AUTOMATICALLY INITIATING PRODUCT REPLENISHMENT

• US 20120136741A1
• Filed: 01/25/2012
• Published: 05/31/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Amazon.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Agarwal, Amit D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,324,042 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A facility for assessing product replenishment is described. The facility determines that a purchasing entity possesses an item, determines an expiration time for the item, and schedules, for a time preceding the expiration, a unilateral communication to the purchasing entity indicating that the item should be replenished. The facility can also manage automatic item replenishment, including determining a target date for replenishment of the item, transmitting to the purchaser in advance of the target date (when the purchaser is not engaged in an electronic shopping activity) a replenishment proposal, and ordering a replacement for the item. In some cases, the facility places an order within a predetermined tolerance of the target date without intervention by the consumer. The facility can also establish and test a condition for suggesting replenishment, can raise an event when the condition is satisfied, and can unilaterally make the replenishment suggestion when the event is raised.

Claims

1. A method in a data processing system for assessing item replenishment, comprising:

using a computer processor to perform method steps comprising;

determining that a purchasing entity possesses an item;

determining an expiration time for the item;

scheduling for a time preceding the determined expiration time a unilateral transmission of a communication to the purchasing entity indicating that the item should be replenished.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising delivering the communication at the scheduled time.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the delivered communication contains a control for ordering an additional item to replenish the item.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the delivered communication is transmitted to the purchasing entity at a time at which the purchasing entity is not engaged in an electronic shopping activity.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving an indication that the purchasing entity used the control contained in the delivered communication to order an additional item to replenish the item; and

in response solely to receiving the indication, ordering an additional item to replenish the item.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the control is usable by the purchasing entity to request replenishment of the item by performing a single action of selecting the control provided in the communication.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the time scheduled is based at least in part upon a replenishment time interval between prior purchases of the item by the purchasing entity, each of the prior purchases including at least one purchase of a complement of the item.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the purchasing entity has made a plurality of prior purchases of a complement of the item, and wherein the time scheduled is determined based on a length of intervals between the plurality of prior purchases of the complement of the item.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein a second consumer has made a plurality of prior purchases of the item, and wherein the time scheduled is determined based on a length of intervals between the plurality of prior purchases of the item made by the second consumer.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the time scheduled is determined based on a historical frequency with which the purchasing entity has purchased a complement of the item.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the steps of the method occur without intervention of the purchasing entity.

12. A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a data processing system to assess item replenishment by:

determining that a purchasing entity is using an item;

determining an expiration time for the item; and

scheduling for a time preceding the determined expiration time a unilateral transmission of a communication to the purchasing entity indicating that the item should be replenished.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, further comprising delivering the communication at the scheduled time.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 wherein the delivered communication contains a control for ordering an additional item to replenish the item.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving an indication that the purchasing entity used the control contained in the delivered communication to order an additional item to replenish the item; and

in response solely to receiving the indication, ordering an additional item to replenish the item.

16. A system for automatic item replenishment, comprising:

a replenishment targeting subsystem that, for a particular item purchased by a purchaser on a purchase date, determines a target date for replenishment of the item;

a replenishment proposal subsystem that transmits to the purchaser in advance of the target date determined for the item by the replenishment targeting subsystem, at a time at which the purchaser is not engaged in an electronic shopping activity, a replenishment proposal to order a replacement for the item; and

a replenishment ordering subsystem that orders a replacement for the item responsive to an affirmative response to the replenishment proposal from the purchaser.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising an electronic mail transmission subsystem that transmits replenishment proposals as electronic mail messages on behalf of the replenishment proposal subsystem.

18. The system of claim 16, further comprising an instant message transmission subsystem that transmits replenishment proposals as instant messages on behalf of the replenishment proposal subsystem.

19. The system of claim 16, further comprising a voicemail transmission subsystem that transmits replenishment proposals as voicemail messages on behalf of the replenishment proposal subsystem.

20. A computer memory containing an item replenishment data structure, the data structure comprising a plurality of entries, each entry comprising an identification of a consumer, an identification of an item, and an indication of a target date on which the replenishment of the item is to be proposed, such that, on a current date, for each entry indicating the current date as its target date, a unilateral communication can be transmitted to the consumer identified by the entry proposing the replenishment of the item identified by the entry.

21. The computer memory of claim 20, wherein the item replenishment data structure further comprises, for each of a plurality of dates, an indication of the entries indicating the date as their target date.

22. A method in a computer system for automatically replenishing an item, comprising:

using a computer processor to perform method steps comprising;

determining that a consumer is using an item;

determining a target date for replenishing the item; and

without intervention by the consumer, placing an order on the consumer'"'"'s behalf for replenishment of the item within a predetermined tolerance of the target replenishment date.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the consumer has made a plurality of prior purchases of the item, and wherein the target replenishment date is determined based on the length of the intervals between the prior purchases.

24. A method in a data processing system for suggesting item replenishment, comprising:

using a computer processor to perform method steps comprising;

determining that a purchasing entity is using an item;

establishing a condition for suggesting replenishment of the item;

testing the condition;

when testing indicates that the condition is satisfied, raising an event; and

when the event is raised, unilaterally suggesting replenishment of the item to the purchasing entity.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the established condition is a temporal condition.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the established condition is the availability of a replacement item.