Amazon Technologies, Inc.

Loud Technologies Inc

Nathan Pius O'Neill

Aaron M McDaniel

Qicai Shi

Graham Cyril Jordan

Nirmal Doshi

John Phillip Boudreau

Frank Larry Frederick

Somasundaram Niranjayan

Kent Benke Swendseid

Benjamin Seth Olswang

Jeffrey M Humphrey

Camerin Cole Hahn

Nikolai Orlov

Joel Stirling

Jeremy Samuel De Bonet

James Stephanick

Christopher Raymond Grajewski

Robert M Riggs

Andrew James Pierce

Paul Eugene Munger

Matthew Ray DesJardien

Spencer Ralph Dodge

Vinod L Hingorani

Joseph W Chauvin

Dan Beltzer

Robert Jerome Colwill

Timothy Eugene Cochran

Kaigene Jennifer Lin

Sergio Alfredo Phan Lung Li

Yuxing Tang

Nir Charny

Venkata Srikiran Bodapati

Michael P Mosman

Emily Marsden

Kimberly Ann VanHorn

Christopher Lee Deckard

Robert Michael Riggs

Joshua R Smith

Sydney Tye Minnis

Jacob Alex Siegel

Vahideh Kamranzadeh

Ismael Medrano

Nicholas McMahon

Thomas Duester

Nicolas Kurczewski

Alexander Michael Frenkel

Benjamin Jozef Gyori

Nicholas Franklin

Eric Mathew Clayton

Nicholas Mendenhall

Stavan Dholakia

Amey Madhukar Teredesai

Ryan Long

Gregory Kim Justice

Zihui Zhang

Rafiuddin Arif Ahud

Patrick Ian McCleary

Michael Joseph Ausich

Kenneth Edward Doe

Benjamin Hong Yee

Alan Akiyoshi Nonaka

Ali Rahimi

Christopher Robert Renner

Rachel M Burroughs

Forrest Alexander Bourke

Justin William Andersen

James Olney

Michael Morgan

David Bryan Michelman

Edwin Louis Howard

Willy Scott Mordant

Chelsea Olson

This disclosure describes, in part, systems for enabling facilities to implement techniques to determine when users are in possession of items when located within and/or exiting the facilities. For instance, a system may use one or more sensors to determine locations of a user that navigated through a facility. Additionally, the system may use one or more sensors to determine locations of an item while the item was located within the facility. The system may then determine a probability that the user was in possession of the item when in the facility and/or when exiting the facility based at least in part on the locations of the user and the locations of the item. If the system determines that the user was in possession of the item when exiting the facility, the system may charge a payment instrument of the user for a price of the item.

Customized retail environments

An apparatus comprising an array of electrical conductors connected to circuitry that determines data indicative of objects at particular locations based on capacitance at junctions of conductors in the array. The apparatus comprises a first set of conductors arranged on a first substrate and a second set of conductors arranged on a second substrate to form an array. The first and second substrates are separated by an air gap within which the electrical conductors are positioned. Each conductor may be independently addressable, having a proximal end connected to readout electronics and a distal end that is not. The apparatus may be cut, at the ends distal to where the conductors connect to the circuitry, to fit a desired location, such as on a store shelf, while remaining operational.

Field-configurable capacitive mat

An apparatus includes a crossbar to which a plurality of accessories using different mechanical interfaces may be attached and detached. The crossbar is instrumented and provides information, such as a weight change due to addition to, or removal of, items from an accessory on the crossbar. An extensible bracket attaches the crossbar to a supporting structure, decreasing mechanical strain on the crossbar due to minor misalignment of the supporting structure. Accessories such as wire hooks, shelves, bins, and so forth may be supported by the crossbar. A tether device, locking cam device, or clip device may be used to prevent lateral movement of components such as the accessories or the entire crossbar relative to its supporting structure. A baffle may be affixed to the crossbar to constrain airflow for operation in a temperature-controlled case.

Apparatus for stowing items

Storage units including platforms that are outfitted with RFID antennas and auxiliary sensors detect changes in loading on the platforms based on changes in loading determined by the auxiliary sensors or changes in signals received by the RFID antennas. The platforms include surfaces for receiving items tagged with RFID transmitters thereon, such as items of common types and variable weights. An interaction involving the placement of an item on the platform, or the removal of the item from the platform, is detected by the auxiliary sensors. The energization of an RFID field is triggered in response to the detected interaction, and an item is identified where an RFID signal transmitted by the item is present at one time and absent at another time.

Detecting interactions with storage units based on RFID signals and auxiliary signals

Modular storage systems include load sensors disposed beneath or in association with platforms. The load sensors are pulse-sampled for signals corresponding to loads at time intervals, rather than continuously, in order to conserve electrical power. An item associated with a transaction is identified based on a change in the loads, as determined from the pulse-sampled signals. The platforms are aligned at horizontal or non-horizontal angles, and photovoltaic power sources with banks of photovoltaic cells are mounted to front edges of the platforms. When a user reaches over one of the photovoltaic cells to access an item on a platform, a level of power or voltage generated by the photovoltaic cell is diminished. The item closest to the photovoltaic cell having the diminished power or voltage, or a customer that accessed the item, may be identified accordingly.

