Commodity recognition apparatus and commodity recognition method

Abstract

The commodity recognition apparatus displays a frame for surrounding a commodity in an image captured by an image capturing module. Then the commodity recognition apparatus recognizes a candidate of the commodity imaged in the frame according to the feature amount of the image in the area surrounded by the frame, and outputs information of a highest ranked candidate commodity. If a change instruction for the candidate is received, the commodity recognition apparatus outputs information of the commodity other than the highest ranked candidate selected from the candidates.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A commodity recognition apparatus, comprising:
 an image capturing module configured to photograph an image capturing area including a commodity to capture an image thereof;   an image display module configured to display the image captured by the image capturing module on a display module;   an input receiving module configured to receive a selection input on any position on the image displayed on the display module;   a frame display module configured to display, on the image displayed on the display module, a frame for surrounding the image of the commodity the selection input on which is received by the input receiving module;   a recognition module configured to recognize a candidate of the commodity imaged in the frame according to the feature amount of the image in the area surrounded by the frame;   a first output module configured to output information of a best candidate commodity among the candidates of the commodity recognized by the recognition module;   a change receiving module configured to receive a change instruction for the candidate output by the first output module; and   a second output module configured to output information of the commodity other than the best candidate selected from the candidates if the change instruction for the candidate of the commodity is received by the change receiving module.   
     
     
         2 . The commodity recognition apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the recognition module calculates a similarity degree between a parameter indicating appearance feature amount of each commodity and feature amount of an image in an area surrounded by the frame border for each commodity and recognizes candidates in the descending order of similarity degree;   the first output module regards the commodity having the highest similarity degree as the best candidate of the commodity and outputs information of the commodity; and   the second output module sequentially selects a next candidate commodity of which the similarity degree is ranked just below that of the current candidate and outputs information of the candidate commodity selected every time the change receiving module receives a change instruction.   
     
     
         3 . The commodity recognition apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the frame display module displays the frame having the position as a center thereof an instruction input on which is received by the input receiving module.   
     
     
         4 . The commodity recognition apparatus according to  claim 3 , further comprising:
 a determination module configured to determine whether or not the position an instruction input on which is received by the input receiving module is inside the frame displayed by the frame display module; wherein   the frame display module is operated if it is determined that the position is outside the frame, and the change receiving module is operated if it is determined that the position is inside the frame.   
     
     
         5 . The commodity recognition apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the first, second output module outputs information of a commodity in the frame to display, respectively; and   the second output module makes the display form of the frame different from the frame in which information of the commodity output by the first output module is displayed.   
     
     
         6 . A commodity recognition method, including:
 photographing an image capturing area including a commodity to capture an image thereof;   displaying the image photographed;   receiving a selection input on any position on the image displayed;   displaying, on the image displayed, a frame for surrounding the image of the commodity the selection input on which is received;   recognizing a candidate of the commodity imaged in the frame according to the feature amount of the image in the area surrounded by the frame;   outputting information of a best candidate commodity among the recognized commodities;   receiving a change instruction for the candidate; and   outputting information of the commodity other than the best candidate selected from the candidates if the change instruction for the candidate is received.   
     
     
         7 . The commodity recognition method according to  claim 6 , further including:
 calculating a similarity degree between a parameter indicating appearance feature amount of each commodity and feature amount of an image in an area surrounded by the frame border for each commodity and recognizing candidates in the descending order of similarity degree;   regarding the commodity having the highest similarity degree as the best candidate commodity and outputting the information of the commodity; and   sequentially selecting a next candidate commodity of which the similarity degree is ranked just below that of the current candidate to output information of the commodity every time the change instruction is received.   
     
     
         8 . The commodity recognition method according to  claim 6 , further including:
 displaying the frame having a position as a center thereof an instruction input on which is received.   
     
     
         9 . The commodity recognition method according to  claim 8 , further including:
 determining whether or not the position an instruction input on which is received is inside the frame displayed; and   displaying a frame for the commodity a selection input on which is received if it is determined that the position is outside the frame, or receiving a change instruction if it is determined that the position is inside the frame.   
     
     
         10 . The commodity recognition method according to  claim 6 , wherein
 information of the highest ranked candidate commodity among the recognized commodities displayed in the frame is changed to information of the commodity other than the best candidate selected from the candidates to display it in the frame if the change instruction of the candidate is received.