System and method for managing retail product inventory

• US 10,332,069 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2017
• Issued: 06/25/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Inventors: Stiefel, Tom, Moore, Justin C., Penn, Richard B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Iwarere, Oluseye
• Application Number:
  US15/812,480
• Publication Number:
  US 20180137460A1
• Time in Patent Office: 588 Days
• Field of Search: 705 28
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0722 comprising an arrangement for testing the record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0723 the record carrier comprising an arrangement for non-contact communication, e.g. wireless communication circuits on transponder cards, non-contact smart cards or RFIDs
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring

Abstract

In some embodiments, system, apparatuses, and methods are provided herein useful for managing retail product inventory including a plurality of sensors configured to detect individual presence of multiple different products within a retail shopping facility. A central control system communicatively coupled with the plurality of sensors to receive sensor information comprising identifiers detected by the plurality of sensors. The central control system comprises a central control circuit coupled with memory storing code that when implemented causes the central control circuit to: access the received sensor information and determine, at a current time and for each detected first product, a confidence value corresponding to a level of confidence that the first product is still present and within a first threshold area corresponding to a first location where the first product was most recently sensed. The confidence value may decay over time proportional to a first decay period of time.

Claims

1. A retail product inventory management system, comprising:

a plurality of locations within a retail shopping facility, wherein each of the plurality of locations has a corresponding location decay rate associated by a central control system, and wherein each location corresponds to a designated region within the retail shopping facility;

a plurality of radio frequency identification (RFID) sensors distributed throughout the retail shopping facility, wherein each of the plurality of RFID sensors has a corresponding sensor decay rate assigned by the central control system, the plurality of RFID sensors configured to detect individual presence of each of a plurality of items of a plurality of products within the retail shopping facility, wherein the detection of the individual presence of an item by the RFID sensor is an indication to the central control system of the corresponding location in the retail shopping facility the item is located;

a confidence reset database configured to store a plurality of confidence values associated with the plurality of items, wherein each confidence value of the plurality of confidence values corresponds to a particular level of confidence that an associated corresponding item is still at a location where the associated corresponding item was most recently sensed; and

the central control system communicatively coupled with the plurality of RFID sensors to receive sensor information comprising identifiers of each of the plurality of items detected by the plurality of RFID sensors, wherein the central control system comprises a central control circuit coupled with the confidence reset database and memory storing code that when implemented causes the central control circuit to;

access the received sensor information;

determine whether each detected first item of the plurality of items is subsequently detected by the plurality of RFID sensors based on the received sensor information;

in response to no subsequent detection of the detected first item, determine, based on an access to the confidence reset database at a current time and for the detected first item, a confidence value of the plurality of confidence values corresponding to a level of confidence that the detected first item is still present at a first location where the detected first item was most recently sensed;

apply a decay rate to the confidence value based on the corresponding sensor decay rate associated with the corresponding RFID sensor that detected the detected first item and the corresponding location decay rate associated with the first location of where the detected first item was most recently sensed, wherein the confidence value is determined as a function of time from a most recent sensing of the detected first item such that the confidence value decays over time proportional to a first decay period of time and the decay rate; and

update a stored confidence value associated with the detected first item in the confidence reset database with the decayed confidence value, wherein the updated stored confidence value indicates a lower level of confidence relative to the previous stored confidence value that the associated corresponding item is still at the location.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the central control circuit is further configured to:

determine a sensor decay rate corresponding to a type of RFID sensor that detected the presence of the detected first item; and

in determining the confidence value, determine the confidence value decayed as a function of the sensor decay rate and the first decay period of time.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the central control circuit is further configured to:

determine the corresponding location decay rate associated with the first location where the first item was most recently sensed via an access to the confidence reset database, wherein, in addition to the corresponding sensor decay rate and the corresponding location decay rate, the decayed confidence value is additionally based on the first decay period of time.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the confidence reset database further comprises separate sensor identifiers for each RFID sensor of the plurality of RFID sensors and associates with each of the sensor identifiers a reset confidence value, wherein two or more RFID sensors of the plurality of RFID sensors have different reset confidence values based at least in part on a type of RFID sensor, and wherein, upon the receipt of the sensor information by the central control system, the memory storing code further causes the central control circuit to access the confidence reset database and identify a first reset confidence value corresponding to a first RFID sensor of the plurality of RFID sensors, and increase the confidence value of the detected first item based on the first reset confidence value.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a first business decision system of multiple business decision systems that are each configured to utilize corresponding business decision threshold of a plurality of business decision thresholds relative to a confidence threshold associated with the plurality of items and particular to the first business decision system in determining whether to cause a corresponding business action to be implemented, wherein the first business decision system is configured to:

obtain from the central control system confidence values of the plurality of items of a product of the plurality of products; and

initiate a first business action when a first predefined relationship exists between the confidence values and a first business decision threshold of the plurality of business decision thresholds.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising a second business decision system of the multiple business decision systems that is different than the first business decision system, wherein the second business decision system is configured to:

obtain from the central control system the confidence values; and

prevent initiation of a second business action when a second predefined relationship exists between the confidence values and a second business decision threshold of the plurality of business decision thresholds.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the central control circuit is configured to:

receive a request from the first business decision system for the confidence values; and

initiate a determination of the confidence values in response to the request from the first business decision system.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a business decision system communicatively coupled with the central control circuit,

wherein the central control circuit is configured to determine a presence confidence value based on a number of detected items of the plurality of items relative to an expected inventory of the plurality of items in at least a first area within the retail shopping facility, and

wherein the business decision system is configured to prevent use of confidence values of the plurality of items in making a business decision relative to a product of the plurality of products when the presence confidence value is less than a first presence confidence threshold, wherein the product is associated with the plurality of items.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the first location is within a first threshold area where the detected first item was most recently sensed.

19. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an inventory management system coupled to the central control system and comprising a business decision system configured to;

obtain from the central control system the plurality of confidence values associated with the plurality of items of a product via the confidence reset database;

compare each confidence value of the plurality of confidence values with a confidence threshold associated with the business decision system;

in response to a confidence value of the plurality of confidence values being less than the confidence threshold, identify the associated corresponding item of the product as no longer being at the location where the associated corresponding item was most recently sensed by the plurality of sensors;

in response to the comparison, determine whether a count of the plurality of items associated with having a corresponding confidence value of the plurality of confidence values greater than the confidence threshold is less than a business decision threshold;

in response to the determination that the count is less than the business decision threshold, send a notification to an associate of the retail shopping facility via a user interface device associated with the associate; and

the user interface device coupled to the central control system and comprising at least one of;

a smartphone, a tablet, a server, a display device, or a public communication system.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the central control circuit is further configured to determine whether at least a predetermined amount of items of the plurality of items of the product is detected by the plurality of RFID sensors as still being at the location where they were most recently sensed, and wherein, in response, the business decision system is further configured to not obtain from the central control system the plurality of confidence values associated with the plurality of items of the product.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein, prior to the determination of the confidence value associated with the detected first item, the central control circuit is further configured to initially determine whether a request of the confidence value is received from a business decision system coupled to the central control circuit.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein the association of the location decay rate with the corresponding location is based on at least one of:

amount of customer traffic, closeness to an exit, quantity of products, and diversities in types of products in the corresponding location.

10. A method of managing retail product inventory comprising:

associating, by a central control system of a retail shopping facility, a corresponding location decay rate with each location of a plurality of locations within the retail shopping facility, wherein each location corresponds to a designated area within the retail shopping facility;

associating, by the central control system, a corresponding sensor decay rate with each radio frequency identification (RFID) sensor of a plurality of RFID sensors distributed through the retail shopping facility and configured to detect individual presence of each of a plurality of items of a plurality of products within the retail shopping facility;

accessing, by the central control system, sensor information received from the plurality of RFID sensors, wherein the sensor information comprises identifiers of each of the plurality of items detected by the plurality of RFID sensors, wherein the detection of the individual presence of an item by the RFID sensor is an indication to the central control system of which area in the retail shopping facility the item is located;

determining whether each detected first item of the plurality of items is subsequently detected by the plurality of RFID sensors;

in response to no subsequent detection of the detected first item, determining, at a current time by the central control system, a confidence value corresponding to a level of confidence that the detected first item is still present at a first location where the detected first item was most recently sensed;

applying a decay rate to the confidence value based on the corresponding sensor decay rate and the corresponding location decay rate; and

updating a stored confidence value associated with the detected first item in a confidence reset database with the decayed confidence value, wherein the confidence reset database is configured to store a plurality of confidence values associated with the plurality of items, wherein the updated stored confidence value indicates a lower level of confidence relative to the previous stored confidence value that the associated corresponding item is still at the location.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining the corresponding sensor decay rate based on a type of RFID sensor that detected the presence of the detected first item, wherein the updated stored confidence value is further decayed as a function of a first decay period of time.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining the corresponding location decay rate to associated with the first location where the detected first item was most recently sensed based on the designated area corresponding to the first location.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

upon receiving sensor data from a first RFID sensor of a plurality of RFID sensors indicating that the detected first item was sensed, accessing, by the central control system, a confidence reset database comprising separate sensor identifiers for each RFID sensor of the plurality of RFID sensors and associates with each sensor identifier a reset confidence value of a plurality of reset confidence values, where two or more RFID sensors of the plurality of RFID sensors have different reset confidence values based at least in part on a type of RFID sensor;

identifying a first reset confidence value of the plurality of reset confidence values corresponding to the first RFID sensor; and

increasing the confidence value of the detected first item based on the first reset confidence value.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

obtaining, at a first business decision system of multiple business decision systems, from the central control system confidence values of the plurality of items of a product of the plurality of products, wherein each of the multiple business decision systems are configured to utilize corresponding business decision threshold of a plurality of business decision thresholds relative to the confidence values in determining whether to cause a corresponding business action to be implemented; and

initiating, through the first business decision system, a first business action when a first predefined relationship exists between the confidence values and a first business decision threshold of the plurality of business decision thresholds.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

obtaining, at a second business decision system of the multiple business decision systems, from the central control system the confidence values, wherein the second business decision system is different than the first business decision system; and

preventing initiation of a second business action corresponding to the second business decision system when a second predefined relationship exists between the confidence values and a second business decision threshold of the plurality of business decision thresholds.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving a request from the first business decision system for the confidence values; and

initiating a determination of the confidence values in response to the request from the first business decision system.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining a presence confidence value based on a number of detected items of the plurality of items relative to an expected inventory of the plurality of items in at least a first area within the retail shopping facility; and

preventing use of confidence values of the plurality of items by a business decision system in making a business decision relative to a product of the plurality of products when the presence confidence value is less than a first presence confidence threshold, wherein the product is associated with the plurality of items.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the first location is within a first threshold area where the detected first item was most recently sensed.