System and method for management of perpetual inventory values based upon confidence level

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11449828-B2
Application number	US-202016932284-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 17, 2020
Priority date	May 26, 2017
Publication date	Sep 20, 2022
Grant date	Sep 20, 2022

Abstract

A priority is dynamically assigned to each of the inventory-related values. A confidence score is determined based upon an evaluation of all of the prioritized inventory-related values. Based upon the confidence score, one or more PI programs for the retail store is authorized for utilization. The number of inventory-related values used and the priorities for these values are dynamically changeable.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system that determines the application of perpetual inventory (PI) adjustment programs in retail stores, the system comprising:
an electronic communication network;
a retail store with a transmitter that is configured to transmit one or more inventory-related values obtained by the sensors from the retail store to the network;
a plurality of electronic sensors disposed at the retail store;
an interface coupled to the network and disposed at a central processing center, the interface having a transceiver circuit that receives the one or more inventory-related values from the retail store via the network, at least some of the inventory-related values having a time stamp;
a database that is configured to store the inventory-related values;
a control circuit that is coupled to the database, the control circuit is at the central processing center and is configured to:
receive the inventory-related values from the database;
dynamically assign a priority to each of the inventory-related values;
determine a confidence score, the confidence score being the trust given to a retail store in making an adjustment to a PI value, the confidence score based upon an evaluation of all of the prioritized inventory-related values, the score determined based at least in part upon an evaluation of time stamps of some of the inventory-related values;
based upon the confidence score, select and authorize utilization of one or more electronic PI programs for the retail store, the electronic PI programs causing at least one PI value to be adjusted, the electronic PI program being chosen using a mapping data structure in the database that maps dynamically changeable confidence scores to dynamically changeable suites of electronic PI programs;

wherein selected ones of the electronic PI programs perform a verification of whether the product is located in the retail store, the verification being performed by a sensing device that is used to determine whether the product is in the retail store;
wherein the number of inventory-related values used and the priorities for these values are dynamically changeable.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the inventory-related values are values selected from the group consisting of: shelf availability, back room binning activity, on-shelf customer availability, an inventory value, a forecast accuracy, a sales volume, a turnover amount, a store manager verification of under stock or overstock, a percentage of inventory in a back room, a store size, a store size class, and a store inventory accuracy.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the score is determined by the control circuit based upon a weighted sum of the prioritized inventory-related values.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the control circuit determines a scaled value for each of the prioritized inventory-related values.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the time stamp indicates when a process was used or when the inventory-related value was obtained.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensing device is a camera.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensing device is disposed at an automated vehicle.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the electronic PI programs performs multiple verifications.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the electronic PI programs performs a single verification.

10. A method for determining the application of perpetual inventory (PI) adjustment programs in retail stores, the method comprising:
transmitting one or more inventory-related values from a retail store to a central processing center via a network;
receiving the one or more inventory-related values from the retail store at the central processing center, and storing the inventory-related values in a database, at least some of the inventory-related values having a time stamp;
dynamically assigning a priority to each of the inventory-related values;
determining a confidence score, the confidence score being the trust given to a retail store in making an adjustment to a PI value, the confidence score based upon an evaluation of all of the prioritized inventory-related values, the score determined based at least in part upon an evaluation of time stamps of some of the inventory-related values;
based upon the confidence score, selecting and authorizing utilization of one or more electronic PI programs for the retail store, the electronic PI programs causing at least one PI value to be adjusted, the electronic PI program being chosen using a mapping data structure in the database that maps dynamically changeable confidence scores to dynamically changeable suites of electronic PI programs;
wherein selected ones of the PI programs perform a verification of whether the product is located in the retail store, the verification being performed by a sensing device to determine whether the product is in the retail store;
wherein the number of inventory-related values used and the priorities for these values are dynamically changeable.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the inventory-related values are values selected from the group consisting of: shelf availability, back room binning activity, on-shelf customer availability, an inventory value, a forecast accuracy, a sales volume, a turnover amount, a store manager verification of under stock or overstock, a percentage of inventory in a back room, a store size, a store size class, and a store inventory accuracy.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the score is determined by the control circuit based upon a weighted sum of the prioritized inventory-related values.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising determining a scaled value for each of the prioritized inventory-related values.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the time stamp indicates when a process was used or when the inventory-related value was obtained.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the sensing device is a camera.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein the sensing device is disposed at an automated vehicle.

17. The method of claim 10 , wherein at least one of the electronic PI programs performs multiple verifications.

18. The method of claim 10 , wherein at least one of the electronic PI programs performs a single verification.

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Bryan Greg A
• Brooks Cristy C
• Brightwell David Blair
• Enssle Benjamin D

Classifications

• G06Q10/087 Primary

  Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders · CPC title

• G05D1/021

  specially adapted to land vehicles · CPC title

• G05D1/0202

  specially adapted to aircraft · CPC title

• G05D2201/0216

  Physics · mapped topic