阅读说明：本技术 一种无人售货装置 (Unmanned vending machine ) 是由 杨硕 赵雄心 于 2020-07-10 设计创作，主要内容包括：本说明书实施例提供一种无人售货装置,所述无人售货装置包括：外框本体,所述外框本体包括透光板；设置在所述外框本体内的图像采集装置；以及设置在所述透光板与所述图像采集装置之间的偏振模块；其中,所述偏振模块用于对照射到所述透光板上的自然光进行过滤。(An embodiment of the present specification provides an unmanned vending apparatus, including: the outer frame body comprises a light-transmitting plate; the image acquisition device is arranged in the outer frame body; the polarization module is arranged between the light-transmitting plate and the image acquisition device; the polarization module is used for filtering natural light irradiated on the light-transmitting plate.)

1. An unmanned vending apparatus, the unmanned vending apparatus comprising:

the outer frame body comprises a light-transmitting plate;

the image acquisition device is arranged in the outer frame body;

the polarization module is arranged between the light-transmitting plate and the image acquisition device;

the polarization module is used for filtering natural light irradiated on the light-transmitting plate.

2. The unmanned vending apparatus of claim 1, said polarization module comprising a first polarization member and a second polarization member; the first polarization piece is arranged on the light transmitting plate, and the second polarization piece is arranged on the image acquisition device.

3. The unmanned vending apparatus of claim 2, said first polarizing member being disposed on an inner surface of said light-transmitting panel.

4. The unmanned vending apparatus of claim 2, said image capture device comprising a lens module and an imaging module, said second polarizer disposed between said lens module and said imaging module.

5. The unmanned vending apparatus of claim 1, said polarization module comprising a first polarization member and a second polarization member; the first polarization piece is provided with a first transmission direction, the second polarization piece is provided with a second transmission direction, and the first transmission direction and the second transmission direction are arranged at an angle.

6. The unmanned vending apparatus of claim 5, wherein an angle between said first direction of transmitted vibration and said second direction of transmitted vibration is between 70 ° and 110 °.

7. The unmanned vending apparatus of claim 5, said first polarizing member further having a first polarity, said second polarizing member further having a second polarity, said first polarity being opposite said second polarity.

8. The unmanned vending apparatus of claim 1, said image capture device comprising a camera.

9. The unmanned vending apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a shelf disposed within the housing body, the shelf having a plurality of laminae, the image capture device being disposed on the shelf.

10. A method of item identification for an unmanned vending apparatus, the method comprising:

when the light-transmitting plate is in a first state, a first optical image is obtained through the image acquisition device;

when the light-transmitting plate is in the first state again after the position of the light-transmitting plate is changed, a second optical image is obtained through the image acquisition device;

performing item identification based on at least the first optical image and the second optical image and determining an identification result;

performing transaction settlement based on the identification result;

and a polarization module is arranged between the light-transmitting plate and the image acquisition device.

11. The article identification method according to claim 10, wherein the polarization module includes a first polarization member disposed on the light-transmitting plate, and a second polarization member disposed on the image capturing device; the first transmission direction of the first polarizer is perpendicular to the second transmission direction of the second polarizer.

Technical Field

This description relates to wisdom retail field, in particular to unmanned vending device.

Background

At present, the unmanned vending apparatus may use a method of visually recognizing an article to perform a transaction, however, natural light creates a challenge for the unmanned vending apparatus to be more widely used. The effect of natural light on the effect of visually recognizing the objects cannot be eliminated, so that the unmanned vending device recognizes the objects mistakenly and cannot accurately perform trading. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an unmanned vending apparatus to improve the accuracy of item identification.

Disclosure of Invention

One aspect of the present specification provides an unmanned vending apparatus comprising: the outer frame body comprises a light-transmitting plate; the image acquisition device is arranged in the outer frame body; the polarization module is arranged between the light-transmitting plate and the image acquisition device; the polarization module is used for filtering natural light irradiated on the light-transmitting plate.

