Description:TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present disclosure relates to evaluating quality of edibles. More particularly the present disclosure relates to a hand-held device for monitoring quality of edible articles such as fruits and vegetables, also enables a user to get price of edible articles of nearby vendors on the device.

BACKGROUND
[0002] Background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
[0003] Fruit spoilage has significant ramifications on economic activities, it is estimated that nearly a third of fruit costs go to decaying matters. Besides, the sale of fruits is impacted as it is in consumers perception that spoiled fruits are detrimental to as decreased concentrations of amino acids, vitamins, sugar/glucose along with other nutrients inevitably raise public concerns on edibility issues, which all together prompt discussions on this subject to prevent or slow down the decaying process.
[0004] Established research evidence shows that when fruit deterioration occurs, fruit goes through a series of biochemical transformation that leads to changes in its physical conditions, e.g., visual features including color and shape. Most of these features can be captured. It is expected that the computer vision-based approach is the most economical solution. Given the advancement of deep learning technology, grading algorithms should produce satisfactory accuracy.
[0005] Visual characteristics, e.g., shape, wholeness, spots, bruises, and blemishes, can reflect the speed of fruit deterioration. It is observable that fruits with physical defects are vulnerable to diseases and prone to fast decaying. The consistency of physical shape may indicate the thickness of fruits that may have implications for their capability to defend against diseases.
[0006] Given the significance of food status in people’s lives and contribution to the economy, fruit freshness grading becomes important but the manual operation is time-consuming. There are various machines for measuring the internal quality of fruits and vegetables from the outside without destroying the fruits and vegetable, however, it is difficult to accurately measure or sort the degree of deformation of fruits or vegetables, and these machines are not portable. Also, quality parameters can be determined using spectroscopy, however this approach is highly expensive for customers and require lab expert guidance.
[0007] There is, therefore, a need to overcome above mentioned problems by bringing solution that facilitates in monitoring quality of edible articles with a portable device.

OBJECTS OF THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE
[0008] Some of the objects of the present disclosure, which at least one embodiment herein satisfies are as listed herein below.
[0009] It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a device for monitoring quality of edible articles such as fruits and vegetables.
[0010] It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a portable device which enables the user to carry the device easily.
[0011] It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a device which enables the user to get price of edible articles of nearby vendors.
[0012] It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a device that assists the user in purchasing fresh fruits.
[0013] It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a device that is user-friendly, robust and accurate.

