AU2019100428A4 - An intelligent in-store shopping platform for customers and retailers. With this, customers can select, scan, and pay for the products via smartphones and check-out of the store with minimal human intervention. The system uses hi-end technologies such as artificial intelligence for anti-shoplifting, automated decision making, Computer Vision, weighing techniques, electronic circuitry and RFID. The framework uses intricate IoT (Internet of Things) technology and self-learning algorithms, big data analytics, customer engagement and pattern analysis using data extraction and knowledge mining. - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract A process of shopping using an app on mobile devices to scan product bar codes with RFID technology and pay for the shopping cart containing scanned items using said app. The process further provides anti-theft arrangements, automated checkout based on inventory of scanned and paid-for items, consumer purchase history and shopping behaviour projections. DRAWINGS - Q-LESS KART 3. Q-Less Kart Component Diagram Please refer to Description 3 - Q-Less Kart Component Diagram for context. Component Diagram Antenna Back-up tL---------------------------------------i --- + Controller Motor ' I RFID Tags ReIer Figure 3 - Q-Less Kart Component Diagram

Description

1. INTRODUCTION OF THE INVENTION

1.1. Purpose of Invention

The purpose of this invention is to use a combination of hardware and software devices for developing a smooth shopping experience. Following are the key areas involved in our proposed loT framework creating the best in-store shopping and customer engagement.

For this project, the star technology used is “Radio frequency identification (RFID)” which has increasingly gained recognition and prominence over the course of last decade as a technology which offers significant amount of potential to deliver benefits for both the consumers including customers, clients and citizen and the service providers such as merchants, retailers, hospitals and many more. Some of the key areas where RFID technology has gained significant recognition across various industry verticals, including food safety management, the airline industry, healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, chemicals, supply chain, energy, fertilisers and transportation.

1.2. Background

With Q-Less Kart, we have proposed a new way of shopping using RFID technology which has been used as the key enabler in building an RFID based seamless shopping system allowing the system to optimise the operational efficiency of the merchant’s front desk, retail stores in turn delivering an elevated customer shopping experience and enhanced customer engagement. This competitive advantage allows businesses to sustain their growth without worrying about ever increasing operational costs. The key impetus here is that the retailers must lead this initiative from the front as they need to continuously work towards increasing their competitive edge when it comes to customer acquisition, customer engagement and sustenance i.e., increasing visits to their retail stores.

We have researched a number of innovative researches and found that a large number of retail stores shy away from using innovative technology such as Computer Vision, Artificial Intelligence and RFID in order to enhance overall value of the customer’s shopping experience. This in turn allows the merchants and the retailers to continuously improve the shopping experience and introduce measures to enhance service quality. With Q-Less Kart, we have strived to improve the overall process and optimise customer and shop-floor staff involvement in the process.

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1.3. Current Situation

At the moment, the following process is being followed:

a. In most shopping experiences, stores have a focus on staff serving the customer on the checkout while it is customer intensive process before that point from the start to the finish of the process.

b. The customer walks in to the store,

c. The customer has to type the items that they have to purchase, in their phones or walk with a printed shopping list in the store.

d. The shop floor has less staff members to ask questions from,

e. The shop floor has minimal visual cues and information as to which aisle a particular grocery item is placed

f. After looking for the right aisle and the right product,

g. The customer proceeds to the checkout where the store staff would scan everything, bag items and collects the payment.

h. The customer exits the retailer’s shop after spending a lot of time on nonvalue adding activities.

1.4. Q-Less Kart Solution

Following are the key steps performed by the customer and the store staff:

a. Customer Visual cues available on the client-based app in terms of the search facility and an aisle map with product placements.

b. If a customer has come prepared as to what they wish to purchase then they can use the shopping list functionality is available on the app where the customer can search for the products, the products get added to their shopping cart, they can then set the quantity of each item, pay for it within the app and proceed to the checkout.

c. If a customer wishes to buy items without a shopping list then they can simply search for the item in the search screen of the client-based app which shows aisle location and in-store map.

d. The customer then proceeds to that aisle, there are bags at the end of each aisle where the customers can choose to bag selected items,

e. When completed shopping, the customers can then pay for the cart in the app

f. The App generates a QR Code, which is what the customer has to show to the machine at the checkout area near shop’s exit.

g. At the checkout, the customer shows the QR Code which will activate the hardware system such as RFID Scanner/ Reader, the LED, the LCD, Controller, Microprocessor and the Motor.

h. The RFID Scanner/ Reader will assess the items in the shopping cart and provides this information to the database server and application server.

i. A compare will be performed at the application server where it will decode the shopping list and see whether the items in the trolley have been paid for.

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j. If all the items in the trolley are have been paid for then the processor will inform the LED light to flag green and LCD to display a message and motor to open the boom gate and the customer can exit the store.

k. If all the items in the cart have not been paid for then the customer is notified via the LCD screen to check their cart to either remove the extra item or pay for it via the app. This will also trigger the LED light to turn red at that time and flag a notification to the shop floor staff with the checkout number where the red light is flashed and a sound notification is produced.

l. If the customer chooses to remove the item, then they can place it in the basket on the railing near the checkout area and can re-scan their QR code for cart re-checking. If everything is matched then the boom gate opens and the customer can exit the shop.

m. If the customer paid for a product and forgot to keep it in the cart then at the checkout, the system will notify the customer that an item that they have paid for is not in the cart. The customer has a choice to either go back to the aisle and get that product or claim for refund for that item and checkout.

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2. FIELD OF THE INVENTION

2.1. Business Process

Over the last decade, a lot of work has been done in the field of RFID technology and Computer Vision but it’s application in ubiquitous retail industry for seamless integration has been a fairly new field. We have employed a combination of hardware and software modules using Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision and RFID technology in order to build the first state of the art shopping experience.

This is a platform allowing multiple retailers to come onto the Q-Less Kart platform allowing customer to have access to their preferred retailers all under one hood.

The platform will allow retailers from various industry such as Grocery, Apparel, Fresh Food, Books & Publishing, Food and Beverages, Hardware and Auto, Hospitals and Healthcare, Trade and Transport and General Merchandise to come together to use this new platform Q-Less Kart.

2.2. Customer Journey

The customers can choose to use their preferred retailers any time of the day during the business hours, have access to the in-store app environment and shopping lists, purchase history and their store locations etc.

