Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to the technical field of data processing, and more particularly, to presentation-structure-aware display of planograms.
The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure. Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in the present disclosure and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Retailers often may make arrangements with product producers involving specific placement of products on presentation structures, such as retail shelving. For example, a grocery store owner may make an agreement whereby a particular soup manufacturer pays for the privilege of having their soups being displayed to shoppers on an eye-level shelf. However, because there are often many products and manufacturers represented in a given space, the retailers, may have to satisfy many different shelving arrangements simultaneously, resulting in complex interactions between the products. Often, retailers may use charts called “planograms,” which provide a visual representation of placement of products, to more easily satisfy these arrangements. The planograms, which may be generated by various means, may be based on the various arrangements and agreements the retailer has entered into.
However, it can be difficult for retailers and/or their employees to make easy use of the planograms. Printed planograms can be difficult for an employee to compare to real-life presentation structures. Further, even when electronic means are used to provide planogram information, these electronic means may still only provide-static displays of the planograms. Once again, an employee may find it difficult to use this static information when stocking real-life presentation structures with products.
Embodiments will be readily understood by the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. To facilitate this description, like reference numerals designate like structural elements. Embodiments are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings.
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof wherein like numerals designate like parts throughout, and in which is shown by way of illustration embodiments that may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural or logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of embodiments is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
Various operations may be described as multiple discrete actions or operations in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the claimed subject matter. However, the order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. In particular, these operations may not be performed in the order of presentation. Operations described may be performed in a different order than the described embodiment. Various additional operations may be performed and/or described operations may be omitted in additional embodiments.
For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase “A and/or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B). For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase “A, B, and/or C” means (A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B and C).
The description may use the phrases “in an embodiment,” or “in embodiments,” which may each refer to one or more of the same or different embodiments. Furthermore, the terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,” and the like, as used with respect to embodiments of the present disclosure, are synonymous.
As used herein, the term “module” may refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (“ASIC”), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that provide the described functionality.
Referring now to
In various embodiments, the PS-aware planogram display system 100 may display the planogram as so modified. By doing so the PS-aware planogram display system 100 may show the planogram oriented in a similar fashion to the presentation display itself; this may facilitate users of the PS-aware planogram display system 100 in understanding information contained in the planogram, and in placing products on the presentation structure accordingly. In addition, in various embodiments, the PS-aware planogram display system 100 may also display the planogram in a partially-transparent form overlaid on top of the image acquired by the PS-aware planogram display system 100. By overlaying the two images, the PS-aware planogram display system 100 may provide the planogram in an augmented-reality style so a user may more easily understand the product placement information contained in the planogram. Particular examples of these embodiments are described herein.
As illustrated in
In various embodiments, the camera 135 may be configured to acquire images, such as image 140. In particular, in embodiments, the camera 135 may be used to acquire images of presentation displays arranged on a presentation structure 110. In other embodiments, the camera 135 may be used to acquire only the presentation structure 110 without any presentation display arranged thereon. In various embodiments, the PS-aware planogram display system 100 may include an image acquisition module 130. In embodiments, the image acquisition module 130 may be configured to control the camera 135 to acquire one or more the images 140 of the presentation display and/or presentation structure 110.
In various embodiments, the presentation structure 110 may include one or more shelves upon which products may be arranged to form a presentation display; in other embodiments, the presentation structure 110 may include, for example, tables, wall displays, and/or other structures. In some embodiments, products may be currently presented on the presentation structure 110 at the time the image 140 is acquired; in other embodiments, the presentation structure 110 may be empty. In various embodiments the presentation structure 110 may include one or more markers; in various embodiments, the markers may be visible in the acquired image 140. The markers may be used, in various embodiments, to identify the presentation structure 110 and/or its location through an analysis of markers that are visible in the image 140. In various embodiments, the markers may include one or more implementation of micro digital signage (“MDS”).
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
In various embodiments, the planogram preparation module 150 may also be configured to determine an orientation and/or position of the acquired image relative to the PS-aware planogram display system 100. In various embodiments, the planogram preparation module may be configured to determine the orientation and/or position of the acquired image based on data received from one or more orientation and/or position sensors. Thus, as illustrated in
In various embodiments, the planogram presentation module 150 may also be configured to modify the planogram 190 based on the determined position and/or orientation of the acquired image. In various embodiments, the planogram presentation module 150 may be configured to modify the planogram 190 based on the determined position and/or orientation so that, when displayed, the planogram 190 may be oriented to a user as if the user were viewing the presentation structure 110 through the display 185 as if the display were transparent, only with products displayed on the presentation structure 110 as represented in the planogram 190. In various embodiments, by modifying the planogram 190, a user of the PS-aware planogram display system 100 may be better able to understand the information displayed in the planogram relative to the presentation structure 110, and thus make better use of the information.