SUMMARY
[0014] The present disclosure relates to evaluating quality of edibles. More particularly the present disclosure relates to a hand-held device for monitoring quality of edible articles such as fruits and vegetables, also enables a user to get price of edible articles of nearby vendors on the device.
[0015] An aspect of the present disclosure pertains to a device for monitoring quality of edible articles, the device may including an image capturing unit configured to capture images of the edible article, a processing unit operatively coupled with the image capturing unit, the processing unit may include one or more processors coupled with a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors and configured to receive images of the edible article, extract one or more attributes from the received images, match the attributes with a set of pre-defined attributes, determine quality of edible article, based on the matched one or more attributes, and generate output signals based on the quality of edible article, and transmit the generated output signals to a display unit, where the output signals pertain quality score of the edible article.
[0016] In an aspect, one or more attributes may be selected from a group consisting of color defect, skin defect, cracks, softness, blemish, decay, damage, texture, and firmness.
[0017] In an aspect, the quality score may be an integral value lying between integers one to ten.
[0018] In an aspect, the display unit may be operatively coupled with the processing unit, and the display unit is selected from a group consisting of light emitting diode (LED), liquid crystal display (LCD), organic light emitting diode (OLED), and LED matrix.
[0019] In an aspect, the device may be a hand-held device.
[0020] In an aspect, the device may comprises a power source configured to supply electric power to the image capturing unit, the processing unit, and the display unit.
[0021] In an aspect, the power source may include any or a combination of rechargeable battery, lithium (Li) ion cell, rechargeable cells, solar cell, solar battery, electrochemical cells, storage battery, and secondary cell.
[0022] Another aspect of the present disclosure pertains to a device for detecting price of one more edible articles distributed by one or more vendors, the device may including a voice recognition unit to detect voice generated from communication between one or more vendors and one or more customers, and correspondingly generates a first set of alert signals, a global positioning unit (GPS) unit may be configured to detect location coordinates of the one or more vendors, and correspondingly generates a second set of alert signals, a processing unit may be operatively coupled with the voice recognition unit and GPS, the processing unit may including one or more processors coupled with a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors and configured to extract name and price of one or more edible articles from the received first set of alert signals and location coordinates from the received second set of alert signals, and correspondingly generate a first set of notification signals and a second set of notification signals, and transmit a first set of notification signals to a display unit, and a second set of notification signals to an alert unit, where the first set of notification signals pertain to name and price of the one or more edible articles, and the second set of notification signals pertain to location coordinates.
[0023] In an aspect, the alert unit may include any or a combination of a light emitting diode, buzzer, and alarm.
[0024] Various objects, features, aspects and advantages of the inventive subject matter will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, along with the accompanying drawing figures in which like numerals represent like components.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0025] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the present disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure. The diagrams are for illustration only, which thus is not a limitation of the present disclosure.
[0026] In the figures, similar components and/or features may have the same reference label. Further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label with a second label that distinguishes among the similar components. If only the first reference label is used in the specification, the description is applicable to any one of the similar components having the same first reference label irrespective of the second reference label.
[0027] FIG. 1 illustrates exemplary representation of a device for monitoring quality of edible articles, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0028] FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a device for monitoring quality of edible articles, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0029] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary functional components of a processing unit of the proposed device, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0030] The following is a detailed description of embodiments of the disclosure depicted in the accompanying drawings. The embodiments are in such detail as to clearly communicate the disclosure. However, the amount of detail offered is not intended to limit the anticipated variations of embodiments; on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.
[0031] In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present invention. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details.
[0032] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to evaluating quality of edibles. More particularly the present disclosure relates to a hand-held device for monitoring quality of edible articles such as fruits and vegetables, also enables a user to get price of edible articles of nearby vendors on the device.
[0033] According to an embodiment, the present disclosure discloses a device for monitoring quality of edible articles such as fruits and vegetables. The device can be a hand-held device and portable, which can enables the use to carry the device in hand or bags easily. The user can effortlessly hold the device in hand and images of fruits and vegetables can be captured easily, which can be transmitted to a processing unit configured within the device. The processing unit analyse the images and correspondingly generate a quality score for the associated fruits or vegetables.
[0034] In an embodiment, the device can include a voice recognition unit to detect voice generated from communication between one or more vendors and one or more customers, and the processing unit can extract price of an edible article from the communication, and correspondingly alert can be transmitted to nearby user of the devices regarding price of edible article and GPS location of one or more vendors in vicinity, thus the device can assist the user to purchase high grade fruits and vegetables on a reasonable price.
[0035] FIG. 1 illustrates exemplary representation of a device for monitoring quality of edible articles, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0036] As illustrated, a device 100 for monitoring quality of edible articles such as fruits and vegetables. The device 100 is a hand-held device of small size, which can be easily carried in handbag or hands. The device 100 can include an input unit 102, a processing unit 106, and an output unit 112, where the input unit 102 can be configured to receive input such as images of fruit and vegetables, and the processing unit 106 can be configured to process the captured images, and the output unit can be configured to generate quality score of the fruit and vegetables.
[0037] In an embodiment, the input unit 102 can include an image capturing unit 104 and an input port (not shown) to receive input in form of images and videos. The image capturing unit 104 such as camera can be configured to capture images of an edible article. For example, the user can hold the device 100 in one hand and can capture images of an apple, where the apple can be hold in another hand or positioned on a surface such as vendor vehicle, basket, or in rack configured in malls. Also, the images captured from an external image capturing devices such as phone, tablet, and etc. can be transferred to the device 100 by a data cable, where the data cable can assist in transferring the images captured by a phone to an input port.
