Patent Publication Number: US-2018032990-A1

Title: Item location detection on scales

Description:
BACKGROUND INFORMATION 
     Shrinkage is a common and expensive problem at retail outlets, such as grocery stores. Shrinkage often occurs right at the checkout stand where items are moved across a scanner/scale without being scanned. Another type of fraud at the checkout terminal is the placing of an item on only a portion of a scale such that the weight of the item is not fully on the scale. Shrinkage can also occur through item substitution; that is, presenting the item, but entering it as a different item. 
     Some of these issues, such as item substitution fraud are the subject of fraud detection solutions implemented at checkout stands through image processing. However, for such image processing solutions to work properly, an image needs to be properly captured, such as by one or more imaging devices of or coupled to a scanner that capture images for barcode scanning, among other purposes. If an item is not located in an area where the imaging devices are directed, the fraud detection solutions cannot function and are thereby defeated. Thus, some fraud detection solutions can be bypassed by fraudsters and current fraud detection solutions are not able to detect all forms of known fraud. 
     SUMMARY 
     The various embodiments herein each include at least one of systems, methods and software for item location detection on scales, such as on scanner/scales that may be deployed at checkout terminals. 
     One such embodiment is in the form of a method that includes processing data with regard to an item present on a scale of a checkout terminal to locate the item on the scale. The data that is processed is captured in some embodiments upon a steady weight condition greater than zero. This method further includes outputting a message from the terminal when an item is not located within a defined acceptable area of the scale. 
     Another method embodiment includes determining a scale has a steady weight greater than zero and capturing an image of at least a portion a top surface of the scale. This method may then determine whether an item is present on the scale surface within an acceptable area and when the item is not present on the scale surface within the acceptable area, output an error indication, such as on a display of the checkout terminal. 
     A further embodiment is in the form of a terminal, such as a checkout terminal which may be a self-service checkout terminal or a cashier assisted checkout terminal. The terminal typically includes a scanner/scale, at least one imaging device, at least one output device and a computer controlling operation of the terminal. The computer includes at least one processor and at least one memory device storing instructions executable by the processor to perform data processing activities. The data processing activities may include receiving weight measurements over time from the scanner/scale and determining whether an item is present on the scale surface within an acceptable area as included in an image received from the at least one imaging device. The data processing activities may further include outputting an error indication from the at least one output device when the item is not present on the scale surface within the acceptable area. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a logical block diagram of a checkout terminal, according to an example embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is an illustration of an image of a scale surface of a scanner/scale, according to an example embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a computing device, according to an example embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  is a block flow diagram of a method, according to an example embodiment. 
         FIG. 5  is a block flow diagram of a method, according to an example embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The various embodiments herein each include at least one of systems, methods and software for item location detection on scales, such as on scanner/scales that may be deployed at checkout terminals. The various embodiments herein operate to locate an item on a surface of a scale or scanner/scale of a checkout terminal, which may be a self-service or cashier assisted. Some such embodiments may simply operate to determine whether an item for which the scale or scanner/scale is registering a weight is within an acceptable area. When the item is not within the acceptable area, a potential fraud or error condition is declared and a user is instructed via one or both of a displayed message and an audible message or sound. These and other embodiments are described herein with reference to the figures. 
     In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the inventive subject matter may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice them, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural, logical, and electrical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the inventive subject matter. Such embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be referred to, individually and/or collectively, herein by the term “invention” merely for convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to any single invention or inventive concept if more than one is in fact disclosed. 
     The following description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limited sense, and the scope of the inventive subject matter is defined by the appended claims. 
     The functions or algorithms described herein are implemented in hardware, software or a combination of software and hardware in one embodiment. The software comprises computer executable instructions stored on computer readable media such as memory or other type of storage devices. Further, described functions may correspond to modules, which may be software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. Multiple functions are performed in one or more modules as desired, and the embodiments described are merely examples. The software is executed on a digital signal processor. ASIC, microprocessor, or other type of processor operating on a system, such as a personal computer, server, a router, or other device capable of processing data including network interconnection devices. 
     Some embodiments implement the functions in two or more specific interconnected hardware modules or devices with related control and data signals communicated between and through the modules, or as portions of an application-specific integrated circuit. Thus, the exemplary process flow is applicable to software, firmware, and hardware implementations. 
