Inventory management system

A system for managing an inventory of items, each item being positioned in one of a plurality of respective locations within an environment and being associated with a corresponding wireless identification device, the environment having a plurality of respective locations including a first location such that those items stored therein are available for customer review, a second location having a plurality of shelves that is different than the first location such that those items stored therein are available for customer review, and a third location different from the first location and the second location such that those items stored therein are not available for customer review, the system comprising:

• a wireless data collection system:
• a computer system;
• means for providing item information associated with each item from each corresponding wireless identification device to the computer system using the wireless data collection system, the item information including item identification and item location, the item location identifying a current one location of the plurality of respective locations for each item, and
• means for performing an inventory management process by executing the inventory management system program on the computer system based on the item information to provide management information associated with the inventory items, the means for performing the inventory management process including means for performing an out of stock control process, wherein the means for performing the out of stock control process includes:
• (i) means for determining a current inventory count of each item type for all items of any type located in the plurality of respective locations within the environment based on the item information retrieved from one or more of the wireless identification devices,
• (ii) means for determining when a number of items of a same type in the inventory falls below a first threshold value for a corresponding location within the environment based on the information retrieved from one or more of the wireless identification devices;
• and
• (iii) means for determining whether there exists any particular item types which are located only in the third location and not in any of the other plurality of locations within the environment;
• and means for identifying certain ones of those particular item types for placement within the environment in another of the plurality of locations other than the third location.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions for performing a method, when executed by a processor, for managing an inventory of items, each item being positioned in one of a plurality of respective locations within an environment and being associated with a corresponding wireless identification device, the environment having a plurality of respective locations including a first location such that those items stored therein are available for customer review, a second location having a plurality of shelves that is different than the first location such as those items stored therein are available for customer review, and a third location different from the first location and the second location such that those items stored therein are not available for customer review, the instructions for performing the method comprising:

• providing item information associated with each item from each corresponding wireless identification device;
• and
• performing an inventory management process based on the item information to provide management information associated with the inventory of items, the inventory management process including an out of stock control process, wherein the out of stock control process includes:
• (i) determining a current inventory count of each item type for all items of any type located in the plurality of respective locations within the environment based on the item information retrieved from one or more of the wireless identification devices,
• (ii) determining when a number of items of a same type in the inventory falls below a first threshold value for a corresponding location within the environment based on the information retrieved from one or more of the wireless identification devices;
• and
• (iii) determining whether there exists any particular item types which are located only in the third location and not in any of the other plurality of locations within the environment;
• and identifying certain ones of those particular item types for placement within the environment in another of the plurality of locations other than the third location.