Abstract: A system for monitoring shopping carts uses cameras to generate images of the carts moving in a store. In some implementations, cameras may additionally or alternatively be mounted to the shopping carts and configured to image cart contents. The system may use the collected image data, and/or other types of sensor data (such as the store location at which an item was added to the basket), to classify items detected in the shopping carts. For example, a trained machine learning model may classify item in a cart as “non-merchandise,” “high theft risk merchandise,” “electronics merchandise,” etc. When a shopping cart approaches a store exit without any indication of an associated payment transaction, the system may use the associated item classification data, optionally in combination with other data such as cart path data, to determine whether to execute an anti-theft action, such as locking a cart wheel or activating a store alarm.

Abstract: A system for monitoring and controlling shopping cart usage comprises a wheel assembly that attaches to a shopping cart. In some embodiments the wheel assembly includes a wheel, a brake that can be activated to inhibit rotation of the wheel, a controller that controls the brake, a VLF receiver, and an RF transceiver. The RF transceiver may, for example, operate in a 2.4 GHz frequency band. In some implementations, the RF transceiver may be used to detect entry of the shopping cart into a checkout area of the store, and the VLF receiver may be used to detect that the shopping cart is exiting the store. The controller may activate the brake if the shopping cart attempts to exit the store without first passing through a checkout area.

Abstract: A system and method for predicting whether a dynamic reconfiguration of a resource of a resource domain would be successful, prior to attempting the reconfiguration. A resource domain includes one or more computer resources (e.g., physical, logical and pseudo devices) and a graph management agent configured to maintain a graph representing the resources and dependencies between resources. Vertices of the graph represent resources; edges represent dependencies. A resource domain may also include a set of policies or constraints regarding resources and reconfigurations of resources. An illustrative constraint may specify that a particular resource (e.g., a multi-pathed logical device) must have a minimal number of paths (e.g., two). The graph agent identifies the effect the dynamic reconfiguration operation would have upon the resources and dependencies, and determines whether any constraints would be violated.

Abstract: A system and method for predicting whether a dynamic reconfiguration of a resource of a resource domain would be successful, prior to attempting the reconfiguration. A resource domain includes one or more computer resources (e.g., physical, logical and pseudo devices) and a graph management agent configured to maintain a graph representing the resources and dependencies between resources. Vertices of the graph represent resources; edges represent dependencies. A resource domain may also include a set of policies or constraints regarding resources and reconfigurations of resources. An illustrative constraint may specify that a particular resource (e.g., a multi-pathed logical device) must have a minimal number of paths (e.g., two). The graph agent identifies the effect the dynamic reconfiguration operation would have upon the resources and dependencies, and determines whether any constraints would be violated.