Booster centric resource allocation

• US 9,928,473 B1
• Filed: 01/30/2013
• Issued: 03/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Target Brands Inc. (Target Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Target Brands Inc. (Target Corporation)
• Inventors: Whiting, Jacob. A., Ptak, Jennifer, Roy, Bhaskar, Dey, Parag, Suthar, Nikesh, Bai, Prasunamba
• Primary Examiner(s): Miller, Alan S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Anderson, Folashade
• Application Number:
  US13/754,329
• Time in Patent Office: 1,882 Days
• Field of Search: 705 728
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0635 Risk analysis of enterprise or organisation activities

Abstract

A collection of incidents is received where each incident has an associated location where the incident occurred and a date and a time when the incident occurred. A mean distance between locations associated with successive incidents in the collection of incidents is determined and a risk area is identified around each location based on the mean distance. A count for a set of at-risk locations is generated with each count being the number of risk areas where an at-risk location is positioned. For each at-risk location in the set of at-risk locations, a distance between the at-risk location and a last incident location is determined. Resources are allocated to select at-risk locations based on risk factors that are a function of the count and the distances between the at-risk locations and the last location.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a collection of incidents, each incident having an associated location where the incident occurred and a date and a time when the incident occurred;

determining, by a computer server, a mean distance between locations associated with successive incidents in the collection of incidents;

calculating a risk radius using the mean distance;

identifying a risk area around each location associated with each incident in the collection of incidents based on the risk radius;

generating a count for a set of at-risk locations, each at-risk location being positioned within at least one of the risk areas, and each count being the number of risk areas that an at-risk location is positioned within;

for each at-risk location in the set of at-risk locations, determining a distance between the at-risk location and a last location, wherein the last location is the location of the incident that occurred last in time in the collection of incidents;

recommending, by the computer server, allocating resources to select at-risk locations based on the count for each of the select at-risk locations and the distance between each of the select at-risk locations and the last location;

providing a display connected to at least one computer;

using the at least one computer, displaying on the display an interactive user interface, the interactive user interface including an interactive predictions tab and an interactive overview tab wherein upon a user interacting with the interactive predictions tab an interactive predictions user interface is displayed and upon a user interacting with the interactive overview tab an interactive overview user interface is displayed,

the interactive predictions user interface having an interactive investigation center selection device that allows a user to select from a plurality of investigation centers wherein upon selection of an investigation center each of the following occurs;

(i) a map of a geographical area associated with the selected investigation center is displayed on the interactive predictions user interface; and

, (ii) a set of alert numbers are assigned to an interactive alert selection device on the interactive predictions user interface wherein upon selection of an alert number by a user interacting with the interactive alert selection device the map changes to show all locations predicted to be a target of a Booster associated with the selected alert number; and

,

the interactive overview user interface having a map area and an interactive deployment priority section having a plurality of interactive priority rankings wherein upon user selection of one of the plurality of priority rankings a map in the map area is displayed showing locations having the selected priority ranking.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein calculating a risk radius comprises multiplying the mean distance by a value greater than 1.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein each of the incidents in the collection of incidents involved a same entity.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 wherein the same entity comprises a same individual.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein recommending, by the computer server, allocating resources to select at-risk locations comprises computing a risk factor for each at-risk location by dividing the count for the at-risk location by a log of the distance between the at-risk location and the last location and recommending allocating resources based on the risk factors.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 wherein recommending allocating resources to select at-risk locations based on the risk factors of the at-risk locations comprises recommending allocating resources to a first set of at-risk locations and recommending not allocating resources to a second set of at-risk locations, wherein each of the at-risk locations where resources are recommended to be allocated has a risk factor that is larger than a risk factor of any of the at-risk locations where resources are not recommended to be allocated.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising setting a date range during which resources are recommended to be allocated to at-risk locations based on dates when incidents in the collection of incidents occurred.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 wherein setting a date range comprises:

determining a mean of a number of days between incidents in the collection of incidents;

determining a standard deviation of the number of days between incidents in the list of incidents;

setting an earliest date of the date range by adding a date of the incident that occurred last in time in the collection of incidents to the mean of the number of days between incidents to form a sum and subtracting the standard deviation of the number of days between incidents from the sum; and

setting a latest date of the date range by adding a date of the incident that occurred last in time in the collection of incidents to the mean of the number of days between incidents to form a second sum and adding the second sum to the standard deviation of the number of days between incidents.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising setting a time range during which resources are recommended to be allocated to at-risk locations based on times when incidents in the collection of incidents occurred.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 wherein setting a time range comprises:

determining a mean of the times when incidents in the collection of incidents occurred;

determining a standard deviation of the times when incidents in the collection of incidents occurred;

setting an earliest time of the time range by subtracting two times the standard deviation of the times from the mean of the times; and

setting a latest time of the time range by adding two times the standard deviation of the times to the mean of the times.

11. A computer-readable medium, not a signal, having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that cause a processor to perform steps comprising:

identifying a risk area around each of a collection of locations;

generating a count for a set of at-risk locations, each at-risk location being positioned within at least one of the risk areas, and each count being the number of risk areas that an at-risk location is positioned within; and

recommending, by the computer server, allocating resources to select at-risk locations based on the count for each of the select at-risk locations;

using at least one computer, displaying on a display an interactive user interface, the interactive user interface including at least one of an interactive predictions tab and an interactive overview tab wherein upon a user interacting with the interactive predictions tab an interactive predictions user interface is displayed and upon a user interacting with the interactive overview tab an interactive overview user interface is displayed,

the interactive predictions user interface having an interactive investigation center selection device that allows a user to select from a plurality of investigation centers wherein upon selection of an investigation center each of the following occurs;

(i) a map of a geographical area associated with the selected investigation center is displayed on the interactive predictions user interface; and

, (ii) a set of alert numbers are assigned to an interactive alert selection device on the interactive predictions user interface wherein upon selection of an alert number by a user interacting with the interactive alert selection device the map changes to show all locations predicted to be a target of a Booster associated with the selected alert number; and

,

the interactive overview user interface having a map area and an interactive deployment priority section having a plurality of interactive priority rankings wherein upon user selection of one of the plurality of priority rankings a map in the map area is displayed showing locations having the selected priority ranking.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein identifying a risk area comprises:

calculating a risk radius based on a mean distance between incidents; and

using the risk radius to identify the risk area.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12 wherein the collection of locations comprises locations where at least one of the incidents used to calculate the risk radius took place.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 further comprising for each at-risk location in the set of at-risk locations, determining a distance between the at-risk location and a last location, wherein the last location is the location of the incident that occurred last in time in the collection of incidents.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein recommending allocating resources further comprises recommending allocating resources based in part on the distance between each at-risk location and the last location.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 12 wherein each of the incidents involved a same entity.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 further comprising setting a date range during which resources are recommended to be allocated to at-risk locations based on dates when incidents occurred.

18. A method comprising:

identifying a risk area around each of a collection of locations;

generating a count for a set of at-risk locations, each at-risk location being positioned within at least one of the risk areas, and each count being the number of risk areas that an at-risk location is positioned within; and

recommending, by the computer server, allocating resources to select at-risk locations based on the count for each of the select at-risk locations and setting a date range during which resources are recommended to be allocated to the selected at-risk locations;

providing a display connected to at least one computer;

using the at least one computer, displaying on the display an interactive user interface, the interactive user interface including an interactive predictions tab and an interactive overview tab wherein upon a user interacting with the interactive predictions tab an interactive predictions user interface is displayed and upon a user interacting with the interactive overview tab an interactive overview user interface is displayed,

the interactive predictions user interface having an interactive investigation center selection device that allows a user to select from a plurality of investigation centers wherein upon selection of an investigation center each of the following occurs;

(i) a map of a geographical area associated with the selected investigation center is displayed on the interactive predictions user interface; and

, (ii) a set of alert numbers are assigned to an interactive alert selection device on the interactive predictions user interface wherein upon selection of an alert number by a user interacting with the interactive alert selection device the map changes to show all locations predicted to be a target of a Booster associated with the selected alert number; and

,

the interactive overview user interface having a map area and an interactive deployment priority section having a plurality of interactive priority rankings wherein upon user selection of one of the plurality of priority rankings a map in the map area is displayed showing locations having the selected priority ranking.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein identifying a risk area comprises:

calculating a risk radius based on a mean distance between incidents; and

using the risk radius to identify the risk area.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the collection of locations comprises locations where at least one of the incidents used to calculate the risk radius took place.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising for each at-risk location in the set of at-risk locations, determining a distance between the at-risk location and a last location, wherein the last location is the location of the incident that occurred last in time in the collection of incidents.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein recommending allocating resources further comprises recommending allocating resources based in part on the distance between each at-risk location and the last location.

23. The method of claim 19 wherein each of the incidents involved a same entity.

24. The method of claim 19 wherein setting a date range comprises using a mean time between incidents.