The customers can with a touch see all the products in their preferred retailer’s store and can add to their shopping list, go to the shop, pay for their selection and leave the store. The customer can then walk-into another store which is Q-Less Kart enabled and repeat the process without having to interact with multiple applications.

2.3. Platform

The platform connects to the retailer’s inventory management system hence the process allows the data captured to be linked. A history of all the transactions and shopping is also made available for the process.

A search functionality is also deployed which is a global extensive powerful search allowing the items to be searched from retailer’s database. A profile functionality allows an aggregated delivery mechanism where multiple discounts, and promotions are offered.

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The platform provides help with shopping through providing Omni-channel customer engagement. The product’s location in store such an interactive map is also displayed on the application which allows customer to easily navigate through to the aisle with visual cues and prompts. The app also provides the ability for customers to fetch product related information through the in-app brief provided.

2.4. Technology

A series of cameras that power ups the computer vision method and are used to monitor gestures in store for example the customer picks an item from an aisle and does not scan the item in their shopping cart, uses the item in store’s premise and put it back on the shelf; in this scenario it would have been impossible to pick the pattern or behaviour but in the future the cameras will have the power to pick those pattern and notify nearby store assistant along with flagging the location of the item on the aisle which has been incorrectly placed by the customer.

An example of this is a box of cookie which the customer puts back in shampoo section and the cookie box is empty which will notify the nearby store assistant to go and pick up the box to put it in the right place. If the product has been consumed by the customer then the store assistant can look at the camera image from a few minutes ago and request the customer to pay for the item they have missed behind.

2.5. Methods & Techniques

Using these methods and techniques, a set of intelligent framework is devised which will allow store to gather intel on which products get the highest rates when it comes to these types of issues and abandonment.

These techniques and images captured from the camera learning gesture and pattern recognition can provide training data set for the improvement of the algorithms in turn allowing system to self-learn with the training data and learn new customer behaviour and patterns.

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3. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

3.1. Problems

a. In present times, the customers have to go through a long tedious process of selecting the products of their preference by wandering through the store, selecting products and bringing their cart to the checkout area where a store staff will scan each product, scans the customer’s loyalty card and places the products in bags and collects payment. This process on an average can take up to 10-15 mins depending upon the number of products purchased. The customer can then checkout and leave the store.

b. Currently, the customers go through a tedious process of searching for a preferred item throughout the store area. At the moment, the process requires the customer to hover over in the store, wandering for what they are looking for and during the course of that process, they can by chance, discover the discounted and items on promotion that they like. There is no intelligent means of providing with the discounts and promotions.

c. The present situation favours minimum interaction between the customers and the staff in retailer’s store. This adversely affects the shopping experience, and there is no encouragement from the shop floor staff and consultation so that the customer can more exciting get engaged in the shopping. Since the shop-floor staff is too busy spending time on the administrative tasks therefore they have minimum time to spend on actual customer engagement and retention activities. This makes the overall shopping process inefficient, cumbersome, unsatisfactory for customer and non-interactive striving to cross-sell and up-sell the product.

d. At present, the stores advertise their products on the shop-floor in a noninteractive manner in turn sending marketing messages for products through the mass media or in store aisles. It has been observed that the target marketing segments have not been considered for the customers and personalised promotions have not been taken into the account. It would be ideal if the retailers are provided with an opportunity to know specifically about their customers’ purchase history, the key products customers prefer, and their favourite store. It has also been considered as one of the principles that while customers are wandering along in the store to hover over the aisles and select products; the Q-less Kart platform can offer interactive and powerful cross-selling and upselling promotions. This is an opportunity that could be presented to the customers to influence the customer’s buying decisions helping retailers in maximising their total brand and product value.

e. Currently stores use a minimal potential of their marketing competence, and therefore are not able to achieve their customer engagement KPIs or exceeding their CSFs for sales targets.

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f. Customers have moved onto the “do-it-yourself’ approach whereas the shopping centres, malls and retailers key focus are still on serving customers through administrative activities which has created a gap in customer expectations and fulfilment by the retailer.

g. Currently the store lacks services including self-service for product search services which makes it difficult for the customers to look for the specific item and locate it on shop-floor thereby making it an inflexible process consuming a lot of time at the customer’s end.

3.2. Solution

With the use of RFID technology in Q-Less Kart, it is expected that the retailer is enabled to keep track of customers’ shopping patterns, the history in turn providing the data so that the retailers can plan to implement customer-centric individualised marketing strategies and communication services.

It has surfaced as one of the results during the course of research involved in product development of Q-Less Kart that the use of RFID and computer vision technologies have been brand new to the retail processes.

Q-Less Kart platform has allowed the retailers them to understand how these technologies can be effective in business operations and in supporting the retailer’s ERP, CRM or Inventory Management system.

3.3. Architecture Overview

Following is the architectural overview of the System Architecture used as the design pattern in the development of Q-Less Kart:

a. The solution uses a layered architecture and comprises of five layers decomposing the key system functionalities of Q-Less Kart platform into the major modules of sub-functionalities such that each module is provided with the ability to achieve a specific level of abstraction.

b. A method of layering an application design provides an opportunity for a complex application to be divided into more manageable and smaller pieces of modules and this also provides a level of transparency embedded in the architecture hiding implementation details from other layers.

c. This facilitates in simplifying the communications within the application and among various layers of Q-Less Kart platform. This design pattern seamlessly helps in inter-application communications between the Q-Less Kart and other existing legacy applications such as the retailer’s ERP, CRM or Inventory Management system.

d. It has been ensured throughout that the interfaces across various layers of the platform are kept stable which enables source code change control which means that even the late source code changes to the Q-Less Kart platform

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2019100428 23 Apr 2019 must not propagate through to the entire application, in turn reducing application maintainability which has a potential effect on cost savings.

3.4. Layers of Architecture

Following are the five layers involved in the system architecture of this platform:

3.4.1. Data-Capturing Front-End System

a. The first layer in the architecture focuses on the RFID data-capturing frontend system.

b. This module contains three components including the RFID readers/ scanners, the transponders, and the RFID based antennas.

c. Each product is embedded with a soft or hard RFID based label which consists of a transponder with the inside of the tag comprising of an RFID tag.

d. Each tag either soft or hard label contains the product ID on it which is the key means of storing the information about the products inside the shopping cart.

e. In addition, each exit lane in the checkout area is also equipped with an RFID reader/ scanner, containing the ability to look through the cart over each product recognising it’s ID and the key data related to the product.

f. Additionally, the RFID Readers or Scanners are equipped with antennas. These readers are placed at fixed locations such as the exit of each aisle and the checkout area within the retail store which allows them to read or write information on an RFID soft or hard tag.

g. When the customers pick up a product and scan it via their mobile phone, this information is automatically sent to the database and application server which can then act upon this information at the time of checkout comparing it to the paid item list generated by the platform at the end of the purchase.

