The patent on SIFT expired yesterday

Re:The patent on SIFT expired yesterday by MobileVet on Monday March 09, 2020 @07:15AM (#22524472)

Evolution Robotics (later acquired by iRobot) was the first licensee of this patent for robotics applications. It was very cutting edge for the time and allowed our robots the ability to recognize real world objects. Having the robot follow a book that you carried in front of it was trippy in 2002.

Later we applied it to loss prevention in grocery retail with cameras at ground level watching under the cart. If we recognized anything in the ‘bob’ (bottom of the basket) we would automatically add it to the receipt.

Good memories.

Edit: typo 'tea' -> real

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Re:The patent on SIFT expired yesterday by jjwiseman on Monday March 09, 2020 @08:06PM (#22531350)

MobileVet, as an ex-Evolution Robotics person, I might have some media you're interested in (they might have come from you, if I'm guessing correctly who you are...).

Email me at [email protected].

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Re:The patent on SIFT expired yesterday by black_puppydog on Monday March 09, 2020 @08:53AM (#22524944)

wait... the concept was to have video cameras on the ground point upward in a supermarket setting?

Did anyone involved in this ever stop to think "what would a person wearing a skirt say to this?" It's not exactly the kind of thing you'd expect to be able to explain away with "oh no but we really don't use it for that" no?

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Re:The patent on SIFT expired yesterday by derivagral on Monday March 09, 2020 @09:05AM (#22525019)

A more charitable reading is that the cameras are at ground level and stay aimed at ground level. I got the impression he's not talking about the main basket of the shopping cart, but the storage right above the wheels where you might forget pet food or bulk paper goods.

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Re:The patent on SIFT expired yesterday by black_puppydog on Monday March 09, 2020 @11:49AM (#22526360)

okay, that might be my non-native English comprehension. I parsed "bottom of the basket" as the flat underside of the main part of the cart. And you'd have to point the cameras upwards to see that.

If it's horizontal, that's a different topic.

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Re:The patent on SIFT expired yesterday by dr_zoidberg on Tuesday March 10, 2020 @10:17AM (#22535613)

I had the same impression upon first read. And from a programmers perspective of what the ideal conditions for such a software would be, I also thought of a ground placed camera, pointing upwards in a way in which id could see the basket an find items that were "forgotten" in it.

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Re:The patent on SIFT expired yesterday by coredog64 on Monday March 09, 2020 @09:25AM (#22525139)

Horizontally aligned, pointing into the space where your cart goes when you check out. Unless we’re worried about blurry pix of well-turned ankles showing up on the web, I don’t think there’s cause for concern.

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Re:The patent on SIFT expired yesterday by JoeAltmaier on Monday March 09, 2020 @09:27AM (#22525159)

Until the first horny teen working a station gets an idea into their head.

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Re:The patent on SIFT expired yesterday by karlkatzke on Monday March 09, 2020 @10:11AM (#22525454)

The cashier can’t see the camera. The camera is watched by object recognition software that can talk to the point of sale.

If object recognition algorithms develop the ability to be aroused by human underwear, we have -other- problems.

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