The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 27, 2004
Filed:
May. 31, 2002
Hartmut K. Vogler, Foster City, CA (US);
Richard J. Swan, Portola Valley, CA (US);
Tao Lin, Mountain View, CA (US);
James Vrieling, Arvada, CO (US);
R. Scott Beckett, Marietta, GA (US);
Wouter Van der Veen, Den Haag, NL;
Ye Chen, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
SAP Aktiengesellschaft, Walldorf, DE;
Abstract
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, to support real-time inventory management. Changes to the inventory including the addition or removal of an item from the inventory are reported to the item tracking system in real-time. An inventory planner normally operates on a periodic schedule to perform inventory management functions. The inventory planner can receive alerts from an early warning agent that can cause the inventory planner to perform at least some inventory management functions, outside of its normal periodic schedule. In particular, the agent can send an alert to the inventory planner to cause the inventory planner to determine whether replenishment of store inventory is needed. To make this determination, the inventory planner can retrieve real-time inventory data from the item tracking system.