Abstract: An apparatus comprises a memory having a data cache stored therein and a control circuit operably coupled thereto. The control circuit is configured to update that data cache in accordance with a scheduled update time. In the latter regards, by one approach, the control circuit computes selected entries for the data cache prior to the scheduled update time pursuant to a prioritization scheme to provide a substitute data cache. At the scheduled update time, the control circuit switches the substitute data cache for the data cache such that data queries made subsequent to the scheduled update time access the substitute data cache and not the data cache.

Abstract: An automated container cutting system includes a cutting tool configured to cut a container and a force feedback sensor operatively connected to the cutting tool. The force feedback sensor is configured to measure resistive force exerted on the cutting tool. The automated container cutting system includes a processor communicatively coupled to the force feedback sensor. The processor is configured to receive resistive force data from the force feedback sensor and determine whether the cutting tool has penetrated through the wall of the container using the received resistive force data.

Abstract: Systems and methods for generating top-k recommendation using latent space representations generated by deep joint variational autoencoder processes are disclosed. A user identifier is received and a set of prior interactions associated with the user identifier is obtained. A set of latent space representations of the set of prior interactions is generated using a trained inference model. The trained inference model includes a joint variational autoencoder model. A set of k-recommended items is generated based on a comparison of the set of latent space representations of the set of prior interactions and a set of latent space representations of one or more items. A user interface including the set of k-recommended items is generated.

Abstract: In some embodiments, systems and methods provide distributed item authentication. In some embodiments systems comprise: a housing; a set of sensor systems; a transceiver; and an authentication control circuit configured to: obtain first sensor data of an item being authenticated, obtain an initial identification of the item; access an item authentication block specific to the item; obtain a first set of authentication instructions; control one or more sensor systems in accordance with the first set of authentication instructions; compare multiple current authentication sensor data to the set of multiple historic authentication sensor data; confirm that each of a threshold number of the multiple current authentication sensor data is consistent within a threshold variation of a corresponding one of the set of multiple historic authentication sensor data; and cause the item authentication block to be updated to include the confirmation of authentication of the item.

Abstract: A session-specific conversion determination system can include a computing device configured to receive real-time signals of an event occurring from a user device. The real-time signals include interaction parameters. The computing device is also configured to obtain a set of historical data based on the interaction parameters and a set of facets and generate a probability affinity for each facet of the set of facets by implementing a machine learning model using the interaction parameters and the set of historical data as features. The computing device is also configured to adjust a display of a set of recommended items based on the probability affinity for each facet of the set of facets and transmit the display of the set of recommended items to a user interface of the user device.

Abstract: In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to facilitating the vehicle pick up of orders at shopping facilities. In some embodiments, there is provided a system including: an electronic interface configured to receive an order corresponding to a customer; a control circuit configured to: determine the location of the customer; determine shopping facilities near the customer's location; determine time intervals when the order will be available for pick up at each of the shopping facilities; transmit a visual representation indicating the time intervals of availability at the shopping facilities; and a shopping facility where the order is made available for pick up by the customer during one of the time intervals.

Abstract: A system comprising a fully automated supply chain, in combination with tracking technology and the unified commerce engine (UCE). Such a system enables the exact location of every item (or each) to be tracked from the manufacturer's facility to a customer's bag.

Abstract: A system comprises one or more processors and one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage devices storing computing instructions configured to run on the one or more processors and cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: receiving a set of images of respective different portions of a label on a package. The operations also can include: determining, using contrast, one or more respective locations in the images of the set of images that are associated with the respective different portions of the label on the package. The operations further can include: providing, for display on a user interface, a flattened reconstruction of the respective different portions of the label on the package based at least in part on the one or more respective locations that have been determined. Other embodiments and features are also disclosed.

Abstract: A method can include determining, via a multi-channel text model, a text profanity score for a textual content for an item. The method further can include determining, via a vision model, a vision profanity score for an image content for the item. In addition, the method can include determining whether the text profanity score exceeds a text blocking score. Moreover, the method can include determining whether the vision profanity score exceeds a vision blocking score. The method further can include upon determining that the text profanity score exceeds the text blocking score or that the vision profanity score exceeds the vision blocking score, setting a blocking label for the item in an item database as blocked. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: The system includes one or more processors and one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage devices storing instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform receiving user utterances, and utilizing a trained natural language processing (NLP) algorithm as one or more layers in a neural network to generate from the one or more user utterances at least one first output of at least one first output layer of the neural network and at least one second output of at least one second output layer of the neural network. The instructions, when executed, also can cause the one or more processors to perform using the trained NLP algorithm to combine the at least one first output of the at least one first output layer of the neural network and the at least one second output of the at least one second output layer of the neural network to create a combined output of the neural network.