In some embodiments, the polarizing module comprises a first polarizer and a second polarizer; the first polarization piece is arranged on the light transmitting plate, and the second polarization piece is arranged on the image acquisition device.

In some embodiments, the first polarizer is disposed on an inner surface of the light-transmissive plate.

In some embodiments, the image capturing device includes a lens module and an imaging module, and the second polarizer is disposed between the lens module and the imaging module.

In some embodiments, the polarizing module comprises a first polarizer and a second polarizer; the first polarization piece is provided with a first transmission direction, the second polarization piece is provided with a second transmission direction, and the first transmission direction and the second transmission direction are arranged at an angle.

In some embodiments, the angle between the first and second directions of through-vibration is 70 ° -110 °.

In some embodiments, the first polarizer further has a first polarity and the second polarizer further has a second polarity, the first polarity being opposite the second polarity.

In some embodiments, the image capture device comprises a camera.

In some embodiments, the unmanned vending apparatus further comprises a shelf disposed within the housing body, the shelf having a plurality of plies, the image capture device being disposed on the shelf.

Another aspect of the present specification provides an article identification method of an unmanned vending apparatus, the method including: when the light-transmitting plate is in a first state, a first optical image is obtained through the image acquisition device; when the light-transmitting plate is in the first state again after the position of the light-transmitting plate is changed, a second optical image is obtained through the image acquisition device; performing item identification based on at least the first optical image and the second optical image and determining an identification result; performing transaction settlement based on the identification result; and a polarization module is arranged between the light-transmitting plate and the image acquisition device.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: the polarization module comprises a first polarization piece arranged on the light transmitting plate and a second polarization piece arranged on the image acquisition device; the first transmission direction of the first polarizer is perpendicular to the second transmission direction of the second polarizer.

Drawings

The present description will be further explained by way of exemplary embodiments, which will be described in detail by way of the accompanying drawings. These embodiments are not intended to be limiting, and in these embodiments like numerals are used to indicate like structures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a polarization module of an unmanned vending apparatus according to some embodiments of the present description;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the unmanned vending apparatus shown in accordance with some embodiments of the present description;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of an item identification method of the unmanned vending apparatus according to some embodiments of the present description.

Detailed Description

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly described below. It is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only examples or embodiments of the present description, and that for a person skilled in the art, the present description can also be applied to other similar scenarios on the basis of these drawings without inventive effort. Unless otherwise apparent from the context, or otherwise indicated, like reference numbers in the figures refer to the same structure or operation.

It should be understood that "system", "device", "unit" and/or "module" as used herein is a method for distinguishing different components, elements, parts, portions or assemblies at different levels. However, other words may be substituted by other expressions if they accomplish the same purpose.

As used in this specification and the appended claims, the terms "a," "an," "the," and/or "the" are not intended to be inclusive in the singular, but rather are intended to be inclusive in the plural, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In general, the terms "comprises" and "comprising" merely indicate that steps and elements are included which are explicitly identified, that the steps and elements do not form an exclusive list, and that a method or apparatus may include other steps or elements.

Although various references are made herein to certain modules or units in a system according to embodiments of the present description, any number of different modules or units may be used and run on the client and/or server. The modules are merely illustrative and different aspects of the systems and methods may use different modules.

Flow charts are used in this description to illustrate operations performed by a system according to embodiments of the present description. It should be understood that the preceding or following operations are not necessarily performed in the exact order in which they are performed. Rather, the various steps may be processed in reverse order or simultaneously. Meanwhile, other operations may be added to the processes, or a certain step or several steps of operations may be removed from the processes.

