Activity verification

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9767428-B1
Application number	US-201213455298-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Apr 25, 2012
Priority date	Jun 13, 2007
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments of systems, methods, and computer programs that facilitate verification of activity in an environment of predefined activity orchestration. Activity is captured on image capture devices in the environment of predefined activity orchestration. The activity is verified to be consistent with the predefined activity orchestration. An event is generated based upon whether the activity is consistent with the predefined activity orchestration.

First claim

Therefore, having thus described the invention, at least the following is claimed:

1. A system, comprising:
at least one processor circuit having a processor and a memory, the at least one processor circuit being operated in association with an environment of a predefined activity orchestration, the environment comprising a materials handling facility where a plurality of orders for a plurality of items are fulfilled and shipped, the materials handling facility including a plurality of inventory locations, each of the plurality of inventory locations containing a respective subset of the plurality of items, the materials handling facility further including equipment that accesses at least one inventory location and moves at least one item from the at least one inventory location;
logic executable by the at least one processor circuit that verifies whether a movement of the equipment captured in a field of view of at least one image capture device in the environment of the predefined activity orchestration is consistent with a plurality of safety rules, the plurality of safety rules comprising a first rule relating to a permissible speed of the equipment and a second rule relating to a permissible activity of the equipment when the equipment is in the field of view of the at least one image capture device and within a predefined distance from an entity in the environment; and
logic executable by the at least one processor circuit that generates an event that identifies an inconsistency between the movement of the equipment and at least one of the plurality of safety rules, the event triggering an implementation of an action, the action being implemented contemporaneously with an occurrence of the movement of the equipment.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of safety rules further comprises a third rule relating to a permissible type of movement of the equipment when the equipment is in the field of view of the at least one image capture device and within a second predetermined distance from the entity in the environment.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of safety rules further comprises a third rule relating to avoiding a collision with a detected obstruction for the equipment.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the action further comprises sending a message to an individual associated with the movement.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the action further comprises activating an alarm indicating that a corrective action is to be taken with respect to the movement.

6. A method, comprising the steps of:
capturing a movement of equipment in a field of view of at least one image capture device coupled to a processor-based system in an environment of a predefined activity orchestration, the environment comprising a materials handling facility, the predefined activity orchestration comprising a plurality of safety rules, the plurality of safety rules comprising a first rule relating to a permissible activity of the equipment when the equipment is in the field of view of the at least one image capture device and within a predefined distance of an entity in the environment;
determining with the processor-based system whether the movement is consistent with the plurality of safety rules; and
generating, using the processor-based system, an event based upon the movement and the plurality of safety rules.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the event indicates an inconsistency between the movement and at least one of the plurality of safety rules.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the event triggers an implementation of an action to correct the movement that is inconsistent with the at least one of the plurality of safety rules.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the action includes activating an alarm contemporaneously with the movement.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the action includes presenting an image of the movement captured with the image capture device for a manual review.

11. The method of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of safety rules includes a second rule relating to a permissible movement of the equipment when the equipment is in the field of view of the at least one image capture device and within a second predetermined distance from the entity in the environment.

12. The method of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of safety rules includes a second rule relating to avoiding a collision with a detected obstruction for the equipment.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the detected obstruction comprises an individual.

14. The method of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of safety rules includes a rule indicating whether the equipment is authorized to access an area of the environment.

15. A system, comprising:
at least one processor circuit having a processor and memory; and
an activity verification system executable by the at least one processor circuit, the activity verification system comprising:
logic that determines whether a movement of equipment captured in a field of view of at least one image capture device in an environment of a predefined activity orchestration is consistent with a plurality of safety rules, the plurality of safety rules comprising a first rule relating to a permissible activity of the equipment when the equipment is in the field of view of the at least one image capture device and within a predefined distance of an entity in the environment, the environment comprising a materials handling facility; and
logic that generates an event if the movement violates at least one of the plurality of safety rules.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the event indicates an inconsistency between the movement and at least one of the plurality of safety rules.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the activity verification system further comprises logic that activates an alarm upon generation of the event.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein at least one of the plurality of safety rules relates to a permissible movement of the equipment when the equipment is in the field of view of the at least one image capture device and within a second predetermined distance from an entity in the environment.

19. The system of claim 15 , wherein at least one of the plurality of safety rules relates to avoiding a detected obstruction for the equipment.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the detected obstruction comprises a spill.

21. The system of claim 15 , wherein at least one of the plurality of safety rules indicates whether the equipment is authorized to access an area of the environment.

22. The method of claim 6 , further comprising the step of determining a distance between the equipment and the entity.

23. The system of claim 15 , wherein the activity verification system further comprises logic that defines a pick route for the equipment, the pick route defining at least a portion of the movement of the equipment.

Assignees

• Bacco Edward M
• Hiatt David K
• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Bacco Edward M
• Hiatt David K

Classifications

• B25J9/1666

  Avoiding collision or forbidden zones · CPC title

• G06Q10/06

  Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling · CPC title

• G06Q30/02

  Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising · CPC title

• G06Q10/087 Primary

  Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders · CPC title

• G07C11/00

  Arrangements, systems or apparatus for checking, e.g. the occurrence of a condition, not provided for elsewhere · CPC title