Next, at operation 330, the planogram preparation module 150 may identify the presentation structure 110 that was captured in the acquired image 140. In various embodiments, the planogram preparation module 150 may identify the presentation structure 110 by using all or part of the data gathered in operation 320 to look up the identity of the presentation structure 110 in a local database or other storage (such, as for example, local planogram storage 154). In other embodiments, the planogram preparation module 150 may identify the presentation structure 110 by using all or part of the data gathered in operation 320 to look up the identity of the presentation structure 110 in a remote database or other storage (such as, for example, local planogram storage 152).
Next, at operation 340, the planogram presentation module 150 may obtain the planogram 190 for the identified presentation structure. In various embodiments, at operation 340 the planogram presentation module 150 may look up the planogram 190 in either the local planogram storage 154 or the remote planogram storage 152 based on the identity of the presentation structure 110 determined at operation 330. In various embodiments, the planogram 190 may be obtained in whole form from the local or remote storage. In alternative embodiments, however, the planogram presentation module 150 may obtain planogram data from the local or remote storage and may itself generate a planogram from the obtained data. In various embodiments, the obtained planogram 190 may include a representation of the presentation structure 110, as well as one or more representations of products that are placed on the presentation structure 110.
Next, at operation 350, the planogram presentation module 150 may determine the position and/or orientation of the acquired image 140 relative to the PS-aware planogram display system 100. In various embodiments, as discussed above, the planogram presentation module 150 may gather information to determine the position and/or orientation based on data received from position and/or orientation sensors present in the PS-aware planogram display system 100, such as the GPS 145, accelerometer 155 and/or the compass 165. Next, at operation 360, the planogram presentation module 360 may modify the planogram 190 obtained at operation 340 based on the determined position and/or orientation. In various embodiments, the planogram presentation module 150 may modify the planogram 190 based on the position and/or orientation so that, when a user later views the displayed planogram 190 on the display 185, the planogram 190 is oriented as if the user were viewing the presentation structure 110 through the display 185, only with products displayed on the presentation structure 110 as represented in the planogram 190. Thus, though this modification, the user may be presented with a version of the planogram 190 which is much truer-to-life than an unmodified version of the planogram 190. In various embodiments, the planogram presentation module 150 may be configured to modify the planogram 190 by performing various modifications, such as, for example, translating, skewing, rotating, and/or scaling the obtained planogram 190. This modified planogram 190 may then be displayed by the PS-aware planogram display system 100, such as at operation 240 of process 200. Process 300 may then end.
By contrast,
Referring back to
System control logic 908 for one embodiment may include any suitable interface controllers to provide for any suitable interface to at least one of the processor(s) 904 and/or to any suitable device or component in communication with system control logic 908.
System control logic 908 for one embodiment may include one or more memory controller(s) to provide an interface to system memory 912. System memory 912 may be used to load and store data and/or instructions, for example, for system 900. In one embodiment, system memory 912 may include any suitable volatile memory, such as suitable dynamic random access memory (“DRAM”), for example.
System control logic 908, in one embodiment, may include one or more input/output (“I/O”) controller(s) to provide an interface to NVM/storage 916 and communications interface(s) 920.
NVM/storage 916 may be used to store data and/or instructions, for example. NVM/storage 916 may include any suitable non-volatile memory, such as flash memory, for example, and/or may include any suitable non-volatile storage device(s), such as one or more hard disk drive(s) (“HDD(s)”), one or more solid-state drive(s), one or more compact disc (“CD”) drive(s), and/or one or more digital versatile disc (“DVD”) drive(s), for example.
The NVM/storage 916 may include a storage resource physically part of a device on which the system 900 is installed or it may be accessible by, but not necessarily a part of, the device. For example, the NVM/storage 916 may be accessed over a network via the communications interface(s) 920.
System memory 912 and NVM/storage 916 may include, in particular, temporal and persistent copies of PS-aware planogram display logic 924. The PS-aware planogram display logic 924 may include instructions that when executed by at least one of the processor(s) 904 result in the system 900 practicing one or more of the PS-aware planogram-display related operations described above. In some embodiments, the PS-aware planogram display logic 924 may additionally/alternatively be located in the system control logic 908.
Communications interface(s) 920 may provide an interface for system 900 to communicate over one or more network(s) and/or with any other suitable device. Communications interface(s) 920 may include any suitable hardware and/or firmware, such as a network adapter, one or more antennas, a wireless interface, and so forth. In various embodiments, communication interface(s) 920 may include an interface for system 900 to use NFC, optical communications (e.g., barcodes), BlueTooth or other similar technologies to communicate directly (e.g., without an intermediary) with another device.
For one embodiment, at least one of the processor(s) 904 may be packaged together with system control logic 908 and/or PS-aware planogram display logic 924. For one embodiment, at least one of the processor(s) 904 may be packaged together with system control logic 908 and/or PS-aware planogram display logic 924 to form a System in Package (“SiP”). For one embodiment, at least one of the processor(s) 904 may be integrated on the same die with system control logic 908 and/or PS-aware planogram display logic 924. For one embodiment, at least one of the processor(s) 904 may be integrated on the same die with system control logic 908 and/or PS-aware planogram display logic 924 to form a System on Chip (“SoC”).