Modular storage systems

This disclosure describes, in part, systems for enabling physical retail stores and other facilities to implement automated-checkout techniques for the purchase of items that are priced per unit weight. For example, the described systems may enable a facility to implement technology where users are able to remove items from inventory locations, where the inventory locations include weight sensors detecting the weights of the items that were removed. The system then determines the prices based on the weights and charges the users for the prices of the items without performing manual checkout of the items. The price of an item is determined based on the weight of the item and the price per unit weight of the item. The systems described herein thus enable customized retail facilities, as opposed to a retail facility that allows automated-checkout only for prepackaged-type or otherwise non-customizable merchandise.

This disclosure describes, in part, systems for enabling physical retail stores and other facilities to implement automated-checkout techniques for the purchase of items that are priced per unit weight. For example, the described systems may enable a facility to implement technology where users are able to remove items from inventory locations, place the items on weight sensors, and then be charged for the prices of the items without performing manual checkout of the items. The price of an item is determined based at least in part on the identifier of the item and the price per unit weight of the item. The systems described herein thus enable customized retail facilities, as opposed to a retail facility that allows automated-checkout only for prepackaged-type or otherwise non-customizable merchandise.

A platform is supported at four corners by four half-bridge load cells. Adjacent load cells are oppositely polarized. During operation, analog output from a pair of oppositely polarized half-bridge load cells is provided to an instrument amplifier. Analog output from the instrument amplifier is provided to an analog to digital converter to provide digital data. The digital data is then used to determine weight data indicative of a weight as measured by the pair of half-bridge load cells at that time. A set of switching elements, such as a quad bilateral switch controlled by a microcontroller, rapidly switch between pairs of oppositely polarized load cells. The weight data may be used to determine an overall weight change on the platform, such as a pick or a place of an item. Weight data from the four pairs of load cells may be used to determine a change in center of gravity.

Position sensing weight measuring device

A fixture includes a plurality of brackets. Accessories such as wire hooks, shelves, bins, and so forth may be supported by one or more brackets. A load cell supports each bracket and generates a signal that is indicative of changes to the bracket as items are added or removed from the accessory. The brackets include features such as tabs that prevent accessories from moving laterally. The fixtures are easily reconfigured to accommodate accessories of different sizes that in turn may support items of different sizes.

Multi-lane weight measuring device

Objects in a facility, such as users or totes, may be tracked as the object moves within the facility. An object representation of the object may be detected using image data. Apparent motion of the object representation may also be detected based on changes within the image data over time, which can help determine movement data for the object representation. However, the identity of the object representation may not be known. Using data from motion sensors in a device, movement data for the device can be generated. Thereafter, the movement data determined using the image data and the movement data determined using the data from the motion sensors in the device are compared for a possible match. If a match is found, an identifier of the device may then be associated with the object representation in the image data for tracking purposes.

System and method for tracking objects within a facility

A facility is equipped with a floor containing one or more of a transmitter to generate electromagnetic signals (EMS) or a receiver to receive EMS. A device such as a tote may include one or more of a transmitters to generate EMS that may then be received by the receiver in the floor or a receiver to receive EMS transmitted by the floor. As the tote moves across the floor, tracking data may be generated using the information obtained from the exchange of EMS. Orientation of the tote with respect to the floor may be determined using an asymmetric arrangement of antennas on the tote, by encoding data within the EMS, or a combination thereof. For example, the tote may include three antennas arranged in a triangular layout, or a front antenna and a back antenna each used to transmit an EMS that is indicative of relative placement of the tote.

Electromagnetic tracking of moveable device with orientation determination

Fixtures can hold one or more items. Load cells may be used to measure the weight of the items on the fixture. In cases where items are added to or removed from the fixture, the load cells will detect a weight change at the fixture. Data reflecting the weight change is then used to determine interactions with the items on the fixture. However, vibrations to the fixture can introduce noise which can lead to inaccuracies in weight data acquired from the load cells. A vibration sensor can be used to measure the level of vibration detected at the fixture. Weight data acquired during a time interval when vibrations exceed a vibration threshold value is deemed invalid weight data. By contrast, weight data acquired when vibrations do not exceed the vibration threshold value will be deemed valid weight data that can be used for determining interactions with items at the fixture.

System to determine effects of vibration on weight data for a fixture

A facility is equipped with floor tiles, each tile having several segments, each segment with an antenna. Each segment on a tile is associated with a particular timeslot. A transmitter at the tile transmits on a specific frequency. During the particular timeslot for that segment, a signal at the specific frequency is transmitted and radiated from the antenna for that segment. A user electromagnetically couples to one or more antennas of the tile, acting as a signal path for the signal. A receiver in a second tile detects the signal, and information about the frequency detected, timeslot for the signal, and relative signal strength is generated. Where the user has stepped from is determined using the information. By concatenating these steps, a path of the user may be determined. Receivers in shelves facilitate disambiguation of one user from another when interacting with items.

Electromagnetic user tracking system

Growing community of inventors

Snohomish, WA, United States of America

Nathan Pius O'Neill