A reading apparatus for reading a wireless tag attached to a commodity includes a wireless tag reader configured to emit a radio wave and read information in a radio wave returned from a wireless tag, and a processor configured to control the wireless tag reader to emit the radio wave, upon detection of radio waves returned from one or more wireless tags, determine one or more commodity codes based on information contained in the radio waves, and upon detection of at least one commodity placed in a predetermined area, register the one or more commodity codes determined within a predetermined time prior to the placement of said at least one commodity in the predetermined area.

A vison-based self-checkout terminal is provided. Purchased items are placed on a base and multiple cameras take multiple images of each item placed on the base. A location for each item placed on the base is determined along with a depth and the dimensions of each item at its given location on the base. Each item's images are then cropped, and item recognition is performed for each item on that item's cropped images with that item's corresponding depth and dimension attributes. An item identifier for each item is obtained along with a corresponding price and a transaction associated with items are completed.

A self-service checkout counter is disclosed. In implementations of the present specification, the checkout counter includes a countertop for holding at least one product; a lighting panel disposed opposite to the countertop, wherein the lighting panel comprises at least one light source that provides lighting to items placed on the countertop; a pole that connects the countertop and the lighting panel, and supports the lighting panel; and a plurality of cameras that shoot images of items placed on the countertop, wherein the images are used to perform product identification and pricing and at least a part of the plurality of cameras are disposed on the lighting panel.

An unattended, automated checkout, computer-controlled automated store outlet and system is disclosed. A customer's identification and payment information are inputted and verified and the customer qualified to remove items from the automated store outlet. Each bay of the automated store outlet is normally locked, and after the customer accesses the bay can remove one or more items from the bay, which are automatically detected and identified and charged to the customer as part of the purchase transaction. These events occur at the location of each automated store outlet. Each automated store outlet communicates with a central control center, which can be used for live customer service and real time surveillance.

This disclosure is directed to item-identifying carts that may be utilized by users to automatically identify items that the users place in their carts. In addition, these carts may automatically determine the outcome of respective events that occur with respect to these identified items. For example, the carts may be configured to identify one or more items that are placed into or removed from the cart, and thereafter determine one or more actions taken with respect to the identified items and a quantity of the items involved. For example, after identifying a first item and a second item either placed into or removed from the cart, the cart may determine that the user added two instances of the first item and removed one instance of the second item. In response to making this determination, the cart may update a virtual cart of a user operating the physical cart.

A portable checkout unit automatically generates training data for an automatic checkout system as a customer collects items in a store. A customer uses an item scanner of portable checkout unit to generate a virtual shopping list of items collected in the shopping cart. When the customer adds a new item to the shopping cart or on some regular interval, the portable checkout unit captures images of the items contained by the shopping cart and can generate bounding boxes for each product in each image. The bounding boxes can be associated with item identifiers from previously-generated bounding boxes to identify the items captured by the bounding boxes. Each bounding box paired with an item identifier can then be used as training data for an automated checkout system.

Disclosed are visual recognition and sensor fusion weight detection system and method. An example method includes: tracking, by a sensor system, objects and motions within a selected area of a store; activating, by the sensor system, a first computing device positioned in the selected area in response to detecting a presence of a customer within the selected area; identifying, by the sensor system, the customer and at least one item carried by the customer; transmitting, by the sensor system, identifying information of the customer and the at least one item to a computing server system via a communication network; measuring, by the first computing device, a weight of the at least one item; transmitting, by the first computing device, the weight to the computing server system via the communication network; and generating, by the computing server system, via the communication network, transaction information of the at least one item.

This disclosure is directed to item-identifying carts that may be utilized by users to automatically identify items that the users place in their carts. In addition, these carts may automatically determine the outcome of respective events that occur with respect to these identified items. For example, the carts may be configured to identify one or more items that are placed into or removed from the cart, and thereafter determine one or more actions taken with respect to the identified items and a quantity of the items involved. For example, after identifying a first item and a second item either placed into or removed from the cart, the cart may determine that the user added two instances of the first item and removed one instance of the second item. In response to making this determination, the cart may update a virtual cart of a user operating the physical cart.

In an embodiment, a wireless tag reading checkout apparatus checkout apparatus includes a conveyor to convey objects with wireless tags attached thereto. An antenna is arranged along a portion of the conveyor and is configured to transmit an interrogation wave for reading wireless tags and then to receive a response wave from the wireless tags. A controller calculates changes in a phase difference between the interrogation wave and a response wave from a wireless tag over a time period corresponding to the conveyance of an object by the conveyor. The controller can identify whether the wireless tag responding to the interrogation wave is on an object being conveyed by the conveyor by using the calculated changes in the phase difference.

In one embodiment, a sales data processing apparatus has a first and a second antennas, and a processor. The first antenna receives, from a wireless tag attached to a commodity, tag information to uniquely identify the relevant commodity. The second antenna receives the tag information from the wireless tag recovered by a recovery device. The processor judges whether the wireless tag attached to the commodity is a wireless tag required to be detached from the commodity, based on the tag information received by the first antenna. The processor judges whether the second antenna has received the tag information of the wireless tag which is judged to be the wireless tag required to be detached from the commodity.