Incremental Product Catalog Updates for Wireless Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Brick-and-mortar stores face challenges in providing timely and efficient updates to mobile applications due to network connectivity issues, large inventory sizes, and frequent product changes, leading to poor user experiences.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of incremental upgrade packages for mobile applications, which are tailored to specific subsets of products and establishments, allowing for efficient content delivery through edge-caching and content delivery networks, reducing unnecessary network traffic and improving update efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If full product catalogs are distributed to mobile devices, then product information completeness is improved, but network bandwidth consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the product catalog into multiple incremental upgrade packages, where each package contains updates for a specific subset of products or categories. This allows mobile devices to receive only the necessary updates rather than complete catalog redistributions, reducing network bandwidth consumption while maintaining information completeness.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-processing and organizing catalog updates into incremental packages before distribution. This includes identifying changed products, categorizing them into subsets, and preparing targeted update packages in advance, which optimizes the subsequent distribution process and reduces unnecessary data transmission.
2Loss of time
If frequent catalog updates are provided, then product information timeliness is improved, but network traffic increases
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting updates into incremental packages based on product subsets and time periods, the system enables frequent updates to be delivered efficiently. Each incremental package contains only the changes since the last update, allowing timely information delivery without proportionally increasing total network traffic.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements periodic incremental updates distributed at optimized intervals, where each period's update package contains only the changes accumulated since the previous distribution. This periodic approach maintains information timeliness while controlling network traffic through efficient use of update cycles.
3Loss of information
If large catalog files are transmitted, then product information accuracy is improved, but download time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides large catalog files into smaller incremental upgrade packages, each containing updates for specific product subsets. This segmentation reduces individual download times while maintaining overall information accuracy through cumulative application of multiple smaller updates.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary processing to identify and extract only the necessary update content into compact incremental packages before transmission. This pre-processing eliminates unnecessary data, reducing download sizes and times while preserving the accuracy of essential product information updates.
4Loss of information
If complete product catalogs are stored locally, then information availability is improved, but device storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments catalog data into incremental update packages that can be applied progressively to the existing local catalog. This allows the device to maintain a complete product information database while receiving updates in manageable segments, optimizing storage utilization without compromising information availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The server performs preliminary actions by maintaining the master catalog and identifying only the necessary changes for each incremental update. This pre-processing ensures that only essential update data is transmitted and stored locally, reducing device storage requirements while maintaining complete and accurate product information availability.
Data Source
AI summary
Described herein are techniques for efficiently upgrading product information stored on a client device to the latest version that reflects the current products offered by a particular establishment. Product information changes frequently, which could result in large upgrade packages. Yet, the time available for downloading the packages onto a device may be severely limited. To improve download time, upgrade packages may be shard based on product commonality within different predefined scopes. For instance, information related to products common across chain-wide establishments may be upgraded using one set of upgrade packages, and information related to products common across region-wide establishments may be upgraded using another set. This upgrade framework helps reduce file size and leverage the edge-caching capabilities of content delivery networks to reduce the time needed to transmit upgrade packages to client devices.