Patents Assigned to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
  • Patent number: 11068932
    Abstract: Systems and methods including one or more processing modules and one or more non-transitory storage modules storing computing instructions configured to run on the one or more processing modules and perform acts of obtaining a uniform resource locator (URL) of a first webpage that is shown on a graphical user interface and that is external to a website of a retailer (where, in some embodiments, the URL is obtained from a referral website or is entered by a user from a chat window or search box), using a web scraper to extract web text displayed on the first webpage on the graphical user interface, processing the web text displayed on the first webpage on the graphical user interface to determine an interest of a user, using a set of rules to determine items related to the web text displayed on the first webpage on the graphical user interface, and coordinating displaying the items on a second webpage to promote the items as related to the interest of the user, where the second webpage is internal or external
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2021
    Assignee: WAL-MART STORES, INC.
    Inventors: Wei Shen, Yuan Xie, Vahid Jalalibarsari, Lu Wang, Chenxi Liu, Zhao Zhao
  • Patent number: 10909495
    Abstract: Systems and methods are described which utilize improved scheduling techniques. An electronic scheduling platform enables customers to view and select pick-up options for scheduling orders to be retrieved at a location. Each pick-up option is associated with a price and a queue time. An average service time and an average inter-arrival time is determined for the location. A queuing procedure is executed which calculates queue times and prices for the pick-up options based, at least in part, on the average service time and the average inter-arrival time. The queuing procedure dynamically updates in real-time the calculated queue times and prices for the pick-up options. Instructions are generated for providing an interface that displays at least a portion of the pick-up options with the updated queue times and prices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: WAL-MART STORES, INC.
    Inventors: Pratosh Deepak Rajkhowa, Vidyanand Krishnan
  • Patent number: 10607267
    Abstract: Embodiments relate to systems and methods for identifying potential shoplifting incidents. In one embodiment, a system can receive and analyze information related to a number of items removed from a display and a number of items added to a shopping receptacle. These numbers of items can be detected by weight or load changes sensed by a sensor system, and if the counted numbers of items do not match, the system can flag nearby shopping receptacles via their unique identification numbers as potentially involved in shoplifting incidents.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2020
    Assignee: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
    Inventors: Anindya Sankar Dey, Sadaf Riyaz Sayyad
  • Publication number: 20190236488
    Abstract: Systems and methods including one or more processing modules and one or more non-transitory storage modules storing computing instructions configured to run on the one or more processing modules and perform acts of: utilizing historical transaction information to derive metric information associated with prior transactions; generating a listing of user-item pairs, each of the user-item pairs identifying a user and an item; executing a machine learning model that is configured to generate a transmission list for sending push notifications; generating a transmission list by selecting user-item pairs based on the conversion probability values and the confidence indicators that are assigned to the user-item pairs; customizing content for the push notifications to include information for items identified by the user-item pairs included in the transmission list; and transmitting the push notifications to the users identified by the user-item pairs included in the transmission list.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2018
    Publication date: August 1, 2019
    Applicant: WAL-MART STORES, INC.
    Inventors: Kannan Achan, Evren Korpeoglu, Abhimanyu Mitra, Sinduja Subramaniam
  • Publication number: 20190236676
    Abstract: Systems and methods including one or more processing modules and one or more non-transitory storage modules storing computing instructions configured to run on the one or more processing modules and perform acts of: receiving recipes in an electronic manner; parsing the recipes to identify ingredients; generating mapping information that correlates the recipes with corresponding ingredients, and that correlates the ingredients with corresponding grocery products; executing a recommendation engine that is configured to recommend a recipe selected to a user based, at least in part, on the user's shopping behavior; utilizing the mapping information to select a subset of the grocery products that correspond to the ingredients for the recipe; transmitting data for presenting a recommendation display to the user that presents the subset of the grocery products and enables the grocery products to be added to an online shopping cart. Other embodiments are disclosed herein.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2018
    Publication date: August 1, 2019
    Applicant: WAL-MART STORES, INC.
