Item identification with low resolution image processing

1. A method, comprising:

obtaining a first image of a shelf at a first time;

obtaining a second image of the shelf at a second time;

subtracting the second image from the first image and producing an unknown item image;

removing background pixels associated with the shelf from the unknown item image producing a modified image;

adjusting remaining pixels associated with the modified image producing an adjusted image; and

identifying a known item for an unknown item based on the adjusted image.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, providing an item code associated with the known item to a transaction manager to add details for the item code to a shopping cart associated with a consumer.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the second image further includes obtaining the first image and the second image from a stationary camera focused on the shelf.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the second image further includes obtaining the first image and the second image from a camera associated with a shopping cart of a consumer.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein adjusting further includes cropping a label portion associated with a label from the modified image producing the adjusted image when the modified image includes dark colored pixels for the unknown item.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein adjusting further includes processing pixel angle corrections horizontally and vertically on modified image pixels of the modified image and producing the adjusted image.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein processing further includes adjusting a brightness of the modified image pixels removing shading from the modified image and producing the adjusted image.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein processing further includes processing a pixel resolution algorithm reducing a size of the modified image and producing the adjusted image as a lower resolution image from the modified image.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the pixel resolution algorithm further includes producing the lower resolution image as approximately 60 total pixels with a signal to a noise ratio of approximately 3 for the adjusted image.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing further includes providing the adjusted image to an item tracker as input and returns as output an item code for the known item.

11. A system, comprising:

at least one camera;

a server comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium;

the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions;

the executable instructions executed by the processor from the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium causing the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a first image taken of a shelf at a first time from the at least one camera;

receiving a second image taken of the shelf at a second time from the at least one camera;

subtracting the first image from the second image producing a third image comprising unknown item pixels for an unknown item that was picked off the shelf by a consumer;

adjusting the third image pixels of the third image for angle and brightness producing a fourth image;

reducing a resolution of fourth image pixels of the fourth image by removing pixelization and noise producing a fifth image;

providing the fifth image to an item tracker;

receiving from the item tracker an item code for a known item; and

providing the item code to a transaction manager to associate a known item with a shopping cart of the consumer being managed by the transaction manager.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one camera is a stationary camera or a camera affixed to the shopping cart of the consumer.