IMAGE PROCESSING FOR RETAIL DISPLAYS WITH WIRELESS BEACONS
Systems and methods for using wireless beacons in point of purchase (“POP”) displays to facilitate the delivery of consumer oriented content to mobile devices is disclosed. Wireless beacons may be used to broadcast wireless signals from POP displays, where the wireless signals include data packets with unique identifiers for the wireless beacons. The wireless signals may be received by mobile devices. A remote server may communicate with the mobile device and provide the mobile device with up-to-date content associated with the POP displays. Additionally, one or more cameras associated with the POP displays may be used to assess information about the POP displays and/or the environment surrounding the POP displays.
1 - 20 . (canceled)
21 . An apparatus, comprising:
a processor;
a memory;
a wireless beacon, wherein the wireless beacon is configured to broadcast a wireless signal, the wireless signal including a data packet, and wherein the data packet comprises a unique identifier for the wireless beacon; and
one or more cameras, wherein at least one of the cameras is configured to capture at least one image of an area surrounding the apparatus;
wherein the apparatus is configured to be coupled to a point of purchase (POP) display comprising a consumer product display, the POP display being configured to be deployed at a retail location; and
wherein the apparatus is configured to provide the at least one image of the area surrounding the apparatus to a remote server, and wherein the remote server is configured to assess a location of the apparatus using the at least one image.
22 . The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the at least one camera is configured to capture a plurality of images of customer activity in an area surrounding the apparatus.
23 . The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the apparatus is configured to assess customer activity in the area surrounding the apparatus using the plurality of images captured by the at least one camera, wherein assessing customer activity comprises image processing of the plurality of images.
24 . The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the assessed customer activity includes one or more of: customer traffic counts, selected aspects of customer traffic, customer gesture recognition, and customer eye tracking.
25 . The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the apparatus is configured to provide the assessed customer activity to the remote server.
26 . The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the wireless beacon comprises a sub-gigahertz radio.
27 . The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the wireless beacon comprises a Bluetooth radio and a sub-gigahertz radio.
28 . The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the remote server is configured to assess the location of the apparatus by comparing the at least one image to one or more images captured by additional apparatus with known locations.
29 . The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the remote server is configured to assess the location of the apparatus by assessing one or more details associated with a known location in the at least one image.
30 . A method, comprising:
capturing at least one image of an area surrounding a point of purchase (POP) display using one or more cameras on the POP display, the POP display comprising a consumer product display, wherein the POP display comprises a wireless beacon located on a circuit board coupled to the POP display, and wherein the POP display is located at a retail location, the location of the POP display being unknown to a remote server;
providing the at least one captured image in a data packet in a wireless signal broadcast by the wireless beacon, the data packet comprising a unique identifier for the wireless beacon;
receiving the data packet in a remote server, the remote server being remotely located from the retail location; and
determining, at the remote server, the location of the POP display using one or more characteristics of the at least one captured image.
31 . The method of claim 30 , further comprising determining the location of the POP display by comparing the at least one captured image to one or more images captured by additional POP displays with known locations.
32 . The method of claim 30 , further comprising determining the location of the POP display by assessing one or more details associated with a known location in the at least one captured image.
33 . The method of claim 30 , further comprising performing optical character recognition on the at least one captured image to assess one or more words and/or numbers in the at least one captured image.
34 . The method of claim 33 , further comprising determining the location of the POP display using the assessed words and/or numbers.
35 . The method of claim 30 , further comprising assessing movement of the POP display using at least one sensor coupled to the POP display, and capturing at least one additional image of the area surrounding the POP display after the assessed movement.
36 . A method, comprising:
capturing a plurality of images of an area surrounding a point of purchase (POP) display using at least one camera in at least one sensor coupled to the POP display, the POP display comprising a consumer product display, wherein the POP display comprises a wireless beacon located on a circuit board coupled to the POP display, and wherein the POP display is located at a retail location; and
assessing, using a processor on the circuit board coupled to the POP display, customer activity in the area surrounding the POP display by performing image processing on the plurality of images.
37 . The method of claim 36 , wherein the assessed customer activity includes one or more of: customer traffic counts, selected aspects of customer traffic, customer gesture recognition, and customer eye tracking.
38 . The method of claim 36 , further comprising provide the assessed customer activity to a remote server.
39 . The method of claim 36 , further comprising timestamping the assessed customer activity.
40 . The method of claim 36 , further comprising assessing a location of the POP display using information in one or more of the images.
41 - 140 . (canceled)