Systems and methods of managing perpetual inventory

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11049086-B2
Application number	US-201916438990-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 12, 2019
Priority date	Jan 4, 2017
Publication date	Jun 29, 2021
Grant date	Jun 29, 2021

Abstract

In some embodiments, systems and methods are provided to monitor and adjust perpetual inventory (PI). Some embodiments comprise multiple point of sale (POS) systems; an inventory system and a perpetual inventory (PI) engine control circuit that receives inventory information and is configured to identify the occurrence of a plurality of different events each associated with a different product at a shopping facility and corresponding to a potential inconsistency in a determined inventory count; and for each of the events: identify a first set of inventory evaluation rules; apply the first set of inventory evaluation rules to determine a type of inventory count error; determine an inventory adjustment action to be implemented based on the first product and the determined error type; and cause the inventory adjustment action to be implemented in substantially real-time to adjust the determined inventory count of the first product at the first shopping facility.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A perpetual inventory (PI) control system, comprising:
at least one inventory system communicatively coupled with multiple POS systems at a first shopping facility of multiple shopping facilities;
a perpetual inventory (PI) engine control circuit communicatively coupled with the inventory system, and further configured to receive inventory information from the inventory system and sales data recorded by the multiple POS systems;
wherein the PI engine control circuit is configured to identify an occurrence of a plurality of different events each associated with a different product of thousands of different products at one of the multiple different shopping facilities, and each event corresponds to a potential inconsistency in a determined inventory count of the corresponding product; and for each of the events: identify, dependent on the event and a corresponding first product, a first set of inventory evaluation rules from multiple sets of inventory evaluation rules; apply the first set of inventory evaluation rules to determine a type of inventory count error relative to the determined inventory count of the first product at the first shopping facility; identify a second set of at least one inventory evaluation rules based on the type of inventory count error, and applying the second set of at least one inventory evaluation rules to determine an inventory adjustment action to be implemented based on the first product and the determined error type; and cause the inventory adjustment action to be implemented in substantially real-time to adjust the determined inventory count of the first product at the first shopping facility; and
wherein the PI engine control circuit is further configured to push perpetual inventory adjustment information to multiple different inventory storage devices without a request from an external device.

2. The PI control system of claim 1 , wherein the PI engine control circuit in applying the first set of inventory evaluation rules identifies a priority of each of the inventory evaluation rules of the first set of inventory evaluation rules as a function of the first event, and applies at least one of the first set of inventory evaluation rules in accordance with the priorities of the first set of inventory evaluation rules.

3. The PI control system of claim 1 , wherein the PI engine control circuit in determining the inventory adjustment action selects the inventory adjustment action based on a previous inventory adjustment action implemented relative to a previously determined inventory count of the first product at the first shopping facility.

4. The PI control system of claim 1 , wherein the PI engine control circuit in causing the inventory adjustment action to be implemented maintains over time, during which multiple different ordered shipments of the first product are received at the first shopping facility, the actual inventory counts of the first product at the first shopping facility within threshold margins of inventory errors defined by a difference between the actual inventory count of the first product at the first shopping facility and the determined inventory counts.

5. The PI control system of claim 1 , wherein the PI engine control circuit is further configured to modify one or more inventory evaluation rules of a third set of inventory evaluation rules that were previously applied in evaluating the inventory count of the first product based on results from the PI engine control circuit applying the first set of inventory evaluation rules.

6. The PI control system of claim 1 , wherein the PI engine control circuit is further configured to determine a second product has inventory inaccuracies that are within thresholds of inventory inaccuracies associated with the first product, select the second set of inventory evaluation rules based on the inventory inaccuracies of the second product being within the thresholds of and the inventory inaccuracies of the first product, and apply the second set of inventory evaluation rules relative to the second product while applying at least one different parameter, than a parameter applied relative to the first product, based on the second set of inventory evaluation rules being applied relative to the second product to identify a second inventory adjustment action to be implemented based on the second product.

7. The PI control system of claim 1 , wherein the PI engine control circuit is configured to identify a set of products that each have a predefined relationship with at least one of a set of filter parameters, and prevent the PI engine control circuit from causing another inventory adjustment action to be implemented relative to each of the products of the set of products.

8. The PI control system of claim 1 , wherein the PI engine control circuit, in determining the inventory adjustment action to be implemented, is configured to determine the adjustment action to maintain the inventory count within boundaries of threshold margins of inventory errors for the first product while not attempting to determine an actual inventory count of the first product.

9. The PI control system of claim 1 , wherein the PI engine control circuit, in pushing the perpetual inventory adjustment information to the multiple different inventory storage devices, is configured to push the perpetual inventory adjustment information without a request from the inventory storage devices, wherein each of the inventory storage devices is accessible by at least one of multiple remote processing systems providing the multiple remote processing systems with substantially real time access to the perpetual inventory adjustment information.

10. The PI control system of claim 1 , wherein the PI engine control circuit, in pushing the perpetual inventory adjustment information to the multiple different inventory storage devices, is configured to push the perpetual inventory adjustment information without receiving a confirmation of transmission from the multiple inventory storage devices, wherein each of the inventory storage devices is accessible by at least one of multiple remote processing systems providing the multiple remote processing systems with substantially real time access to the perpetual inventory adjustment information.

11. A method of monitoring and adjusting perpetual inventory (PI), comprising:
identifying an occurrence of a plurality of different events each associated with a different product of thousands of different products at one of multiple different shopping facilities, wherein each event corresponds to a potential inconsistency in a determined inventory count of the corresponding product; and
for each of the events:
identifying, dependent on the event and a corresponding first product, a first set of inventory evaluation rules from multiple sets of inventory evaluation rules;
applying the first set of inventory evaluation rules to determine a type of inventory count error relative to the determined inventory count of the first product at the first shopping facility;
identifying a second set of at least one inventory evaluation rules based on the type of inventory count error;

applying the second set of at least one inventory evaluation rules and determining an inventory adjustment action to be implemented based on the first product and the determined error type; and
causing the inventory adjustment action to be implemented in substantially real-time to adjust the determined inventory count of the first product at the first shopping facility; and

pushing perpetual inventory adjustment information to multiple different inventory storage devices without a request from an external device.

12. T

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Brooks Cristy C
• Enssle Benjamin D
• Brightwell David B
• Shields Daniel R
• Bryan Greg A
• Jones Matthew A

Classifications

• G06N20/00

  Machine learning · CPC title

• G06Q20/202

  Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR · CPC title

• G06Q20/203 Primary

  Inventory monitoring · CPC title

• G06Q10/0875

  Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials · CPC title