A major supermarket devised a system to eavesdrop on every move in the supermarket

by Joshua Rawson-Harris

Wal-Mart , the world's largest supermarket chain with Seiyu as a subsidiary in Japan, is talked about as "a patent to eavesdropping shoppers and employees".

United States Patent and Trademark Office
http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?docid=10020004

Walmart secured a patent to eavesdrop on shoppers and employees - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/21/18151738/walmart-eavesdrop-patent-customer-employee-privacy

Walmart got a patent for a new listening system for retail stores. According to a patent application, this listening system is "an example system for capturing and analyzing sounds in a shopping facility", and that the overseas media The Verge is "a type of surveillance system" in other words , It points out that there is a possibility of making some employees and shoppers uncomfortable.

The listening system invented by Walmart is able to detect the rustling sound of shopping bags and the beep sounds emitted from cash register. This system is devised as a system for anti-theft that checks "the number of goods settled at the cash register" and "the number of goods put in the shopping bag" from the sound.

"The system is not only a theft prevention tool but also a way to monitor employee and customer interactions and to monitor in real time what customers are talking about about products," he said. Indeed, in a patent application, "a sound sensor (employed in a listening system) can capture conversation audio between a customer and an employee placed in a cash register" "The system processes speech, You can judge whether the cashier's employee is greeting the customer ".

The idea of monitoring the behavior of shoppers and employees in supermarkets is not the first listening system that Wal-Mart has devised. Walmart's rival, Amazon, has developed Amazon Go of a cash register convenience store, but this store monitors individual movements of shoppers and employees up to "way of walking" and "body shape" and identifies which products By tracking whether you are removing it from the shelf, you can settle properly even without a checkout.

In addition, you can understand how you feel when you actually experience shopping without register with Amazon Go by reading the following article.

I tried a new shopping experience of "cash register free" with "Amazon Go" without a cash register - GIGAZINE

Walmart is unlikely to introduce this listening system to stores at the time of writing, but this patent is "The evidence that the world's largest supermarket chain is positively thinking about the future of shopping and retail security," The Verge I write it.

by Fancycrave