COORDINATE MODEL FOR INVENTORY VISUALIZATION IN CONJUNCTION WITH PHYSICAL LAYOUT

• US 20130325673A1
• Filed: 06/05/2012
• Published: 12/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Abdic, Mirza, Conrad, Lennart
• Application Number:
  US13/488,810
• Publication Number:
  US 20130325673A1
• 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

Abstract

A visualization application in conjunction with an enterprise resource planning (ERP) service draws a store map employing a coordinate model. Upon receiving aisle data including coordinate and orientation information for each aisle, the aisles are mapped within the store map using the aisle locations determined from the aisle data. The physical store map is integrated with visualized inventory information such as a heat map to enable users view inventory information, trends, etc. with the location information as background.

Claims

1. A method executed on a computing device for employing a coordinate model for inventory visualization in conjunction with physical layout, the method comprising:

receiving aisle data of a store by accessing one or more data tables including data schema through one of a communication module and an input module of the computing device;

determining aisle locations from the aisle data according to the coordinate model at a processor of the computing device;

mapping aisles within a store map using the aisle locations at the processor of the computing device, wherein a reference point is selected to position the aisles within the store map;

integrating an inventory information visualization with the store map at the processor of the computing device; and

providing the integrated store map and inventory information visualization to one of a display device and another computing device for display.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing a store table stored in one of a removable data storage and non-removable data storage associated with the computing device to retrieve attribute information about the store including at least one of a store identifier, a store description, and a store location.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

at the processor of the computing device, including in the coordinate model a store drawing table storing physical attributes of the store including at least one from a set of;

a size, an x-coordinate attribute, a y-coordinate attribute, one or more features of the store, and one or more boundaries of the store.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

at the processor of the computing device, including in the coordinate model an aisle table storing aisle attributes including an aisle identifier for each aisle, an aisle description for each aisle, and one or more links to shelf tables with information about shelves and inventory located on the shelves.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

at the processor of the computing device, including in the information about the shelves at least one from a set of;

inventory levels, attributes, identification, pricing, expiration dates, and a frequency of movement of the goods stored on the shelves.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a visualization of the information about the shelves employing one or more of a coloring scheme, a shading scheme, a textual scheme, and a graphics scheme at a display device associated with the computing device.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

providing a heat map in the visualization at the display device associated with the computing device.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

mapping key point indicator (KPI) data associated with the store for investigation of trends in the heat map of the store at the processor of the computing device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a filtering control on a visualization application user interface to enable selection of aisles and shelves at the processor of the computing device.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

providing one or more of a smart slider and a drop-down menu at the display device associated with the computing device as part of the filtering control for quick filtering.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to a selection of a portion of an aisle, providing a detail view of one or more shelves at the selected portion of the aisle at one of a new view pane and an empty portion of the store map at the display device associated with the computing device.

12. A computing device for employing a coordinate model for inventory visualization in conjunction with physical layout, the computing device comprising:

a memory configured to store instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor executing a visualization application in conjunction with the instructions stored in the memory, wherein the visualization application is configured to;

receive aisle data of a store;

determine aisle locations from the aisle data according to the coordinate model;

map aisles within a store map using the aisle locations;

integrate an inventory information visualization with the store map, the inventory information visualization including a heat map;

map key point indicator (KPI) data associated with the store for investigation of trends in the heat map of the store;

read a geo-tag associated with each aisle or each shelf within the aisle to maintain dynamic inventory, wherein the geo-tag is global positioning satellite (GPS) hardware; and

provide the integrated store map and inventory information visualization to one of a display device and another computing device for display.

13. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the visualization application is further configured to:

overlay a blueprint of the store over the store map to display structures of the store.

14. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the visualization application is further configured to:

select a reference point; and

lay out the store map by placing aisles using Cartesian coordinates in relation to the reference point based on distances and orientations of the aisles determined from the aisle data.

15. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the application is further configured to:

detect a gesture based selection of a portion of an aisle;

display one of a detail view of one or more shelves at the selected portion of the aisle, other store maps with shelves matching at least one attribute of the one or more shelves at the selected portion of the aisle, and shelves matching the at least one attribute of the one or more shelves at the selected portion of the aisle within the same store map;

enable at least one from a set of a control action, a zoom action, and a slide action on the displayed store map through gesture based input.

16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the gesture is one of a touch gesture, an optically detected gesture, and an inertially detected input.

17. A computing device for employing a coordinate model for inventory visualization in conjunction with physical layout, the computing device comprising:

a memory configured to store instructions;

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor executing a visualization application in conjunction with the instructions stored in the memory, wherein the visualization application is configured to;

provide an integrated store map and inventory information visualization to a display device;

provide a filtering control on a visualization application user interface of the display device to enable selection of aisles and shelves;

detect a user request through the visualization application user interface;

in response to detection of the user request, generate an instruction to implement the user request; and

in response to an affirmation that the user request was implemented, redraw the integrated store map and inventory information visualization to reflect the implementation; and

the display device comprising a touch or gesture based visualization application user interface, wherein the display device is configured to;

receive the integrated store map and inventory information visualization from the visualization application, wherein the integrated store map and inventory visualization is displayed at one or more client devices through a client application;

enable a user to input a request through the visualization application user interface; and

enable a user to affirm that the user request was implemented through the visualization application user interface.

18. The computing device of claim 17, wherein aisle data used to create the integrated store map and inventory information visualization is formatted in extensible markup language (XML) format and stored as one of a flat file and a table within a data store.

19. The computing device of claim 17, wherein the visualization application is further configured to:

receive a request associated with movement of items on one or more shelves through the visualization application user interface; and

provide instructions to store management associated with the request.

20. The computing device of claim 17, wherein the store is one of as a warehouse, a loading facility, and a retail store.