Unmanned supermarkets and unmanned containers are increasingly popularized, and the utilization rate is greatly improved. The unmanned supermarket and the unmanned container mainly identify the articles taken away by the user to confirm the articles required to be purchased by the user and complete the corresponding transaction flow. The unmanned supermarket and the unmanned container mainly confirm articles specifically purchased by the user through an image recognition method. In this case, external light may affect image recognition. For example, the quality of the image in image recognition is greatly reduced due to the external strong light. In some embodiments, the effect of light outside the container on image recognition can be reduced by laminating a light barrier film on the door of the unmanned container. However, the light-insulating film can only block part of direct strong light on the door of the unmanned counter, and cannot block the influence of the transmitted light on image recognition. In one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, a polarization module may be disposed in an unmanned vending apparatus, such as an unmanned supermarket, an unmanned container, and the like, so as to achieve a better light-shielding effect and a light-filtering effect, so that an image acquisition device in the unmanned vending apparatus has a higher quality effect on image recognition of an article. In some embodiments, the polarization module may include a first polarization member and a second polarization member arranged at an angle, and natural light from outside the unmanned vending apparatus is filtered through the two polarization members arranged at the angle, so as to improve the accuracy of the object identification by the image acquisition device in the unmanned vending apparatus.

In some embodiments, the unmanned vending apparatus may include an outer frame body. The outer frame body may be a support plate at the outermost periphery of the unmanned vending apparatus. In some embodiments, the support panel may include at least one side panel around the drone and a top panel positioned above the side panel. In some embodiments, the supporting plate may be made of glass, or may be made of other materials. In some embodiments, the outer frame body may include, but is not limited to, a cube, a cuboid, a cylinder, a sphere, and the like. When the outer frame body is a cube or a rectangular parallelepiped, the outer frame body may include at least four side walls, and a top plate. When the outer frame body is a cylinder, the outer frame body may include an arc-shaped sidewall and a top plate corresponding to the arc-shaped sidewall. In some embodiments, the inlet of the vending apparatus may be disposed on one of the supporting plates of the external frame body, for example, a cabinet door may be opened on a side plate of the vending apparatus.

In some embodiments, the housing body may include a light-transmitting plate through which light from outside the vending apparatus may be irradiated to the inside of the vending apparatus. On the one hand, can convenience of customers observe the inside article of unmanned vending machine, on the other hand also can improve the inside light intensity of unmanned vending machine. In some embodiments, the frame body can include one or more light-transmissive panels. In some embodiments, the light-transmitting plate may be disposed on a side plate of the outer frame body, or may be disposed on a top plate of the outer frame body. In some embodiments, a light-transmitting plate can be arranged at the cabinet door of the unmanned container, and the user can see the placing position of the articles through the light-transmitting plate. In some embodiments, light-transmitting plates are arranged on peripheral side plates and a top plate of the unmanned supermarket, wherein the peripheral side plates can facilitate users located at different positions around the supermarket to check the types and the placement positions of articles in the supermarket, and the top plate can facilitate light to transmit into the supermarket, so that the light brightness in the supermarket is improved, and the users can observe the articles conveniently.

In some embodiments, the light-transmissive panel may comprise transparent glass or transparent plastic, or the like. In some embodiments, the material of the transparent plate may include natural material, optical glass, optical resin, and the like. In some embodiments, the light-transmitting plate may be made of other light-transmitting materials, and the material of the light-transmitting plate in one or more embodiments of the present disclosure is not limited as long as the material can allow light to pass through and people can clearly see the scene on the other side of the light-transmitting plate. In some embodiments, the light transmittance of the light-transmitting plate, i.e., the ratio of light transmitted through the light-transmitting plate, is higher than 80%, which means that people can clearly see the scene on the other side of the light-transmitting plate.

In some embodiments, the light-transmissive panel can have a variety of shapes including, but not limited to, circular, rectangular, oval, polygonal (regular or irregular), and the like, or the like. Preferably, the shape of the light-transmitting plate can be matched with the shape of the outer frame body. For example, the shape of the outer frame body is a cube or a rectangular parallelepiped, and the shape of the light-transmitting plate may be a rectangle.

