Distributed item dispenser management
AssigneeNCR Corporation
InventorThomas V. Edwards
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and techniques for distributed dispenser management are provided. A list of item selections is received, the list including at least one item with an item type. A collection of one or more dispenser groups may be identified, where each dispenser group in the collection includes a unique combination of one or more item dispensers with a combined unreserved inventory sufficient to dispense each item in the list. An item dispenser group may then be selected from the collection based on even depletion. The items in the list may be reserved from the selected dispenser group.
Claims21
A system comprising:
- a plurality of item dispensers, item dispensers in the plurality of item dispensers being physically separate from each other;
- one or more self-service checkout terminals, each of the one or more self-service checkout terminals including one or more hardware processors and a user interface configured to receive a list of item selections, the list including at least one item with an item type, and each of the one or more self-service checkout terminals configured to:
- identify a collection of one or more item dispenser groups, each item dispenser group in the collection being a unique combination of one or more item dispensers from the plurality of item dispensers with a combined unreserved inventory sufficient to dispense each item in the list;
- select an item dispenser group from the collection based on even depletion;
- and
- reserve the items in the list from the selected item dispenser group.
In a system with a plurality of item dispensers that are physically separate from each other, a method comprising:
- receiving, using one or more hardware processors, a list of item selections, the list including at least one item with an item type;
- identifying a collection of one or more item dispenser groups, each item dispenser group in the collection being a unique combination of one or more item dispensers from the plurality of item dispensers with a combined unreserved inventory sufficient to dispense each item in the list;
- selecting an item dispenser group from the collection based on even depletion;
- and
- reserving the items in the list from the selected item dispenser group.
A non-transitory machine readable medium including instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform a method, the method comprising:
- receiving, using one or more hardware processors, a list of item selections, the list including at least one item with an item type;
- identifying a collection of one or more item dispenser groups, each item dispenser group in the collection being a unique combination of one or more item dispensers from the plurality of item dispensers with a combined unreserved inventory sufficient to dispense each item in the list, item dispensers in the plurality of item dispensers being physically separate from each other;
- selecting an item dispenser group from the collection based on even depletion;
- and
- reserving the items in the list from the selected item dispenser group.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.