Integrated inventory management system

• US 20020188487A1
• Filed: 06/04/2002
• Published: 12/12/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: iHeartMedia Management Services, Inc. (iHeartMedia, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Grantley Patent Holdings Incorporated
• Inventors: Fox, Billy Shane
• Granted Patent: US 6,920,464 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/145 Payments according to the detected use or quantity
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0272 Period of advertisement exposure
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A method is provided for inventory management which includes an initial step of receiving a customer request for an inventory item and then generating a table or menu of one or more inventory items that most closely correspond to the customer request using a price forecasting system. Based on negotiations concerning price, timing and other typical concerns, an item is selected from the table and a price quotation associated with the selected inventory item is generated using the price forecasting system, which price quotation has been predetermined by a yield management system using a pricing strategy. The customer information associated with the customer request is input into a traffic billing system. Information needed for price recalculation associated with the customer request is input into the yield management system. The yield management system recalculates pricing data with in a manner consistent with a pricing strategy implemented by the yield management system, so that price changes caused by a reduction in available inventory due to the customer request are taken into account, and the pricing data accessed by the price forecasting system when a price quotation is generated is updated prior to repeating the process for a subsequent customer request. This method provides more accurate pricing than known systems where order information must be entered manually before a price recalculation can take place, and the yield management system overestimates the amount of available inventory. If the customer request comprises a reservation having an associated probability of later becoming an order, the reservation is taken into account when recalculating prices based on available inventory. Such a process may be integrated for an enterprise made up of a number of member stations each having associated inventory for sale.

Claims

1. And inventory management system for an enterprise comprising a number of member stations each having associated inventory for sale, comprising:

a price forecasting system for generation a table of one or more inventory items that meet specified customer request criteria;

a yield management system for generating and maintaining inventory pricing information for use by the price forecasting system in accordance with a pricing strategy;

a traffic billing system for generating confirmations of orders for inventory and for maintaining scheduling, processing and accounting information in data files relating to such orders; and

a system for accessing inventory information of multiple stations in response to a customer request so that the table of inventory that meets the specified customer criteria can include inventory items from some or all member stations with meet such criteria.

2. The system of claim 16, wherein the inventory items corprise segments of advertising time associated with future time periods.

3. The system of claim 16 further comprising a system for accessing traffic billing system information in order to generate a revenue projection for some or all member stations.

4. An inventory management system for an enterprise comprising a number of member stations each having associated inventory for sale, comprising:

a price forcasting system for selecting an inventory item that meets specified customer request criteria;

a yield management system for generating and maintaining inventory pricing information for use by the price forecasting system in accordance with a pricing strategy;

a traffic billing system for generating confirmations of orders for inventory and for maintaining scheduling, processing and accounting information in data files relating to such orders; and

means for accessing traffic billing system information in order to generate a revenue projection for some or all member stations.