3.4.2. Data-Capturing Interface

a. It has been researched and observed that the RFID based tags whether soft or hard labels have various formats and standards therefore it is important to have some sort of utility or an interface allowing them to trigger communication with the RFID reader. It is also important to keep in consideration that there are other types of RFID tags such as the active, semi-active and passive ones which draw their power from different sources based on their type.

b. This interface or software utility allows the platform to convert the information embedded in the tag to a data form which is readable by the system and used for various purposes.

ABSTRACT- Q-LESS KART

3.4.3. Database

a. At this stage, the data captured from all previous modules is fed into a database which has been intricately designed based on standards.

b. The data repository set up under this module enables the system with the provision of essential information to run a number of applications in turn supporting the data extraction and mining processes at the multiple levels.

c. The data can be extracted, mined and updated by a number of applications.

3.4.4. Workflow Interface

a. Of all the layers, this particular module is responsible for managing, coordinating, and integrating various business processes and the flow of data within and outside the application systems building a network of applications.

b. As a rule of thumb, a middleware interface has been deployed to communicate within the various information and application sources with the database.

c. The middleware has the capability to have fed built-in business rules which facilitates in monitoring the data stream thereby directing the data into the appropriately identified target databases and application systems.

3.4.5. Application Layer

a. This layer includes the Application systems which is the key server side and client side application with an emphasis on product inventory management system, client engagement portal and application, customer relationship management system (CRM) and other enterprise resource planning (ERP) have been developed to enhance the major business operations and improve the level and quality of service being provided at the retail store.

b. The Q-Less Kart system has the ability to integrate with the current legacy systems, including but not limited to the customer relationship management (CRM) system, enterprise resource planning (ERP), client engagement portal and application and point of sale (POS) system.

c. It is important to keep into consideration that the workflow interface deployed here enables the application to work with other systems using a standard application program interface (API) as it allows the applications to communicate amongst themselves and with the database.

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4. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention “Q-Less Kart” have included a streamlined architectural development process in the solution design focussing on the following six stages. The development includes a cascaded approach taken towards staging, in general the output of one stage takes into account the input of the next stage of the process.

The platform beneficially includes the approach that has been such that each stage has been organised as a cascaded set of activities which can be implemented by cross-functional teams including various key-functions.

The six key stages of the design and development of the business process for invention are given below. The set of activities undertaken for the design and development of the Q-Less Kart platform including business process management & re-engineering, requirements gathering & market research, solution architecture, system design, system implementation, and acceptance testing, evaluation & assessment are as follows:

4.1. Stage 1: Business Process Management and Re-engineering

A business process is the overall end-to-end overarching process that details every step of a business process. The business process provides a guide on how a business is carried out and the order in which these activities are performed. It is important to consider that a process is related to the number of process steps involving the business rules, process management strategies, and a number of ways in which business aligns work, data analysis, information sharing, and knowledge management.

In order to achieve a solution to problems listed above, an RFID framework of technology has been proposed as a technology enablement tool which can impact business process changes in turn transforming traditional retail businesses to a more contemporary digital business. RFID-enabled shopping process in a retail store. First, the process validates the customer’s identity based on a customer loyalty card that contains basic customer data for identification purposes. After successfully verifying the customer’s identity, the shopping journey starts with a shopping cart, and the following four sub-processes come into play.

4.1.1. Product Selection Sub-process

When an RFID antenna detects the in-and-out movement of the items in the shopping cart, it retrieves the product pricing information from the system databases to instantly calculate and update the total amount of all items inside the cart. This helps customers monitor and check whether the items or number of items are within their budget.

In addition, when customers select an item, other brands or associated products can be presented to them using an intelligent user interface so that a wide range

ABSTRACT-Q-LESS KART of products can be offered to the customers and the store can better cross sell other relevant products.

4.1.2. Product Promotion Sub-process

When customers successfully log in to the system, their prior shopping behaviour and favourite items are retrieved and analysed. Based on the analytical results, the store can effectively market personalized product sales.

In order to be able to completely align the goals and objectives of a modern digital business to achieve this, RFID antennas that are installed within a cart and storewide to detect the location of customers within the store. When the customer walks through particular product areas or pick up items that have been recorded as their favourites, the system can alert customers of other new or similar products.

4.1.3. Customer Management Sub-process

In the Q-Less Kart system, the customers across the store can view the products location on shelves, update their personal information, their favourite products, store their product purchase history, and receive in-store shopping experience. This type of information record can allow the store to better understand an individual customer’s shopping habits and needs in turn planning the demand of a particular product accordingly.

The shopping services can be customised accordingly to improve the customer shopping experience and customer loyalty. Furthermore, if a customer needs instore assistance, they can press a button on their smart phone screen, and the store assistant can immediately locate the customer’s position using in-store map and approach the customer to offer help.

4.1.4. Product Checkout Sub-process

Once the customers finished selecting the products they wish to purchase, customers can then move their carts to a self-checkout machine which are embedded in checkout lanes. The system then transfers the data of the chargeable items to the checkout machine based on remote intelligent sensing of the cart and a shopping invoice is automatically generated. When the customers confirm the invoice, their accounts can be debited accordingly.

The products cart that has been paid for and purchased then transfers the transaction data to the database for storage and analysis. The shopping journey ends after showing the customers a personalised note of “Thank You, Welcome Back” message. The LCD screen and LED lights are also there to signal customer that they have missed out scanning a product or a product has incorrect bar code.

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4.2. Stage 2: Requirements Gathering & Market Research

1. The process that have been followed in collecting business process and functional requirements, acquiring the knowledge of the business processes in turn learning the business dynamics and overall operational environment of the retail store, the team have analysed a number of Retail stores or outlet’s business needs to define the specific, unambiguous, and testable requirements with regard to the user, hardware, and software.

