Patent ID: 12248920

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Refer toFIG.1andFIG.3, an intelligent shelf management system based on the present invention mainly includes an operating and display device1, an information module2, a content management system3, and a point-of-sale system4. The operating and display device1consists of a touch interface, a voice operated device, and a display interface. The operating and display device1which can also be a touch screen11or a display screen with a microphone is electrically connected to the information module2which comprises an analysis module21and a database of goods22for establishing relational analysis rules of goods demand based on deep learning approach. The content management system3is electrically connected to the information module2and the point-of-sale system4which includes a plurality pieces of related sales information such as position information of goods on shelves, price information of goods, amounts of goods in stock (stock information of goods), etc. As to the above relational analysis rules, dividing goods in the database of goods22into groups based on their characteristics at first. Taking a pharmacy store's system as an example. A demand-analysis model of ingredients or functions of all medicines or health food is trained by deep learning approach. The suitable ingredients of medicines or health food are quickly calculated and provided to consumers for reference after demands are input. Moreover, the deep learning approach integrates technologies of neural networks, decision trees, and random forests to develop the relational analysis rules of goods demand mentioned above.

Refer toFIG.2andFIG.3, the present system further includes a camera recognition module5which is electrically connected to the point-of-sale system4and the information module2and comprises at least one image capture device51and an image recognition module52. The image capture device51can be different types of cameras such as a wireless network internet protocol camera (IP cam) for surveillance.

A product tag71which can be a touch display device is placed on a shelf6and located around respective goods7for showing information related to the goods7such as prices, promotions, other available platforms for users to buy the goods7, etc.

Refer toFIG.1-4, pharmacies and drugstores are taken as an example in this embodiment. After entering into the store, a consumer U inputs his/her demand of goods (goods they are looking for) m1by the operating and display device1such as the touch screen11or the voice operated device at first. For instance, the touch screen11in a pharmacy shows a schematic drawing of human organs or body parts. Once the consumer U is looking for medicines for nose allergy or stuffy nose, he/she clicks on a nose icon or says “nose” or “nasal”. Then the touch screen11displays symptoms of diseases associated with the nose and the demand for goods m1is sent to the information module2after the consumer U selects the corresponding symptoms. The analysis module21of the information module2analyzes the demand of goods m1received to get suitable product information m2from the database of goods22after comparison and send the product information m2to the content management system3. In this embodiment, the product information m2includes ingredients of medicines which correspond to nasal symptoms.

The analysis module21of the information module2also carries out relational analysis to get relational analysis rules between the demand of goods m1and the product information m2. Taking the above pharmacy as an example. The ingredients of medicines associated with the symptoms are obtained after analysis of the symptoms input by the consumer U and then compared with information in the database of goods22to check whether the pharmacy has the medicines containing the related ingredients.

Refer toFIG.2, the image capture device51of the camera recognition module5shoots the goods7on the shelf6to get image information and send the image information to the image recognition module52for recognition of appearance and positions of the goods7and learning positions of specific goods. This is a recognition result m5. The respective image capture devices51are labeled with different numbers or having different IP addresses. Both the recognition result m5and the number of the image capture device51which sends image information are delivered to the database of goods22of the information module2then delivered to the content management system3.

In a preferred embodiment, the image recognition module52sets up recognition rules based on deep learning. In order to establish the recognition rules, using images of the appearance of the goods7taken at different angles to set up a database is the first step. Step 2 is training an image recognition model by using deep learning approach. Thereby types and names of the goods7can be inferred by input of the images captured by the image capture device51into the image recognition model. The deep learning approach combines technologies of neural networks, pattern recognition, and digital image processing.

The present system uses the camera recognition module5to recognize the positions of the goods7on the shelf6automatically. Thus, even the positions of the goods7are changed, the camera recognition module5can still be used to recognize the positions of the goods7and deliver the recognition result m5to the content management system3, without input of the latest positions of the goods7again by labors. The possibility of input error caused by manual input is also lowered. At the same time, the content management system3also receives product information m2from the database of goods22of the information module2, or the content management system3also receives related sales information m3from the point-of-sale system4while the sales related information m3includes position information of goods m4.

The content management system3compares the product information m2received with the plurality of the related sales information m3received for finding out the related sales information m3that matches the product information m2. Then the matched related sales information m3is sent to the operating and display device1by the content management system3and provided to the consumer U so that the consumer U can move to the corresponding shelf6and take the goods7according to the related sales information m3displayed.

The point-of-sale system4includes the stock information of goods so that the content management system3can also get current quantity of the goods7in stock while obtaining the matched goods7from the point-of-sale system4. Once the quantity of the goods7in stock is insufficient, the content management system3reminds staff to replenish the stock.

Refer toFIG.4, when the consumer U walks to the corresponding shelf6, each kind of goods7on the shelf6is provided with the product tag71which can also be a touch display device. After being touched by consumers, the product tag71is activated and a message of activation is sent to the content management system3so that the content management system3recognizes the product tag71of which goods7is activated and then delivers a message related to the goods7corresponding to the product tag71to the point-of-sale system4. Next the point-of-sale system4get the message related to the goods7across to an electronic commerce system. Thereby information related to the goods7such as price, promotions, other available platforms, etc. is displayed on the product tag71for the customer's (U) reference.

As shown inFIG.3andFIG.4, the operating and display device1, the information module2, the content management system3, the point-of-sale system4, the image recognition module52of the camera recognition module5, and the electronic commerce system can be arranged at one or a plurality of servers8which can be a physical server or cloud server.

In summary, the present invention has the following advantages compared with the techniques available now.

1. After input of the needs through the operating and display device of the present system, the customer can find out the goods he/she wants and recognize the positions of the goods quickly. Thus, the time it takes to search the goods in the store is significantly reduced. The store can be operated with fewer employees so that the operating cost is reduced.
2. Even the positions of the goods are changed, the position information of the goods in the point-of-sale system can be modified automatically in a real-time manner by the camera recognition module which recognizes the positions of the goods on the shelf automatically. Thus, there is no need to input the position information of the goods by labor and input error caused by manual operation can be avoided. In addition, the content management system can also set whether to modify the permissions to each store manager, once it is detected that the product is moved to the shelf that no longer corresponds, the store manager can confirm on the content management system whether he agrees to directly change the product information, or then send the clerk to adjust the product to the correct shelf.
3. The present system can be applied to various types of stores, especially those sell a plurality of products such as pharmacies, cosmetic stores, grocery stores, hardware stores, etc. and thus having a wide range of applications.

Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details, and representative devices shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalent.