Techniques for analyzing operations of one or more restaurants

• US 9,336,830 B1
• Filed: 12/28/2015
• Issued: 05/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panera LLC (Panera Bread Company)
• Original Assignee: Panera LLC (Panera Bread Company)
• Inventors: Hurst, Blaine E., Nettles, Michael R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bailey, Frederick
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nawaz, Talha M
• Application Number:
  US14/980,109
• Publication Number:
  US 20160111132A1
• Time in Patent Office: 134 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0635 Risk analysis of enterprise or organisation activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/40 in video content extracting overlay text G06V20/62; video retrieval G06F16/70; processing of video elementary streams in video servers H04N21/234; processing of video elementary streams in video clients H04N21/44
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/44 Event detection
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/28 by using information signals recorded by the same method as the main recording G11B27/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/3081 used signal is a video-frame or a video-field (P.I.P)
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide techniques for using operational data and/or video footage to identify and diagnose operational issues. In some embodiments, business metrics represented in data produced by a restaurant'"'"'s operational systems are identified and stored, conditions which warrant attention are identified, and the metrics that may indicate potential causes for those conditions are identified. Video footage may be correlated with business metric data to assist in diagnosing and remediating issues.

Claims

1. A method for use in a system comprising at least one repository storing data relating to operations of a restaurant and a video capture system for capturing video footage depicting operations of the restaurant, the data comprising information relating to a plurality of events and a plurality of alert conditions, the method comprising acts of:

(A) identifying a first alert condition from among the plurality of alert conditions;

(B) automatically analyzing the information relating to the plurality of events to preliminarily identify one or more events from among the plurality of events as potential causes of the first alert condition, wherein the analyzing comprises;

(B)(1) identifying, from among the plurality of alert conditions, one or more alert conditions similar to the first alert condition;

(B)(2) identifying, from among the plurality of events, a subset of events occurring substantially contemporaneously with the identified one or more alert conditions; and

(B)(3) analyzing information relating to the identified subset of events to preliminarily identify the one or more events as potential causes of the first alert condition;

(C) identifying and retrieving video footage captured by the video capture system corresponding to the one or more events preliminarily identified as potential causes of the first alert condition;

(D) causing the retrieved video footage corresponding to the one or more events to be displayed via a review interface to a user; and

(E) receiving input from the user indicating whether the video footage depicts a cause of the first alert condition or does not depict a cause of the first alert condition;

wherein the system comprises an event engine which identifies data generated by the restaurant'"'"'s operational systems and stores the identified information in the at least one repository, and wherein the method comprises an act of;

(F) configuring the event engine to identify additional types of data for storage in the at least one repository.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more events preliminarily identified as potential causes for the first alert condition comprises a plurality of events, each of the plurality of events has a different level of correlation to the one or more alert conditions, and the act (D) comprises causing a list of the plurality of events to be displayed according to level of correlation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the act (D) comprises causing a recommendation on one or more potential remediation actions to be displayed to the user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the act (D) comprises automatically instituting one or more remediation actions to address a potential cause for the first alert condition.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more remediation actions comprises redeploying an employee from one station in the restaurant to another station in the restaurant to address the potential cause for the first alert condition.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one repository stores data relating to operations of a single restaurant.

7. A system, comprising:

at least one repository storing data relating to operations of a restaurant, the data comprising information relating to a plurality of events and a plurality of alert conditions;

a video capture system for capturing video footage depicting operations of the restaurant; and

at least one computer processor programmed to;

identify a first alert condition from among the plurality of alert conditions;

automatically analyze the information relating to the plurality of events to preliminarily identify one or more events from among the plurality of events as potential causes of the first alert condition, wherein the analyzing comprises;

identifying, from among the plurality of alert conditions, one or more alert conditions similar to the first alert condition;

identifying, from among the plurality of events, a subset of events occurring substantially contemporaneously with the identified one or more alert conditions; and

analyzing information relating to the identified subset of events to preliminarily identify the one or more events as potential causes of the first alert condition;

identify and retrieve video footage captured by the video capture system corresponding to the one or more events preliminarily identified as potential causes of the first alert condition;

cause the retrieved video footage corresponding to the one or more events to be displayed via a review interface to a user; and

receive input from the user indicating whether the video footage depicts a cause of the first alert condition or does not depict a cause of the first alert condition;

wherein the system comprises an event engine which identifies data generated by the restaurant'"'"'s operational systems and stores the identified information in the at least one repository, and wherein the at least one computer processor is programmed to configure the event engine to identify additional types of data for storage in the at least one repository.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the one or more events preliminarily identified as potential causes for the first alert condition comprises a plurality of events, each of the plurality of events has a different level of correlation to the one or more alert conditions, and the at least one computer processor is programmed to cause a list of the plurality of events to be displayed according to level of correlation.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one computer processor is programmed to cause a recommendation on one or more potential remediation actions to be displayed to the user.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one computer processor is programmed to automatically institute one or more remediation actions to address a potential cause for the first alert condition.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more remediation actions comprises redeploying an employee from one station in the restaurant to another station in the restaurant to address the potential cause for the first alert condition.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one repository stores data relating to operations of a single restaurant.

13. At least one non-transitory storage device storing instructions which, when executed in a computer system comprising at least one repository storing data relating to operations of a restaurant and a video capture system for capturing video footage depicting operations of the restaurant, the data comprising information relating to a plurality of events and a plurality of alert conditions, cause the computer system to perform a method comprising acts of:

(A) identifying a first alert condition from among the plurality of alert conditions;

(B) automatically analyzing the information relating to the plurality of events to preliminarily identify one or more events from among the plurality of events as potential causes of the first alert condition, wherein the analyzing comprises;

(B)(1) identifying, from among the plurality of alert conditions, one or more alert conditions similar to the first alert condition;

(B)(2) identifying, from among the plurality of events, a subset of events occurring substantially contemporaneously with the identified one or more alert conditions; and

(B)(3) analyzing information relating to the identified subset of events to preliminarily identify the one or more events as potential causes of the first alert condition;

(C) identifying and retrieving video footage captured by the video capture system corresponding to the one or more events preliminarily identified as potential causes of the first alert condition;

(D) causing the retrieved video footage corresponding to the one or more events to be displayed via a review interface to a user; and

(E) receiving input from the user indicating whether the video footage depicts a cause of the first alert condition or does not depict a cause of the first alert condition;

wherein the system comprises an event engine which identifies data generated by the restaurant'"'"'s operational systems and stores the identified information in the at least one repository, and wherein the method comprises an act of;

(F) configuring the event engine to identify additional types of data for storage in the at least one repository.

14. The at least one non-transitory storage device of claim 13, wherein the one or more events preliminarily identified as potential causes for the first alert condition comprises a plurality of events, each of the plurality of events has a different level of correlation to the one or more alert conditions, and the act (D) comprises causing a list of the plurality of events to be displayed according to level of correlation.

15. The at least one non-transitory storage device of claim 13, wherein the act (D) comprises causing a recommendation on one or more potential remediation actions to be displayed to the user.

16. The at least one non-transitory storage device of claim 13, wherein the act (D) comprises automatically instituting one or more remediation actions to address a potential cause for the first alert condition.

17. The at least one non-transitory storage device of claim 16, wherein the one or more remediation actions comprises redeploying an employee from one station in the restaurant to another station in the restaurant to address the potential cause for the first alert condition.

18. The at least one non-transitory storage device of claim 13, wherein the at least one repository stores data relating to operations of a single restaurant.