Predictive demand-based produce ripening system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12035740-B2
Application number	US-201916449301-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 21, 2019
Priority date	Jun 28, 2018
Publication date	Jul 16, 2024
Grant date	Jul 16, 2024

Abstract

Examples provide a fruit ripening rack having a plurality of chambers for on-site produce ripening at a retail location. A controller component generates predicted demand for ripened fruit on a selected date at a selected location based on transaction history data and/or seasonal demand. The controller component calculates the quantity of fruit based on the predicted demand. The controller component determines conditions within each chamber to accelerate ripening of the calculated quantity of one or more types of fruit to one or more selected levels of ripeness on the selected date. The conditions include amount of ethylene gas in each chamber, length of exposure to the ethylene gas, temperature inside the chamber and/or humidity level inside the chamber. The fruit ripening rack controls internal conditions within each chamber to provide variable fruit ripening in accordance with per-chamber configurations to satisfy predicted daily demand at the selected location.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for dynamic customization of fruit ripening, the system comprising:
a fruit ripening rack comprising a plurality of chambers configured to store at least one crate of unripe fruit, the plurality of chambers comprising a first chamber and a second chamber;
a set of ethylene gas supply lines connecting an ethylene gas metering device to each of the plurality of chambers, each ethylene gas supply line of the set of ethylene gas supply lines connecting the ethylene gas metering device to an individual chamber of the plurality of chambers;
a control device comprising a memory and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory;
an analysis component, implemented on the at least one processor, analyzes historical transaction data and seasonal demand data associated with a selected location using pattern recognition;
a prediction component, implemented on the at least one processor:
generates a first predicted demand for a selected type of fruit on a first selected date and a second predicted demand for the selected type of fruit on a second selected date; and
calculates a first quantity of fruit to satisfy the first predicted demand on the first selected date and a second quantity of the fruit to satisfy the second predicted demand on the second selected date;

a communications interface component, implemented on the at least one processor, that receives a user selection of a first ripeness level associated with the fruit in the first chamber and a second ripeness level associated with the fruit in the second chamber from a remote computing device via a network, wherein the fruit in the first chamber is ripened to the first ripeness level and the fruit in the second chamber is ripened to the second ripeness level, wherein the first ripeness level is a different level of ripeness than the second ripeness level; and
a calculation component, implemented on the at least one processor, that calculates:
a first quantity of ethylene gas to be released from the ethylene gas metering device and a first exposure time of the first quantity of the fruit to the first quantity of released ethylene gas to complete ripening of the first quantity of fruit in the first chamber to the selected first ripeness level on the first selected date; and
a second quantity of ethylene gas to be released from the ethylene gas metering device and a second exposure time of the second quantity of the fruit to the second quantity of released ethylene gas to complete ripening of the second quantity of fruit in the second chamber to the selected second ripeness level on the second selected date; and

a controller component, implemented on the at least one processor, that activates the ethylene gas metering device to release the first quantity of ethylene gas into the first chamber for the first exposure time based on the selected first ripeness level on condition the first quantity of fruit is present within the first chamber and release the second quantity of ethylene gas into the second chamber for the second exposure time based on the selected second ripeness level on condition the second quantity of fruit is present within the second chamber.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the calculation component further calculates a first temperature and a first humidity level to complete ripening of the first quantity of the fruit in the first chamber to a first level of ripeness on the first selected date; and
the system further comprises a thermostat, implemented on the at least one processor, that adjusts an internal temperature and humidity level inside the first chamber to match the first temperature and the first humidity level.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein:
the calculation component further calculates a second temperature and a second humidity level to complete ripening of the second quantity of the fruit in the second chamber to a second level of ripeness on the second selected date; and
the thermostat further adjusts an internal temperature and humidity level inside the second chamber to match the second temperature and the second humidity level.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a user interface device, implemented on the at least one processor, receives a user selection of a first ripeness level associated with the first chamber and a second ripeness level associated with fruit in the second chamber, wherein the first quantity of the fruit in the first chamber is ripened to the first ripeness level and the second quantity of the fruit in the second chamber is ripened to the second ripeness level, wherein the first ripeness level is a different level of ripeness than the second ripeness level.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the fruit ripening rack is a stand-alone device including a cooling device and a heating element for regulating an internal temperature of each chamber in the plurality of chambers.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the fruit ripening rack is incorporated into a refrigeration storage device.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the calculation component further:
calculates a third quantity of ethylene gas to be released from the ethylene gas metering device and a third exposure time of a third quantity of the fruit to the third quantity of released ethylene gas to complete ripening of the third quantity of the fruit in a third chamber to a first level of ripeness on a third selected date;
calculates a fourth quantity of ethylene gas to be released from the ethylene gas metering device and a fourth exposure time of a fourth quantity of the fruit to the fourth quantity of released ethylene gas to complete ripening of the fourth quantity of the fruit in a fourth chamber to the first level of ripeness on the third selected date; and

the controller component further:
controls the ethylene gas metering device to release the third quantity of ethylene gas into the third chamber for the third exposure time; and
controls the ethylene gas metering device to release the fourth quantity of ethylene gas into the fourth chamber for the fourth exposure time,

wherein the fruit in the third chamber is ripened to the first level of ripeness, the fruit in the fourth chamber is ripened to a second level of ripeness, and the first level of ripeness is a different level of ripeness than the second level of ripeness.

8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a notification component, implemented on the at least one processor, outputs:
a refill chamber notification to a user device on condition at least one chamber in the plurality of chambers is empty, the refill chamber notification comprising an instruction to refill the at least one chamber, and
a ripening complete notification to the user device indicating the fruit in the at least one chamber has reached a selected level of ripeness.

9. A customized fruit ripening rack, the customized fruit ripening rack comprising:
a plurality of chambers for ripening at least one case of unripe fruit, a case of unripe fruit comprising fruit unexposed to ethylene gas, the plurality of chambers comprising a first chamber and a second chamber;
a set of ethylene gas supply lines connecting an ethylene gas metering device to each of the plurality of chambers, each ethylene gas supply line of the set of ethylene gas supply lines connecting the ethylene gas metering device to an individual chamber of the plurality of chambers;
a control device comprising a memory and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory;
a user interface device comprising a set of configuration controls, the user interface device receives a set of per-chamber fruit ripening configurations for customizing ripening of the fruit in each chamber in

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Brooks Cristy Crane
• Brightwell David Blair
• Bryan Greg
• Eaton Jesse Lee
• Kerbs Jeffrey

Classifications

• G06F18/217

  Validation; Performance evaluation; Active pattern learning techniques · CPC title

• G06Q30/0202

  Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities · CPC title

• A23B7/14

  Preserving or ripening with chemicals not covered by group A23B7/08 or A23B7/10 · CPC title

• A23B7/00

  Preservation of fruit or vegetables; Chemical ripening of fruit or vegetables · CPC title

• Y10S47/00

  Plant husbandry · CPC title