Patent ID: 8061603

Claim:
A method for controlling a checkout throughput, comprising: capturing an image of an item with an image capture device, wherein the capturing includes waiting for a low motion of the item, taking dark and bright images of the item and using the dark and bright images to segment the item from a background to obtain a captured image of the item; scanning a barcode of the item with a scanning device; wherein the image capture device and the scanning device are adjacent to each other and are both positioned within a common enclosure and the item is positioned outside the common enclosure; processing the image to capture an appearance of the item; wherein the processing includes extracting at least one visual feature; searching a database of items to determine an identity of the item and a set of expected attributes of the item, based on the captured image barcode, wherein the set of expected attributes includes at least one of: an expected identity of the item, an expected appearance of the item, an expected physical dimension of the item, an expected price of the item, and an expected weight of the item; obtaining a set of actual attributes for the item, wherein the obtaining is performed by at least one of: a scale, a user input, and the barcode scan; analyzing the set of actual attributes and the set of expected attributes to determine whether an inconsistency exists; wherein an inconsistency exists when the set of actual attributes differs from the expected set of attributes by more than a tolerance threshold; and automatically and dynamically tuning the tolerance threshold based on a desired checkout throughput, wherein the tuning comprises increasing the tolerance threshold in the case that an actual checkout throughput is greater than the desired checkout throughput, and decreasing the tolerance threshold in the case that the actual checkout throughput is less than the desired checkout throughput.