2. Once the relevant information has been collected after discussing the business process with the key stakeholders, we analysed and summarised the key functional requirements for an automated in-store shopping system.

4.3. Stage 3: Solution Architecture

1. This process step System Architecture development is the initial process of identifying the subsystems and establishing a framework among subsystem controls and communications in turn providing an encompassing and integrated environment for both logical design and physical implementation.

2. The mapping between the business processes and the systems that meet those functional requirements is used to guide application development and communication ensuring integration takes place in an appropriate manner.

3. Following are the five key components involved in the solution architecture:

4.3.1. Client-side mobile app

The mobile app provides the graphical user interface to customers in turn equipping the products shopping cart with an RFID reader that detected the inand-out movement of items to and from the shopping cart allowing the cart’s physical assets to be included in the cart using the software module of the clientside mobile app.

4.3.2. Database server

The database server in the Q-Less Kart systems consisted of various specific databases including customer data, product information, inventory data, transaction management information, and RFID information allowing the execution of a query, the databases were accessed through an open database connectivity (ODBC) gateway.

4.3.3. Self-checkout server

The self-checkout server processed the product checkout via self-service, computed the checkout amount, and accepted the payment from the customers. The transaction data on the server were transferred to the relevant databases for record keeping purposes.

4.3.4. Shopping cart

The shopping cart is embedded with a mini RFID tag into the shopping cart allowing the tag information to be either read or written by an RFID reader to

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2019100428 23 Apr 2019 retrieve and update the product information in the cart. This information is transferred via the server to check out in the app.

4.3.5. RFID reader

The RFID readers have been placed at fixed positions in the retail store and connected to several antennas to detect the flow and location of the shopping carts and products in turn allowing the carts to be automatically calculating the bill and the composition of the cart.

4.4. Stage 4: System Design

1. The System design is a key element in the design and development of the system architecture, layout, user interface and overall flow of the process.

2. In order to undertake the development of this system, the solution options analysis, the assessment of technology and evaluation of a proposed solution.

3. In this phase, the primary system requirements have been identified in order to determine the data flow and entity relationship diagrams (ERD) to help effectively design and development of the model system.

4. The system consists of three primary components of subsystem processes:

4.4.1. Client-side Application

The client-side application of the Q-Less System consists of the three underlying modules, including:

4.4.1.1. RFID Module

The store is divided into several categories in which RFID antennas are installed to detect the flow of the shopping carts. Each shopping cart is attached with an RFID tag.

The RFID antennas transfer the data to the server after receiving the signal from the RFID tag on the shopping cart. When a tagged shopping cart moves into a region, the antennas capture its signal. The signal received is then interpreted by the corresponding RFID reader and transferred to the self-checkout server.

The server determines the location of the shopping cart allowing the installation with a self-checkout client that is connected to the server through the wireless network. The RFID reader on the cart captures the inand-out movement of products to and from the cart. When an item is put into or taken out of the cart, its QR product code is captured. By referencing the relevant databases, the item is identified.

This cart products are stored in a database, and the recommendation module generates the promotions and discounts offered to the customers. The system uses Data mining algorithms such as association rule mining and cluster analysis in order to generate promotional items. The suggestion of the promotion items is based on the customer segments and association rules.

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4.4.1.2. Suggestions Module

The customer market has been divided based on the customer profiles. Using the Clustering analysis aids in the identification of the clusters embedded in the data, which is a collection of data objects exhibiting same properties to one another. Customers with similar values are grouped together to form a market segment to which the merchant promotes products different resonating to the right segment.

4.4.1.3. Offers Module

The correlations among the categories, sub-categories and the products must be analysed by the merchants in order to promote relevant products by promotions, offers and deals using association mining technique. This helps in discovering the product associations to set offers. This technique can be applied to all customers’ transaction records, individual and cluster-wide transaction records in the system.

4.4.2. Self-checkout Service Application

When approaching the self-checkout area, a customer can trigger the selfcheckout request using the client-based app.

The product checkout and payment service at the self-checkout machine can be invoked remotely via the wireless network. The machine displays all the product information sent from the self-checkout client, computes and generates the shopping invoice.

When customer confirms the invoice on client screen, the payment gateways using PayPal, SKRILL, Secure Pay & other mechanisms debits customer’s account and settles the invoice.

4.4.3. Self-checkout Database

This database is responsible for storing all of the data for the Q-Less Kart system, including product information, customers’ personal data, transaction information, and so forth.

The Q-Less Kart clients can use the client-based app to connect to the database server through the wireless network to access the required information in the data repository.

4.5. Stage 5: System Implementation

1. Prototyping has been developed to validate the concept, with the prototype an RFID product setup, carts fitting with RFID antennas, sensors, actuators, motors and the checkout lanes with LCD screen and LED and sound buzzer.

2. Architectural and system design

a. Hyper-Text Markup Language (HTML) for the admin portal for merchants and the super admin have been developed to label the products, categories, inventories, and analytics dashboard. This technology has been selected for the development of web-based interfaces, as it is portable and compatible with most web browsers.

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b. iOS have been used for the development of the Mobile App for in-store shopping experience where the customers can place orders, add products to the cart and performed the transaction in the system.

c. A structured query language (SQL) was used for writing statements and queries in the rational database management (RDBMS) system.

d. The open database connectivity (ODBC) protocol was selected for communication between the database and the application server.

4.6. Stage 6: Acceptance Testing, Evaluation & Assessment

The system has been developed performing testing, conducting test against the test cases ensuring that the system in production has conformed to the functional specifications defined and the business associated with it.

The team has also performed a set of formal tests, including unit test, module tests, integration tests, functionality tests, performance tests, and load test were performed to demonstrate that the prototype was error and bug-free.

ABSTRACT-Q-LESS KART

5. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Q-Less Kart is the state of the art invention that presents a complex combination of technologies to build a sophisticate framework that is scalable, reliable and expandable to a number of businesses and merchants.

5.1. Description

The key elements of the system include the following:

1. Admin Portal - the admin portal is a super-admin of users that offer a number of functionalities for the Q-Less Kafe team to support the Vendors in uploading their store related information, their inventory details etc.

2. Vendor Portal - the vendor portal is a super-user of that particular vendor and offer a number of functionalities for the Vendors to upload their store related information, their inventory details, see the orders coming through in real-time, accepting, rejecting and suggesting the orders etc.

