System and method for increasing counting accuracy

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018322450-A1
Application number	US-201816034681-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 13, 2018
Priority date	Dec 20, 2013
Publication date	Nov 8, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

Aspects and embodiments are directed to systems for determining counting accuracy of products, including retail products. The system for determining counting accuracy can interface with other inventory systems to access or receive information on inventory of the retail products. The inventory information can include, for example, numbers of units in inventory, shelf space accorded to respective products, package size (i.e., number of units available per package), retail value, margin value, among other options. The system can manage physical counts made on respective products. In some examples, the system can determine a value associated with physically counting inventory of respective product(s), for example, as a function of a number of units on-hand, time since the product has been counted, and a presentation value. Responsive to determining the value associated with physically counting the respective product, the system triggers a physical count or can prohibit a physical count of a product.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A system for determining counting accuracy, the system comprising:
a plurality of hand-held devices, at least one hand-held device configured to transmit an alert requesting a physical count of at least one product; at least one processor operatively connected to a memory and in communication with the plurality of the hand-held devices, an inventory system and an online system, the at least one processor is configured to:
receive the alert requesting the physical count of the at least one product, from the at least one hand-held device;
access a first set of information on current inventory associated with the at least one product from the inventory system;
access a second set of information on the current inventory associated with the at least one product from the online system;
determine a count frequency value based on the first or second set of information on the current inventory associated with the at least one product from the online system;
dynamically adjust the count frequency value based on the first or second set of information on the current inventory associated with the at least one product from the online system;
determine a validity of the alert requesting the physical count, based on the adjusted count frequency value;
determine a counting value associated with counting the at least one product based on the first and second set of information, in response determining the validity of the alert requesting the physical count;
determine a set of hand-held devices from the plurality of hand-held devices to associate with the at least one product;
trigger physical counting of the at least one product responsive to evaluating the counting value against a counting threshold;
transmit a validation message to the set of hand-held devices in response to triggering physical counting of the at least one product responsive to evaluating the counting value against a counting threshold, wherein an executable application is launched on the set of hand-held devices in response to receiving the validation message.

2 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the valuation component is further configured to determine the counting value based at least in part on a determination of a presentation factor associated with the at least one product.

3 . The system according to claim 2 , wherein the valuation component is further configured to determine the presentation factor based on at least shelf capacity associated with the at least one product.

4 . The system according to claim 3 , wherein the valuation component is further configured to determine the presentation factor based on at least shelf capacity and case pack size associated with the at least one product.

5 . The system according to claim 4 , wherein the valuation component is further configured to calculate

(

(

SC
/
CP

)

R
target

)

x

as part of determining the presentation factor, wherein SC is the shelf capacity for the at least one product, CP is the case pack size for the at least one product, R target is a system defined value for a target SC/CP ratio, and wherein x is an exponent having a value of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.

6 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the counting value based at least in part on an on-hand factor, a presentation value, and a time factor.

7 . The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a communication component configured to receive a request to perform a physical count on inventory of the at least one product.

8 . The system according to claim 7 , wherein the communication component is configured to return an approval or a denial of the request responsive to the determination of the counting value.

9 . The system according to claim 6 , further comprising an act of communicating an approval or a denial of the request, responsive to the determination of the counting value.

10 . A computer implemented method for determining counting accuracy, the method comprising:
transmitting, via at least one hand-held of a plurality of hand-held devices, an alert requesting a physical count of at least one product; receiving, via a computer system in communication with the at least one hand-held device, an inventory system and an online system, the alert requesting a physical count of at least one product; accessing, by a computer system, a first set of information on current inventory associated with the at least one product from the inventory system; accessing, by the computer system, a second set of information on current inventory associated with the at least one product from the online system; determining, via the computer system, a count frequency value based on the first or second set of information on the current inventory associated with the at least one product from the online system; dynamically adjusting, via the computer system, the count frequency value based on the first or second set of information on the current inventory associated with the at least one product from the online system; determining, via the computer system, a validity of the alert requesting the physical count, based on the adjusted count frequency value; determining, by the computer system, a counting value associated with counting the at least one product based on the first and second set of information, in response to determining the validity of the alert requesting the physical count; determining, by the computer system, a set of hand-held devices from the plurality of hand-held devices to associate with the at least one product; triggering, by the computer system, a physical counting of the at least one product responsive to evaluating the counting value against a counting threshold; transmitting, via the computer system a validation message to the set of hand-held devices in response to triggering physical counting of the at least one product responsive to evaluating the counting value against a counting threshold, wherein an executable application is launched on the set of hand-held devices in response to receiving the validation message.

11 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein determining the counting value includes determining the counting value based at least in part on an on-hand factor, a presentation value, and a time factor.

12 . The method according to claim 10 , further comprising an act of receiving, by the computer system, a request to perform a physical count on inventory of the at least one product.

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Jones Matthew Allen
• Taylor Robert James
• Snelgrove Roger L

Classifications

• G06Q10/087 Primary

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

• G06Q10/08772 Primary

  Inventory counting methods · CPC title