In some embodiments, the outer frame body may further include a polarization module disposed corresponding to the light-transmitting plate; the polarization module is used for filtering natural light irradiated to the light-passing board from the outside of the unmanned vending device so as to reduce the influence of the natural light from the outside of the unmanned vending device on the image acquisition device during image acquisition, thereby improving the accuracy of the image acquisition device for identifying articles.

In some embodiments, natural light may include light emitted by various light sources external to the drone, including but not limited to artificial light (e.g., lights), sunlight. For example, for an unmanned cargo container placed indoors, natural light may include various indoor lights, lights of indoor pedestrians carrying equipment, and sunlight irradiated indoors, and the like. For example, for an unmanned supermarket placed outdoors, natural light may include strong light of outdoor large-scale lighting, sunlight, and the like.

In some embodiments, the polarization module may be understood as one or more elements that can filter natural light incident on the light-transmitting plate using the principle of polarization of light. The asymmetry of the vibration direction with respect to the propagation direction is called polarization, which is the most obvious sign that a transverse wave is distinguished from other longitudinal waves, and only the transverse wave has polarization. Light waves are transverse waves, i.e. the direction of vibration of the light wave vector is perpendicular to the direction of propagation of light. Generally, the light source emits light waves whose vibration of the light wave vector is randomly oriented in the direction perpendicular to the propagation direction of the light, but statistically, on average, the distribution of the light wave vector is considered to be equally probable in all possible directions in space, and the sum of the light wave vector and the light wave vector is symmetrical to the propagation direction of the light, that is, the light vector has axial symmetry, is uniformly distributed, and has the same vibration amplitude in all directions, and the light is called natural light. When natural light passes through a polarizer (only light vibrating in a certain direction is allowed to pass through), the natural light becomes polarized light vibrating only in the certain direction; if a polarizer with the same vibration direction is encountered, the polarized light can completely pass through, if the second polarizer is rotated, the intensity of the passing light is reduced, and when the vibration transmission directions of the two polarizers are vertical, the light is completely blocked, namely, the polarization phenomenon of the light.

In some embodiments, the unmanned vending apparatus may further include an image capture device disposed within the housing body. The image acquisition device can be used for acquiring images of the area where the articles are placed and judging the articles taken away from the area where the articles are placed through the images acquired in different time periods. In some embodiments, the image capture device may comprise an optical image capture device, i.e., a device that captures images of the item by way of light imaging. In some embodiments, the optical image capture device may include a camera, lens, webcam, or the like. In some embodiments, the polarization module disposed on the unmanned vending apparatus can filter natural light irradiated through the transparent plate when an image is collected, so as to improve the quality of the image collected by the image collecting apparatus.

In some embodiments, the unmanned vending apparatus may be provided with the polarization module and the image capture device at the same time. In some embodiments, the polarization module may be installed in the unmanned vending apparatus, and then the image capture device may be installed when the unmanned vending apparatus is officially put into use.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a polarization module of an unmanned vending apparatus, according to some embodiments of the present description.

In some embodiments, the polarizing module may be disposed between the light-transmissive plate and the image acquisition device. In some embodiments, the polarizing module may include a first polarizer 110 and a second polarizer 120 disposed between the light-transmissive plate and the image capture device. Referring to fig. 1, the polarization module includes a first polarization member 110 and a second polarization member 120. The first polarizer 110 has a first transmission direction 130, and the second polarizer 120 has a second transmission direction 140. Wherein the polarizer only allows light vibrating in a certain direction to pass through, which can be understood as the transmission direction of the polarizer. In some embodiments, the polarization direction of the polarizer may be a direction corresponding to a plurality of slits in the same direction on the plane of the polarizer, which is not limited in this specification.

In some embodiments, the first transmission direction 130 is disposed at an angle to the second transmission direction 140.