    Inventors: Kannan Achan, Hyun Duk Cho, Sushant Kumar
  • Publication number: 20190238472
    Abstract: Systems and methods including one or more processing modules and one or more non-transitory storage modules storing computing instructions configured to run on the one or more processing modules and perform acts of: initiating a cluster of controller instances in a cloud environment for executing a multi-dimensional event engine; and configuring the cluster of controller instances in a topology that provides availability and redundancy for the multi-dimensional event engine. An active controller instance is configured to: detect a current level of network traffic; receive the messages from an order management system; select a transmission rate for sending the messages to the fulfillment centers based on the current level of the network traffic; transmit the messages to the one or more fulfillment centers in accordance with the transmission rate; and dynamically adjust the transmission rate in response to detecting changes in the network traffic.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 29, 2018
    Publication date: August 1, 2019
    Applicant: WAL-MART STORES, INC.
    Inventors: Raj Anand, Ruchitkumar Shah
  • Publication number: 20190236541
    Abstract: A system includes one or more processing modules and one or more non-transitory storage modules storing computing instructions configured to run on the one or more processing modules and perform acts of: configuring an exception event handler for a delivery system with a ruleset that enables proactive identification and resolution of delivery exceptions; monitoring a queue of incoming messages that are received from carriers indicating status information for shipments being handled by the carriers; detecting a first delivery exception for a first incoming message regarding first status information for a first shipment of products; determining a first exception type for the first delivery exception based on the ruleset; selecting, based at least in part on the exception type, a first automated corrective measure for the first delivery exception; and automatically executing the first automated corrective measure to resolve the first delivery exception. Other embodiments are disclosed herein.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 29, 2018
    Publication date: August 1, 2019
    Applicant: WAL-MART STORES, INC.
    Inventors: Saujanya Dasika, Karpagavalli Jaykumar, Raju Chautagi, Sailaja Kota
  • Publication number: 20190236180
    Abstract: A system includes one or more processing modules and one or more non-transitory storage modules storing computing instructions configured to run on the one or more processing modules and perform acts of: receiving, from a user computer, a destructive read request including header information indicating that a record stored in a persistent database is to be deleted after the record is successfully read from the persistent database; in response to receiving the destructive read request, retrieving the record, which was identified by the destructive read request, from the persistent database; after retrieving the record, receiving a success signal that confirms that the record was successfully read from the persistent database; and in response to receiving the success signal, automatically deleting the record, which was identified by the destructive read request, from the persistent database without receiving another instruction to delete the record. Other embodiments are disclosed herein.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2018
    Publication date: August 1, 2019
    Applicant: WAL-MART STORES, INC.
    Inventors: Kevin Matthew Charles, John R. Frerking, Richard Talmadge Jackson, JR., Clifford V. Vanderpool, Michael John Karagines
  • Publication number: 20190236158
    Abstract: Databases and file management systems and methods including one or more processors and one or more non-transitory computer-readable media computing instructions are configured to run on the one or more processors and perform acts of receiving a search query from a user electronic device, facilitating a search of a database comprising item records for multiple items of an online retailer related to the search query, receiving search results from the search of the database, facilitating inserting, according to a set of rules, the first item into the predetermined range of the ranked order of the set of items of the search results, and coordinating displaying the search results on a graphical user interface of the user electronic device with the first item listed in the predetermined range of the ranked order of the set of items of the search results. Additional embodiments are disclosed herein.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2018
    Publication date: August 1, 2019
    Applicant: WAL-MART STORES, INC.
