Commodity recognition apparatus

Abstract

According to an embodiment, a commodity recognition apparatus includes a first camera configured to image a commodity, a posture sensor configured to acquire information indicating a posture of an operator, and a processor configured to acquire the image of the commodity from the first camera, execute commodity recognition processing on the image of the commodity to identify possible matches to previously registered commodity identities upon determining that the posture of the operator satisfies a specified condition according to information from the posture sensor, cause a plurality of commodity candidates are identified as possible matches in the commodity recognition processing, to be displayed on a display screen, and wait for an operator selection of one commodity candidate from the plurality of commodity candidates displayed on the display screen.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A commodity recognition apparatus, comprising:
 a first camera configured to image a commodity;   a posture sensor configured to acquire information indicating a posture of an operator; and   a processor configured to:
 acquire the image of the commodity from the first camera; 
 execute commodity recognition processing on the image of the commodity to identify possible matches to previously registered commodity identities upon determining that the posture of the operator satisfies a specified condition according to information from the posture sensor; and 
 cause a plurality of commodity candidates that are identified as possible matches in the commodity recognition processing, to be displayed on a display screen, and then wait for an operator selection of one commodity candidate from the plurality of commodity candidates displayed on the display screen. 
   
     
     
         2 . The commodity recognition apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the specified condition is that the information from the posture sensor indicates the operator is an upright state. 
     
     
         3 . The commodity recognition apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the processor executes commodity recognition processing by a technique of object recognition using a dictionary file. 
     
     
         4 . The commodity recognition apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the specified condition is that the information from the posture sensor indicates that the head of the operator is located within a predetermined range. 
     
     
         5 . The commodity recognition apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the specified condition is that the information indicates from the posture sensor that the face of the operator is facing towards the camera. 
     
     
         6 . The commodity recognition apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the posture sensor is a second camera, a distance measurement sensor, or a proximity sensor. 
     
     
         7 . The commodity recognition apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the first camera is also configured as the posture sensor. 
     
     
         8 . The commodity recognition apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a storage device configured to store a dictionary file including the previously registered commodity identities.   
     
     
         9 . A commodity recognition apparatus, comprising:
 a first camera configured to image a commodity;   a posture sensor configured to acquire information indicating a posture of an operator; and   a processor configured to:
 acquire the image of the commodity from the first camera; 
 execute commodity recognition processing on the image of the commodity to identify possible matches to previously registered commodity identities; 
 cause a plurality of commodity candidates that are identified as possible matches in the commodity recognition processing, to be displayed on a display screen, and then wait to receive an operator selection of one commodity candidate from the plurality of commodity candidates displayed on the display screen; and 
   during the waiting, clear the plurality of commodity candidates displayed on the display screen and execute the commodity recognition processing again on another image of the commodity imaged by the first camera upon determining that the posture of the operator according to the information from the posture sensor transitions from a first state to a second state, wherein   in the first state the posture of the operator does not satisfy a specified condition, and   in the second state the posture of the operator satisfies a specified condition.   
     
     
         10 . The commodity recognition apparatus according to  claim 9 , wherein the specified condition is that the information from the posture sensor indicates the operator is an upright state. 
     
     
         11 . The commodity recognition apparatus according to  claim 10 , wherein the processor executes commodity recognition processing by a technique of object recognition using a dictionary file. 
     
     
         12 . The commodity recognition apparatus according to  claim 9 , wherein the specified condition is that the information from the posture sensor indicates that the head of the operator is located within a predetermined range. 
     
     
         13 . The commodity recognition apparatus according to claim  9 , wherein the specified condition is that the information indicates from the posture sensor that the face of the operator is facing towards the camera. 
     
     
         14 . The commodity recognition apparatus according to  claim 9 , wherein the posture sensor is a second camera, a distance measurement sensor, or a proximity sensor. 
     
     
         15 . The commodity recognition apparatus according to  claim 9 , wherein the first camera is also configured as the posture sensor. 
     
     
         16 . The commodity recognition apparatus according to  claim 9 , further comprising:
 a storage device configured to store a dictionary file including the previously registered commodity identities.   
     
     
         17 . A method for commodity recognition comprising:
 imaging a commodity being held by an operator;   acquiring the image of the commodity;   acquiring information indicating a posture of the operator during the imaging;   executing commodity recognition processing on the image of the commodity to identify possible matches to previously registered commodity identities upon determining that the posture of the operator satisfies a specified condition; and   displaying a plurality of commodity candidates that are identified as possible matches in the commodity recognition processing, on a display screen, and then waiting for an operator selection of one commodity candidate displayed on the display screen.   
     
     
         18 . The method according  claim 17 , further comprising:
 prior to acquiring the image of the commodity and executing commodity recognition processing on the image of the commodity, determining whether the posture of the operator satisfies a specified condition; and   if the posture of the operator does not satisfy the specified condition, repeating to determine whether the posture of the operator satisfies the specified condition.   
     
     
         19 . The method according to  claim 17 , wherein the specified condition is that the operator is an upright state. 
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 17 , wherein the specified condition is that the head of the operator is located within a predetermined range.