Patent ID: 11966900
Assignee: WALMART APOLLO, LLC
Field: IT methods for management (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 0:
1. A system, the system comprising:
a local control circuit coupled to a local database via an electronic network and coupled to a central control circuit central database via the electronic network, wherein the local control circuit and the local database are disposed at a retail store, and wherein the central control circuit and the central database are disposed at a central processing center remote from the retail store, the local control circuit configured to:
receive one or more images from one or more cameras deployed at a checkout area of the retail store, the one or more images depicting items in a shopping cart, each image of the one or more images associated with individual transaction time information;
analyze the one or more images to identify the items in the shopping cart and a checkout register identifier;
generate a computer vision (CV) profile listing the items in the shopping cart, the CV profile including the checkout register identifier;
obtain electronic transaction records associated with the checkout register identifier, wherein a point-of-sales device at a checkout register records a sales transaction of a customer as the customer purchases items at the retail store and creates an electronic transaction record that includes transaction information, a transaction number, and a unique transaction identifier, wherein the customer obtains a receipt of the sales transaction including the transaction number, wherein the unique transaction identifier is not presented in any form to the customer, the unique transaction identifier and the transaction number being separate and different, wherein the transaction number is obtainable via electronic scan of the receipt;
transmit the generated CV profile and the electronic transaction record to the central control circuit;

wherein the central control circuit is configured to receive the CV profile and the electronic transaction record from the local control circuit via the electronic network, and store the CV profile and the electronic transaction record in the central database,
retrieve the electronic transaction record from the central database, obtain the unique transaction identifier from the retrieved electronic transaction record, retrieve the CV profile from the central database using the unique transaction identifier, compare the items on the CV profile to sales transaction items on the electronic transaction record, and responsive to a determination that there is a discrepancy between the items on the CV profile and the sales transaction items, determine an action to take;
wherein the action is one or more of: sending an electronic alert to a mobile device associated with an employee of the retail store, sending electronic information showing the discrepancy to the mobile device associated with the employee of the retail store, sending a control signal to activate a warning indicator at an exit of the retail store, and sending a control signal to instruct an automated vehicle to retrieve an unpaid item from the customer and return the unpaid item to the retail store.