[0038] In an embodiment, the input unit 102 can be operatively coupled with the processing unit 106, and the images captured from the image capturing unit 104 or images received from external devices through the input port can be transmitted to the processing unit 106 for monitoring quality of the edible articles.
[0039] In an embodiment, the processing unit 106 can include an image processing module 108 and a classification and training unit 110. The image processing module 108 can be configured to analyse images received from the input unit 102, and generate quality score of the edible article. Upon analysis the image processing module 108 can extract one or more attributes (interchangeably referred as attributes, hereinafter) from the images, and match the extracted attributes with previously a set of pre-defined attributes, and according generate a quality score of edible article.
[0040] In an embodiment, the one or more attributes can be selected from a group consisting of color defect, skin defect, cracks, softness, blemish, decay, damage, texture, and firmness, ripeness, and the likes.
[0041] In an embodiment, the image processing module 108 can be coupled with a memory, where the memory can store instructions to assist in analysis the received images.
[0042] In an exemplary embodiment, upon receiving images from the camera, the image processing module 108 extract visual characteristics from the images, and compare visual characteristics with pre-stored visual characteristics of similar fruit to monitor quality of fruit. For example, the device capture images of an apple, captured images are transmitted to the image processing module 108 which firstly detect fruit or vegetable name by matching color and shape, and later check quality of apple by matching skin defect, cracks, softness, firmness, and ripeness.
[0043] In an embodiment, the image processing module 108 can be configured to transmit extracted values and quality score to the classification and training unit 110 to train and update the dataset.
[0044] In an embodiment, the processing unit 106 can transmit the output to the output unit 112. The output unit 112 can include a display unit 116 and one or more output ports 118. The display unit 116 can be configured to display quality score of the fruit, also the results can be displayed on external devices by connecting the device 100 to external devices through the output ports 118. Also, the quality score of fruit along with extracted attributes can be transmitted directly to a printing device to print it on a paper, which can be used for research purpose.
[0045] In an embodiment, the display unit 116 can be operatively coupled with the processing unit 106, and the display unit 116 can be configured to display information such as name of edible article, quality score, and the likes. In another embodiment, the display unit 116 can be selected from a group consisting of light emitting diode (LED), liquid crystal display (LCD), organic light emitting diode (OLED), LED matrix, and the likes.
[0046] In an embodiment, the device 100 can include a power source (not shown) configured to supply electric power to the image capturing unit 104, the processing unit 106, and the display unit 116, wherein the power source comprises any or a combination of rechargeable battery, lithium (Li) ion cell, rechargeable cells, solar cell, solar battery, electrochemical cells, storage battery, and secondary cell.
[0047] FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a device for monitoring quality of edible articles, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0048] As illustrated, a device 100 for detecting price of one more edible articles distributed by one or more vendors is disclosed. The device 100 can include a voice recognition unit 202, a global positioning unit (GPS) 204, an alert unit 206, and the voice recognition unit 202 and the alert unit 206 can be operatively coupled with a processing unit 106.
[0049] In an embodiment, the voice recognition unit 202 can be configured to detect voice generated from communication between one or more vendors and one or more customers, and correspondingly generates a first set of alert signals, which can be transmitted to the processing unit 106. In an exemplary embodiment, when the user bargain with the vendor or the vendor itself tell rate of article to attract customer, the voice can be received by the device 100 through the voice recognition unit 202, and can be transmitted to the processing unit to process the voice.
[0050] In an embodiment, the GPS unit 204 can be configured to detect location coordinates of one or more vendors, and correspondingly generate a second set of alert signals, which can be transmitted to the processing unit 106.
[0051] In an embodiment, the processing unit 106 can be configured to extract price of the edible article from the received voice, and notify one or more user regarding location of one or more vendors with price of edible articles. The notification can be in audio form and visual form, and can be transmitted to an alert unit 206, and the display unit 116. The alert unit 206 can include any or a combination of light emitting diode, buzzer, and alarm.
[0052] In an embodiment, the device 100 can include a communication unit (not shown) to transmit notifications to one or more nearby devices 100, and the processing unit 106 can be communicatively with the communication unit. The communication unit can include any or a combination of Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) Module, Bluetooth, Li-Fi, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), ZigBee, and the likes.
[0053] In an exemplary embodiment, when many users using the device 100 are in a market area, and purchasing apple. A first user is bargaining with a vendor, and a price is fixed for apple, for example 100rs/kg, a second user is purchasing at 130rs/kg, and a third user is purchasing at 150rs/kg, the device 100 can receive voice generated from communication in between first user, second user, and third user with associated vendors and can extract price and name of edible article form the received voice. Also, the location of first user, second user, and the third user at that time can be transmitted to the processing unit 106, which represent locations of three vendors. The processing unit 106 can transmit price with location to all the user present in the market using Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and the likes, within a pre-defined range, for example 500 meter. Thus, the device enables the user to get price of the edible articles with other vendors also.
[0054] In an embodiment, when the device 100 of a user transmits notification to nearby users of the device 100, the notification can be displayed on the display unit 116, and vibration can be produced by the alert unit 206 to alert the nearby users.
[0055] In an exemplary embodiment, a display unit 116 can be further configured to enable a user to input needs of edible articles on daily basis or weekly basis, and at a pre-defined time notify the user to purchase the edible articles, where the notification can be transmitted to the display unit 116 and the alert unit 206. The alert unit 206 can generate an audible signal to alert the user, and the user can display notification message on the display unit 116.
[0056] In an embodiment, the alert unit 206 can be operatively coupled with the power source such as batteries to supply power.
[0057] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary functional components of a processing unit of the proposed device, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0058] As illustrated, a processing unit 106 is disclosed, the processing unit 106 can include one or more processor(s) 302. The one or more processor(s) 302 can be implemented as one or more microprocessors, microcomputers, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, central processing units, logic circuitries, and/or any devices stored in a memory 114 of the processing unit 106. The memory 114 can store one or more computer-readable instructions or routines, which may be fetched and executed to create or share the data units over a network service. The memory 114 can include any non-transitory storage device including, for example, volatile memory such as RAM, or non-volatile memory such as EPROM, flash memory, and the likes.
