency signal.

10. A method of estimating a customer count, comprising:
providing a shopping cart corral system, the shopping cart corral system including (i) a corral structure including a proximal end, a distal end and an enclosure configured and dimensioned to extend between the proximal and distal ends, the enclosure defining an interior area for receiving one or more shopping carts, the proximal end of the corral structure including an opening for entrance and exit of the one or more shopping carts from the enclosure, (ii) a radio-frequency transmitter, (iii) a radio-frequency receiver, and (iv) a controller operatively coupled to the radio-frequency receiver;
transmitting a radio-frequency signal with the radio-frequency transmitter into the interior area of the enclosure, the radio-frequency signal interacting with the one or more shopping carts in the corral structure to generate a reflected radio-frequency signal having at least one property that differs from the radio-frequency signal based on interference of the one or more shopping carts with the radio-frequency signal;
receiving the reflected radio-frequency signal with the radio-frequency receiver; and
estimating a quantity of shopping carts that are disposed in the interior area of the enclosure with the controller based on the at least one property of the reflected radio-frequency signal received by the radio-frequency receiver, a degree to which the one or more shopping carts interfere with the radio-frequency signal indicative of the quantity of shopping carts that are disposed in the interior area of the enclosure.

11. The method of claim 10 , comprising estimating a customer count using a shopping cart within a retail environment based on the estimated quantity of shopping carts that are disposed in the interior area of the enclosure.

12. The method of claim 10 , comprising transmitting the radio-frequency signal with the radio-frequency transmitter from the distal end towards the proximal end of the corral structure.

13. A customer count estimation system, comprising:
a corral structure including a proximal end, a distal end, and an enclosure configured and dimensioned to extend between the proximal and distal ends, the enclosure defining an interior area for receiving one or more shopping carts, the proximal end of the corral structure including an opening for entrance and exit of the one or more shopping carts from the enclosure;
a first radio-frequency transmitter to transmit a first radio-frequency signal into the interior area of the enclosure, the first radio-frequency signal interacting with the one or more shopping carts in the corral structure to generate a first reflected radio-frequency signal having at least one property that differs from the first radio-frequency signal based on interference of the one or more shopping carts with the first radio-frequency signal;
a first radio-frequency receiver being configured to receive the first reflected radio-frequency signal;
a second radio-frequency transmitter disposed at an entrance of a retail environment to transmit a second radio-frequency signal into the entrance of the retail environment, the second radio-frequency signal interacting with one or more shopping carts passing through the entrance of the retail environment to generate a second reflected radio-frequency signal having at least one property that differs from the second radio-frequency signal;
a second radio-frequency receiver being configured to receive the second reflected radio-frequency signal; and
a controller operatively coupled to the first radio-frequency receiver and the second radio-frequency receiver, the controller being configured to (i) estimate a quantity of shopping carts that are disposed in the interior area of the enclosure based on the at least one property of the reflected first radio-frequency signal received by the first radio-frequency receiver, a degree to which the one or more shopping carts interfere with the first radio-frequency signal indicative of the quantity of shopping carts that are disposed in the interior area of the enclosure, (ii) estimate a quantity of shopping carts that are disposed within the retail environment based on the at least one property of the reflected second radio-frequency signal received by the second radio-frequency receiver, and (iii) estimate a customer count using a shopping cart

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Jones Nicholaus Adam
• Taylor Robert James
• Vasgaard Aaron James
• Jones Matthew Allen

Classifications

• G01S13/04

  Systems determining presence of a target (based on relative movement of target G01S13/56) · CPC title

• G01S13/88 Primary

  Radar or analogous systems specially adapted for specific applications (electromagnetic prospecting or detecting of objects, e.g. near-field detection, G01V3/00) · CPC title

• A47F10/04

  for storing or handling self-service hand-carts or baskets · CPC title

• G08B13/24

  by interference with electromagnetic field distribution · CPC title

• B62B3/14

  characterised by provisions for nesting or stacking, e.g. shopping trolleys {(collapsible shopping trolleys B62B3/027)} · CPC title