    Inventors: Ning Cao, Wei Zhang, Jufang Wang
  • Publication number: 20190236202
    Abstract: Some embodiments include a system. The system can comprise one or more processors, and one or more non-transitory memory storage devices storing computer instructions configured to run on the one or more processors and perform: receiving a base query string comprising a query parameter; and generating a modified version of the base query string to create a modified query string. The modified query string can comprise the query parameter and an interleaving parameter. Meanwhile, generating the modified version of the base query string to create the modified query string can comprise adding the interleaving parameter to the base query string. Other embodiments of related systems and methods are also provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2018
    Publication date: August 1, 2019
    Applicant: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
    Inventor: Ergin Guney
  • Publication number: 20190236621
    Abstract: Systems and methods including one or more processors and one or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computing instructions that are configured to run on the one or more processors and perform acts of creating content variations for including in initial communications to initial targets, the content variations each comprising one or more content items selected from content item options, setting weightings for the content item options, transmitting the initial communications comprising the content variations to the initial targets, receiving initial response information, determining whether a minimum level of statistically significant difference is achieved between responses, determining updated weightings of the first and second ones of the content item options in relation to the initial response information, and transmitting updated communications comprising the content variations to subsequent targets. Additional embodiments are disclosed herein.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2018
    Publication date: August 1, 2019
    Applicant: WAL-MART STORES, INC.
    Inventors: Chenxi Liu, Lu Wang, Wei Shen
  • Publication number: 20190236639
    Abstract: A method including tracking usage data for users using a first channel and a second channel. The method also can include performing a classification of first users of the users into a first group and second users of the users into a second group. The classification can be based on the usage data. The method additionally can include, for each impression of a content element of content elements being displayed on a website to a user of the users, tracking impression response data including (a) whether the user is grouped into the first group or the second group, and (b) response data including: (i) a first response by the user to the content element in the first channel, and (ii) a second response by the user to the content element in the second channel. The method further can include receiving a request from a first user of the users to display a webpage of the website. The method additionally can include generating the webpage to include a selected content element from among the content elements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2018
    Publication date: August 1, 2019
    Applicant: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
    Inventors: Abhimanyu Mitra, Sinduja Subramaniam, Evren Korpeoglu, Kannan Achan
  • Publication number: 20190238652
    Abstract: This disclosure relates to systems and methods for executing a caching procedure for a web cache that is utilized by an electronic platform storing a plurality of clusters. The caching procedure may comprise retrieving a priming cutoff parameter that identifies a timeframe, utilizing the priming cutoff parameter to identify a subset of clusters that have been added or updated within the timeframe, and priming the web cache with content associated with the subset of clusters. The content in the web cache can be transmitted in response to receiving requests for the content. Other embodiments are disclosed herein.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2018
    Publication date: August 1, 2019
    Applicant: WAL-MART STORES, INC.
    Inventors: Linglong Zhu, Wei Wang, Zebin Chen, Ming Zhang, Jufang Wang, Wenke Zhang
  • Publication number: 20190236674
    Abstract: Systems and methods including one or more processors and one or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computing instructions that are configured to run on the one or more processors and perform acts of receiving a test set comprising potential candidate items for substitution for a target item, determining association scores for each of the potential candidate items in the test set, determining one or more semantic similarity features of the potential candidate items in the test set, determining one or more image similarity features of the potential candidate items in the test set, and creating a substitutive probability model by determining a relative contribution of each of the association scores, the semantic similarity features and the image similarity features to a substitutive probability for the potential candidate items in the test set, with reference to a baseline set of the potential candidate items. Additional embodiments are disclosed herein.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2018
    Publication date: August 1, 2019
    Applicant: WAL-MART STORES, INC.
    Inventors: Zhao Zhao, Wei Shen, Chenxi Liu
  • Publication number: 20190180321
    Abstract: Systems and methods including one or more processing modules and one or more non-transitory storage modules storing computing instructions configured to run on the one or more processing modules and perform acts of obtaining a uniform resource locator (URL) of a first webpage that is shown on a graphical user interface and that is external to a website of a retailer (where, in some embodiments, the URL is obtained from a referral website or is entered by a user from a chat window or search box), using a web scraper to extract web text displayed on the first webpage on the graphical user interface, processing the web text displayed on the first webpage on the graphical user interface to determine an interest of a user, using a set of rules to determine items related to the web text displayed on the first webpage on the graphical user interface, and coordinating displaying the items on a second webpage to promote the items as related to the interest of the user, where the second webpage is internal or external
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 12, 2017
    Publication date: June 13, 2019
    Applicant: WAL-MART STORES, INC.
