System for estimating product distribution
First Claim
1. A system for estimating distribution of a product at a plurality of distribution sites comprising:
- means for receiving distribution information from selected ones of the plurality of the distribution sites; and
an information processing unit including a plurality of processors and a network for exchanging information among the plurality of processors,wherein at least one of the plurality of processors forms first signals each characterizing one the plurality of distribution sites and second signals each corresponding to a distance between a pair of the distribution sites, andwherein said plurality of processors combines the distribution information, the distance corresponding signals, the characterizing signals and the information from the information exchange network to form a signal representing an estimate of the product distribution of the plurality of distribution locations.
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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.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A system for estimating distribution of a product at a plurality of distribution sites comprising:
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means for receiving distribution information from selected ones of the plurality of the distribution sites; and an information processing unit including a plurality of processors and a network for exchanging information among the plurality of processors, wherein at least one of the plurality of processors forms first signals each characterizing one the plurality of distribution sites and second signals each corresponding to a distance between a pair of the distribution sites, and wherein said plurality of processors combines the distribution information, the distance corresponding signals, the characterizing signals and the information from the information exchange network to form a signal representing an estimate of the product distribution of the plurality of distribution locations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A system for estimating distribution of a product at a plurality of distribution locations including sampled distribution locations and at least one other location comprising:
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processing means including a plurality of processors and a network for exchanging information among said plurality of processors; at least one of the plurality of processors including; means for receiving distribution information from the plurality of sampled locations; 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 means for generating a second plurality of signals each corresponding to a distance between the at least one other location and one of the sampled locations; and said plurality of processors being responsive to the 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 the plurality of distribution locations by combining the received distribution information, the distance corresponding signals and the characterizing signals. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9)
- 8. A system according to claim 5, wherein a plurality of sources j prescribe 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, VSij is the product distribution volume for source j at a sampled location i, 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. The system according to claim 8, wherein the distribution locations are prescription sales outlets and the source j is a prescription prescriber.
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10. A system for estimating distribution of a product at a plurality of distribution locations comprising:
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means for accepting distribution information from selected ones of the plurality of locations; and processing means including a plurality of processors and a network for exchanging information among said plurality of processors; at least one of said plurality of processors including; means for generating a first plurality of signals each characterizing one of plurality of locations; and means for generating a second plurality of signals each corresponding to a distance between one of the selected locations and another of the plurality of locations; and said plurality of processors being responsive to the distribution information, distance corresponding signals, characterizing signals and information from the information exchange network for forming a signal representing an estimate of the product distribution of the plurality of distribution locations by combining the received distribution information, the distance corresponding signals and the characterizing signals.
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11. A system for estimating distribution of a product at unsampled ones of a plurality of distribution sites including sampled distribution sites and at least one unsampled distribution site comprising:
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means for receiving distribution information from the sampled distribution sites; and processing means including; means for generating a plurality of signals each characterizing each distribution site and a plurality of signals each representing a distance between one sampled distribution site and the at least one unsampled distribution site; and means responsive to the characterizing signals, the distribution information and the distance representative signals for forming a signal representing an estimate of product distribution at the at least one unsampled distribution site. - View Dependent Claims (12)
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13. Apparatus for estimating distribution of a product by a distributing authority at a plurality of distribution sites including first distribution sites at which distribution information of the distributing authority is sampled and second distribution sites at which the distribution information of the distributing authority is unsampled, comprising:
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means for receiving distribution information from each of the sampled distribution sites; and processing means including a plurality of processors and a network for exchanging information among said plurality of processors; at least one of said processors generating a first plurality of signals each characterizing one of the first distribution sites and each of the second distribution sites and for generating a second plurality of signals each corresponding to distance between each second distribution site and each first distribution site within a prescribed neighborhood of the second distribution site; and said plurality of processors being responsive to the received distribution information, the distance corresponding signals, characterizing signals and information from the information exchange network for forming a signal representing an estimate of the product distribution of the of the distributing authority by combining the received distribution information, the distance corresponding signals and the characterizing signals. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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Specification