The following paragraphs describe examples of various embodiments. In various embodiments, an apparatus for displaying a planogram may include one or more computer processors. The apparatus may also include an image acquisition module which may be configured to be operated by the one or more computer processors to the acquire an image of a presentation structure. The apparatus may also include a display module configured to be operated by the one or more computer processors to display a planogram of an intended presentation of items at the presentation structure contemporaneously with acquisition of the acquired image. The display of the planogram may be based at least in part on the acquired image.
In various embodiments, the apparatus may also include a display portion. In various embodiments, the display module may be further configured to be operated by the one or more computer processors to display the acquired image on the display portion contemporaneously with acquisition of the acquired image. The display module may be further configured to display the planogram through augmentation of the displayed image with the planogram. In various embodiments, the display module may be further configured to be operated by the one or more computer processors to augment the displayed image with the planogram via generation of a composite image through placement of a partially-transparent version of the planogram on top of the acquired image.
In various embodiments, the apparatus may further include a planogram preparation module configured to be operated by the one or more computer processors. The planogram preparation module may be configured to analyze the acquired image to identify the presentation structure. The planogram preparation module may be configured to select the planogram of the intended presentation of items at the presentation structure for display based at least in part on identification of the presentation structure. In various embodiments, the planogram preparation module may be further configured to be operated by the one or more computer processors to analyze the acquired image through analysis of one or more markers visible in the image.
In various embodiments, the planogram preparation module may be configured to be operated by the one or more computer processors to identify the presentation structure through identification of a location for the presentation structure based on the analysis of the one or more markers. In various embodiments, the one or more markers may be attached to the presentation structure. In various embodiments, the one or more markers may include micro digital signage.
In various embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise one or more orientation and/or position sensors. In various embodiments, the planogram preparation module may be further configured to be operated by the one or more computer processors to receive data from the one or more orientation and/or position sensors. In various embodiments, the planogram preparation module may be further configured to identify the presentation structure based at least in part on the received data from one or more orientation and/or position sensors.
In various embodiments, the planogram preparation module may be further configured to be operated by the one or more computer processors to augment the displayed image with the planogram via determination of an orientation and/or position of the acquired image relative to the apparatus and modification of the planogram based on the orientation and position of the acquired image. In various embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise one or more orientation and/or position sensors. In various embodiments, the planogram preparation module may be further configured to be operated by, the one or more computer processors to determine orientation and position of the acquired image through analysis of data received from the one or more orientation and/or position sensors. In various embodiments, the orientation and/or position sensors may include one or more of a GPS sensor, an accelerometer, or a compass. In various embodiments, the planogram preparation module may be further configured to be operated by the one or more computer processors to determine orientation and position of the acquired image through analysis of one or more location indicators visible in the acquired image.
In various embodiments, the planogram preparation module may be further configured to be operated by the one or more computer processors to acquire the planogram from a remote storage. In various embodiments, the planogram preparation module may be further configured to be operated by the one or more computer processors to store the planogram on the apparatus. In various embodiments, the presentation structure may include a shelf. In various embodiments, the apparatus may further include a camera. In various embodiments, the image acquisition module may be further configured to be operated by the one or more computer processors to acquire the image via the camera. In various embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise a display portion located on an opposite side of the apparatus from the camera. In various embodiments, the planogram preparation module may be further configured to be operated by the one or more computer processors to display the planogram on the display portion.
In various embodiments, the image acquisition module may be further configured to acquire a second image of a presentation structure. In various embodiments, the display module may be further configured to display the planogram in a modified fashion contemporaneously with acquisition of the acquired second image, based at least in part on the second acquired image. In various embodiments, the image planogram display system may be further configured to repeat acquisition of images. In various embodiments, the display module may be further configured to repeat display of the planogram in one or more modified fashions based at least in part on the acquired images.
Computer-readable media (including non-transitory computer-readable media), methods, systems and devices for performing the above-described techniques are illustrative examples of embodiments disclosed herein. Additionally, other devices in the above-described interactions may be configured to perform various disclosed techniques.
Although certain embodiments have been illustrated and described herein for purposes of description, a wide variety of alternate and/or equivalent embodiments or implementations calculated to achieve the same purposes may be substituted for the embodiments shown and described without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the embodiments discussed herein. Therefore, it is manifestly intended that embodiments described herein be limited only by the claims.
Where the disclosure recites “a” or “a first” element or the equivalent thereof, such disclosure includes one or more such elements, neither requiring nor excluding two or more such elements. Further, ordinal indicators (e.g., first, second or third) for identified elements are used to distinguish between the elements, and do not indicate or imply a required or limited number of such elements, nor do they indicate a particular position or order of such elements unless otherwise specifically stated.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/US12/31652 | 3/30/2012 | WO | 00 | 6/24/2013 |