    Inventors: Wei Shen, Yuan Xie, Vahid Jalalibarsari, Lu Wang, Chenxi Liu, Zhao Zhao
  • Publication number: 20190122270
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to techniques for combining stored pricing algorithms to generate new pricing algorithms. A control panel interface includes selectable options associated with a plurality of pricing algorithms and a plurality of combination techniques. Selections are received that identify at least two pricing algorithms and at least one combination technique. A new pricing algorithm is generated based on the selections. The new pricing algorithm is configured to compute prices for products and services by executing the selected pricing algorithms to generate a set of price outputs, and executing the selected combination technique to compute a price based on the set of price outputs generated by the pricing algorithms.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2017
    Publication date: April 25, 2019
    Applicant: WAL-MART STORES, INC.
    Inventors: Matyas Attila Sustik, Brian Thomas Seaman
  • Publication number: 20190073626
    Abstract: Systems and methods including one or more processing modules and one or more non-transitory storage modules storing computing instructions configured to run on the one or more processing modules and perform acts of receiving an order from a customer for a delivery of grocery items to a fulfillment location, determining a delivery compliance time for at least one item of the grocery items, receiving a pickup notification indicating that a pickup has picked up the grocery items at a first time, determining, at a second time after the first time, if a duration of time between the first time and the second time is greater than the delivery compliance time, and, if the duration of time between the first time and the second time is greater than the delivery compliance time, coordinating displaying an expiration message on a pickup interface of a pickup electronic device of the pickup.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 7, 2017
    Publication date: March 7, 2019
    Applicant: WAL-MART STORES, INC.
    Inventors: Austin Lee Smith, Vidyanand Krishnan, Michael Gilbert Ebener
  • Publication number: 20190050761
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for solving optimization problems that comprise infeasible constraint sets. Priority values are assigned to the constraints in an infeasible constraint set which indicate a relative importance of the constraints to one another. A feasible constraint set is generated based on the priority values such that constraint violations of the infeasible constraint set are minimized for constraints having higher priorities. An optimization procedure is executed to identify a solution for the optimization problem using the feasible constraint set that was generated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 8, 2017
    Publication date: February 14, 2019
    Applicant: WAL-MART STORES, INC.
    Inventors: Jagdish Ramakrishnan, Matyas Attila Sustik
  • Publication number: 20190026801
    Abstract: Systems and methods including one or more processing modules and one or more non-transitory storage modules storing computing instructions configured to run on the one or more processing modules and perform acts of creating a unique identification (UID) for an online advertisement for an item available for sale from an online retailer, publishing the online advertisement with the UID for the item in an online medium of the online retailer, receiving a user selection of the online advertisement with the UID, coordinating displaying a landing webpage for the item from the online retailer on an interface of the user electronic device, recording the user selection of the online advertisement with the UID in an event log, and extracting the UID from the event log to track clicks of the online advertisement when published.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 24, 2017
    Publication date: January 24, 2019
    Applicant: WAL-MART STORES, INC.
    Inventors: Girish Nath Natarajan, Chintan Jagdish Rita, Venkata Pranay Kumar Sowdaboina
  • Publication number: 20190019240
    Abstract: Systems and methods including one or more processing modules and one or more non-transitory storage modules storing computing instructions configured to run on the one or more processing modules and perform acts of receiving an order from a customer, determining an estimated collection time required for an employee of the store to collect the order at the store, receiving a mobile check-in from an electronic device indicating that a pickup is en-route to pick up the order at the store, tracking a location of the electronic device, periodically determining, at one or more time intervals, an estimated travel time for the pickup to travel to the store from the location as tracked, and, when the estimated collection time is substantially equal in duration to the estimated travel time, coordinating displaying a collection notification on a store electronic device instructing the employee of the store to begin collecting the order.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 13, 2017
    Publication date: January 17, 2019
    Applicant: WAL-MART STORES, INC.
    Inventors: Austin Lee Smith, Vidyanand Krishnan, Michael Gilbert Ebener