Virtual real-time liquid product book to physical reconciliation process in a dynamic environment

• US 7,546,256 B2
• Filed: 02/18/2005
• Issued: 06/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Pilot Travel Centers LLC (Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Flying J Inc.
• Inventors: Scoleri, Jon M., Hillam, John D., Shellabarger, Gary I.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zeender; F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUCHANAN, CHRISTOPHER R
• Application Number:
  US11/062,122
• Publication Number:
  US 20060157147A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,572 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/28
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 7/085 Testing or calibrating apparatus therefore testing or calibrating apparatus for measuring volume flow in general G01F25/00
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 7/222 involving digital counting
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 7/3209 relating to spillage or leakage, e.g. spill containments, leak detection leak detectors for underground fuel dispensing systems G01M3/2892
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 7/348 by interrogating an information transmitter, e.g. a transponder B67D7/145 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring

Abstract

Disclosed is a virtual real-time liquid product book to physical reconciliation process within a dynamic environment. The method can include receiving a request to perform a liquid product book to physical reconciliation process for one or more storage tanks at a retail facility. Once received, the status of one or more liquid product dispensers corresponding to the one or more storage tanks can be identified. A plurality of measurements can be made while the one or more liquid product dispensers are in an active state and dispensing the liquid product. With the data indicative of the plurality of measurements, the method can automatically perform the liquid product book to physical reconciliation process.

Claims

1. In a dynamic liquid product distribution environment, a method of providing a virtual real-time reconciliation of a perpetual book volume based on recorded sales transactions to a physical volume based on physical measurements for one or more of a plurality of tanks while liquid product is being dispensed therefrom, the method comprising:

receiving a request to perform a liquid product book to physical reconciliation process for one or more storage tanks during a predetermined period of time;

identifying the status of one or more liquid product dispensers corresponding to the one or more storage tanks;

during said predetermined period of time and while said one or more liquid product dispensers are in an active state, taking a plurality of measurements within the one or more storage tanks and said one or more liquid product dispensers;

determining a net perpetual liquid product book balance corresponding to total real-time sales transactions, said total real-time sales transactions being equal to the recorded sales transactions completed at the end of said predetermined period of time and a portion of the unrecorded sales transactions which were ongoing at the end of said predetermined period of time; and

based on said plurality of measurements and said net perpetual liquid product book balance, automatically performing said virtual real-time perpetual book to physical reconciliation process while liquid product is being dispensed from said one or more liquid product dispensers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said plurality of measurements include at least a volume of liquid product in each of the one or more storage tanks and a flow volume of liquid product for each of said one or more liquid product dispensers.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein each of said plurality of measurements is taken at rapid intervals of less than 2 seconds over a predetermined period of time.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said predetermined period of time is either a default value or set by a user.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein taking said plurality of measurements comprises:

(i) using a measurement device within each of the one or more storage tanks, and (ii) using the measurement device within each of the one or more liquid product dispensers.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein said flow volume of liquid product is added to said volume of liquid product in each of the one or more storage tanks.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more storage tanks are a manifold of storage tanks, and wherein each of said plurality of measurements has a corresponding time-stamp, the method further comprising:

identifying a series of measurement readings for each storage tank within the manifold of storage tanks, said series of measurement readings identified based on said corresponding time-stamp;

summing said series of measurement data for determining a cumulative volume for liquid product within said manifold of storage tanks;

calculating a time difference between a first time-stamp in said series of measurement readings and one or more subsequent time-stamps within said series of measurement readings;

based on the time difference, determining a cumulative time-stamp for said series of measurement readings; and

assigning said cumulative time-stamp to a determined cumulative volume.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said determined cumulative time-stamp is a time of reconciliation to which said plurality of measurements will be adjusted to.

9. At a centralized station, a method of performing a virtual real-time reconciliation of a liquid product book volume based on recorded sales transactions to physical volume based on physical measurements by rapidly accumulating data over a predetermined time period at a plurality of measurement devices and monitoring sale transactions during the predetermined time period, the method comprising:

receiving a request to initiate a liquid product book to physical volume reconciliation process for one or more storage tanks, said request received while one or more liquid product dispensers, corresponding to said one or more storage tanks, are in an active state;

collecting a plurality of measurement data from a plurality of measurement devices over a predetermined period of time, said plurality of measurement data taken at rapid intervals over said predetermined period of time;

assigning a time-stamp to each of said plurality of measurement data;

monitoring sales transactions during said predetermined period of time;

determining a net perpetual liquid product book balance corresponding to total real-time sales transactions, said total real-time sales transactions being equal to the recorded sales transactions completed at the end of said predetermined period of time and a portion of the unrecorded sales transactions which were ongoing at the end of said predetermined period of time; and

