Inventory management server, inventory management system, inventory management method, and recording medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11907900-B2
Application number	US-202017423610-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 10, 2020
Priority date	Mar 22, 2019
Publication date	Feb 20, 2024
Grant date	Feb 20, 2024

Abstract

An inventory management server according to one aspect of the present disclosure comprises: a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor performing operations to: generate expiration information including information for specifying a product and information for specifying a branch store that sells the product based on a stock quantity of the product in the branch store in which an employee of a flagship store replaces a plurality of products and a sell-by date of the product; set a timing to transmit the expiration information to a store terminal based on at least either a movement time or a movement distance from a position of the employee to the branch store that sells the product, and the sell-by date related to the product; and notify the store terminal of the expiration information based on the set timing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An inventory management server comprising:
a memory; and
at least one processor coupled to the memory,
the at least one processor performing operations to:
generate expiration information including information for specifying a product and information for specifying a given branch store of a plurality of branch stores at which the product is sold based on an inventory of the product in the given branch store to which an employee of a flagship store travels and at which the employee replenishes an inventory of the product and based on a sell-by date of the product;
generate a route on which the employee moves among the plurality of branch stores;
set a timing to transmit the expiration information to a store terminal of the employee based on at least either a movement time or a movement distance from a current position of the employee to the given branch store, a time required for the employee to replace the product in the given branch store, and a time of the sell-by date related to the product; and
transmit to the store terminal of the employee, at the set timing, the expiration information and information indicating the route.

2. The inventory management server according to claim 1 , wherein
the store terminal of the employee is one of a plurality of the store terminals at the flagship store, and
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to transmit the expiration information and the information regarding the route to one of the store terminals at the flagship store other than the store terminal of the employee expiration information when there is no reply for a predetermined time from the store terminal of the employee after transmittal of the expiration information and the information regarding the route to the store terminal of the employee.

3. The inventory management server according to claim 1 , wherein
the store terminal of the employee is one of a plurality of the store terminals at the flagship store, and
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to transmit the expiration information and the information regarding the route to one of the store terminals at the flagship store other than the store terminal of the employee expiration information in response to receiving a response from the store terminal of the employee that the employee will be unable to replenish the inventory of the product.

4. The inventory management server according to claim 1 , wherein the employee is a first employee, the route is a first route, the plurality of branch stores is a first plurality of branch stores, the given branch store is a first given branch store, and the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:
generate, for a second employee of the flagship store, a second route to a second plurality of branch stores that does not include any a branch store at which the first employee has already replenished the inventory of the product;
set a second timing to transmit the expiration information to a second store terminal of the second employee based on at least either a movement time or a movement distance from a current position of the employee to a second given branch store of the second plurality of branch stores, a time required for the second employee to replace the product in the second given branch store, and the time of the sell-by date; and
transmit to the second store terminal of the second employee, at the notify at the set second timing, the expiration information and information indicating the second route.

5. The inventory management server according to claim 1 , wherein the movement distance is a distance in a three-dimensional vector space.

6. An inventory management system comprising:
a first server that manages an inventory of a flagship store;
a second server that manages an inventory of a given branch store of a plurality of stores at which a product is sold and to which an employee of the flagship travels and at which the employee replenishes an inventory of the product; and
a store terminal of the employee to which the second server is communicatively connected, wherein
the second server comprises:
a memory; and
at least one processor coupled to the memory,
the at least one processor performing operations to:
generate expiration information including information for specifying the product and information for specifying the given branch store based on an inventory of the product in the given branch store and based on a sell-by date of the product;
generate a route on which the employee moves among the plurality of branch stores;
set a timing to transmit the expiration information to a store terminal of the employee based on at least either a movement time or a movement distance from a current position of the employee to the given branch store, a time required for the employee to replace the product in the given branch store, and a time of the sell-by date related to the product; and
transmit to the store terminal of the employee, at the set timing, the expiration information and information indicating the route.

7. An inventory management method comprising:
generating, by a processor, expiration information including information for specifying a product and information for specifying a given branch store of a plurality of branch stores at which the product is sold based on an inventory of the product in the given branch store to which an employee of a flagship store travels and at which the employee replenishes an inventory of the product and based on a sell-by date of the product;
generating, by the processor, a route on which the employee moves among the plurality of branch stores;
setting, by the processor, a timing to transmit the expiration information to a store terminal of the employee based on at least either a movement time or a movement distance from a current position of the employee to the given branch store, a time required for the employee to replace the product in the given branch store, and a time of the sell-by date related to the product; and
transmitting, by the processor and to the store terminal of the employee, at the set timing, the expiration information and information indicating the route.

Assignees

• Nec Corp

Inventors

• Uchimura Jun

Classifications

• G06Q10/087 Primary

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

• G06Q10/063114 Primary

  Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group · CPC title

• G07G1/12

  electronically operated · CPC title

• G06Q30/06

  Buying, selling or leasing transactions · CPC title