 Here
is a example of how to use webcam monitoring in your business. This is
a creative way to have a computer look directly at the shelves (or bulk
material) and automatically get a reading of the amount of products you
have in stock.
- Real-time update of your inventory database
- Automation provides consistency and reliability
- No more wasted time counting the inventory by hand
- Automatic re-ordering of stock upon depletion
Have a computer measure the amount of stock on shelves
This
is certainly the simplest way to implement an otherwise complex system.
Some corporations spend millions to automate the inventory in their
warehouses. They do this by installing sensors on the shelves, scanners
in the alleys, by training the employees, and maintaining the system to
keep it running.
A camera can see tens, even hundreds of storage spaces at once. Once
the camera is installed, the system requires little more maintenance,
and no additional hardware such as scanner labels or magnetic tags.
The idea is to have the camera look at the storage space, and put image
matching spots on each shelve space. Zone Trigger's Single Pattern Hot
Spot is great for that. Just set the reference image to the empty
background and put back the items on the shelves, it will then detect
that the image is NOT the background, therefore that the space is
filled.
For bulk items, use Zone Trigger's Level Hot Spot. Again, set the
reference image to the background, and as you pile back the bulk items
into place, the level spot will measure the percentage of the area
covered by the items. 0% means that the background is fully visible,
100% means that the space is full if bulk items.
The
camera must be very well fixed. After the system is setup, moving the
camera can confuse the hot spots and provide erratic readings. The
camera should be set as much in front of the shelves as possible
because it needs to be able to see the background. In a good scenario,
the background is a different color than the objects. The bigger the
contrast, the better the detection.
Since this system will be using reference images, you need to have a
reliable lighting source. If the lights are too dim or too bright, the
current video image will differ from the reference images and provide
invalid readings. Also, don't let things lying in between the camera and the items. A forgotten
box in front of the shelves is a bad reading waiting to happen.
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2- Put a hot spot on each item (or groups of items) you wish to monitor
 There are rules for this to work.
Every item on the shelves must have its place, which cannot be
exchanged with another item's without updating Zone Trigger.
Since you will be indicating where the hot spots are, the system will
expect the items to be there, else it will detect that they are absent.
Use Single Pattern Spots, Dual Pattern Spots, and Level Spots, which
ever are the most appropriate for the sort of item you wish to monitor
on the shelves. See the product documentation for extra details on each
type of Hot Spot.
Adjust
the Continuous Time option on each spot. Set it to 1 minute or more.
This way, if someone walks in front of the camera (and this will
happen) and happens to be wearing the same colors as the background,
the system will not confirm that items are missing. Only when the same
pattern is detected for at least 1 minute will the hot spots confirm a
reading.
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3- Set the notification type for each hot spot
 What happens when a hot spot confirms that a storage space has been emptied?
This depends on your current inventory management system. You can set
the hot spots to generate an audio alarm or email notification. Quite
simple, just press the Action button for each spot and choose the type
of notification you want.
If you really want to automate your inventory, however, you'll need to
think about it for a minute. What kind of database system are you
currently using? Zone Trigger can throw hotkeys, send emails, run
commands (local programs or online http call for example). If you have
an intranet database, maybe Zone Trigger can send commands to your
database via http call. Zone Trigger can also keep log files, which can
be analyzed by simple scripts in pearl or Visual Basic. Some system
integration might require some technical or programming skills.
Of course, you can keep it simple and just review Zone Trigger's log
file at the end of the day. Or have a simple script that parses this
log file into something your database can use.
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