FR2790112A1 - Interactive terminal device for opticians stores, has case with camera with mat glass, illuminated tray and bar code reader - Google Patents

Abstract

The device includes a computer (1), a tactile screen (2), an electronic camera (3) arranged on a support (4), a non-coated mirror (6), a camera position (7), a case (8) with a second camera (9) with a mat glass (10), an illuminated tray (11) and a bar code reader (12). The device operates in a network (5) with a server, the sales counter and the technical devices for measuring and setting of the glasses.

Description

The present invention relates to a new apparatus, resembling

partially to

  an interactive terminal, specially designed for optical stores.

  One of the major problems facing optical stores is that of queues. Indeed, the optician takes on average 20 to 30 minutes to serve a client, depending on the equipment chosen. If another customer arrives, the customer must wait for this relatively long time before being served. That's why some customers prefer to come back rather than wait their turn. On busy days, the optician can lose sales because we know that a customer can come back once,

but rarely two.

  The invention solves this problem as follows.

  The apparatus according to the invention consists essentially of a computer (1) equipped with a touch screen (2) connected to an electronic camera (3), located on a rail (4) so as to have a control height, either manually or automatically, all using the appropriate software. Networking (5) with other computers and technical editing devices (eg lensmeter) is planned. The camera includes a video that resolves the other two problem, that of queues, and that of high-ametropic customers who without their original glasses can not see themselves in a mirror. The invention consists of elements known per se but which, when grouped together, provide a new service that does not

  not in the current state of the art.

  The method consists, among others, in allowing customers who are waiting to try their new frames themselves using video. This process is materialized

  mainly by specialized software whose functions are described below.

  When the customer arrives in the store, he sees the "terminal interactive" part of the device that displays a prompt like "Try your mounts using video. Click here to start ... "The customer can then run a tutorial that gives them the procedure to follow or, if they already know the system, enter

  directly in the video functions or in the simulation phase.

  The tutorial prompts the customer to choose a number of frames in the

  racking and then back to the camera to take a picture.

  1 Once the tutorial has been executed, you can take pictures

  to start. The customer is invited to put on his face the first mount to try.

  The software then asks him to trigger the photo, either by pressing a button

  provided for this purpose, either by touching the touch screen. The client is therefore taking pictures of himself

  same, without outside intervention. The photo no. 1 is then taken and the device asks him if he has other pictures to take. If so, the user repeats the previous sequence by pressing the specialized button or by touching the touch screen for

  every new photo. The number of the current picture is displayed on the screen.

  If the customer responds in the negative to the question <"Do you want to take another picture?", The camera leaves the shooting sequence and enters a new picture.

sequence, that of the display.

  The user can then choose to display the photos individually or simultaneously in groups of 2, 3, 4 or more. In particular, he can choose the "two photos" mode.

  which allows him to compare two mounts between them and thus refine his choice.

  If the client does not take any action for a defined period of time (for example, one minute), the computer asks if it has finished and, if so, returns to the start screen. The customer can also return to the start screen with a "cancel" or "restart" key that will be virtually present on the screen

  touch with each new window.

  This process allows to see face, 3/4 or profile with different frames and thus better choose its future equipment. It also allows customers

  having a strong ametropia to solve this very annoying problem.

  The camera is placed on a fixed or height-adjustable foot, either manually or automatically. Indeed, it is necessary that the customers of all sizes can be photographed in standing position. It is therefore necessary that the camera is positioned in front of their face. For this, there are several possibilities: - The use of a motorized head in all four directions. The camera does not move, it is the lens that moves and points the subject. Some cameras from

  type "tracking" even allow to enslave the objective with the subject.

  - Put the camera on a column. The camera goes up and down, guided

  by the slides, so as to be positioned at the height of the subject.

  1 - Other processes can be envisaged, and even very simple as that of the stool adjustable in height etc ... The essential thing is that the camera is

in front of the customer's face.

