METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MONITORING DEPLETION OF AN ITEM

• US 20080052200A1
• Filed: 08/25/2006
• Published: 02/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Watt, Stephen James, Bodin, William Kress, Masterson, Michael Lee
• Granted Patent: US 7,844,509 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials

Abstract

A computer implemented method, apparatus, system, and computer usable program code for monitoring a real-time depletion of an item in a storage unit. A controller identifies an item placed in the storage unit to form an identified item. The controller detects a change in mass sensor data from a mass sensor shelf in a set of mass sensor shelves associated with the storage unit. The controller associates the change in mass sensor data with the identified item to form a current mass for the identified item. The controller determines a depletion of the identified item based a difference between the current mass and a previous mass for the identified item.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for monitoring a real-time depletion of an item in a storage unit, the computer implemented method comprising:

identifying an item placed in the storage unit to form an identified item;

detecting a change in a mass sensor data from a mass sensor shelf in a set of mass sensor shelves associated with the storage unit;

associating the change in mass sensor data with the identified item to form a current mass for the identified item; and

determining a depletion of the identified item based a difference between the current mass and a previous mass for the identified item.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the previous mass is a non-depleted mass for the identified item.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the storage unit is selected from a group consisting of a refrigeration unit, a freezer, an ice box, a pantry, a cupboard, a set of shelves, and a cabinet.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the mass sensor data is data received from a set of mass sensors associated with a mass sensor shelf.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 2 wherein the non-depleted mass of the identified item is retrieved from a database.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining whether a current mass of the identified item is greater than a non-depleted mass for the identified item.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 6 further comprising:

responsive to determining that a current mass of the identified item is greater than a non-depleted mass for the identified item, generating an alert for a user.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 7 wherein generating an alert further comprises:

prompting the user to identify the item via a user interface.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

responsive to the depletion of the identified item exceeding a threshold depletion, sending a notification to a user.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 9 wherein generating a notification to the user further comprises:

adding the identified item to a list of items to be ordered from a food service provider for delivery.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting the removal of an item from the storage unit based on a footprint for the item.

12. An apparatus for identifying a depletion of an item in a storage unit, the apparatus comprising:

a user interface;

a tag reader; and

a controller, wherein the controller further comprises;

a bus;

a storage device connected to the bus, wherein the storage device contains a computer usable program product; and

a processor unit, wherein the processor unit executes the computer usable program product to identify an item in the storage unit to form an identified item;

detect a change in a mass sensor data from a mass sensor shelf in a set of mass sensor shelves associated with the storage unit;

associate the change in mass sensor data with the identified item to form a current mass for the identified item; and

determine a depletion of the identified item based on a difference between the current mass and a previous mass for the identified item.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the previous mass is a non-depleted mass for the identified item.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the storage unit is selected from a group consisting of a refrigeration unit, a freezer, an ice box, a pantry, a cupboard, a set of shelves, and a cabinet.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the mass sensor data is data received from a set of mass sensors associated with a mass sensor shelf.

16. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the processor unit further executes to the computer usable program code to determine whether a current mass of the identified item is greater than a non-depleted mass for the identified item.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the processor unit further executes the computer usable program code to generate an alert to a user in response to determining that a current mass of the identified item is greater than a non-depleted mass for the identified item.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein in executing the computer usable program code to generate an alert the processor unit executes the computer usable program product to prompt the user to identify the item via a user interface.

19. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer usable program code for identifying a depletion of an item in a storage unit, the computer program product comprising;

computer usable program code for identifying an item in the storage unit to form an identified item;

computer usable program code for detecting a change in mass sensor data from a mass sensor shelf in a set of mass sensor shelves associated with the storage unit;

computer usable program code for associating the change in mass sensor data with the identified item to form a current mass for the identified item; and

computer usable program code for determining a depletion of the identified item based a difference between the current mass and a previous mass for the identified item.

20. A system for identifying a depletion of an item, the system comprising:

a set of mass sensor shelves, wherein a given mass sensor shelf in the set of mass sensor shelves detects a change in mass sensor data associated with an item placed on the given mass sensor shelf to form a current mass of the item;

a set of item identifiers, wherein an item identifier in the set of item identifiers obtains an identification code from an identification tag associated with the item placed on the given mass sensor shelf to form an identified item; and

a control unit, wherein the control unit determines a depletion for the identified item based on a difference between the current mass and a predefined non-depleted mass for the identified item.