In some embodiments, the angle between the first and second transmission directions may be 70 ° -110 °. In some embodiments, the angle between the first direction of through-vibration and the second direction of through-vibration may be 75 ° -105 °. In some embodiments, the angle between the first direction of through-vibration and the second direction of through-vibration may be 80 ° -100 °. In some embodiments, the angle between the first direction of through-vibration and the second direction of through-vibration may be 85 ° -95 °. In some embodiments, the angle between the first and second transmission directions may be 90 °. When the angle between the first transmission direction and the second transmission direction is 70-90 degrees, the filtering capability of the polarizing module on light is weakest at 70 degrees, when the angle of the polarizing module is gradually increased from 70 degrees to 90 degrees, the filtering capability of the polarizing module is gradually enhanced, and the filtering capability on light is strongest at 90 degrees. When the angle between the first transmission direction and the second transmission direction is 90-110 degrees, the filtering capacity of the polarizing module to light is strongest when the angle is 90 degrees, and when the angle of the polarizing module is gradually increased from 90 degrees to 110 degrees, the filtering capacity of the polarizing module is gradually weakened, and the filtering capacity to light is weakest when the angle is 110 degrees. Preferably, the angle between the first transmission direction and the second transmission direction may be 90 °. At this time, the filtering capability of the polarizing module to the light is strongest. Preferably, the closer the angle between the first transmission direction and the second transmission direction is to 90 degrees, the better the light filtering effect is.

In some embodiments, the first polarizer 110 also has a first polarity and the second polarizer 120 also has a second polarity, the first polarity being opposite the second polarity. In some embodiments, the polarity of the polarizer may be understood as the ability of the polarizer to selectively absorb light in a certain direction due to the difference in the internal structure of the material. If the polarities of the two polarizing pieces are the same, the two polarizing pieces are indicated to have the same light absorption direction; if the two polarizers have different polarities, it means that the two polarizers have different directions of light absorption. In some embodiments, when the first polarity is opposite to the second polarity, the first polarizer 110 and the second polarizer 120 absorb light in different directions, and natural light can be absorbed in different directions, so that the natural light is filtered to a greater extent.

In some embodiments, the polarizing element may include, but is not limited to, a polarizing film, a polarizing glass. In some embodiments, the polarizer can have a variety of shapes, such as circular, rectangular, elliptical, polygonal (regular or irregular), and the like, or the like. The material of the polarizer may include, but is not limited to, natural material, optical glass, optical resin, and the like. In some embodiments, the polarizer may have scratch and shatter protection. In some embodiments, the light transmittance and/or haze of the polarizer can be adjusted according to the actual application. Preferably, the light transmittance and/or haze of the polarizer should be consistent with the light transmittance and/or haze of the light-transmissive plate. In one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the material and shape of the polarizer are not limited as long as the polarizer can have the above-described light polarization effect.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the unmanned vending apparatus shown in accordance with some embodiments of the present description.

In some embodiments, the unmanned vending apparatus may further include a shelf disposed within the housing body, the shelf may have a plurality of plies, and the image capture device may be disposed on the shelf.

The shelves may be used for display of items within the enclosure body. The shelf can have one, two, three, etc. layers of plates that can be used to hold items. The number of the laminates can be set according to the articles in the outer frame body and the space in the outer frame body. In some embodiments, the image capturing device may be mounted vertically downward in the shelf, the image capturing device may be located in the middle of the laminate, and the plurality of image capturing devices may be mounted symmetrically. In the image acquisition process, the image acquisition device can acquire all articles on the inner plate of the covered area. In some embodiments, the manner in which the image capture device is mounted may be fixed. In some embodiments, in order to improve the accuracy of the image capturing device in identifying the object, the laminate needs to be opaque and non-reflective. In some embodiments, each lamina may have an image capture device mounted thereon, and the number of image capture devices mounted on each lamina may vary depending on the size of the lamina and the size that each image capture device may cover.

In some embodiments, the first polarizer 110 may be disposed on the light-transmissive plate and the second polarizer 120 may be disposed on the image capture device.

