Method and apparatus for remote merchandise planogram auditing and reporting

• US 8,049,621 B1
• Filed: 05/28/2009
• Issued: 11/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Walgreen Co. (Walgreens Boots Alliance Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Walgreen Co. (Walgreens Boots Alliance Incorporated)
• Inventors: Egan, Doug
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Tai T
• Application Number:
  US12/473,969
• Time in Patent Office: 887 Days
• Field of Search: 340/572.1, 340/572.5, 340/572.77, 340/10.32, 340/5.92, 340/568.1, 340/539.13, 235/375, 235/383, 235/385, 235/492, 705/22, 705/23, 705/28
• US Class Current: 340/572.1
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/208 Input by product or record sensing, e.g. weighing or scanner processing

Abstract

A system for remotely reading embedded RFID tags may generally facilitate the retail facility planogram auditing process. A set of RFID tags embedded with products displayed for sale at a retail facility may be provided and configured to store associated product information. An array configured to read the stored associated product data and triangulate the positions of the embedded tags may be located within range of the retail facility. The collected product data and triangulated positions may then be used by the system to audit the retail facility'"'"'s compliance with a predetermined planogram. The audit results may be thereafter stored in a computer medium, aggregated in accordance with a predetermined format, communicated to personnel, and provided in a reviewable format via a user interface.

Claims

1. A method of auditing compliance with a predetermined planogram, the method comprising:

embedding with products displayed on a sales floor a plurality of RFID tags configured to store a set of associated product data by affixing the tags to a plurality of planograming shelf strips;

locating a plurality of RFID antennas within range of the sales floor;

receiving, at the plurality of RFID antennas, a signal corresponding to each embedded RFID tag;

triangulating, based on the received signals, the position of each RFID tag with respect to a reference location on the sales floor;

obtaining the set of associated product data stored on each embedded RFID tag;

obtaining from a memory a predetermined planogram corresponding to the sales floor;

auditing the sales floor'"'"'s compliance with the planogram based on said triangulated positions and said obtained associated product data sets;

storing the audit results in a database.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the associated product information stored in the embedded RFID tags includes any one of product department name, product Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) numbers, a value corresponding to linear feet of shelf space, a product creation date, a product expiration date, a product sell-by date, a sale price, a volume discount price, an extended product description, a Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code, a price per unit volume, advertising copy, an identification number, a display date, or a planogram reference identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising aggregating statistics associated with the planogram audit.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising notifying predetermined individuals of the planogram audit or planogram audit results.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising aggregating the audit results in accordance with a predetermined format.

6. A system configured to audit a sales floor'"'"'s compliance with a predetermined planogram, the system comprising:

a processor;

a plurality of RFID antennas;

a plurality of RFID tags having product data sets stored therein and embedded with products displayed on the sales floor, the RFID tags affixed to a plurality of planogramming shelf strips;

a planogram database storing a plurality of predetermined planograms, with at least one planogram corresponding to the sales floor;

an audit database configured to store a plurality of audit results;

a program memory coupled to said processor;

planogram auditing engine instructions, resident in said program memory, executable by said processor, configured to collect the product data stored in, and triangulate the position relative to a reference location of, said RFID tags via said RFID antennas, to audit said sales floor'"'"'s compliance with said corresponding planogram with respect to the collected product data sets and triangulated positions, and to store the audit results in the audit database.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the associated product data set includes one or more of product SKU numbers, a value corresponding to linear feet of shelf space, a product creation date, a product expiration date, a price, a volume discount price, an extended product description, a UPC bar code, a price per unit volume, advertising copy, an identification number, a display date, or a planogram reference identifier.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the planogram auditing engine further includes instructions to aggregate planogram compliance data in accordance with a predetermined format.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the planogram auditing engine further includes instructions to notify predetermined recipients of the audit results.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the planogram auditing engine further includes instructions to aggregate statistics associated with the audit results and audit results from another audit stored in the audit database.

11. A system configured to audit a sales floor'"'"'s compliance with a predetermined planogram, the system comprising:

means for retrieving a predetermined planogram corresponding to the sales floor;

means for embedding with products displayed on a sales floor a plurality of RFID tags configured to store associated product data sets, the RFID tags affixed to a plurality of planograming shelf strips;

means for receiving signals corresponding to embedded RFID tags;

means for triangulating the position of each RFID tag with respect to a reference location on the sales floor;

means for obtaining the sets of associated product data stored on each embedded RFID tag;

means for auditing the sales floor'"'"'s compliance with the planogram based on said triangulated positions and said collected associated product data sets;

means for storing the audit results in a database.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising means for notifying predetermined recipients of the audit results.