3. Client-based App - the app allows the customers to be in touch with the realtime shopping experience allowing them to store products in the cart or also scan the products via the app in turn allowing the auto-calculation of bills at the checkout and the automatic generation of the invoice for the shopping.

4. Analytics Dashboard - the dashboard allows the customers, vendors and admin to analyse sophisticated level of analytics and data collected to understand the patterns, generate clustering and correlation for the future.

5.2. What’s new about this idea?

This idea is state of the art and a new invention. This is scalable and not a particular vendor centric approach which means that the results or the outcomes of the trials are reproducible and this technology can be re-used in setting up a complete eco-system called “Q-Less” to be set up in various industries.

5.3. What do we offer as compared to what’s available?

We offer a complete framework including processes, technologies and practices to relinquish queues from any business and this is the first off in the series.

5.4. Benefits

a. Customers’ behaviour and optimize the operational efficiency of retail stores

b. Compliance with traceability protocols

c. Reduction in the labour costs

d. Increase in the efficiency in the supply chain of short-shelf-life products

e. Increase in product cross selling and upselling

f. Enhancement of promotional campaign efficiency via an analytical system

g. Increase in customer convenience and improve efficiency in the process

h. Empower and facilitate customers to use in-store self-services.

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Q-LESS KART

Drawing Description

Data One Technologies Pty. Ltd.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS - Q-LESS KART

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Q-Less Kart loT Framework3

2. Q-Less Kart System Block Diagram4

3. Q-Less Kart Component Diagram6

4. Q-Less Kart End-to-end Process7

5. Q-Less Kart Architecture Diagram9

6. Q-Less Kart Technical Diagram10

7. Q-Less Kart System Process Diagram11

8. Q-Less Kart Use Case Diagram12

9. Q-Less Kart System Interaction Diagram13

10. Q-Less Kart Data Flow Diagram14

11. Q-Less Kart RFID Framework15

12. Q-Less Kart Physical to Digital Mapping16

13. Q-Less Kart Module 1: Shopping Module17

14. Q-Less Kart Module 2: Checkout Module18

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BRIEF DESCRIPTION DRAWINGS

1. Q-Less Kart loT Framework

Please refer to Figure 1 - Q-Less Kart loT Framework for context.

The purpose of this diagram is to describe the solution framework which represents the key methods, concepts and frameworks which have been deployed for the engineering, design and development of the Q-Less Kart solution framework:

• Asset Geo-Fencing o The asset geo-fencing module allows the RFID enabled assets to not leave retailer’s premise until a payment has been received against a tag hence a mechanism for disabling the RFID labeling for the asset.

• Shelf-Life Management o The Shelf-Life Management allows the retailer to track the lifecycle of an asset, how long it has been parked on the shelf, number of items sold in each asset category and asset turnover.

o The Shelf-Life Management also allows the customer to locate an asset of interest just by searching for the asset on their customer side application hence the ability to find an asset on the shop floor.

• Asset Identification o The Asset Identification allows the retailer to determine which asset has been picked up by the customer, which asset is in the premise and which asset is proceeding to checkout for automatic transaction.

• Access Control o The Access Control is the hub unit which coordinates and links through to all key components such as Reader, Processor, Motor & Controller.

• Secure-Encrypted Communication o The Secure Communication module allow encrypted transaction to take place in relation to customer profile, store profile, financial matters, inventory management and secure checkout for customer & retailer.

• Checkout Automation o The Checkout Automation is enabled with Computer Vision and set of integrated camera network allowing authentication to take place.

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2. Q-Less Kart System Block Diagram

Please refer to Figure 2 - Q-Less Kart System Block Diagram for context.

The purpose of this diagram to show how the Q-Less Kart system works, the key new technologies behind the solution and the keys steps involved in the design and development of the solution.

Following are the key steps involved in the technical solution of Q-Less Kart:

• Step 1: Data Collection & Visualisation o Sensors - the purpose of the sensors are to allow the capturing of data effectively and be able to transmit this information to the RFID reader through to the antennas. This relies on the identification of RFID tags which come in the vicinity of this sensor allowing customisable ranges.

o Camera - allows the reading of the RFID tags at the customer’s end allowing data capturing through their device’s camera to the system.

o Barcode - allows the information related to a product be captured in a RFID barcode which is scanned by the customer allowing this information to be captured and added to their shopping cart later used at the time of bill preparation and SMART checkout.

• Step 2: Processing & Control o Robotics - concepts of Robotics such as smart asset tracking has been applied in the engineering, design and the development of QLess Kart smart scan and checkout solution o Machine Learning - patterns evaluation, data analytics and other smarts around the shopping cart allow the system to be able to generate results with more confidence over multiple purchases.

o OORFID - Object Oriented Radio Frequency Identification system allowing the object classes of data collected through RFID to be written in such a manner allowing the data to be visualised in form of patterns generated with Big Data Analysis and other forecasting methods • Step 3: Analysis & Automation o Big Data - with Q-Less Kart’s Omni-channel effective inventory management, it is extremely easy for the retailers to be able to labels their assets and inventory and display it in a certain fashion as per the utility of the inventory enhancing sales and customer retention o Al - artificial intelligence concepts and algorithms have been key instruments enabling the business logic development of Q-Less Kart

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2019100428 23 Apr 2019 system facilitating in suggestions for the inventory presentation, shelf lifecycle management of inventory and customer purchase patterns.

o Security - since the Q-Less Kart system integrates with the retailer’s ERPs and their core inventory management system, therefore it is of prime concern to protect safety. In this regards a secure communication using set of high-security encryption protocols have been deployed for communication over TCP/IP. Additional measures of security have been deployed to ensure that the data Transmission Reception between tags, readers and antennas have been encrypted.

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3. Q-Less Kart Component Diagram

Please refer to Figure 3 - Q-Less Kart Component Diagram for context.

The purpose of the Component Diagrams is to demonstrate what are the component involved in the solution of Q-Less KART and how each component interacts with the other component in the schematic diagram.

