Retail Assignment Selection Based on External Location Proximity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for monitoring product placement in retail stores are inefficient and non-uniform, lacking continuous monitoring capabilities for dynamically changing displays, leading to compliance gaps and reduced productivity.
Innovation Solution
The development of systems and methods utilizing image processing and sensors to capture, collect, and analyze images of products in retail stores, enabling automatic monitoring of product placement and triggering alerts for disparities between desired and actual placement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual monitoring of product placement is used, then compliance can be checked, but the process is inefficient and results in non-uniform compliance among retailers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical monitoring with an automated image processing system. Cameras capture images of product placements, and computer vision algorithms automatically analyze whether products are correctly positioned according to planograms, eliminating the need for manual inspection while ensuring uniform compliance across all retail locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service monitoring where the retail environment itself provides the data for compliance checking. Image sensors and automated analysis allow the system to monitor and evaluate product placement compliance without human intervention, making the monitoring process both efficient and uniformly applicable across all stores.
2Reliability
If periodic manual checks are performed, then some compliance can be verified, but continuous monitoring of dynamically changing displays is not possible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements continuous monitoring through permanently installed image sensors that continuously capture product placement data. The system operates without interruption, automatically detecting and recording any changes in product placement, thereby eliminating the time loss associated with periodic manual checks and ensuring no compliance issues are missed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary detection of compliance issues by continuously monitoring product placements. When discrepancies are detected, the system can immediately alert relevant personnel or automatically trigger corrective actions, preventing compliance violations from persisting and reducing the time needed for remediation.
3Productivity
If automated image processing systems are deployed, then continuous monitoring capability is achieved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a universal image processing platform that can monitor multiple product types, shelf configurations, and retail locations through a single system architecture. The same hardware and software infrastructure handles diverse monitoring tasks, reducing overall system complexity compared to dedicated systems for each monitoring scenario.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses digital copies (images) of physical product placements for analysis. By working with image data rather than physical manipulation, the system achieves continuous monitoring capability while keeping the physical infrastructure simple. The complex analysis is performed on digital replicas, not on the physical products themselves.
Data Source
AI summary
A non-transitory computer-readable medium includes instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform a method for selecting available assignments, the method including: receiving an indication of an external assignment, wherein the external assignment is associated with one or more locations external to a plurality of retail stores; based on the indication of the external assignment, selecting a retail store among the plurality of retail stores; based on the selected retail store, selecting at least one available assignment in the selected retail store; and offering the selected at least one available assignment in the selected retail store to a user.