System and method for determining the use or consumption of tangible prodcuts and for delivery according to use or consumption

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9355380-B2
Application number	US-201213492609-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 8, 2012
Priority date	Jun 8, 2011
Publication date	May 31, 2016
Grant date	May 31, 2016

Abstract

The present invention relates to system and method for inventory management, more specifically to the tracking of use and/or consumption of tangible products at a user's location. In accordance with the invention, consumption data is determined and analyzed. Consumption data may include time-referenced and/or quantitative data about the tangible product, so that the origin/supplier is informed about the consumption behavior of the user.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for formulating and/or optimizing a flatrate pricing model for one or more tangible products, the method comprising:
(a) providing a tracking device associated with one or more tangible products, the tracking device being adapted for determining data associated with identity and/or consumption information related to the one or more tangible products at a point of first use and/or consumption by a consumer of said one or more tangible products;
(b) authorizing or enabling a user to utilize the tracking device;
(c) providing an identification module adapted to determine consumption data of the tangible product based, at least in part, on information obtained from said tracking device, wherein said identification module comprises a sensor, storage/database, CPU/processor, and a communication interface;
(d) receiving and/or storing consumption data in a database at an origin of the one or more tangible products; and
(e) formulating and/or optimizing the pricing model based on the consumption data.

2. The method according to claim 1 , which method is performed in real-time or intermittently at predetermined time intervals.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the consumption data are time-referenced and/or quantitative data.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the consumption data comprise data related to at least one of the identity of the one or more tangible products, the number of the one or more tangible products used, and/or the usage times of the one or more tangible products.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising delivering one or more tangible products based at least in part of the analysis of the consumption data.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the future demand for said one or more tangible products is estimated based, at least in part, on said consumption data.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein delivery is optimized based on the estimated future demand.

8. The method according to claim 5 , wherein delivery is modified upward or downward based, at least in part, on analysis of the consumption data.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the tracking device is an RFID tag, magnet unit, or a barcode.

10. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising initializing the tracking device prior to first use.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein said initializing comprises writing information.

12. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising analyzing the consumption data to optimize manufacturing and/or supply processes associated with said one or more tangible products.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the consumer receives a predetermined amount of the one or more tangible products per a predefined time unit.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the predefined time unit is selected from: one year, six months, one month, and one week.

15. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising adjusting the flatrate pricing model based on the consumption data in real-time.

16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the consumer receives an amount of the one or more tangible products other than the predetermined amount and/or per a time unit other than the predefined time unit.

17. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the flatrate pricing model comprises fixed payment installments.

18. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising determining a future demand of the one or more tangible products based on the consumption data.

19. The method according to claim 18 , wherein the future demand of the one or more tangible products is determined using a multivariate analysis technique.

20. The method according to claim 19 , wherein the multivariate analysis technique is selected from: exponential smoothing, neural net based forecasting, and Census X11.

21. The method according to claim 18 , wherein the flatrate pricing model is based on the future demand of the one or more tangible products.

Assignees

• Von Beichmann Boris
• Mohr Günther A
• Richter Jörg
• Eppendorf Ag

Inventors

• Von Beichmann Boris
• Mohr Günther A
• Richter Jörg

Classifications

• G06Q10/087 Primary

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

• G06Q30/0201

  Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data · CPC title