Following are the three key component systems and their details involved in the solution development of Q-Less Kart system:

• Power Unit - provides power to all units installed and connected to back-up o Antenna

Gains power from the power unit and also connected to back-up

Receives signals from RFID Tags

Informs RFID Reader of the RFID Tags in the region o Back-up

Acts as the power back-up source as a part of contingency planning in the event power unit stops functioning • Processor - receives signals from RFID Reader and Controller o Controller

Gains power from the power unit and also connected to back-up

Sends the signal received from the Motor to the Processor o Motor

Gains power from the power unit and also connected to back-up

Sends the operating signal to the Controller • RFID Identifier - key component allowing identification and tracking of assets o RFID Tags

Gains power from RFID Reader installed in the vicinity

Sends signal to the Antenna o RFID Reader

Gains power from the power unit and also connected to back-up

Receives signal to the Antenna

Sends the outcomes to the Processing unit

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4. Q-Less Kart End-to-end Process

Please refer to Figure 4 - Q-Less Kart End-to-end Process for context.

The purpose of this diagram to illustrate how the process runs end-to-end.

• Sub-Process 1: Shelf-Life Management Process - the purpose of this process is that it allows the retailers to be able to maintain Smart shelves including the aging of the product, the stock refills, re-ordering, best spots for assets placements, assets turnover, assets categorisation and groupings.

o Kiosk - Gauging descriptions and pricing of assets using Kiosks o SMART Shelf Enable Service - Integrated networks of shelfs

Sample Product Shelf 1 - enabling the assets with RFID

Sample Product Shelf 2 - tagging the assets with RFID • Sub-Process 2: Inventory Management Process - the purpose of this process is that it allows the retailers to manage their inventories and tracking such as the labelling of inventory, the ability to read tags by scanning the RFID bar code, integration with inventory management system.

o Inventory Labelling - efficient labelling of products can be done by using the admin console allowing the products to be ordered in series reflecting how products are set up in the inventory management.

o RFID Handheld-Reader - allowing the store assistant to walk around with the handheld reader assisting customers in the checkout on the cash counter hence a QR code is scanned and pairing takes place.

o Inventory Management System - custom integration through APIs.

• Sub-Process 3: Intelligent Processing Process - the purpose of this process is to process the sales of the assets intelligently using Artificial Intelligence, Deep Machine Learning, RFID based identification, Big Data & Analytics.

o POS System - automatic payment without having to go to a cashier counter, point of sales is now integrated in the customer facing application allowing a QR code to be generated post sales.

o Data Analysis - allowing the retailers to gather statistics, measure and track their KPIs and the ability to generate reports and set dashboard for performance metrics in turn sending notifications where required.

o Decision Making - allowing effective decision making using concepts of Artificial Intelligence, Fuzzy Logic and Deep Neural Networks.

• Sub-Process 4: Automated Checkout Process - the purpose of this process is to allow smooth checkout experience for the customer using RFID reading of the tags, scanning QR codes which links to customer’s profile, their shopping cart and payment received in turn authenticating customers through

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2019100428 23 Apr 2019 a series of camera based integrated networks using principles of Computer Vision.

o RFID Fixed-Reader - allowing the fixed readers to be attached on the checkouts and at the exits of every isle allowing the RFID tags to be read when the customer walks past that area.

o SMART Shopping Environment - allowing a network of SMART shopping such as the experience through connectivity of isles.

o Wi-Fi - allowing notifications to be received when a customer walk past the beacon or drops an item and discounts are offered immediately.

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5. Q-Less Kart Architecture Diagram

Please refer to Figure 5 - Q-Less Kart Architecture Diagram for context.

The purpose of this diagram is to show the architecture of Q-Less Kart. The architecture of Q-Less Kart solution entails the following three frameworks:

• RFID Framework comprises of o PHYSICAL LAYER

RFID Reader

RFID Tags

RFID Hub o PROCESSING MODULES

APIs and Library Information System

Web Application

Other Application • Middleware Framework o DATA CAPTURING LAYER

Check-in I Check-out

Reporting, Authorising

Used Record, Book Record

Inventory Counting

Data Collection and Transformation Framework

RFID Readers, Handheld Terminals & Sensors • Customer & Control Framework o APPLICATION LAYER

Customer facing Application

Admin Panel o DATA CAPTURING FRONT-END LAYER

Tag attached in books

User identification cards

Tag attached on shelves

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6. Q-Less Kart Technical Diagram

Please refer to Figure 6 - Q-Less Kart Technical Diagram for context.

This figure is a technical representation of how each entity communicates across the various modules in Q-Less Kart and what key parameters are used by the solution:

• Step 1 - Reading Module: the first step in the technical design is to include the reading or scanning of RFID Tags which are potentially the following:

o RFID Tags

FPGA or DSP

Transmit Chain (Tx) - transmits information to the receiver of RFID reader

LO

Receive Chain (Rx) - receives information from the RFID scanner. The tags could be active, semi-active or passive and depending upon the type of the tag, the system receives power signal from the RFID reader.

Circulator • Step 2 - Matching Module: the second step is to match the information received from the RFID tag against the parts database server and the tag reader will continuously transmit power signal to the RFID tag and track asset. Following are the components involved in the Matching Module:

o Parts Database Server o Tag Reader • Step 3 - Downloading Module: the purpose of the downloading module is to download the matched results from the database to the controller so that the controller can potentially act and inform motor to do the required actions. Following are the components involved in the downloading module:

o Parts Database Server o Tag Reader • Step 4 - Run Module: the purpose of this is to train the system accordingly.

o Tag Reader

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7. Q-Less Kart System Process Diagram

Please refer to Figure 7 - Q-Less Kart System Process Diagram for context.

The purpose of this diagram is to map end-to-end process from identifcation of an asset to it’s tracking and the activation of theft notification module. This also entails information about the APIs used, custom integration configuration, cloud configuration, capturing of data, it’s processing and transmission to application layer.

Following are the key components involved in the mashup of end-to-end process:

• RFID Mashup Cluster o Mashup Building Blocks - these are the basic blocks determining

How the checkout process takes place and aligns itself to others

How the motor at the exit gate will be controlled by the processor

How the cloud facilitates in hosting the information effectively

This information is then pushed via Web Socket using REST APIs

The outcome of this representation in True/ False Boolean Logic

The connection with application layer is via Web Sockets • Mobile Theft Notification - the core functionality set includes the following o A snapshot of theft will be taken by the cameras installed at the exit o Alerts & Notifications will be generated to the shopfloor staff nearby o The system will automatically jam the pathway for the cart to pass from o The boom gates controlled by the motor will not open until resolution • Public Cloud - hosts a range of module and functionalities for the system:

o Information Services is the core services integrating with databases o Web Adapter connects via Web APIs with the Mashup building blocks o Admin console based on HTML 5 is hosted in the cloud for the retailer o A data capturing module of the Application is also hosted in the cloud o Application-Level Events in-app notifications and triger for the customer o Low Level Reader Protocol (LLRP) is used for asset identification o Database Servers and Application Servers exist in the cloud • Applications - the key feature set of this module in asset tracking includes:

o RFID (LLRP) Reader - Electronic Product Code encoding o Identification of the Target Object using EPC conversion to RFID

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8. Q-Less Kart Use Case Diagram

Please refer to Figure 8 - Q-Less Kart Use Case Diagram for context.

