Method and apparatus to automate consumer replenishment shopping by periodicity

• US 7,130,814 B1
• Filed: 06/27/2000
• Issued: 10/31/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Fortenberry, Keith N., Toohey, James J., Szabo, Robert M.
• Primary Examiner(s): KRAMER, JAMES A
• Application Number:
  US09/604,189
• Time in Patent Office: 2,317 Days
• Field of Search: 705/10, 705/22, 705/26, 705/27, 705/28
• US Class Current: 705/26.8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing

Abstract

According to the present invention, a method to automate the replenishment of one or more items on a shopping list. The method comprising the steps of storing data representing an inventory of items for sale at the e-commerce site; storing one or more shopping lists, each for a plurality of consumers at the e-commerce site; storing the purchase history of the items purchased by one or more consumers at the e-commerce site; storing a predetermined periodicity of previous purchases of one or more items previously purchased from the e-commerce site by looking at a pattern of past purchase histories for one or more items; receiving a request from the at least one consumer for at least one of the shopping lists to build an active shopping list; reviewing the purchase history for the at least on consumer to determine if at least one item previously purchased from the purchase history has exceeded the predetermined periodicity including a shelf-life; prompting the at least one consumer to authorize the addition of the at least one item previously purchased, if the item has exceeded the predetermined periodicity; and adding the at least one item to the active shopping list if authorized by the at least one consumer. In an alternate embodiment, a computer readable medium and system is disclosed that corresponds to the method above.

Claims

1. A method to automate the replenishment of one or more items on a shopping list, the method on an e-commerce site comprising the steps of:

storing data representing an inventory of items for sale at the e-commerce site;

storing one or more shopping lists, each for a plurality of consumers at the e-commerce site;

storing the purchase history of the items purchased by one or more consumers at the e-commerce site;

storing a predetermined shelf-life of previous purchases of one or more items previously purchased from the e-commerce site wherein the previous purchases of the items and the predetermined shelf life are captured at a time and at a location where the items are fulfilled for delivery, which is independent of a time when the items are ordered for purchase;

receiving a request from the at least one consumer for at least one of the shopping lists to build an active shopping list;

reviewing the purchase history for the at least one consumer to determine if at least one item previously purchased from the purchase history has exceeded the predetermined shelf-life;

prompting the at least one consumer to authorize the addition of the at least one item previously purchased, if the item has exceeded the predetermined expiration time; and

adding the at least one item to the active shopping list if authorized by the at least one consumer.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of

storing a predetermined periodicity of previous purchases by looking at a pattern of past purchase histories for one or more items wherein,

said step of reviewing the purchase history further determines if at least one or more items previously purchased from the purchase history has exceeded the predetermined periodicity;

ORing any items exceeding the predetermined shelf-life with any items exceeding the predetermined periodicity, thereby avoiding duplication;

wherein

said step of prompting prompts the at least one customer with the result of said step of ORing.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of adding includes adding to the at least one consumer shopping list one or more items that have exceeded the periodicity of previous purchases selected from the group of periodicity consisting of minutes, hours, days, month, and years.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of calculating the shelf-life includes calculating the shelf-life with a date.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of storing a predetermined shelf-life includes capturing the previous purchases by reading a product expiration bar code that indicates the predetermined shelf life for the item and that is affixed to the item when the items are fulfilled for delivery.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of storing a predetermined shelf-life includes calculating the periodicity of the items includes using data mining logic combined with information from at least one or more (i) suppliers of the items and (ii) suppliers of items associated with the items in order to calculate the periodicity of the items.