  In the second method, where the camera is guided by rails, the rise or fall of the latter can be achieved using manual controls (switches) or automatically. In the latter case, the camera is in front of the subject by detecting its position. This detection can be done in different ways but in most cases, the camera is controlled by the computer. The following methods may be considered in particular: The camera is coupled to a proximity detector which sends signals to the computer. This one will have two possible interpretations, either the detection of the bottom (in general the store), or that of the face. Indeed, the customer's face is closer than the background and the signals sent by the detector to the computer reflect this difference in distance. From there, it is sufficient that the computer makes several measurements of distances to different places of the column so that it can determine the position of the face and enslave the

camera accordingly.

  - By image processing. The camera is positioned at the top of the column, then takes a picture and saves it on the hard disk. After a while (a second for example), the camera, still in the same position, takes a second picture. By comparing the two photos, the device software will be able to determine the objects that have moved, provided of course that the bottom is fixed. Since the face always moves a little, the software will be able to say whether or not on the photo there is a face. As in the previous case, the operation is repeated at different points in the column so that the computer can accurately calculate the location of the face and enslave the camera accordingly. - A variant of the previous process is to take several photos of the background and save these photos on the hard drive. The software will be able to detect if there is interception of the bottom or not, ie the position 1 of the face. This method, however, requires a high accuracy of the

positioning of the camera.

  Another variant of this method is to place the camera in front of a bottom

  of uniform color or having a vertical band of a given color.

  The computer will be able to detect when the background image or

  the tape is intercepted by the customer's face.

  Another method consists of measuring the frequency of the video pixels. A high frequency is obtained when the focus is correct. When the focus is out of focus, you get a low frequency. It is therefore sufficient to have a camera with large aperture, so with shallow depth of field. If the focus is made on the face (at 50cm for example), by the game of

  frequency detections, the computer can detect the position of the face.

  This method is like a proximity detector and can be used if the background of the photo is the store, ie if people

  move behind the customer who is taking pictures.

  Whatever system is used, the essential thing is to have a system that

  automatically positions the camera in front of the customer's face.

  In all cases, the device asks the customer if his face is in front of the camera before starting the sequence of photos. The screen of the device has two arrows, up and down, which may be used to perfect the position of the camera. These virtual buttons can be replaced by

traditional contactors.

  The camera will be hidden behind a one-way mirror (6). A system tells the user where the camera is. This system may be a simple index or the perimeter of a rectangle of 300x300mm for example (7) simulating a small mirror. It is important for the user to know if the camera is well positioned

  in front of his face so that the photo is centered.

  The touch screen could very well "live" the image that is always in front of the lens, but the customer would tend to look at the screen.

the computer and not the mirror.

  The system will be networked to the computer system to retrieve customer photos. The sales tables are therefore also networked via the server. However, direct networking is also possible. Finally, networking is also done with the different devices used, such as the

frontofocometers or probes.

  Networking makes it possible to retrieve the photos that will be used as support for software for sales support or management, for example by inserting a

  thumbnail image of the client in the client file.

  The device will also have other functions, including tutorial and sales support. These are "intelligent" functions that perform various calculations and simulations: - Calculation of the weight and thickness of the glasses - Simulations of reflections - Simulations of colorings and photochromic lenses - Simulations of the thicknesses on the edges of the mount (side view) - simulations of double / triple focus and progressive lenses. This function allows to compare the two techniques and to show the customer the advantage

aesthetic progressives.

  - The proposal of the equipment best adapted to the prescription of the client

  equipment according to technical or financial criteria.

  - The statement of the SS number, mutual insurance, civil status ... of the client, which saves the optician time. For this, the device will have a keyboard

  physical or virtual on the touch screen.

  - If the customer introduces his identity partially, the device has a search procedure in its database or that of the server, via the network, to search for the complete identity and some additional information (pupil gap or tariffs for example). These informations

are displayed on the device.

  - The impression of the customer's face with the frame he has chosen - Simulations of lateral deformations with the aspherical lenses of

  to compare them with those induced by spherical glasses.

  - The simulations of the colored pupils - The deformations of the eyes through the glasses with glasses of bass

  quality (spherical low index).