The diagram helps envision the use cases where the solution can be utilised. The system captures information from multiple sources and channels hence the classification of data related information from omni-channel sales and customer engagement.

The future phases of Q-Less Kart are determining the core areas of Big Data for the visualisation of shopping patterns, making forecasts about which items are the top seller, how customers engage and supports the planning process.

Following are the key sources of information in the process of determing the potential use of the Q-Less Kart system and user interactions:

• Data sources - the purpose is to collect this information from various sources.

o Bl Systems o Demographics o ERP o RFID o Click system o Ratings & Reviews o Foot Traffic o CRM o POS o Social Media • Collect and analyse real time data - there are multiple sources of data which are listed above in order to help the effective data-driven reporting and dashboard planning for different tiers of management in the organisation.

• Predictive analytics - the system is capable of predicting the patterns from the data hence enhanced capability of planning. The planning will exhibit the performance of the organisation against various KPIs and CSFs.

• Ask questions - the system is capable of answering questions in relation to the data hence the predictability of patterns and enhance planning based on data-drive decision making.

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9. Q-Less Kart System Interaction Diagram

Please refer to Figure 9 - Q-Less Kart System Interaction Diagram for context.

• Retail Entrance - the current phase of Q-Less Kart includes RFID based Retailed Entrances where the customers can check-in and the RFID reader will inform the store that a particular customer has arrived, with the beacon technology sending customers notifications based on the information available around their preferences and the store will send them notifications.

• Dock Door Readers - these notifications will disappear when the customers have check-out of the store hence the validity of an offer is governed by this module. The dock doors will allow the logistics staff to enter the store and shelf the items as per customer preferences and make suggestions.

• Conveyor Belt Tunnel Reader - the conveyor belt tunnel is a part of next phase where the system will allow logistic staff to place boxes in any fashion they like and each box when brought near conveyor belt will be able to signal the right placement. This allow cost savings and time based efficiencies.

• Pack Station - the staff at the back office will pack the boxes will label RFID tag and put in a fashion which is aligned to the shopfloor’s map.

• Handheld Reader - the system will allow the shofloor staff to read the items using handheld readers which are remotely able to connect to the database and the ability to see the details of the product on the shopfloor.

• Smart Shelf - the system allows the user to manage it’s shelf according to the RFID based categorisation. These classifications have been achieved as per the product category from the time products are packed to the time they are delivered to the shelf. The shelves are also installed with the RFID tags.

• Smart Mirror/ Dressing Room - the system will allow the shopfloor’s dressing room to be fitted with smart mirrors which will allow users to view various options through the mirror, scan products, pay directly or order the shopfloor assistants to drop items to the dressing area, pay through their app & leave.

• Self Checkout - the system allows the customers to check-out automatically scanning the item’s barcode, paying through their app, proceed to the checkout area where their cart will be scanned and compared to their shopping list.

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10. Q-Less Kart Data Flow Diagram

Please refer to Figure 10 - Q-Less Kart Data Flow Diagram for context.

This diagram shows how data entities are related to each other and the flow of information from one module of Q-Less Kart to another. Following are the list of modules which are used in the application design and development:

• Wireless Communication Module - this module allows information to be communicated over the web using WiFi signals.

• Micro Controller - the microcontroller module is the core of the information collected, processing it and passing on the instructions to the motor, LED, LCD, counter, RFID Reader and various other components of the solution.

• Server Application - the server application compares the data received from multiple-channel against the information received from the application.

• Local Database Server - the results of the information is stored on the local database allowing the information to be sent to the controller efficiently.

• Inventory Management Application - the application for inventory management can be effectively connected to the local database server and the server application using customer integration and multiple API toolkits. These integrations will be made available for cross-platforms in order to ensure that it works potentially with all major technologies for inventory management which is used by any retailer across the board.

• Cloud Database Server - the cloud database server allows the information to be stored on the cloud in an encrypted fashioning in order to potentially leverage the security offered through the network using DMZ, Firewalls and also managing load using Load balancers.

• Web Framework - the purpose of the web framework is to ensure that there is a standard framework in place for the application design, development, management, enhancements and maintenance using WCAG 2.0 compliance.

• Over the Web - this protocol is aligned to the wireless communication module to ensure that the communication is efficient, secure and encrypted.

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11. Q-Less Kart RFID Framework

Please refer to Figure 11 - Q-Less Kart RFID Framework for context.

The purpose of this diagram is to describe the RFID Framework and the key components that are involved in Q-Less Kart solution:

• Items + Tag - each items are tagged with RFID labels. Depending upon the type of the product, there are multiple types of RFID labels that are used such as Soft Tags and Hard Tags. There are further classifications of which RFID soft tags can be used such as Passive tags, Active tags and Semi-Active tags depending upon the category of the products involved in the retailer store.

• RFID Readers - the RFID readers allow the information to be read from the solution and transported through to the controllers and micro-processors.

• Software - the software component of the solution allows the system to analyse and access against the database. Once the database identifies the component, it determines whether the item has been paid for.

• Network - the information is transported to and from the software compoent via network mostly over wifi and the rest of the transmission of instructions is through a network of serial computing to the controller and the motor.

• RFID - is the basic premise of the framework hence all of the components defined above form up the crux of this solution.

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12. Q-Less Kart Physical to Digital Mapping

Please refer to Figure 12 - Q-Less Kart Physical to Digital Mapping for context.

This figure demonstrates how physical world shopping experience can be integrated with cyberspace and network of connectivity using loT (Internet of Things).

