Nested Bucketization for Inventory Profile Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current data structures fail to effectively manage inventory operations in discrete time environments within supply chain networks, leading to cumbersome management due to the increasing number of entities and lack of specific data structures for this environment.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for nested bucketization in a supply chain network, utilizing a database and server to create an on-hand inventory profile comprising (day, quantity) pairs, with the ability to access and store data describing a time horizon, employing a nested data structure that divides the time horizon into buckets until each bucket's length is equal to a predetermined amount of time, allowing for efficient retrieval and management of inventory information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional data structures are used to manage inventory operations in supply chain networks, then the system can store inventory data, but the management becomes cumbersome and inefficient as the number of entities increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the time horizon into discrete time buckets and organizes inventory data using a nested bucketization structure. This segmentation transforms the flat, cumbersome data structure into a hierarchical organization where inventory profiles are divided into time-based buckets, enabling efficient querying and management as entities increase.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a nested bucketization structure where time buckets are nested within entities, and inventory profiles are nested within the bucket structure. This nested organization allows the system to efficiently manage inventory data across multiple entities by providing a scalable hierarchical framework that reduces management complexity.
2Loss of time
If no specific data structure is used for discrete time environment, then the system can store general inventory data, but it cannot efficiently retrieve and manage inventory information for discrete time planning
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary organization of inventory data into discrete time buckets during data ingestion. By pre-structuring the inventory profiles into time-based buckets with (day, quantity) pairs, the system enables efficient retrieval operations without requiring complex queries at runtime, thus reducing inventory retrieval time while maintaining discrete time adaptability.
3Productivity
If inventory profiles are stored without structured organization, then the system can accommodate any data format, but computational operations become inefficient with O(N) complexity for basic queries
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments inventory profiles into discrete time buckets organized in a hierarchical structure. This segmentation enables computational operations such as retrieving total inventory and querying minimum inventory to be performed in O(log(N)) time by navigating the structured buckets rather than scanning all data, thus improving computational efficiency while maintaining operational simplicity through consistent data access patterns.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method is disclosed for providing nested bucketization in a supply chain network. The system includes a server coupled with a database and configured to access data describing a time horizon of a specified time interval. The server is further configured to create an on-hand inventory profile which comprises a set of (day, quantity) pairs, stored in a linked list within a data structure involving nested buckets, wherein the on-hand inventory profile points to an empty link list when first created and store the on-hand inventory profile in the database.