Patents by Inventor Ganglu Wu

Ganglu Wu has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11948044
    Abstract: An automated checkout system modifies received images of machine-readable labels to improve the performance of a label detection model that the system uses to decode item identifiers encoded in the machine-readable labels. For example, the automated checkout system may transform subregions of an image of a machine-readable label to adjust for distortions in the image's depiction of the machine-readable label. Similarly, the automated checkout system may identify readable regions within received images of machine-readable labels and apply a label detection model to those readable regions. By modifying received images of machine-readable labels, these techniques improve on existing computer-vision technologies by allowing for the effective decoding of machine-readable labels based on real-world images using relatively clean training data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: Maplebear Inc.
    Inventors: Ganglu Wu, Shiyuan Yang, Xiao Zhou, Qi Wang, Qunwei Liu, Youming Luo
  • Publication number: 20240054449
    Abstract: An online concierge system may use images received from shopping carts within retailers to determine the availability of items within those retailers. A shopping cart includes externally-facing cameras that automatically capture images of the area around the shopping cart as the shopping cart travels through a retailer. The online concierge system receives these images, which depict displays within the retailers from which a picker or a retailer patron can collect items. The online concierge system determines which items should be depicted in the images and which items are actually depicted in the images. The online concierge system identifies which items should be depicted, but are not depicted, and determines that these items are unavailable (e.g., out of stock) at that retailer. The online concierge system updates an availability database to indicate that these items are unavailable and may notify the retailer that the item is unavailable.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 28, 2022
    Publication date: February 15, 2024
    Inventors: Lin Gao, Yilin Huang, Shiyuan Yang, Hao Wu, Ganglu Wu, Xiao Zhou
  • Publication number: 20240013184
    Abstract: A smart shopping cart includes internally facing cameras and an integrated scale to identify objects that are placed in the cart. To avoid unnecessary processing of images that are irrelevant, and thereby save battery life, the cart uses the scale to detect when an object is placed in the cart. The cart obtains images from a cache and sends those to an object detection machine learning model. The cart captures and sends a load curve as input to the trained model for object detection. Labeled load data and labeled image data are used by a model training system to train the machine learning model to identify an item when it is added to the shopping cart. The shopping cart also uses weight data and the image data from a timeframe associated with the addition of the item to the cart as inputs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 27, 2022
    Publication date: January 11, 2024
    Inventors: Yilin Huang, Ganglu Wu, Xiao Zhou, Youming Luo, Shiyuan Yang
  • Publication number: 20240013185
    Abstract: A smart shopping cart includes internally facing cameras and an integrated scale to identify objects that are placed in the cart. To avoid unnecessary processing of images that are irrelevant, and thereby save battery life, the cart uses the scale to detect when an object is placed in the cart. The cart obtains images from a cache and sends those to an object detection machine learning model. The cart captures and sends a load curve as input to the trained model for object detection. Labeled load data and labeled image data are used by a model training system to train the machine learning model to identify an item when it is added to the shopping cart. The shopping cart also uses weight data and the image data from a timeframe associated with the addition of the item to the cart as inputs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 27, 2022
    Publication date: January 11, 2024
    Inventors: Lin Gao, Yilin Huang, Shiyuan Yang, Ganglu Wu, Yang Wang, Wentao Pan
  • Publication number: 20230267292
    Abstract: An automated checkout system modifies received images of machine-readable labels to improve the performance of a label detection model that the system uses to decode item identifiers encoded in the machine-readable labels. For example, the automated checkout system may transform subregions of an image of a machine-readable label to adjust for distortions in the image's depiction of the machine-readable label. Similarly, the automated checkout system may identify readable regions within received images of machine-readable labels and apply a label detection model to those readable regions. By modifying received images of machine-readable labels, these techniques improve on existing computer-vision technologies by allowing for the effective decoding of machine-readable labels based on real-world images using relatively clean training data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 14, 2023
    Publication date: August 24, 2023
    Inventors: Ganglu Wu, Shiyuan Yang, Xiao Zhou, Qi Wang, Qunwei Liu, Youming Luo