Method, system, and article of manufacture for managing click and delivery shopping events

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12561729-B2
Application number	US-202217582957-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 24, 2022
Priority date	Apr 7, 2017
Publication date	Feb 24, 2026
Grant date	Feb 24, 2026

Abstract

One variation of a method for managing virtual shopping lists includes: dispatching robotic systems, deployed in store, to autonomously scan inventory structures within this store; deriving current stock conditions of this store based on scan data recorded by these robotic systems; initializing a virtual shopping list for a user; in response to receipt of selection of a first product, from a population of products, isolating a subset of stores, in the set of stores in the geographic region, associated with current stock conditions indicating presence of the first product and products previously added to the virtual shopping list; in response to the subset of stores including at least one store, adding a first identifier of the first product to the virtual shopping list; and specifying a particular store, in the subset of stores, for fulfillment of a set of products on the virtual shopping list.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A method for managing virtual shopping lists comprising:
during a first time period, for each store in a set of stores:
during a first scan cycle, by a computer system, dispatching a mobile robotic system in the store to autonomously scan inventory structures within the store and capture electronic scan data via a set of optical sensors integrated within the mobile robotic system;
during the first scan cycle, by the mobile robotic system deployed in the store:
scanning inventory structures throughout the store;
capturing a set of electronic scan data via the set of optical sensors; and
uploading the set of electronic data to the computer system;

by the computer system:
receiving the set of electronic scan data captured by the mobile robotic system during the first scan cycle;
extracting a set of features from the set of electronic scan data; and
deriving a current stock condition of the store during the first scan cycle based on the set of features;

during a second time period succeeding the first time period, by the computer system:
initializing a virtual shopping list for a user at a computing device;
in response to selection of a first product, from a population of products, at the computing device:
identifying a subset of stores, in the set of stores, associated with current stock conditions indicating presence of the first product; and
in response to the subset of stores comprising at least one store, adding a first identifier of the first product to the virtual shopping list; and

identifying a particular store, in the subset of stores, for fulfillment of a set of products on the virtual shopping list;
during a third time period succeeding the second time period and prior to fulfillment of the virtual shopping list, by the computer system:
accessing electronic scan data captured by the mobile robotic system during a second scan cycle; and
updating the current stock condition of the particular store for the third time period based on electronic scan data recorded by the mobile robotic system during the second scan cycle; and
by the computer system, in response to selection of the particular store and in response to the current stock condition of the particular store indicating absence of the first product prior to fulfillment of the virtual shopping list by a delivery associate:
serving a photographic image of an inventory structure in the particular store to the computing device, the photographic image generated based on electronic scan data recorded by the mobile robotic system during the second scan cycle;
generating a prompt to replace the first product on the virtual shopping list with an alternate product depicted in the photographic image; and
serving the prompt to the computing device.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to receiving approval of the alternate product from the user:
updating the virtual shopping list to replace the first product with the alternate product; annotating the photographic image of the inventory structure with a location of the alternate product in the photographic image; and serving the photographic image of the inventory structure to a mobile device associated with the delivery associate.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating a product location map identifying locations of products in the store based on the current stock condition of the store during the first time period; and receiving selection of the first product comprising:
serving the product location map for presentation on the computing device; and
receiving selection of the first product on the product location map presented on the computing device.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating a product location map identifying locations of products in the store based on the current stock conditions of the store during the third time period; annotating the virtual shopping list with locations of products on the virtual shopping list based on the product location map of the store for the third time period.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to selection of a second product, from the population of products, at the computing device and in response to the current stock condition of the particular store indicating absence of the second product, identifying a second store associated with a second current stock condition indicating presence of the first product and the second product for fulfillment of the virtual shopping list; and reassigning the virtual shopping list to the second store.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
dispatching the delivery associate to the particular store to fulfill the virtual shopping list; accessing a map of the particular store; based on the map and the current stock condition during the third time period, calculating a route through the particular store to a location of each product specified in the virtual shopping list; and serving the route to a mobile device affiliated with the delivery associate.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein calculating the route through the store comprises:
further comprising, during the second time period, receiving selection of a second product, from the population of products, at the computing device; and wherein calculating the route through the store comprises:
identifying a first location in the particular store indicated in the map as stocked with units of the first product;
identifying a second location in the particular store indicated in the map as stocked with units of the second product during the third time period; and
calculating the route intersecting the first location and the second location.

8 . A method for managing virtual shopping lists comprising:
during a first time period:
by a computer system, during a first scan cycle, dispatching a mobile robotic system in a store to autonomously scan inventory structures within the store and capture electronic scan data via a set of optical sensors integrated within the mobile robotic system; and
by the mobile robotic system, during the first scan cycle:
scanning inventory structures within the store;
capturing a first set of electronic scan data via the set of optical sensors; and
uploading the first set of electronic data to the computer system;

by a computer system:
receiving the first set of electronic scan data captured by the mobile robotic system during the first scan cycle; and
deriving a current stock condition of the store based on the first set of electronic scan data;

during a second time period succeeding the first time period, by the computer system:
receiving selection of a first product, from a population of products, for a user at a computing device; and
specifying the store for fulfillment of the virtual shopping list; and
during a third time period and prior to fulfillment of the virtual shopping list, by the computer system:
accessing a second set of electronic scan data captured by an optical sensor deployed in the store during a second scan cycle succeeding the first scan cycle;
updating the current stock condition of the store for the third time period based on the second set of electronic scan data; and
in response to the current stock condition of the store indicating absence of the first product:
serving a first image of an inventory structure in the store to the computing device, the first image generated based on the second set of electronic scan data, the inventory structure associated with the first product.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising, in response to the current stock condition of the store indicating absence of the first product:
generati

Assignees

• Simbe Robotics Inc

Inventors

• Bogolea Bradley
• Safi Jariullah

Classifications

• G06Q30/0639

  Locating goods or services, e.g. based on physical position of the goods or services within a shopping facility · CPC title

• G06Q10/087

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

• G06Q10/06311

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

• B25J19/04

  Viewing devices · CPC title

• G06Q30/0633 Primary

  Managing shopping lists, e.g. compiling or processing purchase lists (shipping orders G06Q10/083; order filling G06Q10/087) · CPC title