[0059] In an embodiment, the processing unit 106 can also include an interface(s) 304. The interface(s) 304 may comprise a variety of interfaces, for example, interfaces for data input and output devices, referred to as I/O devices, storage devices, and the like. The interface(s) 304 may facilitate communication of device 100. The interface(s) 304 may also provide a communication pathway for one or more components of the device 100. Examples of such components include, but are not limited to, processing engine(s) 308 and database 310.
[0060] In an embodiment, a processing engine(s) 308 can be implemented as a combination of hardware and programming (for example, programmable instructions) to implement one or more functionalities of the processing engine(s) 308. In examples described herein, such combinations of hardware and programming may be implemented in several different ways. For example, the programming for the processing engine(s) 308 may be processor executable instructions stored on a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium and the hardware for the processing engine(s) 308 may include a processing resource (for example, one or more processors), to execute such instructions. In the present examples, the machine-readable storage medium may store instructions that, when executed by the processing resource, implement the processing engine(s) 308. In such examples, the processing unit 106 can include the machine-readable storage medium storing the instructions and the processing resource to execute the instructions, or the machine-readable storage medium may be separate but accessible to processing unit 106 and the processing resource. In other examples, the processing engine(s) 308 may be implemented by electronic circuitry. A database 310 can include data that is either stored or generated as a result of functionalities implemented by any of the components of the processing engine(s) 308.
[0061] In an embodiment, the processing engine(s) 308 can include an extraction unit 312, a matching unit 314, a comparison unit 316, a classification and training unit 110, a signal generation unit 318, and other unit(s) 320. The other unit(s) 320 can implement functionalities that supplement applications or functions performed by the device 100 or the processing engine(s) 308.
[0062] In an embodiment, the database 310 can include data that is either stored or generated as a result of functionalities implemented by any of the components of the processing engine(s) 308.
[0063] It would be appreciated that units being described are only exemplary units and any other unit or sub-unit may be included as part of the device 100. These units too may be merged or divided into super- units or sub-units as may be configured.
[0064] In an embodiment, the processing unit 106 can be configured to receive images of edible article captured by the image capturing unit 104, and further transmits the to the extraction unit 312. Also, the images can be transmitted to the processing unit 118 from an external device such as phone, camera, and the likes.
[0065] In an embodiment, the extraction unit 312 can be configured to extract one or more attributes from the received images to detect quality of the edible article, and extracted facial attributed can be transmitted to the matching unit 314.
[0066] In an embodiment, the extraction unit 312 can extract one or more attributes (interchangeably referred as attributes, hereinafter) from the received images. The one or more attributes can include any or a combination of one color defect, skin defect, cracks, softness, blemish, decay, damage, texture, and firmness and etc., and the extracted values can be transmitted to the matching unit 314.
[0067] In an embodiment, the matching unit 314 can be configured to compare the extracted values of the one or more attributes with a set of pre-defined attributes. For example, the quality of an apple is check by checking its firmness, color, skin defects, and the likes, similarly the matching unit 314 can match such extracted features with previously stored features.
[0068] In an embodiment, based on the comparison of extracted attributes, quality of the edible article can be determined, and the signal generation unit 318 can transmit output signals based on the quality of edible article. The output signal can pertain quality score of the edible article, and the generated output signals can be transmitted to the display unit 116 to display quality score to the user.
[0069] In an embodiment, the processing unit 106 can be further configured to receive a first set of alert signals from a voice recognition unit 202, and a second set of alert signals received from a global positioning unit (GPS) 204, where the first set of alert signals pertain voice generated from communication between the users of the device 100 and vendors, and the second set of alert signals can pertain location coordinate of the one or more vendors.
[0070] In an embodiment, the processing unit 106 can transmit the first set of alert signals and the second set of alert signals to the extraction unit 312, the extraction unit 312 can extract name and price of edible articles from the received first set of alert signals and location coordinates from the received second set of alert signals, and can transmit to a comparison unit 316, where the comparison unit 316 can compare the price of edible articles collected from one or more vendors and determine prices in a sorted way, for example, lower price to highest price. And, the signal generation unit 318 can generate a first set of notification signals and a second set of notification signals, where the first set of notification signals pertain to name and price of the one or more edible articles in a sorted way, and the second set of notification signals can pertain to location coordinates.
[0071] In an embodiment, the first set of notification signals can be transmitted to the display unit 116, and the second set of notification signals can be transmitted to the alert unit 206 through a communication unit such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and the likes.
[0072] In an embodiment, the classification and training unit 110 can be configured to receive the extracted attributes, from the extraction unit 312 in machine readable form or binary form and update and train the classification and training unit 110 based on received attributes and quality score. In another embodiment, the classification and training unit 110 can be trained and updated based on the received attributes and the quality score. A deep leaning model can be trained based on the received attributes, quality score, and analysed information, where the deep leaning model can be stored in the database 310. In yet another embodiment, once the dataset is trained correctly, a deep learning algorithm can be configured to perform repetitive, and routine tasks within a shorter period of time.
[0073] In an embodiment, the classification and training unit 110 can be configured to store attributes of various fruits and vegetables recorded for trend analysis and to predict more accurately. Also, the classification and training unit 110 can be configured to store a set of training datasets to train a machine learning model for determining attributes and quality score based on the training.
[0074] In an exemplary embodiment, the processing engine 308 can be further configured in the form of an Artificial Neural Network like the following, but not limited to Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Deep Neural Network (DNN).
[0075] While the foregoing describes various embodiments of the invention, other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof. The scope of the invention is determined by the claims that follow. The invention is not limited to the described embodiments, versions or examples, which are included to enable a person having ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention when combined with information and knowledge available to the person having ordinary skill in the art.

ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION
[0076] The proposed invention provides a device for monitoring quality of edible articles such as fruits and vegetables.
[0077] The proposed invention provides a portable device which enables the user to carry the device easily.
[0078] The proposed invention provides a device which enables the user to get price of edible articles of nearby vendors.
[0079] The proposed invention provides a device that assists the user in purchasing fresh fruits.
[0080] The proposed invention provides a device that is user-friendly, robust and accurate.

We Claims:

1. A device 100 for monitoring quality of edible articles, the device 100 comprising:
an image capturing unit 104 configured to capture images of the edible article;
a processing unit 106 operatively coupled with said image capturing unit 104, the processing unit 106 including one or more processors coupled with a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors and configured to:
receive images of the edible article;
extract one or more attributes from the received images;
match the attributes with a set of pre-defined attributes;
determine quality of edible article, based on the matched one or more attributes; and
generate output signals based on the quality of edible article, and transmit the generated output signals to a display unit 116, wherein the output signals pertain quality score of the edible article.

2. The device as claimed in claim 1, one or more attributes are selected from a group consisting of color defect, skin defect, cracks, softness, blemish, decay, damage, texture, and firmness.

3. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the quality score is an integral value lying between integers one to ten.

4. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the display unit 116 is operatively coupled with the processing unit, and the display unit is selected from a group consisting of light emitting diode (LED), liquid crystal display (LCD), organic light emitting diode (OLED), and LED matrix.

5. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the device 100 is a hand-held device.

6. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the device 100 comprises a power source configured to supply electric power to the image capturing unit 104, the processing unit 106, and the display unit 116, wherein the power source comprises any or a combination of rechargeable battery, lithium (Li) ion cell, rechargeable cells, solar cell, solar battery, electrochemical cells, storage battery, and secondary cell.

7. A device f100 or detecting price of one more edible articles distributed by one or more vendors, the device comprising:
a voice recognition unit 202 to detect voice generated from communication between one or more vendors and one or more customers, and correspondingly generates a first set of alert signals;
a global positioning unit (GPS) 204 unit configured to detect location coordinates of the one or more vendors, and correspondingly generates a second set of alert signals;
a processing unit 106 operatively coupled with said voice recognition unit and GPS, the processing unit including one or more processors coupled with a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors and configured to:
extract name and price of one or more edible articles from the received first set of alert signals and location coordinates from the received second set of alert signals, and correspondingly generate a first set of notification signals and a second set of notification signals; and
transmit a first set of notification signals to a display unit 116, and a second set of notification signals to an alert unit 206, wherein the first set of notification signals pertain to name and price of the one or more edible articles, and the second set of notification signals pertain to location coordinates.

8. The device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the alert unit 206 includes any or a combination of a light emitting diode, buzzer, and alarm.