Please ignore if you are not interested in a project with a
company on counting people.
The message is from a possible sponsor for a project.
He is looking for the right expertise among our members.
Please contact him directly if you have the expertise.
Maria Petrou
Machine Vision requirements for StoreTech Ltd
StoreTech Limited have a requirement for a counting mechanism to monitor
customer traffic within
retail environments as a constituent part of an overall retail
efficiency program that we market to
the multiple retailers.
We currently perform this task via ceiling-mounted infrared and this -
for phase one of our overall
solution at least - provides the desired results.
However there are areas where we feel we could benefit from additional
functionality (such as
simple bi-directional counting or multi directional flows) that could
maybe be provided by a video
or thermal camera counting mechanism.
What we need to do is provide an accurate (and possibly even multi
directional) count of people
entering and exiting a retailer's threshold and this solution needs to
bear in mind the following
scenarios:
- Ceilings are invariably always different heights - we envisage the
cameras as being ceiling
mounted, looking straight down on 'blobs' as people
- Entrance ways are invariably always different widths (often
necessitating two or more devices to
be used simultaneously to monitor different parts of the same area)
- Backgrounds (i.e. carpets, tiles or wooden floors) are invariably
different colours, textures and
/ or patterns
- Background colours are liable to change either gradually (day turning
to night) or quickly (sun
moving behind cloud and back again) all the time
- Permanent ambient lighting conditions (i.e. in-store light fittings
etc) are invariably always
different
- Things in-store such as stands or display units being moved and
re-situated to within view of the
counting device
- Things other than people (i.e. prams, trolleys, dogs) moving in and
out of these thresholds that
need to be omitted from the 'count'
- Shadows of people that also need to be omitted from the 'count'
- The counting mechanism will possibly also need to omit children (or at
least make a reasonable
effort at doing this). This is not necessarily essential
If there is a technology out there that performs these tasks then there
is no point in us
re-inventing it. All help / advice / assistance would be gratefully
received.
Many thanks,
Andrew Howarth
Director
DDI 020 8871 5223
MOB 07768 077374
"Andrew Howarth" <[log in to unmask]>
|