In some embodiments, the first polarizer 110 may be fixedly disposed on the light-transmissive plate. For example, the adhesive may be provided by pasting, sticking a film, or the like. In some embodiments, the first polarizer 110 may be disposed on an inner or outer surface of the light-transmissive plate. Wherein, the inner surface of the light-transmitting plate is the surface of the light-transmitting plate facing the inside of the unmanned vending apparatus, and the outer surface of the light-transmitting plate is the surface facing the outside of the unmanned vending apparatus. Preferably, the first polarizing member 110 may be disposed on an inner surface of the light-transmitting plate. In some embodiments, the inner surface of the light-transmitting plate has a reflective property, and the inner surface has a reflection of a plurality of objects on the plate, and when the light-transmitting plate is also within the visual field of the image capturing device, the image capturing device may capture the reflection of the objects on the inner surface of the light-transmitting plate together, and thus the object identification cannot be performed accurately. In some embodiments, disposing the first polarizer 110 on the inner surface of the light-transmitting plate can filter the reflection to ensure the accuracy of the object captured by the image capturing device. In addition, when the first polarizer 110 is disposed on the outer surface of the transparent plate, the first polarizer 110 is more likely to be aged and the maintenance cost is higher when the sun blows, rain, and the like.

In some embodiments, the image capturing device may include a lens module and an imaging module, and the second polarizer 120 is disposed between the lens module and the imaging module, as shown in fig. 2. The first polarizer 110 is disposed on an inner surface of the transparent plate, and when external natural light is irradiated to a certain layer of articles through the transparent plate, the natural light is first filtered by the first polarizer 110, that is, only light along the first transmission direction 130 remains in the natural light. When the filtered natural light passes through the object and is reflected to the image acquisition device from the object, the second polarization piece 120 arranged between the lens module and the imaging module can filter the natural light again, so that the influence of the external natural light on the image acquisition device to acquire the image of the object is reduced, and the quality of the image of the object acquired by the image acquisition device is improved. The filtering effect of the second polarizer 120 after re-filtering is related to the angle setting of the transmission direction between the first polarizer 110 and the second polarizer 120, and the detailed description can refer to other parts of this specification, which is not repeated herein. In some embodiments, the image capture device may include a camera. The camera can comprise a fisheye camera and can also be other cameras with large field angles. Preferably, the camera can have a field angle of 160-180 °.

In some embodiments, the second polarizer 120 may also be disposed in front of the lens module. The front of the lens module can be understood as a side of the lens module far away from the imaging module. In some embodiments, fog is easily generated in front of the lens module due to the alternating of cold and heat, such as the heat of the light source, so that the image acquired by the image acquisition device is unclear, and the quality of the image acquired by the image acquisition device is affected. Correspondingly, a device for preventing fog generation can be arranged in front of the lens module, so that the influence of the fog on the image quality is reduced.

In other embodiments, the first polarizer 110 may not be disposed on the light-transmissive plate, the second polarizer 120 may not be disposed on the image capturing device, and the first polarizer 110 and the second polarizer 120 may be disposed at any position between the light-transmissive plate and the image capturing device. Preferably, the first polarizer 110 may be disposed on the light-transmitting plate, and the second polarizer 120 may be disposed on the image capturing device.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of an item identification method of the unmanned vending apparatus according to some embodiments of the present description.

For convenience of understanding, in fig. 3, the article identification method will be described by taking an example in which the first polarization direction of the first polarization member 110 of the polarization module in the vending apparatus is perpendicular to the second polarization direction of the second polarization member 120.

In the embodiments of the present specification, the object identification process is described by taking a supermarket or a counter for selling no-people as an example. For example, when the unmanned vending device is an unmanned vending supermarket, a user opens a door of the supermarket to enter the unmanned vending supermarket, takes articles from the shelf, and then leaves the supermarket from the exit and closes the supermarket door. When the unmanned vending device is an unmanned vending cabinet, a user can open the cabinet door of the unmanned vending cabinet, take articles away, and identify the articles after closing the cabinet door to enter a settlement state, so that the transaction is finally completed. Specifically, the flow 300 of the item identification method of the unmanned vending apparatus includes:

in step 310, a first optical image is acquired by an image acquisition device.

