Resolving events in item-identifying carts

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11064821-B2
Application number	US-201916711300-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 11, 2019
Priority date	Dec 11, 2019
Publication date	Jul 20, 2021
Grant date	Jul 20, 2021

Abstract

This disclosure is directed to item-identifying carts that may be utilized by users to automatically identify items that the users place in their carts. In addition, these carts may automatically determine the outcome of respective events that occur with respect to these identified items. For example, the carts may be configured to identify one or more items that are placed into or removed from the cart, and thereafter determine one or more actions taken with respect to the identified items and a quantity of the items involved. For example, after identifying a first item and a second item either placed into or removed from the cart, the cart may determine that the user added two instances of the first item and removed one instance of the second item. In response to making this determination, the cart may update a virtual cart of a user operating the physical cart.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A mobile cart comprising:
a frame that defines a basket;
one or more cameras coupled to the frame and directed substantially towards the basket for generating image data of items as they are placed into or removed from the basket;
one or more weight sensors coupled to the frame;
a display;
one or more processors; and
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:
causing the one or more cameras to generate first image data as a first item is placed into or removed from the basket;
analyzing the first image data to determine an identifier of the first item;
causing the display to present first data identifying the first item;
determining, using the one or more weight sensors, a change in weight of the basket;
determining, from an item catalog and using the identifier of the first item, a weight associated with the first item;
determining, after causing the display to present the first data, a quantity of the first item placed into or removed from the basket based at least in part on the weight associated with the first item and the change in weight of the basket; and
causing the display to present second data indicating the quantity.

2. The mobile cart of claim 1 , wherein:
the causing the one or more cameras to generate the first image data comprises causing the one or more cameras to generate the first image data as the first item is placed into or removed from the basket and as a second item is placed into or removed from the basket;
the analyzing comprises analyzing the first image data to determine the identifier of the first item and an identifier of a second item;
the causing comprises causing the display to present the first data and to present third data identifying the second item;
the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media further store computer-executable instructions that, when executed cause the one or more processors to perform an act comprising determining, from the item catalog and using the identifier of the second item, a weight associated with the second item;
the determining the quantity comprises determining the quantity of the first item and determining a quantity of the second item placed into or removed from the basket based at least in part on the weight associated with the first item, the weight associated with the second item, and the change in weight of the basket; and
the causing the display to present the second data comprises causing the display to present the second data indicating the quantity of the first item and to present fourth data indicating the quantity of the second item.

3. The mobile cart of claim 1 , further comprising a lighting element coupled to the frame, and wherein the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media further store computer-executable instructions that, when executed cause the one or more processors to perform an act comprising causing the lighting element to emit a first color or first light sequence at least partly in response to determining the identifier of the first item.

4. The mobile cart of claim 1 , wherein the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media further store computer-executable instructions that, when executed cause the one or more processors to perform an act comprising:
determining that a weight of the basket as determined by the one or more weight sensors has not changed by more than a threshold amount for a predefined amount of time;
and wherein the determining the change in the weight of the basket comprises determining the change in the weight of the basket at least partly in response to determining that the weight of the basket has not changed by more than the threshold amount for the predefined amount of time.

5. The mobile cart of claim 1 , wherein the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media further store computer-executable instructions that, when executed cause the one or more processors to perform an act comprising updating a virtual cart associated with a user operating the mobile cart to indicate the quantity of the first item placed into or removed from the basket, the updating occurring after causing the display to present the first data identifying the first item.

6. A mobile cart comprising:
a frame defining a basket;
one or more cameras directed towards the basket;
one or more weight sensors;
one or more output devices;
one or more processors; and
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:
receiving image data generated by the one or more cameras;
analyzing the image data to identify an item represented in the image data;
causing, at least partly in response to identifying the item, the one or more output devices to output an indication that the item has been identified;
receiving weight data indicative of a weight of the basket, the weight data generated by the one or more weight sensors;
determining, after causing the one or more output devices to output the indication that the item has been identified, an event associated with the item based at least in part on the weight data; and
updating a virtual cart associated with a user operating the mobile cart to indicate the event.

7. The mobile cart as recited in claim 6 , wherein the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media further store computer-executable instructions that, when executed cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising determining that the weight of the basket of the mobile cart has not changed by more than a threshold amount for a predefined amount of time, and wherein the determining the event based at least in part on the weight data comprises determining the event based at least in part on the weight data at least partly in response to determining that the weight of the basket has not changed by more than the threshold amount for the predefined amount of time.

8. The mobile cart as recited in claim 6 , wherein:
the analyzing comprises analyzing the image data to identify a first item represented in the image data and a second item represented in the image data;
the causing comprises causing the one or more output devices to output one or more indications that the first item and the second item have been identified;
the determining comprises determining a first event associated with the first item based at least in part on the weight data and a second event associated with the second event associated with the second item based at least in part on the weight data; and
the updating comprises updating the virtual cart to indicate the first event and to indicate the second event.

9. The mobile cart as recited in claim 6 , wherein the analyzing the image data to identify the item comprises analyzing the image data to determine an identifier of the item, and wherein the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media further store computer-executable instructions that, when executed cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:
determining, from an item catalog and using the identifier of the item, a weight associated with item;
and wherein the determining the event comprises determining the event associated with the item based at least in part on the weight data indicative of the weight of the basket and the weight associated with the item.

10. The mobile cart as recited in claim 9 , wherein the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media further store computer-executable instructions that, when executed cause the one or more processors to perfo

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Cohn Jonathan
• Maron Oded
• De Bonet Jeremy Samuel
• Ma Xiang

Classifications

• B62B3/1416

  mounted on the handle · CPC title

• G06Q20/208

  Input by product or record sensing, e.g. weighing or scanner processing · CPC title

• G06Q20/18 Primary

  involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals · CPC title

• A47F9/048 Primary

  automatically · CPC title

• G07G1/0081

  the reader being a portable scanner or data reader (G07G1/009 takes precedence) · CPC title