System and method for bin management

• US 6,942,146 B2
• Filed: 02/01/2002
• Issued: 09/13/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Walgreen Co. (Walgreens Boots Alliance Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Walgreen Co. (Walgreens Boots Alliance Incorporated)
• Inventors: Goodall, Charles L., Pfutzenreuter, Rachel H., Huang, Rong, Kozic, Dejan
• Primary Examiner(s): Stcyr, Daniel
• Assistant Examiner(s): Taylor, April
• Application Number:
  US10/061,730
• Publication Number:
  US 20030146274A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,320 Days
• Field of Search: 235/375, 235/385, 705/3, 705/28, 705/29, 700213-216, 700223-225, 700/231, 700/237, 700/241, 700/244, 382/306
• US Class Current: 235/385
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A system for bin management includes an input of bin quantity, a database of customer-specific data, and a controller. The controller is operatively connected to the database and arranged to obtain the customer-specific data and the input of bin quantity, to use the customer specific data and the input of bin quantity to determine a segmentation of a multiplicity of bins, to create a representation identifying the segmentation of the multiplicity of bins and has a memory for storing the representation. The system additionally has an output of the representation which identifies the segmentation of the multiplicity of bins. Processes for calculating the segmentation of the multiplicity of bins and for storing and retrieving items based on segmentation data are also provided.

Claims

1. A system for bin management comprising:

an input of bin quantity;

a database of customer-specific data;

a controller operatively connected to the database, the controller arranged to receive the customer-specific data and the input of bin quantity, to use the customer-specific data and the input of bin quantity to determine a segmentation of a multiplicity of bins, and to create a representation identifying the segmentation of the multiplicity of bins, the controller having a memory for storing the representation; and

an output of the representation identifying the segmentation of the multiplicity of bins.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a user interface operatively connected to the controller, the user interface enabling a user to enter the input of bin quantity.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a display operatively connected to the controller, the display enabling a user to view the output.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a printer operatively connected to the controller, the printer arranged to print the output.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the customer-specific data is location-specific data and includes a plurality of names associated with the location-specific data.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the location-specific data is for at least one selected store location.

7. The system of claim 5 wherein the location-specific data is for a selected geographical region.

8. The system of claim 5 wherein the customer-specific data includes at least one activity update for each name, the activity update representing customer activity for a selected name within a selected time frame.

9. The system of claim 8 further comprising a user interface operatively connected to the controller, the user interface enabling the user to enter the selected customer, the selected location and the selected time frame.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the selected time frame is six months.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein the selected time frame is one year.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the representation is alphanumeric.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the representation includes a plurality of bin counts, a plurality of alphabetical designations associated with the customer-specific data and a plurality of bin numbers associated with each alphabetical designation.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein an alphabetic designation of the plurality of alphabetic designations comprises a range of letters in alphabetical order.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein an alphabetic designation of the plurality of alphabetic designations comprises at least one letter.

16. The system of claim 13 further comprising:

a peel-off label removably disposed on a backing surface; and

a printer operatively connected to the controller, the printer arranged to print on the peel-off label;

wherein the controller is arranged to forward customer-specific data for a selected customer to the printer to thereby cause the printer to print customer-specific data for the selected customer including the alphabetical designation associated with the selected customer of the customer-specific data and the bin number associated with the selected customer of the customer-specific data on the peel-off label.

17. A method of bin management comprising:

entering an input of bin quantity;

calculating a segmentation of a multiplicity of bins based on a database of customer-specific data and the input of bin quantity;

creating a representation of the segmentation of the multiplicity of bins; and

displaying the representation of the segmentation of the multiplicity of bins.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising storing the representation of the segmentation of the multiplicity of bins in a memory device.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising printing the representation of the segmentation of the multiplicity of bins.

20. A method of bin management comprising:

providing a database, the database including customer-specific data for a plurality of customers;

providing segmentation data for a multiplicity of bins, the segmentation data associated with the customer-specific data in the database;

selecting a customer from the database;

matching the segmentation data with the customer-specific data of the selected customer to identify a bin of the multiplicity of bins for storing an item for the selected customer;

printing bin identification data associated with the identified bin for the selected customer;

labeling the item with the printed identification data; and

storing the item in the identified bin of the multiplicity of bins according to the identification data printed for the selected customer.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step:

retrieving the item from the identified bin based on the bin identification data printed for the selected customer.

22. The method of claim 20 further comprising a peel-off label, wherein the identification data is printed on the peel-off label.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the peel-off label is removably disposed on a sheet.

24. The method of claim 22 further comprising the step:

providing a printer, wherein the printer includes an input arranged to receive the peel-off label and the printer is further arranged to print on the peel-off label.

25. The method of claim 20 wherein the segmentation data includes a plurality of bin counts, a plurality of alphabetical designations associated with the customer-specific data in the database and a plurality of bin numbers associated with the plurality of alphabetical designations.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the alphabetical designation represents at least one letter of a name of the selected customer.

27. The method of claim 20 wherein the bin identification data comprises a bin number and an alphabetical designation for the selected customer and the item is stored according to the bin number.

28. The method of claim 27 further comprising the step:

retrieving the item based on the bin number for the selected customer.

29. The method of claim 20 wherein the bin identification data comprises a bin number and an alphabetical designation for the selected customer and the item is stored according to the alphabetical designation.

30. The method of claim 29 further comprising the step:

retrieving the item based on the alphabetical designation for the selected customer.