A handcart includes a cart frame, a caster, and a code reader. The cart frame includes a receiving portion on which a shopping basket is placeable and a lateral portion extending in a width direction of the cart frame. The caster is disposed at a bottom region of the cart frame. The code reader is attached to the lateral portion of the cart frame so as to be rotatable around the lateral portion. The code reader may be rotated around the lateral portion of the cart frame to a first position at which a reading window of the code reader faces an inner space of the shopping basket on the receiving portion of the cart frame, and to a second position at which the reading window of the code reader faces a front of the cart frame.

Self-checkout technologies for retail stores are improved by incorporation of enhanced fraud detection arrangements. For example, if a shopper enters an item on a self-checkout tally, while positioned at a location remote from the normal stock location for that item, a responsive action may be taken. Likewise, if a shopper enters the same item on a self-checkout tally twice, at widely separated times, a responsive action may be taken. These responsive actions can include dispatching a store clerk to assist the shopper, or increasing a risk score that is repeatedly re-calculated during the shopper's visit. A great variety of other features and arrangements (e.g., powering arrangements for mobile phones in shopping carts) are also detailed.

In some implementations, a system for providing and managing associations between mobile computing device and physical shopping carts used in retail stores includes a physical shopping cart configured to transport physical goods around a store. The physical shopping cart includes a product detection system that is programmed to detect products that are placed in the physical shopping cart, a wireless transceiver to wirelessly communicate with other devices, and a cart identifier that uniquely identifies the physical shopping cart. The system further includes a mobile computing device that is programmed (i) to obtain the cart identifier for the shopping cart, (ii) to establish an association with the physical shopping cart using the cart identifier, and (iii) once the association between the physical shopping cart and the mobile computing device has been established, to output a user interface that provides a real-time summary of the products in the physical shopping cart.

A pallet sled includes a pair of tines extending forward from a base. A load wheel supports each of the pair of tines. The load wheels are each configured to move away from the respective tine to lift the respective tine upward relative to a support surface on which the load wheel is supported. A processor on the pallet sled records usage of the sled, such as lift cycles, location over time, battery condition, lift height, weight lifted, distance traveled, and the like. A communication circuit may be configured to send data from the pallet sled to a remote server. An identification reader may be configured to read an identification tag of an object supported on the pair of tines, such as an rfid tag on a pallet.

Physical shopping carts can have product detection systems and associate physical shopping carts with mobile computing devices (e.g., smartphones, tablet computing devices, smart watches, wearable computing devices). For example, physical shopping carts can be equipped with one or more product detection systems (e.g., scanners, sensors, cameras) that can electronically tally products that are placed in physical shopping carts. Mobile computing devices can be associated with and mounted on the physical shopping carts to provide a variety of enhanced shopping cart features not possible with conventional physical shopping carts, such as electronically tracking the contents of a shopping cart, checking-out from the mobile computing device (instead of at conventional check-out areas, such as point of sale terminals), and others.

A media enhanced shopping cart system comprises a shopping cart, a locationing component, and a display component for displaying at least one advertisement for a product based on the location of the shopping cart within the store, wherein the locationing component is further operable to determine a location of the product within the store relative to the shopping cart, and wherein the display component is further operable to display an indication of the location of the advertised product relative to the location of the shopping cart.

According to one embodiment, an information processing device includes a processing circuit having programmed instructions to: determine a cart location of a shopping cart that is moved by a customer and used for transportation of a merchandise purchased by the customer; and provide a notification for promoting a return of the shopping cart to a return area for returning the shopping cart in response to a determination that (i) the shopping cart is located in a place outside of the return area and (ii) a stay time of the shopping cart at the place outside the return area exceeds a threshold length of time.

A commodity container includes a main body with a container space and a radio frequency reader with a communication range that covers an opening of the container space. The radio frequency reader outputs tag information based on a radio frequency signal from a wireless tag and outputs time variation information indicating a time variation of the radio frequency signal. A registration device is attached to the main body and includes a communication interface to receive the tag and time variation information, and a processor configured to determine a time variation in a positional relationship of the wireless tag and the radio frequency reader based on the time variation information and update a commodity registration list based on the determined time variation of the positional relationship.

A system for monitoring shopping carts uses cameras to generate images of the carts moving in a store. In some implementations, cameras may additionally or alternatively be mounted to the shopping carts and configured to image cart contents. The system may use the collected image data, and/or other types of sensor data (such as the store location at which an item was added to the basket), to classify items detected in the shopping carts. For example, a trained machine learning model may classify item in a cart as “non-merchandise,” “high theft risk merchandise,” “electronics merchandise,” etc. When a shopping cart approaches a store exit without any indication of an associated payment transaction, the system may use the associated item classification data, optionally in combination with other data such as cart path data, to determine whether to execute an anti-theft action, such as locking a cart wheel or activating a store alarm. The system may also compare the classifications of cart contents to payment transaction records (or summaries thereof) to, e.g., detect underpayment events.

A system for monitoring shopping carts uses cameras to generate images of the carts moving in a store. In some implementations, cameras may additionally or alternatively be mounted to the shopping carts and configured to image cart contents. The system may use the collected image data, and/or other types of sensor data (such as the store location at which an item was added to the basket), to classify items detected in the shopping carts. For example, a trained machine learning model may classify item in a cart as “non-merchandise,” “high theft risk merchandise,” “electronics merchandise,” etc. When a shopping cart approaches a store exit without any indication of an associated payment transaction, the system may use the associated item classification data, optionally in combination with other data such as cart path data, to determine whether to execute an anti-theft action, such as locking a cart wheel or activating a store alarm. The system may also compare the classifications of cart contents to payment transaction records (or summaries thereof) to, e.g., detect underpayment events.