Patent ID: 8873794

Claim:
A still image shopping event analysis method, comprising: capturing at a low frequency a sequence of still images from a fixed position camera of one or more monitored stationary shelves; and performing, by an analysis computer, an analysis of the still images captured, including: converting each still image into a pixel matrix comprising, for each pixel, only a pixel luminosity value such that each pixel matrix is lacking information usable to reconstruct the pixel matrix back to a displayable image; breaking down each pixel matrix into different regions, said regions comprising an aisle region having a plurality of zones, a shelf region, and a plurality of product regions in the shelf region, each product region having an associated product; discriminating differences between frames of the still images based on changes in pixels between the frames; detecting one or more shopping events occurring in a zone of the aisle region that is adjacent a first product region of the shelf region based on the discriminated pixel differences between frames of the still images alone without recognition of image features within the still images; categorizing the one or more shopping events, based on changes in pixels between frames, into constant-events during which no customer is visiting the zone of the aisle region adjacent the first product region when changes in pixels in the zone between frames are below a threshold, and visiting-events during which one or more customers are visiting the zone of the aisle region adjacent the first product region when changes in pixels in the zone between frames are above a threshold; detecting a purchasing-event, in which a purchase of a product located in the first product region has been made by a visiting customer during a visiting-event, by comparing a first frame captured during a constant-event preceding the visiting-event to a second frame captured during the constant-event following the visiting-event and detecting changes in pixels of the first product region between the first frame and the second frame, the changes in pixels indicating that the product from the first product region has been removed from the shelf region during the purchasing-event between the first frame and the second frame, the detecting being performed based on changes in pixels alone without recognition of image features within the still images, wherein the product that was removed during the purchasing-event is identified based upon the location of the changed pixels in the product region.