Method for accurate object tracking with color camera in multi planar scanners

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11328140-B2
Application number	US-202016856959-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 23, 2020
Priority date	Apr 23, 2020
Publication date	May 10, 2022
Grant date	May 10, 2022

Abstract

Methods for accurate object tracking are disclosed herein. An example the method includes receiving, from a first optical imaging assembly having a first field of view (FOV), a first image captured over the first FOV and based on a decode of an indicia associated with an object of interest, identifying the object of interest within the first image. The method further includes determining a location of the object of interest within the first image and mapping the location of the object of interest within the first image to a predicted location of the object of interest within a second image, the second image being received from a second optical imaging assembly having a second FOV and the second image being captured over the second FOV.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for accurate object tracking, the method comprising:
receiving, from a first optical imaging assembly having a first field of view (FOV), a first image captured over the first FOV;
based on a decode of an indicia associated with an object of interest, identifying the object of interest within the first image;
determining a location of the object of interest within the first image; and
mapping the location of the object of interest within the first image to a predicted location of the object of interest within a second image, the second image being received from a second optical imaging assembly having a second FOV and the second image being captured over the second FOV.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mapping the location of the object of interest within the first image to the predicted location of the object of interest within the second image is based on a timestamp of the first image and a timestamp of the second image.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first image is one of a plurality of images captured by the first optical imaging assembly and the second image is one of a plurality of images captured by the second optical imaging assembly.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying a first coordinate value along a first axis of the first image corresponding to the object of interest and identifying a second coordinate value along a second axis of the first image corresponding to the object of interest;
mapping the first coordinate value to a first offset coordinate value along a first axis of the second image, wherein the first offset coordinate value is based on a relative positional relationship between the first optical imaging assembly and the second optical imaging assembly; and
mapping the second coordinate value to a second offset coordinate value along a second axis of the second image, wherein the second offset coordinate value is based on the relative positional relationship between the first optical imaging assembly and the second optical imaging assembly.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying one or more moving objects and one or more stationary areas within the second image; and
filtering image data associated with the second image based on at least the one or more stationary areas.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying one or more moving objects of interest within the second image based on the predicted location of the object of interest within the second image;
identifying one or more foreign moving objects within the second image, the one or more foreign moving objects being separate from the one or more moving objects of interest; and
filtering image data associated with the second image based on the one or more foreign moving objects.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying a bounding box around the object of interest within the second image; and
filtering image data in the second image based on at least one of internal contents of the bounding box and external contents of the bounding box.

8. A barcode reader assembly for accurate object tracking, the barcode reader assembly comprising:
a housing;
a first optical imaging assembly positioned at least partially within the housing, the first optical imaging assembly having a first field of view (FOV) and configured to capture a first plurality of images;
a second optical imaging assembly having a second FOV and configured to capture a second plurality of images; and
a controller communicatively coupled to the first optical imaging assembly and the second optical imaging assembly, the controller being configured to:
detect a decode of an indicia associated with an object of interest, the decode being based on image data from at least one first image of the first plurality of images;
based on the decode of the indicia, determine a location of the object of interest within the at least one first image of the first plurality of images,
identify a timestamp of the at least one first image of the first plurality of images;
identify a corresponding at least one second image of the second plurality of images based on the timestamp of the at least one first image of the first plurality of images; and
filter image data associated with the at least one second image based on the location of the object of interest within the at least one first image of the first plurality of images.

9. The barcode reader assembly of claim 8 , wherein the controller is mounted within the housing.

10. The barcode reader assembly of claim 8 , wherein the second optical imaging assembly is positioned at least partially within the housing.

11. The barcode reader assembly of claim 8 , wherein the barcode reader assembly is a bioptic barcode reader assembly.

12. The barcode reader assembly of claim 8 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
identify a first coordinate value along a first axis of the at least one first image of the first plurality of images corresponding to the object of interest and identify a second coordinate value along a second axis of the at least first image of the first plurality of images corresponding to the object of interest;
map the first coordinate value to a first offset coordinate value along a first axis of the at least one second image of the second plurality of images, wherein the first offset coordinate value is based on a relative positional relationship between the first optical imaging assembly and the second optical imaging assembly; and
map the second coordinate value to a second offset coordinate value along a second axis of the at least one second image of the second plurality of images, wherein the second offset coordinate value is based on the relative positional relationship between the first optical imaging assembly and the second optical imaging assembly.

13. The barcode reader assembly of claim 8 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
identify one or more moving objects of interest within the at least one second image of the second plurality of images based on the location of the object of interest within the at least one first image of the first plurality of images;
identify one or more foreign moving objects within the at least one second image of the second plurality of images, the one or more foreign moving objects being separate from the one or more moving objects of interest; and
filter image data associated with the at least one second image of the second plurality of images based on the one or more foreign moving objects.

14. A system for accurate object tracking, the system comprising:
a first optical imaging assembly having a first field of view (FOV) and configured to capture a first image over the first FOV;
a second optical imaging assembly having a second FOV and configured to capture a second image over the second FOV; and
a controller configured to:
receive the first image and the second image,
based on a decode of an indicia associated with an object of interest, identify the object of interest within the first image,
determine a location of the object of interest within the first image, and
map the location of the object of interest within the first image to a predicted location of the object of interest within a second image.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the controller is further configured to map the location of the object of interest within the first image to the predicted location of the object of interest within the second image based on a timestamp of the first image and a timestamp of the second image.

Assignees

• Zebra Tech Corp

Inventors

• Wilfred Sajan
• Fjellstad Christopher J
• Daempfle Vincent J

Classifications

• G06K7/10574 Primary

  Multiple sources · CPC title

• G06V10/12

  Details of acquisition arrangements; Constructional details thereof · CPC title

• G06V20/52

  Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects (recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69) · CPC title

• G06K7/1413 Primary

  1D bar codes · CPC title

• G06Q20/208

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