LISTEN AND USE VOICE RECOGNITION TO FIND TRENDS IN WORDS SAID TO DETERMINE CUSTOMER FEEDBACK

1 . A sound analysis system in a shopping facility, the sound analysis system comprising:

an array of sound sensors distributed throughout the shopping facility and configured to receive at least sounds resulting from people in the shopping facility;

an audio database including information associated with one or more audio indicia; and

a control circuit communicatively coupled to the array of sound sensors, the control circuit being configured to:

receive, from a plurality of sensors of the array of sound sensors, audio data, wherein the audio data includes audio from throughout the shopping facility;

determine, based at least in part on the audio data and the information associated with the one or more audio indicia included in the audio database, an action to be taken; and

transmit, to a terminal, an indication of the action to be taken.

2 . The sound analysis system of claim 1 , wherein the audio data is resultant from one or both of guest activity and employee activity.

3 . The sound analysis system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is configured to determine, based at least in part on the audio data, known sensor locations, and corresponding signal strength measurements, an estimated location of sources of the audio data.

4 . The sound analysis system of claim 1 , wherein the audio data includes one or more of speech, voices, words, phrases, and sounds produced by devices and the people in the shopping facility.

5 . The sound analysis system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more actions to be taken include one or more of a cleaning action, a stocking action, a verification action, a deployment action, an investigatory action, and an action to store the audio data.

6 . The sound analysis system of claim 1 , wherein the database further includes one or more trigger sounds, and wherein the control circuit is further configured to:

determine, based, at least in part, on the one or more trigger sounds, that the audio data includes at least one of the one or more trigger sounds; and

wherein the determination of the action to be taken is in response to the determination that that audio data includes at least one of the one or more trigger sounds.

7 . The sound analysis system of claim 6 , wherein the one or more trigger sounds comprise one or more of sounds that originate from an electronic device, predetermined words, and predetermined phrases.

8 . The sound analysis system of claim 1 , wherein the audio database includes a list of actions, and wherein the action to be taken is chosen from the list of actions.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the sensors in the array of sensors are hidden from view.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the audio throughout the shopping facility includes at least a first audio stream originating from a first location and a second audio stream originating from a second location, and wherein the first location is at least four aisles away from the second location.

11 . A method of sound analysis in a shopping facility, the method comprising:

receiving, via sensors of an array of sound sensors distributed throughout the shopping facility and configured to receive at least sounds resulting from people in the shopping facility, audio data, wherein the audio data includes audio from throughout the shopping facility;

transmitting, via a communications network, the audio data to a server;

processing, at the server, the audio data relative to information in a database that is associated with one or more audio indicia;

determining, based on the processing and the information in the database that is associated with one or more audio indicia, one or more actions to be taken in response to the audio data; and

transmitting, via the communications network, an indication of the one or more actions to be taken.

12 . The method of sound analysis of claim 11 , wherein the audio data is resultant from one or both of guest activity and employee activity.

13 . The method of sound analysis of claim 11 , wherein the control circuit is configured to determine, based at least in part on the audio data, known sensor locations, and corresponding signal strength measurements, an estimated location of sources of the audio data.

14 . The method of sound analysis of claim 11 , wherein the audio data includes one or more of speech, voices, words, phrases, and sounds produced by devices and the people in the shopping facility.

15 . The method of sound analysis of claim 11 , wherein the one or more actions to be taken include one or more of a cleaning action, a stocking action, a verification action, a deployment action, an investigatory action, and an action to store the audio data.

16 . The method of sound analysis of claim 11 , further comprising:

determining, based, at least in part, on a database, that the audio data includes a trigger sound; and

wherein the determining the one or more actions to be taken is in response to the determining that the audio data includes a trigger sound.

17 . The method of sound analysis of claim 16 , wherein the trigger sound comprises one or more of sounds that originates from an electronic device, predetermined words, and predetermined phrases.

18 . The method of sound analysis of claim 11 , wherein the audio database includes a list of actions, and wherein the action to be taken is chosen from the list of actions.

19 . The method of sound analysis of claim 11 , wherein the audio data comprises speech, and wherein the processing the audio data comprises:

performing speech recognition on the audio data.

20 . The method of sound analysis of claim 11 , wherein the audio throughout the shopping facility includes at least a first audio stream originating from a first location and a second audio stream originating from a second location, and wherein the first location is at least four aisles away from the second location.