System for inventory management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Retail stores face challenges in efficiently managing inventory, including high costs due to manual labor for counting products, product theft, inaccurate tracking of stock levels, and excessive inventory maintenance, which affects profitability and consumer satisfaction.
Innovation Solution
A display management system that includes a mechanism to detect product removals using a sensor and transmitter circuit, communicating data to a remote processor to calculate the number of products removed and detect patterns, integrated with a support structure and label holder to prevent multiple product removals at once, enabling automated inventory tracking and theft detection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual inventory counting is performed, then inventory levels can be determined, but significant manual labor is required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical counting with an automated sensor system. Sensors detect product removal events and transmit data to a processor that automatically calculates inventory levels, eliminating the need for manual labor while maintaining accurate measurement of stock levels.
Solution Approach 2:
The inventory system performs self-monitoring through sensors that automatically detect when products are removed from shelves. The system autonomously tracks inventory changes and generates alerts when stock levels need replenishment, without requiring human intervention for counting.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If in-store cameras are used to monitor theft, then theft detection is attempted, but cameras do not observe theft clearly enough to catch or prosecute the thief
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces passive visual monitoring with active sensor detection. Sensors positioned at shelf edges detect the physical act of product removal through weight changes or position detection, providing objective data about theft events without relying on visual observation clarity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces sensors as intermediaries between the product and the monitoring system. These sensors detect product removal events and provide data to a processor that identifies potential theft by comparing detected removals with point-of-sale scan data, bypassing the need for clear visual observation.
3Reliability
If product is placed in multiple facings on each shelf to ensure stock availability, then shelves remain stocked, but valuable shelf space is consumed that could be allocated to additional product choices
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements real-time feedback through sensors that monitor stock levels on each facing. When a product reaches a predetermined low stock level, the system generates an alert to restock that specific facing, allowing optimal shelf space utilization without over-stocking.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of maintaining excessive inventory across all facings, the system uses partial monitoring with alerts triggered only when specific facings reach low stock levels. This allows the store to maintain reliability while minimizing the total shelf space dedicated to any single product.
4Loss of information
If scanner data is used to track product sales, then purchase information is captured, but the system cannot determine when product is removed from the shelf but not purchased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces sensors as intermediaries between the product and the tracking system. These sensors detect all product removal events from shelves and provide data to a processor that compares physical removals with scanned purchases, identifying potential theft or misplaced products that scanner data alone cannot detect.
Data Source
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AI summary
Systems and methods related to sensor-equipped display management systems. In one aspect, the systems and methods may be utilized to calculate a number of products removed from a display management system based upon motion of one or more mechanisms within the display management system. In another aspect, the systems and methods may be utilized to detect patterns from the sensor data, which may be indicative of attempted theft of products stored within the display management system.