       FIG. 1  is a logical block diagram of a checkout terminal  100 , according to an example embodiment. The checkout terminal  100 , although generally illustrated as a self-service checkout terminal, may instead be a cashier-assisted checkout terminal. The checkout terminal  100  is illustrated in greatly simplified form, but sufficiently to convey the subject matter herein. As illustrated, the checkout terminal  100  includes a scanner/scale  102  and a computing device  108  that controls operation of the checkout terminal. Some embodiments may further include one or more imaging devices  110  that are deployed to capture images of a various views at the checkout terminal, such as a view of a top surface  104  of the scanner/scale  102  or a portion thereof including the scanning window  106 . An example of an image that may be captured by the imaging device  110  is illustrated in  FIG. 2 . 
     Fraud detection algorithms may be performed on the checkout terminal  100  to detect various types of fraud, such as item substitution fraud and weighing only partial weights of items by placing items to be weighed on only a corner of the scanner/scale  102 . However, to ensure such algorithms are able to properly and reliably be applied, various embodiments herein operate to ensure items place on the scale of the scanner/scale  102 , or scales of other checkout terminals  100  that include a separate scale, are placed in an acceptable area of the scale. An acceptable area is typically a central area of the scale, such as over a scanning window  106  through which an imaging device of the scanner/scale  102  can capture an image of at least a portion of the item. Similarly, other imaging devices may be utilized, such as an imaging device of the scanner/scale  102  deployed behind a vertical scanning window or the imaging device  110  that may be deployed directly above or an angle above the scanner/scale  102 . Images from these other imaging devices may be utilized to identify a location of an item on the scale. In some embodiments, the location of an item on the scale may be a Boolean determination, for example, a determination of whether an item is present or not present within a certain area of the top plate  104  of the scanner/scale  102 . Such determinations may be made through image processing, such as subtraction of a reference image from a newly captured image. 
     In further embodiments, one or more ultrasonic measuring devices may be deployed near a scanning field of the scanner/scale  102  to determine a distance between the respective measuring device and an item that may be present. In such embodiments, the distance may be compared with one or a range of acceptable distances. Further, multiple of such measurements from a two or more measuring devices maybe used to locate an item on the scale in two dimensions. Similarly, edge detection applied against two or more images each captured from a different angle. Such image processing is generally referred to as stereo image processing. 
     In some other embodiments, the scale, such as the scale of the scanner/scale  102  includes a plurality of weight sensors distrusted under the top plate  104 . These sensors measure weight at various locations under the top plate  104  in some embodiments to allow for determination of where an item is placed on the scale. In such embodiments, the locations of these sensors is known and the weights may be utilized to determine whether the item is located within the acceptable area. 
     Regardless of the method or methods used to determine whether an item is present on the scale surface within an acceptable area, when an item is present on the scale as determined by a stable measured weight of the item greater than zero and that item is not present within an acceptable area, an indication is output from the computing device  108 . The indication may be output as an instruction on a display of the computing device  108 , as a sound or voice instruction, or both. The instructions generally instruct a user to move the item to the acceptable area. 
       FIG. 2  is an illustration of an image of a scale surface of a scanner/scale  102 , according to an example embodiment. The image may have been captured by the imaging device  110  of  FIG. 1  or other imaging device. Although multiple areas of the scale surface are illustrated in the example image, not all areas are included in images captured in all embodiments. 
     The image of  FIG. 2  is of a scale surface of the scanner scale  102 . The scale surface includes a top plate  104  upon which items are placed to be weighed. The top plate  104  includes a scanning window  106  therein through which items presented can be scanned for pricing and imaged for various purposes including fraud detection, as well as scanning. An imaging device that captures the image of  FIG. 2  may capture an image just as illustrated and the block  208  illustrates the acceptable area within which items are to be placed, in whole or in part, to be weighed. In other embodiments, an imaging device may capture an image only of the area within block  208 . Thus, if nothing else is included within an image of block  208 , but the scale is registering a steady weight greater than zero, an error condition exists such that the instruction described with regard to  FIG. 1  will be output by the checkout terminal  100  of  FIG. 1 . 
     Note as well with regard to  FIG. 2  that an image may be captured by an imaging device deployed under the scanning window  106 . In such embodiments, the acceptable area for processing such images is the area of the scanning window  106 . 