  I These functions will be duplicated, on the one hand on the technical devices for calculation and assembly (frontofocometers ...), on the other hand on the sales tables, whether these are networked or not. The optician can therefore make the simulations to

  several different places, according to his needs.

  One of the interesting functions of the device is to be able to realize

  manually scanning (trimming) the frame with great ease.

  Indeed, manual scanning of the frame is currently performed either automatically by image processing, or using the mouse. Image processing often fails with frames that are difficult to scan, such as transparent frames. Replacing the mouse with a touch screen facilitates this operation. Indeed, the client or optician can very easily follow the shape of the frame by moving their finger on the screen. As the finger moves, a line is drawn according to the shape of the frame. An image processing may take place later to obtain increased accuracy. From the line drawn by the client or the optician, the software calculates each point of the bezel

of the mount.

  Similarly, the client indicates to the device where the pupil is located by pointing to the

  here with his finger. The axis of the face and the height (pupil - bottom of mount) will be

determined in the same way.

  One of the solutions also consists of putting, on the side of the device, a receptacle (8) composed of a camera (9) whose lens is oriented upwards. The customer puts his mount on a frosted glass (10) so that the camera takes a picture. The ceiling illuminates the rear of the mount. This photo is transmitted to

  the computer and it scans its contour with appropriate software.

  This system avoids automatic scanning, always hazardous, or manual scanning. This system will be used in particular for simulations and

control of precalibrated glasses.

  A variant of this system is to have, at the bottom of the column for example, a plate (11) backlit on which the customer puts the mount. The camera (3) goes down and takes a picture of the mount so that the software can scan it. 1 Finally, a third solution is to have a barcode reader on the device (12) so as to read the bar code of the mount. In this way, if the mount was previously scanned in the workshop (with a probe for example) and put in a database, the device can query the server to have this scan via the network. The device software only has to place the

  scanning extracted from the database on the customer's face. That said, the code-

  bars has the advantage of knowing the references of the frame and its price. All this information can be useful for further operations, so that the device can tell the customer the price of the equipment (frame + glass + possibly

  supplements). The device will also perform an automatic price calculation.

  During simulations, it may be that the scanning of the frame does not fit exactly with the outline of the frame on the picture, mainly because of the involuntary inclination of the face when shooting. The device will include for this purpose a screen allowing the customer to refine the positioning of the scan on his face. This screen will include four arrows, up down right and left, and

  as a command to enlarge or reduce the size of the scan.

  To avoid having to retouch the photos, it is preferable that the device asks the customer to take a "reference" picture when the choice of the mount is final The screen asks the customer to put his head well

  right so as to eliminate too great differences of parallax and inclination.

  The mount scanned with the device described above will be scaled according to the distance from the customer's face and the camera. Several methods can be applied in particular: - The automatic setting from the position of the pupils. It was mentioned

  previously a flash giving voluntarily red eyes.

  The computer, by image processing, thus knows the position of the pupils in the photo. If we consider that the pupillary half-distance is on average 32mm, the computer can evaluate the distance of the client, put the digitization

  to the dimension and to position it approximately correctly.

  - Proximity sensor can give true distance from the client, which helps the software put the scan on the scale and position it on the

customer's face.

  I Once the scan is positioned correctly on the customer's face, the

  Various simulations described above can be performed.

  During the simulations, the customer can very well stop on a supplement that pleases him and want it in his future equipment. In this case, the simulation screens will all have a virtual "order taking" button. Subsequently, this validation of the order thus made by the customer is found, via the network, on the sales table of the optician. This command also applies to other

items sold in the store.

  As orders for a particular supplement are taken, subsequent simulations take this into account. For example, if the customer opts for an anti-glare glass, during the simulation of the colored glasses, the anti-reflection will be present since it was retained by the customer. The supplements and choice of glasses are

therefore cumulative between them.

  There is, however, a procedure for canceling a particular supplement or article. This can be useful to the customer especially if the overall price exceeds his budget. he

  is then forced to reconsider his choices.

  The device is therefore able to display the prices of all items sold in the store, both mounts and glasses or cleaning products, and

  calculate the third-party payment on a given piece of equipment.