Abstract: A system comprises one or more processors and non-transitory computer-readable media storing computing instructions that, when executed, perform operations comprising: generating an adjacency list for candidate items using a distance threshold with the maximum allowable neighbor distance equal to a Siamese model cut-off. The operations can also comprise loading data for the candidate items in the adjacency list and generating graphs of the candidate items in the adjacency list. The operations further can comprise determining, using breakdown logic, first graphs of the graphs that exceed a predetermined size, and building hierarchy dendrograms of nested subclusters of the first graphs. The operations additional can comprise determining cut-off values based on p-th percentiles of density for the first graphs, and identifying recommended variant groups of the candidate item in the nested subclusters of the hierarchy dendrograms below the cut-off values. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: Examples provide catchment modeling for identifying destination locations eligible for last mile delivery from source locations, such as a store or fulfillment center. The catchment modeling system divides a catchment area associated with the source location into a plurality of geohash blocks within a polygon fence. The size of the geohash blocks varies relative to proximity of each geohash block to a fence point within a polygon fence. The plurality of blocks includes a set of inclusion blocks within the predetermined distance from the source location and/or a set of exclusion blocks exceeding the predetermined distance from the source location. Data compression via polygon merging is performed. The compressed data is cached for utilization during catchment delivery eligibility determinations. If a destination address is within the set of inclusion address or absent from the set of exclusion addresses, the destination is eligible for delivery from the source to the destination.

Abstract: Examples provide a cloud-based distributed secure shell (SSH) file transfer protocol (SFTP) server system for responding to client requests. A load balancer assigns client requests to available SFTP servers within the cloud based distributed SFTP server cluster. Each SFTP server is hosted on an individual VM associated with a cloud server. An authentication service authenticates the client requests using a single user profile. A registry table on a first cloud storage maintains metadata describing all the data records stored within a second cloud storage. The registry table and the data records are accessible to all the SFTP servers within the server cluster. In this manner, any server within the cluster can authenticate a user and respond to a client request while providing a seamless and uniform user experience while simultaneously reducing resource usage and improving scalability.

Abstract: This application relates to apparatus and methods for providing recommended items based on a search request. In some examples, a computing device determines a plurality of items for recommendation based on an item type in the search request from a user. The computing device then determines a model variant from a plurality of variants for each item based on a requested variant in the search request. The computing device generates item recommendations by modifying an item title for each of the plurality of items to indicate the corresponding model variant. The computing device then presents the item recommendations for the user's perusal.

Abstract: In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to inventory management. In some embodiments, an inventory management system comprises a mobile device comprising an image capture device configured to capture an image and a communications transceiver configured to transmit the image, and a control circuit configured to receive, from the mobile device, the image, detect, within the image, the first sign and the second sign, identify, based on the first sign, a product associated with the first sign, identify, based on the second sign, a location of the product storage unit, associate, in a database, an indication of the product associated with the first sign and the location of the product storage unit.

Abstract: According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a system is provided. The system includes a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computing instructions. The instructions, when executed on the processor, perform: receiving user search queries and product items, the product items including metadata corresponding to product types, the product types comprising an error, and the error corresponding to one of the product items having a non-compliant product type; modifying the metadata corresponding to the product types based on a product type group to mitigate a computing system from displaying non-compliant material to a user; and in response to a product type of the product type group being the non-compliant product type, performing a computer vision prediction on an image of a product corresponding to the product type to detect a misclassification in the product type group. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A system comprising one or more processors and one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computing instructions that, when executed on the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform: receiving requests for at least two pick-walks to fulfill multiple orders; mapping each of the multiple items to respective aisles within at least a single portion of the location; calculating, using core logic, a minimum distance for each one of two or more pick-walks to fulfill the multiple orders, wherein the two or more pick-walks are revised through multiple iterations; generating the at least two pick-walks based on the two or more pick-walks; and transmitting the at least two pick-walks to the at least two pickers. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: This application relates to automatically scheduling timeslots, such as timeslots for scheduling item pickups and deliveries. The embodiments may employ machine learning process to determine, for each of a plurality of timeslots, a timeslot capacity. The embodiments may further determine a time as to when each of the plurality of timeslots become available for selection, such as on a webpage. In some examples, the time determined to make available for selection each of the plurality of timeslots is based on a predetermined amount of time before the timeslot. Further, the embodiments may provide for display each of the plurality of timeslots at the determined time. The embodiments may further include receiving a selection of one of the plurality of timeslots, and scheduling a pickup or delivery based on the selected timeslot. The machine learning processes may be trained with features generated from historical timeslot data and workforce availability.

Abstract: Systems and methods of generating an interface including elements related to a next best state prediction are disclosed. A request for an interface including a user identifier is received. A next state prediction engine receives a sequence unit set including at least one sequence unit associated with the user identifier and a set of features associated with the at least one sequence unit and generates at least one next state prediction using a trained sequential prediction model. The trained sequential prediction model is configured to receive the sequence unit set and the set of features for the at least one sequence unit and output at least one predicted next state for the sequence unit set. An interface generation engine generates an interface including at least one element related to the at least one predicted next state and transmits the interface to a user device associated with the user identifier.

Abstract: In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to test the operation of a point-of-sale (POS) system by executing a testing routine to send signals associated with keystrokes from a POS keyboard to a POS terminal for processing in the POS system. The simulated keystroke signals have expected corresponding operations in the POS system.