Systems and methods for merchandise checkout

Abstract

Systems and methods for recognizing and identifying items located on the lower shelf of a shopping cart in a checkout lane of a retail store environment for reducing or preventing loss or fraud and increasing the efficiency of a checkout process efficiency. The system includes one or more visual sensors that can take images of items and a computer system that receives the images and automatically identifies the items. The system can be trained to recognize the items using images taken of the items. The system relies on matching visual features from training images to match against features extracted from images taken at the checkout lane. Using the scale-invariant feature transformation (SIFT) method, for example, the system can compare extracted visual features of the images to the features stored in a database to find one or more matches, where the found one or more matches are used to identify the items.

1 - 11 . (canceled) 
     
     
         12 . A system for checking out merchandise, comprising:
 at least one visual sensor for capturing an image of an object in or on a moveable structure;   a checkout subsystem adapted to receive visual data from the at least one visual sensor and analyze the visual data with a scale invariant feature transform (SIFT);   a server adapted to receive the analyzed visual data comprising one or more SIFT features from the checkout system, recognize the object from among a plurality of known objects based on the SIFT features, and send match data to the checkout subsystem.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the checkout subsystem is coupled to one or more input devices, each of the one or more input devices including a barcode scanner, a scale, a keyboard, a keypad, a touch screen, a card reader or any combination thereof, and wherein the checkout subsystem is a checkout terminal used by a cashier or a self-service checkout terminal. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the checkout subsystem is connected to a checkout terminal operable by a cashier. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the server is adapted to transmit information of the recognized object to the checkout terminal for display to the cashier. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the checkout subsystem is adapted to automatically transmit a price of the recognized object to the checkout terminal. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the checkout subsystem is adapted to add a price of the recognized object to a list of merchandise being purchased. 
     
     
         18 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A system for checking out merchandise, comprising:
 at least one visual sensor for capturing an image of at least a portion of one or more objects on a moveable structure;   a database of known scale-invariant features associated with a plurality of known objects; and   a subsystem coupled to the at least one visual sensor, wherein the subsystem is adapted to:
 detect at least one scale-invariant feature for each of the one or more objects from the image of the objects on the moveable structure; and 
 identify each of the one or more objects from the image by matching the at least one detected scale-invariant feature with the scale-invariant features associated with the plurality of known objects from the database. 
   
     
     
         22 . (canceled) 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the moveable structure is a shopping cart. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the at least one detected scale-invariant feature is a scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) feature. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the at least one visual sensor is a digital camera with a charge-coupled-device (CCD) imager, a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) imager, an infrared imager, or any combination thereof. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the subsystem comprises:
 a checkout subsystem configured to receive visual data from the at least one visual sensor;   a server configured to receive visual data from the checkout subsystem, recognize the object, and send match data to the checkout subsystem; and   an object database configured to store the plurality of visual features associated with the plurality of known objects.   
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein the object database is spread over a plurality of storage devices connected via a network. 
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the moveable structure comprises a cart. 
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the cart comprises a shopping cart. 
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the shopping cart comprises a bottom of basket, and wherein the at least one visual sensor comprises one or more cameras directed to the bottom of basket when the cart is in a checkout lane. 
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the at least one visual sensor comprises one or more cameras that have a field of view of a checkout lane. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the at least one visual sensor comprises one or more cameras that have a field of view of a shopping cart in a checkout lane. 
     
     
         33 . A method for checking out merchandise, comprising the steps of:
 capturing, via at least one visual sensor, an image of at least a portion of one or more objects on a moveable structure;   storing, in a database, known scale-invariant features associated with a plurality of known objects;   detecting at least one scale-invariant feature for each of the one or more objects from the image of the objects on the moveable structure;   identifying each of the one or more objects from the image by matching the at least one detected scale-invariant feature with the scale-invariant features associated with the plurality of known objects from the database.   
     
     
         34 . A method according to  claim 33  wherein the step of capturing an image of at least a portion of one or more objects on a moveable structure comprises capturing an image of a shopping cart in a checkout lane. 
     
     
         35 . A method according to  claim 33  wherein the database is spread over a plurality of storage devices connected via a network.