5. A computer readable medium containing programming instructions to automate the replenishment of one or more items on a shopping list, the instructions comprising:

storing one or more consumer shopping lists of respective consumers at an e-commerce site;

storing a list of items previously purchased by one or more consumers from the e-commerce site wherein at least one of the items has a predetermined shelf-life;

receiving a request from a consumer for at least one consumer shopping list; and

determining if the request from the consumer is from a consumer that has previously purchased one or more items from the e-commerce site, and if the user has previously purchased, one or more items from the e-commerce site, then performing the programming instructions of;

evaluating if the shelf-life is exceeded of previous purchases of one or more items previously purchased from the e-commerce site, wherein the previous purchases of the items and the predetermined shelf life are captured at a time and at a location where the items are fulfilled for delivery, which is independent of a time when the items are ordered for purchase; and

adding to the at least one consumer shopping list one or more items that have exceeded the predetermined shelf-life of previous purchases.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 5, further comprising the step of

calculating the periodicity of previous purchases of one or more items previously purchased from the e-commerce site by looking at a pattern of past purchase histories for one or more items, wherein

said step of adding further adds to the at least one consumer shipping list one or more items that have exceeded the periodicity of the previous purchase, and the programming instruction of adding includes adding to the at least one consumer shopping list one or more items that have exceeded the periodicity of previous purchases selected from the group of periodicity consisting of minutes, hours, days, month, and years.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 5, wherein the programming instruction of adding further includes the programming instructions of:

prompting the consumer if they want to authorize the addition of the one or more items to be added to the shopping list; and

adding the item to the shopping list authorized by the consumer.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 5, wherein the programming instruction of storing one or more consumer shopping lists includes storing a consumer shopping list that has zero items in the consumer shopping list.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 5, further comprising the programming instructions of:

storing data representing inventory of items available at the e-commerce site; and

wherein the step of storing one or more consumer shopping lists includes storing a shopping list only containing one or more items available at the e-commerce site.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 5, further comprising the programming instructions of:

creating a purchase order for the items in the at least one consumer shopping list.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 6, further comprising the programming instructions of:

storing a periodicity previously calculated for one or more items; and

wherein the step of determining the periodicity includes reviewing a previously calculated periodicity.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein the programming instruction of calculating includes calculating if at least one item has a periodicity based upon a consumer'"'"'s frequency of purchase of that quantity of the item.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 5, wherein the programming instruction of evaluating if the shelf-life is exceeded includes capturing the past purchase histories by reading a product expiration bar code that indicates the predetermined shelf life for the item and that is affixed to the item when the items are fulfilled for delivery.

13. A computer readable medium containing programming instructions to automate the replenishment of one or more items on a shopping list, the instructions comprising:

storing data representing an inventory of items for sale at an e-commerce site;

storing one or more shopping lists, each for a plurality of consumers at the e-commerce site;

storing the purchase history of the items purchased by one or more consumers at the e-commerce site;

storing a predetermined shelf-life of previous purchases of one or more items previously purchased from the e-commerce site;

storing a predetermined periodicity of previous purchases of one or more items previously purchased from the e-commerce site by looking at a pattern of past purchase histories for one or more items, wherein the past purchase historles and the predetermined shelf life are captured at a time and at a location where the items are fulfilled for delivery, which is independent of a time when the items are ordered for purchase;

receiving a request from the at least one consumer for at least one of the shopping lists to build an active shopping list;

reviewing the purchase history for the at least one consumer to determine if at least one item previously purchased from the purchase history has exceeded the predetermined periodicity or shelf-life;

prompting the at least on consumer to authorize the addition of the at least one item previously purchased, if the item has exceeded the predetermined periodicity or shelf-life; and

adding the at least one item to the active shopping list if authorized by the at least one consumer.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the programming instruction of storing a predetermined periodicity of previous purchases includes the sub-step of:

calculating if at least one item has a periodicity based upon a consumer'"'"'s frequency of purchase of that quantity of the item.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the step of adding includes adding to the at least one consumer shopping list one or more items that have exceeded the periodicity of previous purchases selected from the group of periodicity consisting of minutes, hours, days, month, and years.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the predetermined shelf-life is a predetermined date.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the programming instruction of storing a predetermined shelf-life includes capturing the previous purchases of the items by reading a product expiration bar code that indicates the predetermined shelf life for the item and that is affixed to the item when the items are fulfilled for delivery.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the programming instruction of storing a predetermined shelf-life includes calculating the periodicity of the items includes using data mining logic combined with information from at least one or more (i) suppliers of the items and (ii) suppliers of items associated with the items in order to calculate the periodicity of the items.