In some embodiments, the first optical image may be acquired by the image acquisition device while the light-transmissive panel is in the first state.

The first state may refer to a state in which the light-transmitting panel is closed. For example, the door of the self-service counter can be closed, or the door of the self-service supermarket or a light-transmitting plate in the supermarket (such as the light-transmitting plate is arranged between a settlement area and an article area of the self-service supermarket) can be closed. In some embodiments, the first optical image may be an image of an area where an item is taken by the user, for example, an image of a shelf where the item is located. In some embodiments, the first optical image may be an image of all or part of the interior of the unmanned vending apparatus. In some embodiments, the image capture device may capture the first optical image in real-time. In some embodiments, the image capture device may acquire the first optical image in advance. For example, the first optical image may be acquired after the last user settlement.

Step 320, acquiring a second optical image through the image acquisition device.

In some embodiments, the second optical image may be acquired by the image acquisition device when the transparent plate is in the first state again after the position of the transparent plate is changed. The change in the position of the light-transmitting plate may include switching the light-transmitting plate from a closed state to an open state, and/or switching the light-transmitting plate from an open state to a closed state. For example, the user can open the door of the unmanned sales counter to take articles and then close the door, or open the door of the unmanned supermarket or the built-in door to take articles and then close the door or the built-in door. In some embodiments, the position of the light-transmitting plate may further include a user opening a door (e.g., a cabinet door, a supermarket door, etc.) to close the door without taking any articles, or to disturb articles on a shelf, etc., which is not limited in this specification. In some embodiments, the image capture device may capture the second optical image in real-time while the light-transmissive panel is again in the first state. In some embodiments, the position of the image capturing device is fixed, so that the captured first optical image and the captured second optical image correspond to the same capture area, except for a change in the item information (e.g., a change in the position of the item, a decrease or increase in the item, etc.) in the first optical image and the second optical image.

And step 330, identifying the article based on at least the first optical image and the second optical image and determining an identification result.

In some embodiments, item identification may be performed by comparing the information difference in the first optical image and the second optical image. In some embodiments, item identification may be performed by an image recognition algorithm. For example, the first optical image and/or the second optical image may be input into a trained image recognition model, an object included in the first optical image or the second optical image may be recognized, or a difference between the first optical image and the second optical image may be recognized. In some embodiments, the article identification may be performed in any feasible manner, for example, a method of image binarization, which is not limited in this specification. In some embodiments, the identification results may include an addition, a subtraction, no change, etc. of information and/or items. For example, if the user opens the cabinet door but does not take any article away, the recognition result of the second optical image and the first optical image is unchanged.

And step 340, performing transaction settlement based on the identification result.

In some embodiments, the items taken by the user may be determined based on the identification results, and the transaction may be settled. For example, if the second optical image is deficient in mineral water with respect to the first optical image as a result of recognition in step 330, the settlement of the transaction may be performed according to the price of the mineral water. In some embodiments, when the identification result is no information change, transaction settlement may not be performed. In some embodiments, when the identification result is an increase in information, for example, the second optical image has more items than the first optical image, an alert may be made. For example, send a message to the server, or issue an alarm. In some embodiments, the transaction settlement may be accomplished by a code scanning payment, a mobile payment, a face payment, a cash payment, and the like, which is not limited in this specification.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments are only described for illustration and explanation, and do not limit the applicable scope of the present specification. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the unmanned vending apparatus and the object recognition method under the guidance of the present specification. However, such modifications and variations are intended to be within the scope of the present description.

The beneficial effects that may be brought by the embodiments of the present description include, but are not limited to: (1) the polarization module is used for filtering natural light irradiated on the light-transmitting plate, so that light imaging interference caused by natural light irradiation can be weakened; (2) the interference of light imaging is eliminated, the imaging quality is improved, and the object identification is successful, so that the unmanned vending device can be arranged in a complex scene. It is to be noted that different embodiments may produce different advantages, and in different embodiments, any one or combination of the above advantages may be produced, or any other advantages may be obtained.

Having thus described the basic concept, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the foregoing detailed disclosure is to be regarded as illustrative only and not as limiting the present specification. Various modifications, improvements and adaptations to the present description may occur to those skilled in the art, although not explicitly described herein. Such modifications, improvements and adaptations are proposed in the present specification and thus fall within the spirit and scope of the exemplary embodiments of the present specification.

Also, the description uses specific words to describe embodiments of the description. Reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment," "an embodiment," and/or "some embodiments" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with at least one embodiment of the specification is included. Therefore, it is emphasized and should be appreciated that two or more references to "an embodiment" or "one embodiment" or "an alternative embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, some features, structures, or characteristics of one or more embodiments of the specification may be combined as appropriate.

Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that aspects of the present description may be illustrated and described in terms of several patentable species or situations, including any new and useful combination of processes, machines, manufacture, or materials, or any new and useful improvement thereof. Accordingly, aspects of this description may be performed entirely by hardware, entirely by software (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.), or by a combination of hardware and software. The above hardware or software may be referred to as "data block," module, "" engine, "" unit, "" component, "or" system. Furthermore, aspects of the present description may be represented as a computer product, including computer readable program code, embodied in one or more computer readable media.

Additionally, the order in which the elements and sequences of the process are recited in the specification, the use of alphanumeric characters, or other designations, is not intended to limit the order in which the processes and methods of the specification occur, unless otherwise specified in the claims. While various presently contemplated embodiments of the invention have been discussed in the foregoing disclosure by way of example, it is to be understood that such detail is solely for that purpose and that the appended claims are not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, are intended to cover all modifications and equivalent arrangements that are within the spirit and scope of the embodiments herein. For example, although the system components described above may be implemented by hardware devices, they may also be implemented by software-only solutions, such as installing the described system on an existing processing device or mobile device.

Similarly, it should be noted that in the preceding description of embodiments of the present specification, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure aiding in the understanding of one or more of the embodiments. This method of disclosure, however, is not intended to imply that more features than are expressly recited in a claim. Indeed, the embodiments may be characterized as having less than all of the features of a single embodiment disclosed above.

Numerals describing the number of components, attributes, etc. are used in some embodiments, it being understood that such numerals used in the description of the embodiments are modified in some instances by the use of the modifier "about", "approximately" or "substantially". Unless otherwise indicated, "about", "approximately" or "substantially" indicates that the number allows a variation of ± 20%. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the numerical parameters used in the specification and claims are approximations that may vary depending upon the desired properties of the individual embodiments. In some embodiments, the numerical parameter should take into account the specified significant digits and employ a general digit preserving approach. Notwithstanding that the numerical ranges and parameters setting forth the broad scope of the range are approximations, in the specific examples, such numerical values are set forth as precisely as possible within the scope of the application.

For each patent, patent application publication, and other material, such as articles, books, specifications, publications, documents, etc., cited in this specification, the entire contents of each are hereby incorporated by reference into this specification. Except where the application history document does not conform to or conflict with the contents of the present specification, it is to be understood that the application history document, as used herein in the present specification or appended claims, is intended to define the broadest scope of the present specification (whether presently or later in the specification) rather than the broadest scope of the present specification. It is to be understood that the descriptions, definitions and/or uses of terms in the accompanying materials of this specification shall control if they are inconsistent or contrary to the descriptions and/or uses of terms in this specification.

Finally, it should be understood that the embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the principles of the embodiments of the present disclosure. Other variations are also possible within the scope of the present description. Thus, by way of example, and not limitation, alternative configurations of the embodiments of the specification can be considered consistent with the teachings of the specification. Accordingly, the embodiments of the present description are not limited to only those embodiments explicitly described and depicted herein.