after said predetermined period of time, using said plurality of measurement data, said monitored sales transactions, and said net perpetual book liquid product balance to complete said virtual real-time liquid product book to physical volume reconciliation process while sales transactions are ongoing.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said plurality of measurement data includes at least a volume of liquid product in each of said one or more storage tanks and a flow volume of liquid product for each of said one or more liquid product dispensers.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said flow volume of liquid product for dispensers active beyond said predetermined period of time is added to said volume of liquid product in each of said one or more storage tanks.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein predefined pump rules and the time in which said flow volumes are collected are used to determine what time-stamp and what flow volume to add to said volume of liquid product in each of said one or more storage tanks.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein said rapid intervals are periods of less than 2 seconds.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein said predetermined period of time is either a default value or set by a user.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein said one or more storage tanks are a manifold of storage tanks, the method further comprising:

identifying a series of measurement readings for each storage tank within said manifold of storage tanks, said series of measurement readings identified based on a corresponding time-stamp;

summing said series of measurement readings for determining a cumulative volume for liquid product within said manifold of storage tanks;

calculating a time difference between a first time-stamp in said series of measurement readings and one or more subsequent time-stamps within said series of measurement readings;

based on said time difference, determining a cumulative time-stamp for said series of measurement readings; and

assigning said cumulative time-stamp to a determined cumulative volume.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said determined cumulative time-stamp is a time of reconciliation to which said plurality of measurements are adjusted to.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein a plurality of cumulative time-stamps for a plurality of cumulative volumes are determined, the method further comprising:

determining flow volume of liquid product for said one or more dispensers active beyond said predetermined period of time;

determining a time-stamp for each of said determined flow volumes, said time-stamps corresponding to said plurality of cumulative time-stamps;

adding said determined flow volume of liquid product for said one or more dispensers active beyond said predetermined period of time to each of the corresponding plurality of cumulative volumes in order to adjust said plurality of cumulative volumes back to a time of reconciliation;

averaging said plurality of cumulative volumes to determine a mean physical inventory;

computing a standard deviation for said determined mean;

eliminating data readings from said plurality of cumulative volumes that are above or below a predetermined number of standard deviations; and

average the remaining plurality of cumulative volumes not eliminated for determining a net physical volume at said time of reconciliation.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

adjusting said net physical volume by adding interim sales;

updating net perpetual book balance to said time of reconciliation; and

subtracting said net perpetual book balance from said adjusted net physical volume to determine an inventory gain or loss.

19. The method of claim 9, wherein one or more other devices are temporarily disabled during at least a portion of said predetermined period of in order to reserve computing resources for rapidly collecting said plurality of measurement data from said plurality of measurement devices over said predetermined period of time by taken at rapid intervals over said predetermined period of time.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein said one or more other devices are one or more leak detection devices.

21. The method of claim 9, wherein based on the number of measurement data collected and a length of said predetermined period of time, the method further comprises determining a confidence level that the book to physical reconciliation process is accurate.

22. In a dynamic liquid product distribution environment, a computer program product for implementing a method of providing a virtual real-time reconciliation of a perpetual book volume based on recorded sales transactions to a physical volume based on physical measurements for one or more of a plurality of tanks while liquid product is being dispensed there from, the computer program product comprising one or more computer readable media having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, can cause the distributed computing system to perform the following:

receive a request to perform a liquid product book to physical reconciliation process for one or more storage tanks during a predetermined period of time;

identify the status of one or more liquid product dispensers corresponding to the one or more storage tanks;

during said predetermined period of time and while said one or more liquid product dispensers are in an active state, take a plurality of measurements using measurement devices within the one or more storage tanks and said one or more liquid product dispensers;

determining a net perpetual liquid product book balance corresponding to total real-time sales transactions, said total real-time sales transactions being equal to the recorded sales transactions completed at the end of said predetermined period of time and a portion of the unrecorded sales transactions which were ongoing at the end of said predetermined period of time; and

based on said plurality of measurements measurements and said net perpetual liquid product book balance, automatically perform said virtual real-time perpetual book to physical reconciliation process while liquid product is being dispensed from said one or more liquid product dispensers.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein said plurality of measurements include at least a volume of liquid product in each of the one or more storage tanks and a flow volume of liquid product for each of said one or more liquid product dispensers.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein said flow volume of liquid product is added to said volume of liquid product in each of the one or more storage tanks.

25. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the one or more storage tanks are a manifold of storage tanks, and wherein each of said plurality of measurements has a corresponding time-stamp, the computer program product further comprising computer executable instructions that can cause the messaging system to perform the following:

identify a series of measurement readings for each storage tank within the manifold of storage tanks, said series of measurement readings identified based on said corresponding time-stamp;

sum said series of measurement data for determining a cumulative volume for liquid product within said manifold of storage tanks;

calculate a time difference between a first time-stamp in said series of measurement readings and one or more subsequent time-stamps within said series of measurement readings;

based on the time difference, determine a cumulative time-stamp for said series of measurement readings; and

assign said cumulative time-stamp to a determined cumulative volume.