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a computing device, according to an example embodiment, such as the computing device  108  of  FIG. 1  or even the scanner/scale  102  also of  FIG. 1 . In one embodiment, multiple such computer systems are utilized in a distributed network to implement multiple components in a transaction-based environment. An object-oriented, service-oriented, or other architecture may be used to implement such functions and communicate between the multiple systems and components. One example computing device in the form of a computer  310 , may include a processing unit  302 , memory  304 , removable storage  312 , and non-removable storage  314 . Although the example computing device is illustrated and described as computer  310 , the computing device may be in different forms in different embodiments. For example, the computing device may instead be a smartphone, a tablet, smartwatch, or other computing device including the same or similar elements as illustrated and described with regard to  FIG. 3 . Devices such as smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches are generally collectively referred to as mobile devices. Further, although the various data storage elements are illustrated as part of the computer  310 , the storage may also or alternatively include cloud-based storage accessible via a network, such as the Internet. 
     Returning to the computer  310 , memory  304  may include volatile memory  306  and non-volatile memory  308 . Computer  310  may include—or have access to a computing environment that includes a variety of computer-readable media, such as volatile memory  306  and non-volatile memory  308 , removable storage  312  and non-removable storage  314 . Computer storage includes random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) and electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technologies, compact disc read-only memory (CD ROM), Digital Versatile Disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium capable of storing computer-readable instructions. 
     Computer  310  may include or have access to a computing environment that includes input  316 , output  318 , and a communication connection  320 . The input  316  may include one or more of a touchscreen, touchpad, mouse, keyboard, camera, one or more device-specific buttons, one or more sensors integrated within or coupled via wired or wireless data connections to the computer  310 , and other input devices. The computer  310  may operate in a networked environment using a communication connection  320  to connect to one or more remote computers, such as database servers, web servers, and other computing device. An example remote computer may include a personal computer (PC), server, router, network PC, a peer device or other common network node, or the like. The communication connection  320  may be a network interface device such as one or both of an Ethernet card and a wireless card or circuit that may be connected to a network. The network may include one or more of a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), the Internet. and other networks. In some embodiments, the communication connection  320  may also or alternatively include a transceiver device, such as a BLUETOOTH® device that enables the computer  310  to wirelessly receive data from and transmit data to other BLUETOOTH® devices. 
     Computer-readable instructions stored on a computer-readable medium are executable by the processing unit  302  of the computer  310 . A hard drive (magnetic disk or solid state). CD-ROM, and RAM are some examples of articles including a non-transitory computer-readable medium. For example, various computer programs  325  or apps, such as one or more applications and modules implementing one or more of the methods illustrated and described herein or an app or application that executes on a mobile device or is accessible via a web browser, may be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium. 
       FIG. 4  is a block flow diagram of a method  400 , according to an example embodiment. The method  400  may be performed to determine whether items present on a scale are properly located on the scale to allow for proper weighing, fraud detection, and other purposes. The method  400  may be performed on a scale, a computer controlling operation of a checkout terminal, or a combination of both. 
     The method  400  includes processing  402  data with regard to an item present on a scale of a checkout terminal, such as the terminal  100  of  FIG. 1 , to locate the item on the scale. The data in such embodiments is typically captured upon a steady weight condition on the scale greater than zero. The method  400  then outputs  404  a message from the terminal when an item is not located within a defined acceptable area of the scale. 
     In some embodiments, the data processed  402  with regard to the item present on the scale includes data captured by at least one ultrasonic measuring device. The location of the item within the acceptable area of the scale in some such embodiments is determined based on the item being located within an acceptable distance from the at least one ultrasonic measuring device. 
       FIG. 5  is a block flow diagram of a method  500 , according to an example embodiment. The method  500  may be performed to determine whether items present on a scale are properly located on the scale to allow for proper weighing, fraud detection, and other purposes. The method  500  may be performed on a scale, a computer controlling operation of a checkout terminal, or a combination of both. 
     The method  500  includes determining  502  a scale has a steady weight greater than zero and capturing  504  an image of at least a portion a top surface of the scale. The method then determines  506  whether an item is present on the scale surface within an acceptable area and, when the item is not present on the scale surface within the acceptable area, outputs  508  an error indication. The error indication may be output as a message from the scale to a terminal instructing the terminal to output a message from the terminal requesting the item on the scale be moved to the acceptable area. In other embodiments, the method  500  is performed in part on terminal and the error condition is identified on the terminal. 
     It will be readily understood to those skilled in the art that various other changes in the details, material, and arrangements of the parts and method stages which have been described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of the inventive subject matter may be made without departing from the principles and scope of the inventive subject matter as expressed in the subjoined claims.