Flexible store fulfillment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11227244-B2
Application number	US-201715695349-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 5, 2017
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Jan 18, 2022
Grant date	Jan 18, 2022

Abstract

Aspects described herein relate to a flexible order fulfillment management system that utilizes predefined fulfillment workflows including common business processes. By utilizing predefined workflows including common business processes, the order fulfillment management system is able to drive store-based fulfillment programs efficiently as multiple fulfillment workflows may utilize the same common business processes and a single fulfillment management system may operate workflows in parallel. In addition, such an order fulfillment management system may also be more easily adapted for different retail store environments as the system allows a designer to easily create or modify a fulfillment workflow by selecting predefined common business processes or creating any additional custom business processes. Another aspect described herein relates to a tool that allows a designer of an order fulfillment program to select from a group of predefined common business processes to create workflows associated with an order fulfillment program.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An order fulfillment system comprising:
a fulfillment management and applications server including an order fulfillment management engine configured to be coupled to a retail store computer system, the order fulfillment management engine configured to receive orders forwarded by a central order management system;
at least one device configured to communicate with a task management system and including software components that implement business processes of a selected predefined fulfillment workflow from a plurality of predefined fulfillment workflows, each predefined fulfillment workflow including a plurality of predefined common business processes, each common business process including at least one task, wherein the at least one device is a portable device configured to display instructions to a user to direct the user to perform actions associated with the business processes of the selected predefined process workflow according to the instructions displayed on the portable device, and
the task management system coupled to the order fulfillment management engine and including an optimization agent that is configured to arrange tasks into an execution sequence based on route information, the route information identifying respective locations where the tasks are to be completed;
wherein the order fulfillment management engine is configured to select a predefined fulfillment workflow from the plurality of predefined fulfillment workflows for each received order,
wherein the task management system is further configured to:
transmit a first signal that causes the at least one device to display an instruction to the user of the at least one device to perform a first task of a first group of tasks associated with the plurality of predefined common business processes of a first selected predefined fulfillment workflow, wherein the first signal causes the at least one device of the user to generate a graphical user interface that displays the first task of the first group of tasks,
detect a location of the at least one device of the user while the user performing the first group of tasks associated with the plurality of predefined common business processes of the first predefined fulfillment workflow;
determine, based on the detected location of the at least one device of the user, that the user is located such that the user is available to perform a first task of a second group of tasks associated with the plurality of predefined common business processes of a second predefined fulfillment workflow; and
in response to this determination by the task management system, transmit a second signal to the at least one device to display an instruction to the user of the at least one device to interrupt the first group of tasks associated with the plurality of predefined common business processes of the first predefined fulfillment workflow, and to perform the first task of the second group of tasks associated with the plurality of predefined common business process of the second predefined fulfillment workflow, wherein the second signal causes the graphical user interface to not display the first task of the first group of tasks and to display the first task of the second group of tasks.

2. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 ,
wherein the first selected predefined fulfillment workflow including a first group of predefined common business processes and the second predefined fulfillment workflow including a second group of predefined common business processes, and
wherein both the first and second group of predefined common business processes include at least one same common business process.

3. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , wherein at least one predefined fulfillment workflow includes at least one custom business process and wherein the task management system is further configured to drive the at least one device to instruct the user of the at least one device to perform tasks associated with the common and custom business processes of the at least one predefined fulfillment workflow.

4. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one device is a portable device configured to display instructions to the user to drive the user to perform tasks associated with the common business processes of the selected predefined fulfillment workflow.

5. The order fulfillment system of claim 4 , wherein the at least one device is a handheld device configured to display instructions to the user to drive the user to perform the at least one task associated with the common business processes of the selected predefined fulfillment workflow.

6. The order fulfillment system of claim 4 , wherein the order fulfillment management engine is configured to operate two or more portable devices simultaneously to instruct users of the two or more portable devices to perform tasks corresponding to business processes of one or more predefined fulfillment workflows.

7. The order fulfillment system of claim 4 , wherein the instructions displayed on the at least one device are based on at least one of a characteristic of the user, the current task being performed by the user, the predefined fulfillment workflow currently being driven, or a time sensitive nature of at least one order being fulfilled by the predefined fulfillment workflow.

8. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , wherein the task management system is further configured to identify the user based, at least in part, on a characteristic of the user.

9. The order fulfillment system of claim 8 , wherein the characteristic of the user includes at least one of a qualification of the user and a location of the user.

10. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , wherein the task management system is further configured to identify the user based, at least in part, on a characteristic of a received order.

11. The order fulfillment system of claim 10 , wherein the characteristic of the received order includes at least one of a time characteristic, environmental characteristic, and temperature characteristic of the received order.

12. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , wherein the task management system is further configured to assign tasks to a user based, at least in part, on a characteristic of the user.

13. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , wherein the task management system is further configured to assign tasks to a user based, at least in part, on a time requirement of an order.

14. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , the system further comprising:
an input device; and
a process design system coupled to the input device, the process design system configured to allow a user of the input device to define a plurality of fulfillment programs by arranging a group of the plurality of predefined common business processes as a sequence of steps, for at least a portion of each one of the plurality of fulfillment programs.

15. The order fulfillment system of claim 14 , wherein the process design system is further configured to be coupled to the order fulfillment management engine and to deploy the plurality of fulfillment programs to the order fulfillment management engine.

16. The order fulfillment system of claim 14 , wherein the order fulfillment management engine is configured to drive two or more predefined fulfillment workflows of two or more fulfillment programs in parallel to fulfill multiple orders.

17. The order fulfillment system of claim 14 , wherein each one of the plurality of fulfillment programs is defined by the user as one of the plurality of predefined fulfillment workflows i

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Grabovski Vadim
• Venable Larry Christopher
• Collier John Kevin

Classifications

• G06Q10/06311 Primary

  Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group · CPC title

• G06Q10/06316 Primary

  Sequencing of tasks or work · CPC title

• G06Q10/00

  Administration; Management · CPC title