  The network is two-way. In general, it transmits to the sales tables various information, such as the customer's photos, the choice of its supplements, the scanning of the mount, its SS number etc ... The server will also transmit to the device various information, including databases. Indeed, these databases (color glasses for example) are postponed

  periodically and it is best if it is done at the server level.

  Another database will also be used by the device: the price. Indeed, it is useless to offer the customer colorations, antireflets or other supplements if the price is not indicated. For this, the device will draw on the

  server database the price of such and such an article so as to display it on the screen.

  At each step, the device will be able to give the customer the price of the set of

  equipment as well as its share of third-party payment.

  1 This unit will have other functions so always to "wait" the

  customer. One of the interesting features is to change the face of the customer himself.

  even through various filters. For example, it is possible to modify the color cast of all or part of one of the photos taken, to add noise, to remove some, to make an impressionist effect, etc. It is the client himself -which

  make these changes. Morphing may also be present.

  This procedure essentially applies to the customer's face but can also be applied to images on the hard disk, such as

  examples of landscapes, sports, nature ... and even works of art.

  The essence of this last function is to retain a client and to make him wait

  way to prevent it from leaving the store.

  The same device may be used to control LCD, plasma or other displays for the public and put in the store or window. These screens will

  to be hung on the wall. Here again, the goal is to make the customer wait.

  Ordered by the device, these screens can display all the information described above as well as others, such as for example advertising for the optical store or for a particular glass or mount. The device is useful in this context to select the views to pass as well as the sequences to be chained. The customer can also very well select them himself. These views can be videos or scripts saved on the hard drive. By script, we must hear a sequence defined in advance. For example, previously it was about works of art. It is conceivable to display a Van Gogh which undergoes different transformations of colors, texture, structure or other, this according to a script established in advance and recorded in the computer or by introduction of these parameters on the touch screen of

the device.

  It is advisable that the device asks the customer beforehand what are his tastes (artistic, on the current life etc ...) and proposes a sequence accordingly. For example, a horse riding enthusiast will be able to select the word "horses" on the device. A sequence of images on the horses will parade then, for the satisfaction

  the client, which will encourage him to stay in the store while waiting for his turn.

  The apparatus will be networked also with the frontofocometer described in patents 97-06286 and 97-09935. Indeed, the face photographed can be displayed on the screen of the computer controlling the frontofocometer. This is useful for visualizing on the face the deformations induced by the glasses according to their quality. This function is already used in sales support systems but these deformations are calculated empirically from unknown "bases" (these bases, in diopters, are factory secrets of each glass manufacturer). These simulations are

  all the more approximate that the glasses are multifocal.

  The computer then receives from the device, via the network, the image of the client. Therefore, he can simulate directly on his face the deformations induced by a particular glass read by the lensometer or recorded on the hard disk of the computer (processes described in the patents mentioned above). The interest is precision. The deformations come from the measurement by the lensometer of each lens, and not from a calculation

  more or less empirical established on unknown bases.

  The frontofocometer will have another interesting function, especially if a connection is made with the device. This function is the precise calculation and positioning of glasses, especially progressives. Positioning a glass read on the face

  frontofocometer eliminates errors and approaches the "zero defect".

  Finally, the computer can position on the customer's face the glass placed under the lens or stored in memory. The optical centers being clearly defined, the screen

  visualize the face and the glass as it will be mounted, with a minimum of error.

  In some sales support systems, a database indicates the optical centers and characteristics of each glass and the function described here is not essential. However, there is a case where such a function is interesting: the case of glasses already mounted. Indeed, the fact of reading a glass on the lensometer and, moreover, to have the customer's picture with the glass already mounted allows the optician to see if the glass has been mounted (ie if pupil height and distance correspond to optical centers). This system provides a great service to opticians by allowing them to make an accurate and rapid diagnosis on lenses already mounted (customers complaining, for example, of a maladaptation of their progressive lenses). Finally, the device can be connected to the Internet. The principle is to take the picture of the customer in the store and to offer him to continue the selection of his future equipment over the Internet. Indeed, from the moment the mount is digitized and this scan is correctly put on the face of the client, the latter can do a lot of simulations at home through the Internet. For that,

  the device delivers to the customer an access code.

