Apparatus and method for tracking carts in a shopping space

1. A system for tracking carts in a shopping space comprising:

a sound sensor array covering at least a portion of the shopping space;

a cart database storing sound profiles associated with a plurality of shopping cart identifiers; and

a control circuit coupled to the sound sensor array and the cart database, the control circuit being configured to:

identify, in sounds captured by the sound sensor array, a cart sound made by a movement of a shopping cart traveling in the shopping space;

determine a current location of the shopping cart based on the cart sound; and

match the shopping cart to a shopping cart identifier in the cart database based at least on comparing the cart sound made by the movement of the shopping cart to the sound profile of the shopping cart identifier.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to update the sound profile of the shopping cart identifier based on the cart sound captured by the sound sensor array.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the shopping cart is matched to the shopping cart identifier further based on comparing the current location of the shopping cart with a direction of travel associated with the plurality of shopping cart identifiers.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the cart sound corresponds to a sound produced by one or more of a wheel and a frame of the shopping cart.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sound sensor array comprises a plurality of sound sensors positioned throughout the shopping space.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sound sensor array comprises a plurality of directional microphones.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the current location of the shopping cart is determined based on triangulating with locations of two or more sensors of the sound sensor array which captured the cart sound and magnitudes of the cart sound captured by the two or more sensors of the sound sensor array.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to: determine a route associated with the shopping cart identifier based on the location information over time.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to: determine a dwell time of the shopping cart at one or more locations based on the location information over time.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to:

detect the shopping cart leaving a cart retrieval area;

capture a sound associated with the shopping cart and determine an initial sound profile for the shopping cart; and

associate the initial sound profile and a location of the shopping cart with a new shopping cart identifier.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the movement of the shopping cart comprises a downward movement caused by an item placed into the shopping cart.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the shopping cart comprises a passive sound device configured to make a sound when actuated by the movement of the shopping cart.

13. A method for tracking carts in a shopping space comprising:

identifying, in sounds captured by a sound sensor array covering at least a portion of the shopping space, a cart sound made by a movement of a shopping cart traveling in the shopping space;

determining, by a control circuit coupled to the sound sensor array, a current location of the shopping cart based on the cart sound; and

matching, by the control circuit, the shopping cart to a shopping cart identifier in a cart database storing sound profiles associated with a plurality of shopping cart identifiers, based at least on comparing the cart sound made by the movement of the shopping cart to the sound profile of the shopping cart identifier.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

updating, by the control circuit, the sound profile of the shopping cart identifier based on the cart sound captured by the sound sensor array.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein matching the shopping cart to the shopping cart identifier further comprises: comparing the current location of the shopping cart with a direction of travel associated with the plurality of shopping cart identifiers.

16. The method of claim 13 , where the cart sound corresponds to a sound produced by one or more of a wheel and a frame of the shopping cart.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the sound sensor array comprises a plurality of sound sensors positioned throughout the shopping space.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the sound sensor array comprises a plurality of directional microphones.

19. The method of claim 13 , wherein determining the current location of the shopping cart comprise: triangulating with locations of two or more sensors of the sound sensor array which captured the cart sound and magnitudes of the cart sound captured by the two or more sensors of the sound sensor array.

20. The method of claim 13 , further comprising: determining a route associated with the shopping cart identifier based on the location information over time.

21. The method of claim 13 , further comprising: determining a dwell time of the shopping cart at one or more locations based on the location information over time.

22. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

detecting the shopping cart leaving a cart retrieval area;

capturing a sound associated with the shopping cart and determine an initial sound profile for the shopping cart; and

associating the initial sound profile and a location of the shopping cart with a new shopping cart identifier.

23. The method of claim 13 , wherein the movement of the shopping cart comprises a downward movement caused by an item placed into the shopping cart.

24. The method of claim 13 , wherein the shopping cart comprises a passive sound device configured to make a sound when actuated by the movement of the shopping cart.

25. A system for tracking carts in a shopping space comprising:

a sound sensor array covering at least a portion of the shopping space;

a cart database storing sound profiles associated with a plurality of shopping cart identifiers;

a control circuit coupled to the sound sensor array and the cart database, the control circuit being configured to:

identify, in sounds captured by the sound sensor array, a plurality of cart sounds made by movements of a plurality of shopping carts traveling in the shopping space;

determine current locations of each of the plurality of shopping carts based on an associated cart sound; and

match each of the plurality of shopping carts to a shopping cart identifier in the cart database based at least on comparing the cart sound made by the movement of the shopping cart to the sound profile of the shopping cart identifier.