Shelf system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020093288-A1
Application number	US-201916375832-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 4, 2019
Priority date	Sep 21, 2018
Publication date	Mar 26, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

A shelf system includes: a shelf body with at least one storage space; an item identification pattern on a horizontal edge of the storage space and extending by a preset length along a length direction of the horizontal edge; an image capture unit configured to obtain image information of the storage space, the image information including the item identification pattern; and a processor configured to, based on the image information, determine storage situation of a matching item that matches the item identification pattern and is stored in a preset placement range in the storage space. The preset placement range is an extension space which is in the storage space and which is defined by a horizontal plane corresponding to an extension range of the item identification pattern by a preset extension length. There is a preset correspondence relationship between the item identification pattern and the matching item.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A shelf system comprising:
a shelf body with at least one storage space; an item identification pattern on a horizontal edge of the storage space and extending by a preset length along a length direction of the horizontal edge; an image capture unit configured to obtain image information of the storage space, wherein the image information includes the item identification pattern; and a processor configured to, based on the image information, determine a storage situation of a matching item that matches the item identification pattern and is stored in a preset placement range in the storage space; wherein the preset placement range is an extension space which is in the storage space and which is defined by a horizontal plane corresponding to an extension range of the item identification pattern by a preset extension length, and there is a preset correspondence relationship between the item identification pattern and the matching item.

2 . The shelf system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is specifically configured to, based on the image information:
determine whether there is an item different from the matching item in the preset placement range in the storage space; and in response to determining that there is an item different from the matching item, determine that there is a misplaced item in the storage space.

3 . The shelf system of claim 1 , wherein the image capture unit is disposed on the shelf body and is located above each storage space.

4 . The shelf system of claim 1 , wherein:
the shelf body includes at least two storage boards that are sequentially arranged from bottom to top; a spacing space between two adjacent storage boards defines the storage space; and the item identification pattern is at a horizontal edge of the storage board below the storage space.

5 . The shelf system of claim 4 , wherein:
there are at least two storage spaces; the item identification pattern is disposed at the horizontal edge of the storage board below each storage space; the image capture unit is disposed at such a position that the image capture unit is able to get image information including each storage space; and the image information including each storage space includes each item identification pattern.

6 . The shelf system of claim 5 , wherein:
every two adjacent storage boards include a first storage board and a second storage board; an orthographic projection of the item identification patterns at the first storage board onto a plane where the second storage board is located, is within an area where the second storage board is located; and the first storage board is located above the second storage board.

7 . The shelf system of claim 4 , wherein a bearing surface for placing items of the storage board is inclined downward by a preset angle with respect to the horizontal surface.

8 . The shelf system of claim 7 , wherein the preset angle is less than or equal to 45 degrees.

9 . The shelf system of claim 6 , wherein the processor is further configured to, based on the image information, in response to determining that a person takes an item from or puts the item on the shelf body and the item identification pattern on the first storage board and the item identification pattern below the first storage board are blocked while the item identification pattern above the first storage board is not blocked during a taking-and-putting process, determine that the item which is taken or put, is the matching item which matches the item identification pattern on the first storage board.

10 . The shelf system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to, at a preset interval, count a quantity of times each matching item has been taken and a quantity of times each matching item has been put; and based on the quantity of times each matching item has been taken and the quantity of times each matching item has been put, for each matching item, count a quantity of items which are currently stored.

11 . The shelf system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to, based on the image information, determine whether there is a vacant area in the preset placement range in the storage space; and determine that the matching item in the preset placement range is out of stock, when determining that there is the vacant area in the preset placement range.

12 . The shelf system of claim 1 , wherein:
in the shelf body, there are two different item identification patterns at the horizontal edge of the identical storage space; there is a preset correspondence relationship between each of the different item identification patterns and each of different matching items; and the image information obtained by the image capture unit includes the two different item identification patterns.

13 . The shelf system of claim 1 , wherein:
the shelf system includes at least two shelf bodies that are arranged side by side; each shelf body includes a storage space at the same height; the storage spaces at the same height in the two adjacent shelf bodies are communicated with each other; each shelf body is provided with one corresponding image capture unit; each image capture unit is configured to obtain image information of the storage space in the corresponding shelf body, as well as image information of the storage space in the shelf body adjacent the corresponding shelf body; and the processor is specifically configured to, based on the image information obtained by two adjacent image capture units, determine storage situation of the matching item that matches the item identification pattern and is stored in the preset placement range in the storage space.

14 . The shelf system of claim 1 , wherein the item identification pattern has a preset color; and there is a preset correspondence relationship between each of item identification patterns of various colors and each of various matching items.

15 . The shelf system of claim 1 , wherein the item identification pattern is shown by an electronic shelf label (ESL) or a display panel.

16 . The shelf system of claim 7 , wherein the shelf body includes a vertical frame body;
each storage board is mounted to the frame body through an adjustment structure.

17 . The shelf system of claim 1 , wherein the shelf system further includes a base on the shelf body; and the processor is in the base.

Assignees

• Boe Technology Group Co Ltd

Inventors

• Sun Junmin
• Ni Pan
• Cao Lei
• Ren Yan
• Wang Zifeng
• Zhang Zhiguo

Classifications

• A47F5/10 Primary

  Adjustable or foldable {or dismountable} display stands {(foldable racks in general A47B43/00; dismountable racks in general A47B47/00; assemblies of elements of the same kind, e.g. stackable A47B87/00; publicity panels G09F15/0068)} · CPC title

• A47F2010/025

  using stock management systems · CPC title

• A47F5/0018

  Display racks with shelves or receptables (racks per se A47B; storage devices for warehouses B65G1/02) · CPC title

• G06T7/74

  involving reference images or patches · CPC title

• H04N7/181

  for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources · CPC title