System and method for determination and management of root cause for inventory problems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11501251-B2
Application number	US-202117245277-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 30, 2021
Priority date	Mar 15, 2017
Publication date	Nov 15, 2022
Grant date	Nov 15, 2022

Abstract

Scans of a selected product on shelves of a retail store are obtained and the scans are transmitted over a network via a transceiver circuit. A perpetual inventory (PI) value is stored for a selected product in a database. A data structure includes a first category and first actions programmatically linked to the first category. When the selected product is out-of-stock and when the PI value is greater than a predetermined threshold, one or more of the first actions associated with the first category are performed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system configured to determine and manage inventory values of out-of-stock products in a retail store, the system comprising:
a product display unit that is disposed at a retail store;
a sensor disposed in proximity to the product display unit at the retail store, the sensor configured to obtain scans of a selected product at the product display unit;
a database that is configured to store a perpetual inventory (PI) value for a selected product, the database further configured to store a data structure, the data structure including a first category and first actions that are programmatically linked to the first category;
wherein the PI value of the selected product relates to the number of a selected products in the retail store and is increased as amounts of the selected product are shipped and received at the store and is decreased as amounts of the selected product are sold and removed from the store;
a control circuit coupled to the network and the database, the control circuit configured to:
retrieve the PI value for the selected product from the database;
receive the scans from the sensor;
determine when the selected product is out-of-stock based upon an analysis of the scans;
when the selected product is out-of-stock and when the PI value is greater than a predetermined threshold, adjust the PI value of the selected product and perform one or more of the first actions associated with the first category according to the data structure and according to actions performed with respect to the PI of the selected product at other retail stores;

wherein the data structure includes a second category and a second action programmatically linked to the second category; and
wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
obtain a last PI change time from the retail store, the last PI change time being the last time the PI value was changed at the retail store;
determine a time difference between a current time obtained from a clock and the last PI change time, the time difference being in time units; and
when the time difference is less than a predetermined time period, perform the second action associated with the second category.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined value is 1.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the PI value is changed to an amount of the selected product found by the employee or the autonomous vehicle.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first actions are selected from the group consisting of: instructing an autonomous vehicle to find the selected product and instructing an employee to find the selected product.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second action is instructing a store employee to take no further action.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined time period is 7 days.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the data structure includes a third category and third actions programmatically linked to the third category, the third actions being selected from the group consisting of: transmitting an alert to a store employee to find another product to replace the selected product, and sending instructions to the store employee to take no further action, and wherein the database is further configured to store a recall list of product numbers that relate to products under a product recall;
wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
from the scans, obtain an item number of the selected product;
compare the item number of the selected product to product numbers on the recall list;
when the item number of the selected product is on the recall list, perform one of the third actions associated with the third category.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is configured to convert the data structure into a report.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the control circuit renders the report to a store employee.

10. A method for determining and managing inventory values of out-of-stock products in a retail store, the method comprising:
obtaining scans of a selected product at a product display unit of a retail store and transmitting the scans over a network;
storing a perpetual inventory (PI) value for a selected product in a database;
wherein the PI value of the selected product relates to the number of a selected products in the retail store and is increased as amounts of the selected product are shipped and received at the store and is decreased as amounts of the selected product are sold and removed from the store;
storing a data structure in the database, the data structure including a first category and first actions programmatically linked to the first category;
retrieving the PI value for the selected product from the database;
receiving the scans from the network and determining when the selected product is out-of-stock based upon an analysis of the scans;
when the selected product is out-of-stock and when the PI value is greater than a predetermined threshold, adjusting the PI value of the selected product and performing one or more of the first actions associated with the first category and according to actions performed with respect to the PI of the selected product at other retail stores;
wherein the data structure includes a second category and a second action programmatically linked to the second category;
wherein the method further comprises:
obtaining a last PI change time from the retail store, the last PI change time being the last time the PI value was changed at the retail store;
determining a time difference between a current time obtained from a clock and the last PI change time, the time difference being in time units;
when the time difference is less than a predetermined time period, performing the second action associated with the second category.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the predetermined value is 1.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the PI value is changed to an amount of the selected product found by the employee or the autonomous vehicle.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first actions are selected from the group consisting of: instructing an autonomous vehicle to find the selected product and instructing an employee to find the selected product.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the second action is instructing a store employee to take no further action.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the predetermined time period is 7 days.

16. The method of claim 10 ,
wherein the data structure includes a third category and third actions programmatically linked to the third category, the third actions being selected from the group consisting of: transmitting an alert to a store employee to find another product to replace the selected product, and instructing the store employee to take no further action, the database being further configured to store a recall list of product numbers that relate to products under product recall, and
wherein the method further comprises: obtaining an item number of the selected product based upon the scans, comparing the item number of the selected product to product numbers on the recall list, and when the item number of the selected product is on the recall list, performing one of the third actions associated with the third category.

17. The method of claim 9 , further comprising converting the data structure into a report.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising rendering the report to a store employee.

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

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

Classifications

• G06Q10/0875 Primary

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

• G06Q40/12

  Accounting · CPC title

• G06F16/951

  Indexing; Web crawling techniques · CPC title