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US 11,693,385 B2Granted
Automated slot adjustment tool
AssigneeWalmart Apollo, LLC
InventorsTimothy Ryan Hodges, Christopher Wade Spencer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems, methods, and machine readable media are provided for slot capacity adjustment. A utilization rate of a facility for a plurality of time slots is determined. Slots having a utilization rate that can have an associated capacity increased are identified and the capacity for the slots having a utilization rate that can be increased is increased. Slots having a utilization rate that can have an associated capacity decreased are identified and these slots have their capacity decreased. A slot-to-slot capacity variance of greater than a smoothing threshold are identified and smoothed. A capacity schedule is produced based on the capacity increases, capacity decreases, and capacity smoothing.
Claims15
A system for adjustment of capacity of a retail facility for responding to electronic orders received via a network from user devices, the system comprising:
- one or more computer-readable media storing a plurality of data structures associated with the capacity of the retail facility for responding to the electronic orders received via the network from the user devices;
- and
- a computing device including a processor-based control circuit and a visual display, the control circuit of the computing device being configured to execute a slot capacity module, wherein the slot capacity module, when executed:
- reads a first one of the plurality of data structures to determine a utilization rate of the retail facility for time slots for a plurality of days, the utilization rate being based on a prior history of utilization rates collected over a pre-determined period of time;
- creates a second one of the plurality of data structures that identifies candidate time slots for which capacity is subject to modification based on the utilization rate associated with each of the time slots or each of the time slots for a specified day;
- modifies the second one of the plurality of data structures to at least one of remove a first subset of the candidate time slots, associate an increment flag with a second subset of the candidate time slots, or associate a decrement flag with a third subset of the candidate time slots;
- modifies a third one of the plurality of data structures to adjust the capacity for the candidate time slots associated with the increment or decrement flag;
- adjusts, in the third one of the plurality of data structures, the capacity for a fourth subset of the candidate time slots having a slot-to-slot capacity variance that exceeds a smoothing threshold;
- generates a recommended capacity schedule for the retail facility;
- generates, on the visual display, a user-modifiable graphical interface configured to permit a user to manually configure adaptive step-up processes that control how the computing device implements a capacity increase for the time slots at the retail facility for the plurality of days, wherein the user modifiable graphical interface includes input fields permitting the user to select a conservative capacity increase step-up process, a normal capacity increase step-up process, or an aggressive capacity increase step-up process;
- and
- transmits a signal to the visual display to generate, on the visual display, a modifiable graphical user interface including electronic data representing:
- an identifier of the retail facility;
- an indicator of a current number of the time slots reflecting a current capacity of the retail facility;
- an indicator of a recommended number of the time slots reflecting the recommended capacity schedule of the retail facility;
- and
- an indicator of a time period associated with the recommended capacity schedule.
14 more elements
A computer-implemented method for adjustment of capacity of a retail facility for responding to electronic orders received via a network from user devices, the method comprising:
- providing a computing device including a processor-based control circuit and a visual display;
- and
- by the control circuit of the computing device and via a slot capacity module:
- reading, via the slot capacity module, a first one of a plurality of data structures to determine a utilization rate of the retail facility for time slots for a plurality of days, the utilization rate being based on a prior history of utilization rates collected over a pre-determined period of time;
- creating a second one of the plurality of data structures that identifies candidate time slots for which capacity is subject to modification based on the utilization rate associated with each of the time slots or each of the time slots for a specified day;
- modifying the second one of the plurality of data structures to at least one of remove a first subset of the candidate time slots, associate an increment flag with a second subset of the candidate time slots, or associate a decrement flag with a third subset of the candidate time slots;
- modifying a third one of the plurality of data structures to adjust the capacity for the candidate time slots associated with the increment or decrement flag;
- adjusting, in the third one of the plurality of data structures, the capacity for a fourth subset of the candidate time slots having a slot-to-slot capacity variance that exceeds a smoothing threshold;
- generating a recommended capacity schedule for the retail facility;
- generating, on the visual display, a user-modifiable graphical interface configured to permit a user to manually configure adaptive step-up processes that control how the computing device implements a capacity increase for the time slots at the retail facility for the plurality of days, wherein the user modifiable graphical interface includes input fields permitting the user to select a conservative capacity increase step-up process, a normal capacity increase step-up process, or an aggressive capacity increase step-up process;
- and
- transmitting a signal to the visual display to generate, on the visual display, a modifiable graphical user interface including electronic data representing:
- an identifier of the retail facility;
- an indicator of a current number of the time slots reflecting a current capacity of the retail facility;
- an indicator of a recommended number of the time slots reflecting the recommended capacity schedule of the retail facility;
- and
- an indicator of a time period associated with the recommended capacity schedule.
14 more elements
A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions executable by a computing device, wherein execution of the instructions causes the computing device to implement a method for adjustment of capacity of a retail facility for responding to electronic orders received via a network from user devices, the method comprising:
- providing a computing device including a processor-based control circuit and a visual display;
- and
- by the control circuit of the computing device and via a slot capacity module:
- reading, via the slot capacity module, a first one of a plurality of data structures to determine a utilization rate of the retail facility for time slots for a plurality of days, the utilization rate being based on a prior history of utilization rates collected over a pre-determined period of time;
- creating a second one of the plurality of data structures that identifies candidate time slots for which capacity is subject to modification based on the utilization rate associated with each of the time slots or each of the time slots for a specified day;
- modifying the second one of the plurality of data structures to at least one of remove a first subset of the candidate time slots, associate an increment flag with a second subset of the candidate time slots, or associate a decrement flag with a third subset of the candidate time slots;
- modifying a third one of the plurality of data structures to adjust the capacity for the candidate time slots associated with the increment or decrement flag;
- adjusting, in the third one of the plurality of data structures, the capacity for a fourth subset of the candidate time slots having a slot-to-slot capacity variance that exceeds a smoothing threshold;
- generating a recommended capacity schedule for the retail facility;
- generating, on the visual display, a user-modifiable graphical interface configured to permit a user to manually configure adaptive step-up processes that control how the computing device implements a capacity increase for the time slots at the retail facility for the plurality of days, wherein the user modifiable graphical interface includes input fields permitting the user to select a conservative capacity increase step-up process, a normal capacity increase step-up process, or an aggressive capacity increase step-up process;
- and
- transmitting a signal to the visual display to generate, on the visual display, a modifiable graphical user interface including electronic data representing:
- an identifier of the retail facility;
- an indicator of a current number of the time slots reflecting a current capacity of the retail facility;
- an indicator of a recommended number of the time slots reflecting the recommended capacity schedule of the retail facility;
- and
- an indicator of a time period associated with the recommended capacity schedule.
14 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.