Method of estimating product distribution
First Claim
1. A system for estimating distribution of a product at distribution locations including a plurality of locations at which product distribution information is sampled and at least one other location comprising:
- means for receiving distribution information from each of the plurality of sampled locations;
first processing means for generating a first plurality of signals each characterizing one of the plurality of sampled locations and the at least one other location and a second plurality of signals each corresponding to a distance between the at least one other location and one of the sampled locations in a prescribed neighborhood of the at least one other location;
means for partitioning the received distribution information from the sampled locations, the distance corresponding signals and the characterizing signals into sets, each set corresponding to a group of the plurality of distribution locations;
second processing means comprising a plurality of second processors and a network for exchanging information among said second processors,each second processor being responsive to one of the sets of distribution information, distance corresponding signals, characterizing signals and the information from the information exchange network for forming a signal representing an estimate of the product distribution of one group of the plurality of distribution locations by combining the received distribution information, the distance corresponding signals and the characterizing signals.
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Abstract
Sales activity of a product at sales outlets including sales outlets at which sales activity data is sampled and unsampled sales outlets is estimated by determining the distances between each of the sampled sales outlets and each of the unsampled sales outlets and correlating sales activity data from the sampled sales outlets according to the determined distances. The sales activity volume of the product at the plurality of sampled outlets and the estimated sales activity volume of the product at the unsampled outlets are combined to obtain an estimate of sales activity for all the sales outlets. Sales activity of products prescribed by a physician at both the sampled and unsampled outlets can be estimated by correlating sales activity data for the prescribing physician at the sampled outlets according to the distances between the sampled outlets and the unsampled outlets.
80 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A system for estimating distribution of a product at distribution locations including a plurality of locations at which product distribution information is sampled and at least one other location comprising:
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means for receiving distribution information from each of the plurality of sampled locations; first processing means for generating a first plurality of signals each characterizing one of the plurality of sampled locations and the at least one other location and a second plurality of signals each corresponding to a distance between the at least one other location and one of the sampled locations in a prescribed neighborhood of the at least one other location; means for partitioning the received distribution information from the sampled locations, the distance corresponding signals and the characterizing signals into sets, each set corresponding to a group of the plurality of distribution locations; second processing means comprising a plurality of second processors and a network for exchanging information among said second processors, each second processor being responsive to one of the sets of distribution information, distance corresponding signals, characterizing signals and the information from the information exchange network for forming a signal representing an estimate of the product distribution of one group of the plurality of distribution locations by combining the received distribution information, the distance corresponding signals and the characterizing signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A system for estimating distribution of a product at distribution locations including a plurality of locations at which product distribution information is sampled and at least one other location comprising:
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means for receiving distribution information from each of the plurality of sampled locations; first processing means for generating a plurality of signals each characterizing one of the plurality of sampled locations and the at least one other location; means for partitioning the received distribution information from the sampled locations and the characterizing signals into sets, each set corresponding to a group of the plurality of distribution locations; second processing means comprising a plurality of second processors and a network for exchanging information among said second processors, each second processor being responsive to one of the sets of distribution information and characterizing signals and the information from the exchange network for forming a signal representing an estimate of the product distribution of one group of the plurality of distribution locations by combing the received distribution information with the characterizing signals, wherein the characterizing signals include signals representing the distances between the sampled locations and the at least one other location. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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7. A system according to claim 6, wherein each of the sampled and unsampled locations is a pharmacy, the characterizing parameter TS represents a size of the sampled pharmacy S and the characterizing parameter TU represents a size of the unsampled pharmacy U.
- 8. A system according to claim 5, wherein a plurality of sources j distribute the product, the at least one other location includes a plurality of unsampled locations and the received distribution information and the characterizing signals for each source j are combined according to
- space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.TJ =Σ
.sub.1 V.sub.Sij [1+Σ
.sub.2 w.sub.su ]
where VTj is the total estimated product distribution volume for the source j for the group, VSij is the product distribution volume for source j at a sampled location i of the group, wsu is the weighting factor for a sampled location s in a selected neighborhood of the unsampled location u, Σ
1 is the summation over all sampled locations and Σ
2 is the summation over the weighting factors associated with sampled locations Sij, and
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">w.sub.su ={(1/d.sub.su.sup.q)/(Σ
.sub.3 T.sub.S /d.sub.su.sup.q)}*T.sub.Uwhere dsu is the distance between a sampled location s and one of the unsampled locations u, TS is a signal characterizing the sampled location, TU is a signal characterizing the unsampled location u, q is a number greater than zero and Σ
3 is the summation of all sampled locations s in a neighborhood of the unsampled location u. - space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.TJ =Σ
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9. A system according to claim 8, wherein the product is a prescription medicine, each source is a prescription medicine prescriber, each of the sampled and unsampled locations is a pharmacy, the characterizing signal TS represents a size of the sampled pharmacy S and the characterizing signal TU represents a size of the unsampled pharmacy U.
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10. A system according to claim 5, wherein the partitioning means comprises:
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a store for storing the received distribution information and the characterizing signals from the first processing means; means for dividing the stored distribution information and the characterizing signals into the sets; and means for transferring the sets from the dividing means to the second processors.
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11. Apparatus for estimating distribution of a product by a distributing authority at a plurality of first distribution locations at which distribution information of the distributing authority is sampled and second distribution locations, comprising:
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means for receiving distribution information of the distribution authority from each first distribution location; first processing means responsive to predetermined characteristics of each of the first and second distribution locations for Generating a plurality of signals each representative of a factor by which the second distribution locations affect distribution at each first distribution location and for generating a plurality of signals each representative of the distance between each second distribution location and each first distribution location in a prescribed neighborhood of the second distribution location; means for partitioning the distribution information of the distribution authority from the first distribution locations, the factor signals and the distance signals into sets each corresponding to a group of first distribution locations; second processing means including a plurality of work station processors and an information exchange network for exchanging information among the work station processors, each work station processor being responsive to one of the sets of distribution information, factor signals and the distance signals from the partitioning means and information from the information exchange means for forming a signal representing an estimate of the product distribution of the distribution authority at one of the groups of distribution locations. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification