Granted Patent B2

US 12,644,711 · App. 17/932,847 · Granted Jun 2, 2026

Inventors: David Kovacs (Minneapolis, MN); Yueming Liu (Minneapolis, MN); Arjun Berry (Minneapolis, MN)

Assignee: Target Brands, Inc.

G01C21/206G01C21/38G06Q10/0833G06Q10/087

Abstract

Claims (113)

1 . A system for providing on-premises shipping vessel analytics at a retail location, comprising:

at least one processor;

a first locatable device being carried by the shipping vessel;

a first sensor being located at a staging location of the retail location;

a second sensor being located on a sales floor of the retail location; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor, the memory including instructions that when executed by the at least one processor cause the system to:

determine, by registering the first locatable device by the first sensor, that at least one shipping vessel has arrived at the staging location of the retail location and noting a time of arrival;

request, from an asset telemetry server, using an application programmable interface, asset telemetry information;

determine x and y location coordinates of the first locatable device carried by the shipping vessel using signal strength data corresponding to a transmitted beacon signal;

receive, by a controller, asset telemetry information corresponding to the x and y location coordinates of the first locatable device at the retail location over a period of time as the shipping vessel is moved within the retail location;

receive map information, associated with an x-y coordinate system, from a map information data source, corresponding to the retail location;

receive, from a business context information data source, item location information including x and y location coordinates for each item of a plurality of items and item planogram information indicating assigned locations of each item of the plurality of items within a retail location, wherein the x and y coordinates for each item are plotted on the map information;

determine a shipping vessel travel route based on the asset telemetry information and the map information by overlaying the x and y location coordinates of the first locatable device on the map information;

infer an end of the shipping vessel travel route based on at least one of:

determining that the shipping vessel is stationary at the staging area when the x and y location coordinates of the first locatable device do not change for a predetermined period of time after passing through the sales floor at the retail location; and

when asset telemetry information is no longer received;

receive, from an endpoint device, a request for shipping vessel metrics at the retail location, wherein the metrics are comprised of at least one of:

average shipping vessel travel time;

average unloading time; and

average stocking time;

categorize the asset telemetry information into at least a preparation portion of the shipping vessel travel route and a sales floor portion of the shipping vessel travel route based on the map information, the preparation portion being associated with the staging location, and the stocking portion being associated with the sales floor;

determine timing information indicating an amount of time the shipping vessel spent following each of the preparation portion and the sales floor portion of the shipping vessel travel route;

analyze the shipping vessel travel route, the timing information, and the map information for generating shipping vessel metrics and metrics visualizations, wherein the metrics visualizations include at least a path map;

classify, as a congestion event, detection of the first locatable device and a second locatable device within a predefined distance during a rolling time window;

aggregate two or more congestion events by map region and time period;

generate congestion metrics and congestion metrics visualizations based at least in part on the aggregated congestion events;

provide the congestion metrics and the congestion metrics visualizations to the endpoint device;

provide the shipping vessel metrics and metrics visualizations to the endpoint device; and

present the path map, wherein the path map includes at least one of:

the shipping vessel travel route based on the location coordinates of the locatable device carried by the shipping vessel;

an average shipping vessel travel route; and

an outlier shipping vessel travel route.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first locatable device is an asset tag attached to the shipping vessel and is configured to transmit beacon signals received by sensors located throughout the retail location.

3 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

one or more sensors disposed at the staging location of the retail location, each of the one or more sensors being configured to receive asset telemetry information from the locatable device carried by the shipping vessel when the shipping vessel is disposed at the staging location; and

a plurality of sensors disposed at the sales floor of the retail location, each of the sensors being configured to receive asset telemetry information from the locatable device carried by the shipping vessel when the shipping vessel is disposed at the sales floor, each of the sensors being associated with a respective region of the sales floor.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the shipping vessel metrics include a determination of a first transit period, a stocking period, and a second transit period based on the timing information, the map information, wherein a first transition between the first transit period and the stocking period is inferred from correlating paused movement of the shipping vessel within an aisle on the sales floor with the stocking period, wherein a second transition between the stocking period and the second transit period is inferred from correlating movement of the shipping vessel along the sales floor at a predetermined speed or by a lack of paused movement of the shipping vessel for a predetermined period of time.

5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the metrics visualizations include an overlay of the shipping vessel travel route over a planogram of the store.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the shipping vessel travel route is color coded to indicate the first transit period, the stocking period, and the second transit period.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the shipping vessel is one of a plurality of shipping vessels, each shipping vessel having a respective locatable device configured to provide asset telemetry information; and wherein the memory includes instructions that when executed by the at least one processor cause the system to execute the steps of claim 1 for each of the shipping vessels so that a respective shipping vessel travel route and respective timing information are determined for each shipping vessel, and wherein shipping vessel metrics and metrics visualizations are provided for each shipping vessel.

8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the metrics visualizations enable an end user to separately view the shipping vessel travel route of each shipping vessel at the retail location overlaid on a planogram.

9 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the metrics visualizations enable an end user to view the shipping vessel travel routes of all of the shipping vessels at the retail location overlaid on a planogram.

10 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the metrics and metrics visualizations include determinations of average unloading times, average stocking times, and average transit times for the shipping vessels at a retail location.

11 . A method of providing on-premises shipping vessel analytics, comprising:

determining at least one shipping vessel has arrived at a staging location of a retail location and noting a time of arrival, the shipping vessel carrying a locatable device,

wherein the retail location comprises a first sensor being located at the staging location of the retail location and a second sensor being located on a sales floor of the retail location, and

wherein determining that the at least one shipping vessel has arrived at the staging

location comprises registering the first locatable device by the first sensor;

requesting, from an asset telemetry server, using an application programmable interface, asset telemetry information;

determining x and y location coordinates of the first locatable device carried by the shipping vessel using signal strength data corresponding to a transmitted beacon signal;

receiving, by a controller, asset telemetry information corresponding to the location coordinates of the first locatable device at the retail location over a period of time as the shipping vessel is moved within the retail location;

receiving map information, associated with an x-y coordinate system, from a map information data source, corresponding to the retail location;

receive, from a business context information data source, item location information including x and y location coordinates for each item of a plurality of items and item planogram information indicating assigned locations of each item of the plurality of items within a retail location, wherein the x and y coordinates for each item are plotted on the map information;

determining a shipping vessel travel route-based on the asset telemetry information and the map information by overlaying the x and y location coordinates of the first locatable device on the map information;

inferring an end of the shipping vessel travel route based on at least one of:

determining that the shipping vessel is stationary at the staging area when the location coordinates of the first locatable device do not change for a predetermined period of time after passing through the sales floor at the retail location; and

when asset telemetry information is no longer received;

receiving, from an endpoint device, a request for shipping vessel metrics at the retail location, wherein the metrics are comprised of at least one of:

average shipping vessel travel time;

average unloading time; and

average stocking time;

categorizing the asset telemetry information into at least a preparation period, a first transit period, a stocking period, and a second transit period by determining placement of the shipping vessel within the retail location using the asset telemetry information and the map information and correlating pauses of the shipping vessel in the staging location prior to transitioning to the sales floor with the preparation period, correlating pauses of the shipping vessel at locations on the sales floor with the stocking period, correlating movement of the shipping vessel between the preparation period and the stocking period with the first transit period, and correlating movement of the shipping vessel between the stocking period and a return to the staging area with the second transit period;

determining timing information for each of the preparation period, the first transit period, the stocking period, and the second transit period;

analyzing the shipping vessel travel route, the timing information, and the map information for generating shipping vessel metrics and metrics visualizations, wherein the metrics visualizations include at least a path map;

classifying, as a congestion event, detection of the first locatable device and a second locatable device within a predefined distance during a rolling time window;

aggregating two or more congestion events by map region and time period;

generating congestion metrics and congestion metrics visualizations based at least in part on the aggregated congestion events;

providing the congestion metrics and the congestion metrics visualizations to the endpoint device;

providing the shipping vessel metrics and metrics visualizations to the endpoint device; and

present the path map, wherein the path map includes at least one of:

the shipping vessel travel route based on the location coordinates of the locatable device carried by the shipping vessel;

an average shipping vessel travel route; and

an outlier shipping vessel travel route.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein determining the at least one shipping vessel has arrived at a staging location includes automatically detecting a beacon signal from the locatable device carried by the shipping vessel.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the metrics visualizations enable an end user to view the shipping vessel travel route of the at least one shipping vessel overlaid on a planogram.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the stocking period, the first transit period, and the second transit period are visually indicated on the shipping vessel travel route.