Claims (1)

CLAIMS 1 1. Apparatus for optical stores, comprising a computer (1), a touch screen (2), an electronic camera (3) placed on a camera support rail (4), a mirror without a one-way mirror ( 6), a camera position marker (7), a receptacle (8) with a second camera (9) and a frosted glass (10), a backlit tray (11) and a code reader -barres (12), all being networked (5) with the server, sales tables and technical devices for measuring and mounting glasses. 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the camera is provided with a camera so that the customer takes himself picture with his new mount without external intervention, and provided with commands to trigger each photo with display of the sequence number of each photo. 3. Device according to one of claims I or 2, characterized in that the software, once the photos taken, switches to a sequence of display photos on the screen, which photos can be displayed individually or in groups two, three, four or more. 4. Device according to one of claims I to 3, characterized in that if the device is inactive for a period of time, the software asks the client if it has finished using it to return to the point of departure. 5. Device according to one of claims I to 4, characterized in that the screens have a virtual key inviting the customer to completely restart the sequence if they wish. 6. Device according to one of claims I to 5, characterized in that the camera placed on the rail is adjustable in height, manually or automatically by servo according to the information from a proximity sensor or calculated according to the pictures taken. 7. Device according to one of claims 1 to 6, consisting of physical keys or virtual touch screen allowing the user to move up or down the camera. 8. Device according to one of claims 1 to 7, consisting of a marker indicating to the customer where is the camera. 9. Device according to one of claims I to 8, characterized in that the entire system can be networked with computers sales tables or servers, as well as with measuring devices. 10. Device according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the software allows simulations of double and triple foci and progressive lenses. He. Device according to one of claims I to 10, characterized in that the device has a physical or virtual keyboard allowing the customer to introduce his identity and various information. 12. Device according to one of claims I to 1, characterized in that the device has a database query procedure to complete the incomplete identities. 13. Device according to one of claims I to 12, characterized in that the device has a procedure that calculates the best glass for a given customer and displays the results obtained and the corresponding rates. 14. Device according to one of claims I to 13, characterized in that all the functions present on the device are duplicated on the server, on each sales table and on technical devices. 15. Device according to one of claims I to 14, characterized in that the customer can scan his mount and determine the pupil center by the touch screen. 16. Device according to one of claims I to 15, characterized in that the apparatus comprises a receptacle (8) consisting of a camera (9) having its objective facing upwards and provided with a frosted glass ( 10) on which the customer places the frame to be digitized. 17. Device according to one of claims I to 16, characterized in that the device has a plate (11) on which the customer puts the frame to be scanned by the camera (3).   18. Device according to one of claims 1 to 17, characterized in that   the device is equipped with a barcode reader with a query of the "frames" database, indicating in particular the scanning of the chosen frame as well as its price.   19. Device according to one of claims I to 18, characterized in that   the camera offers the customer to take a picture with the final mount.   20. Device according to one of claims 1 to 19, characterized in that   the device displays a screen on which virtual commands allow the customer to   correctly position the scan of the frame on his face.   21. Device according to one of claims I to 20, characterized in that   Scaling and positioning of the scan on the customer's face   is done by an automatic process.   22. Device according to one of claims 1 to 21, characterized in that   the device has a command to validate and cancel glasses, mounts or supplements, which selected elements can be accumulated in the simulations.   23. Device according to one of claims I to 22, characterized in that   the apparatus is able to indicate the price of glasses, supplements or frames, of   independently and cumulatively, as well as to calculate the third-party payment.   24. Device according to one of claims I to 23, characterized in that   the device is able to receive instructions to change the appearance of the image   displayed, directives that can be scripted.   25. Device according to one of claims I to 24, characterized in that   the device is networked with a lensmeter so that the latter receives the customer's photo for the purpose of making calculations on the photo and indicating   these results to the client and the optician.   26. Device according to one of claims 1 to 25, characterized in that   the device has a link with the Internet in ways to deport to the customer   part of the simulations, calculations, price requests and other procedures.