Mobile Vendor Positioning via Customer Search Aggregation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile vendors face challenges in aligning their locations with customer demands in real-time, as traditional methods lack efficiency in positioning vehicles based on customer search requests and preferences.
Innovation Solution
A system that receives search requests from user devices, identifies user criteria, and sends vehicle positioning information to vendor devices, allowing vendors to position their vehicles equidistant from multiple user locations or based on trigger criteria, such as user density and product type, to enhance customer-vendor alignment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If mobile vendors use traditional fixed-location methods, then vendor operational simplicity is maintained, but customer-vendor alignment efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a server as an intermediary between mobile vendors and customer devices. The server receives search requests from multiple customer devices, processes the location and criteria data, and sends vehicle positioning information to vendor devices. This intermediary system enables efficient real-time alignment without requiring complex direct communication between vendors and customers, resolving the contradiction by centralizing the coordination function.
2Reliability
If mobile vendors position vehicles based on real-time search requests, then customer needs alignment is improved, but response time delay increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary processing of search requests by the server, which aggregates location data and criteria from multiple customer devices before contacting vendors. This preliminary action prepares the positioning information in advance, reducing the response time when vendors need to relocate to serve customers effectively.
3Area of stationary object
If vendors serve multiple scattered customer locations, then customer coverage is improved, but vendor travel distance increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple customer location requests into a single optimized vendor positioning solution. The server aggregates search requests from multiple customer devices and determines an optimal location that serves the group, rather than requiring the vendor to travel to each scattered location separately. This combining approach maximizes customer coverage while minimizing vendor travel distance.
Data Source
AI summary
A mechanism for directing a vendor vehicle to an area in a region. A device receives a plurality of search requests from a plurality of corresponding user devices. Each search request includes search request data that includes a location identifier that identifies a location of the corresponding user device in the region at a time of the search request, and one or more user search criteria. The device identifies, based on the plurality of search requests and at least one subset-determination criterion, at least one subset of the plurality of user devices. The device determines at least one determined location within the region based on the corresponding locations of the user devices in the at least one subset. The device sends vehicle positioning information that identifies the at least one determined location to a vendor device associated with the vendor vehicle.