15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein receiving asset telemetry information includes receiving beacon signals from the first locatable device at a plurality of sensors disposed throughout the retail location.

16 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the steps of claim 11 are performed for a plurality of shipping vessels, each shipping vessel having a respective locatable device.

17 . A system for providing on-premises shipping vessel analytics at a retail location, comprising:

at least one processor;

a first locatable Bluetooth device being carried by the shipping vessel;

a first Bluetooth sensor being located at a staging location of the retail location;

a second Bluetooth sensor being located on a sales floor of the retail location; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor, the memory including instructions that when executed by the at least one processor cause the system to:

determine, by registering the first locatable Bluetooth device by the first Bluetooth sensor, that at least one shipping vessel has arrived at the staging location of the retail location and noting a time of arrival;

request, from an asset telemetry server, using an application programmable interface, asset telemetry information;

determine x and y location coordinates of the first locatable Bluetooth device carried by the shipping vessel using signal strength data corresponding to a transmitted beacon signal;

receive, by a controller, asset telemetry information corresponding to the x and y location coordinates of the first locatable Bluetooth device at the retail location over a period of time as the shipping vessel is moved within the retail location;

receive map information, associated with an x-y coordinate system, from a map information data source, corresponding to the retail location;

receive, from a business context information data source, item location information including x and y location coordinates for each item of a plurality of items and item planogram information indicating assigned locations of each item of the plurality of items within a retail location wherein the x and y coordinates for each item are plotted on the map information;

determine a shipping vessel travel route based on the asset telemetry information and the map information by overlaying the x and y location coordinates of the first locatable Bluetooth device on the map information;

infer an end of the shipping vessel travel route based on at least one of:

determining that the shipping vessel is stationary at the staging area when the x and y location coordinates of the first locatable Bluetooth device do not change for a predetermined period of time after passing through the sales floor at the retail location; and

when asset telemetry information is no longer received;

receive, from an endpoint device, a request for shipping vessel metrics at the retail location, wherein the metrics are comprised of at least one of:

average shipping vessel travel time;

average unloading time; and

average stocking time;

categorize the asset telemetry information into at least a preparation portion of the shipping vessel travel route and a sales floor portion of the shipping vessel travel route based on the map information, the preparation portion being associated with the staging location, and the stocking portion being associated with the sales floor;

determine timing information indicating an amount of time the shipping vessel spent following each of the preparation portion and the sales floor portion of the shipping vessel travel route;

analyze the shipping vessel travel route, the timing information, and the map information for generating shipping vessel metrics and metrics visualizations, wherein the metrics visualizations include at least a path map;

classify, as a congestion event, detection of the first Bluetooth device and a second locatable Bluetooth device within a predefined distance during a rolling time window;

aggregate two or more congestion events by map region and time period;

generate congestion metrics and congestion metrics visualizations based at least in part on the aggregated congestion events;

provide the congestion metrics and the congestion metrics visualizations to the endpoint device;

provide the shipping vessel metrics and metrics visualizations to the endpoint device; and

present the path map, wherein the path map includes at least one of:

the shipping vessel travel route based on the location coordinates of the locatable Bluetooth device carried by the shipping vessel;

an average shipping vessel travel route; and

an outlier shipping vessel travel route.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the shipping vessel metrics include a determination of a first transit period, a stocking period, and a second transit period based on the timing information, the map information, wherein a first transition between the first transit period and the stocking period is inferred from correlating paused movement of the shipping vessel within an aisle on the sales floor with the stocking period, wherein a second transition between the stocking period and the second transit period is inferred from correlating movement of the shipping vessel along the sales floor at a predetermined speed or by a lack of paused movement of the shipping vessel for a predetermined period of time.

19 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the metrics visualizations includes an overlay of the shipping vessel travel route over a planogram of the store, wherein the shipping vessel travel route is color coded to indicating the first transit period, the stocking period, and the second transit period.

20 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the shipping vessel is one of a plurality of shipping vessels, each shipping vessel having a respective locatable device configured to provide asset telemetry information; wherein the metrics visualizations enable an end user to separately view the shipping vessel travel route of each shipping vessel at the retail location overlaid on a planogram.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (41)