Following is the end-to-end process used for the Internet of Things solution:

• Processing - applying transformation and digital signal processing in order to be able to map the physical world structure of data to cyberspace using multiple Laplace and Fourier transformations for Internet of Things (loT). In the solution, we have deployed Fourier transformation in order to map our RFID based products map to the RFID based path graph function to a new function on the real line.

o Real supermarket (PW) o RFID Deployment o RFID-equipment supermarket o Mapping o A path graph G • Pre-processing - in this module, a Laplace transformation is used in order to map a function to a new transformed function on the complex plane.

o Raw RFID path data and behaviour data (RD) o Database of mainstreams of shopping transaction paths D • Data Mining Mechanism - in this module, the retailer gauges the information about the sales and the generation of patterns and behaviours based on knowledge acquired and mining of knowledge and further actions are driven out of the system based on historical data projections, predictions & analytics.

o Knowledge Mining o Actionable Knowledge (AK) • Knowledge understanding and utilisation - module responsible for understanding the data mined into knowledge and how can it be utilised.

o Presentation and Delivery o Pattern understanding and taking actions

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13. Q-Less Kart Module 1: Shopping Module

Please refer to Figure 13 - Q-Less Kart Module 1: Shopping Module for context.

The purpose of this diagram is to demonstrate the end-to-end user experience and system interaction involved in the first module i.e., Shopping Module.

Following are the key areas focussed upon:

• Access to the app via Google Play Store and Apple Store • In-store route navigation through Smart Maps • Categorisation of Aisles based on product location • Auto-capturing of Image through Rear Camera • Integration with Wearables for scanning • Integration with Payments • Automatic generation of QR Code • Integration with Email and SMS System • Installation of an intricate network of Computer Vision cameras on Aisles • Installation of sophisticated hardware architecture in carts and aisles • A network of RFID Reader, Tags, Motor, Controller and Processor • Communication over secured TCP/IP protocol and Web Socket layer

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14. Q-Less Kart Module 2: Checkout Module

Please refer to Figure 14 - Q-Less Kart Module 2: Checkout Module for context.

The purpose of this diagram is to demonstrate the end-to-end user experience and system interaction involved in the first module i.e., Payment Module.

Following are the key areas focussed upon:

• Installation of an intricate network of Computer Vision cameras on Checkout • Installation of sophisticated hardware architecture on Checkout • A network of RFID Reader, Tags, Motor, Controller and Processor • Communication over secured TCP/IP protocol and Web Socket layer • Delivery of Reports and management KPI driven Dashboards • Integration with Open APIs frameworks and toolkits • Multi-modular data exchange using JSON, XML, CSV, Audit Logging

Claims (5)

1. CLAIMS:

   The purpose of this document is to provide claims on the solution framework and loT (Internet of Things) based technology for Q-Less Kart developed by Data One Technologies Pty. Ltd.

   1. A pristine concept of generation next shopping. Q-Less Kart is a platform based solution offering the following key features we are very proud of:

   a. allowing customers to walk into the store,

   b. walk straight to the aisle of their choice without hovering over,

   c. add the product to virtual shopping car by scanning the product bar code using Q-less Kart mobile app

   d. pay for the products within the app just with a button and

   e. proceed to the checkout area where their cart will be scanned
2. 2. The solution has a detailed framework to manage anti-shop lifting and reporting

   a. The solution continuously monitors and evaluates its anti-shop lifting structure to ensure effective measures are taken for risk avoidance.

   b. The solution provides tools for the retailers to check their risk scores against a product as well and provide detailed reporting as part of risk mitigation.

   c. The solution allow data driven decision making as to which items have been purchased more, which inventory has gone missing and other key factors

   d. The solution provides details on the items sold, revenue collected, cash sales and other key KPI metrics set up by the retailer for their performance tracking

   e. A mobile app that can be installed on smartphone and used to shop in-store

   i. Secure log on mechanism using industry standard credentials, thumb impression, and/or Cloud services ii. Location aware mobile app that recognises a registered/supported store using combination of Wi-Fi, location and Bluetooth technologies iii. Capable of scanning a product barcode iv. Capable of integration with retailer’s inventory system for product lookup for retrieving price and other attributes using barcode

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   v. Capable of browsing & searching product catalogues vi. Ability to integrate with leading loyalty program providers vii. Capable of presenting promotions and personalised marketing campaigns viii. Ability to carry out secure transaction using credit card and other payment providers such as PayPal ix. Capable of generating a QR code that can be presented at the cash counter. This feature is targeted at retailers/users who prefer a supervised checkout instead of auto payment & checkout.

   x. Comprehensive shopping and payment history
3. 3. An intricate set of hardware and software intelligently integrated using loT (Internet of Things) framework and fundamentals using

   a. RFID based technologies using a range of soft and hard labels depending upon the product type to be able to

   i. track the product within the shopfloor ii. Mark the product as sold in turn deactivating the product tracking upon successful payment at the time of checkout.

   b. Computer Vision techniques using network of cameras used to capture product images, aisles and the checkout area allowing this information to be stored for the analysis of patterns and determining future projections.

   c. Artificial Intelligence and Deep Neural Networks to determine what customer has purchased with projections into what customer will purchase and making them offers & suggestions to revolutionise sales and increase customer engagement. This also allow users to set their preferences in the app.
4. 4. A hardware solution allowing a range of the following items being installed in the solution in order to achieve an intelligent network of solution:

   a. RFID Readers & Scanners installed on product aisles and checkout counters

   b. RFID soft and hard tags installed on each product

   c. Controllers and counters for automatic counting and processing of items

   d. Microprocessor capturing the data and transferring through to the servers

   e. LCD screen to display the details of the transaction at the checkout

   f. LED screen to inform the customer that they need to oversee the cart items

   g. Buzzer to inform the shop floor staff that a particular counter has issues

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   h. Camera to take images of shop-lifting and sending it to the store staff

   i. QR Code reader to scan the code and de-code the list of paid items

   j. Pressure and weight sensors to accommodate loose item purchase

   k. Cameras to identify the type of loose item where costs are not mentioned
5. 5. An open API architecture and framework allowing retailers to come onto the journey of Q-Less Kart

   a. The solution allows custom integration with the retailer’s inventory management system, with the potential to be scaled up into an inventory management system for the retailer.

   b. The solution is also capable of ensuring that an appropriate mechanism is established to have encrypted customer transactions.

   c. The products from the retailer has a certain EPC (Electronic Product Code) which we can encode as RFID based bar codes at our end.

   d. Integration with multiple payment mechanisms such as SKRILL, PayPal, various banks, lending bodies and financial institutions.