Map Generation for Retail Inventory and Price Comparison

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Solution Overview

Problem

Consumers face difficulties in determining whether products are in stock and at competitive prices at local retail stores, leading to potential wasted time and effort in searching for available items.

Innovation Solution

A system that generates a map displaying retail stores with in-stock products and prices within a user's geographic area of interest, allowing for real-time inventory updates, product searches, and personalized recommendations based on user preferences and shopping history, along with optimized shopping itineraries for price and time.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If consumers drive to retail stores to check product availability, then they can verify stock status, but they waste time and effort when products are out of stock or priced higher than desired

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveproduct availability verificationVSAvoidtime spent driving to stores

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system introduces a third-party service (the system itself) that acts as an intermediary between consumers and retail stores. It aggregates real-time inventory data from multiple stores and presents it through a user-friendly interface, eliminating the need for consumers to physically visit stores to check availability. The system mediates the information flow, providing accurate stock status data without requiring the consumer's time investment.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The system creates a virtual copy of physical store inventories by capturing and storing real-time stock data from retail stores. This digital representation allows consumers to browse product availability online without visiting the actual stores. The inventory information is replicated and made accessible through the system's interface, enabling remote verification of stock status.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

2Loss of information

If consumers search for products online, then they can view product details and prices, but they cannot verify real-time stock availability at local stores

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveproduct stock informationVSAvoidshopping decision making

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system maintains continuous connection with retail stores to receive real-time inventory updates. Rather than periodic sampling, the system continuously monitors stock levels and price changes, ensuring that the information displayed is always current. This continuous data flow eliminates gaps in information availability, allowing consumers to make informed decisions without uncertainty about real-time stock status.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #20Continuity of useful action

Solution Approach 2:

The system serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides product search capabilities, real-time inventory checking, price comparison across stores, and location-based store filtering. By consolidating these functions into a single platform, the system eliminates the need for consumers to switch between different services or manually check multiple sources, making the shopping decision-making process more efficient and comprehensive.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

3Reliability

If the system provides real-time inventory updates from multiple stores, then consumers can make informed purchasing decisions, but the system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveinventory data accuracyVSAvoidsystem architecture

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system divides the complex task of monitoring multiple stores into separate modular components. Each store's inventory data is captured independently, processed separately, and then aggregated into a unified presentation. This segmentation allows the system to handle large numbers of stores without overwhelming complexity, as each component can be optimized and maintained independently while contributing to the overall function.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentUS10817928B2System, method, and medium for generating a map of a geographic region based on client location data

Publication Date: 2020.10.27 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC

AI summary

Described herein are technologies pertaining to presenting a map to a user that comprises graphical icons that are representative of retail stores. The user has provided a shopping list, wherein the shopping list includes a plurality of products that are desirably purchased by the user. Inventories of retail stores in a geographic region of interest to the user are searched, and a map is generated that includes graphical icons representative of the retail stores, data that indicates that product(s) in the shopping list are available at the retail stores, and price data that indicates prices of product(s) in the shopping list at the respective retail stores.