BE1024895B1 - INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THIS - Google Patents

Abstract

Methods and systems using technical solutions for category and inventory management of books or other graphic, musical or literary works or digital graphic, musical or literary works, in particular of new works that have not yet been published and for which user data is not yet available to be. The stock of at least one of a lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, an electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary works, a point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for graphic or musical or literary works, respectively, based on a future predicted question for titles of works.

Description

(73) Holder (s):

MEDIO BVBA

3190, BOORTMEERBEEK

Belgium (72) Inventor (s):

VANSTEENVOORT Jo 3078 MEERBEEK Belgium (54) INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD THEREFOR (57) Methods and Systems using technical solutions for category and inventory management of books or other graphic, musical or literary works or digital graphic, musical or literary works, in the particularly of new works that have not yet been published and for which no user data is yet available. The inventory of at least one of a lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, an electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, a point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for graphic or musical or literary works, respectively, based on a future predicted demand for titles of works.

Fig. 1

BELGIAN INVENTION PATENT

FPS Economy, K.M.O., Self-employed & Energy

Publication number: 1024895 Filing number: BE2017 / 5618

Intellectual Property Office International classification: G06Q 30/02 G06Q 10/06 G06Q 10/08 G06Q 10/10 G06Q 50/26 Date of issue: 07/08/2018

The Minister of Economy,

Having regard to the Paris Convention of 20 March 1883 for the Protection of Industrial Property;

Having regard to the Law of March 28, 1984 on inventive patents, Article 22, for patent applications filed before September 22, 2014;

Having regard to Title 1 Invention Patents of Book XI of the Economic Law Code, Article XI.24, for patent applications filed from September 22, 2014;

Having regard to the Royal Decree of 2 December 1986 on the filing, granting and maintenance of inventive patents, Article 28;

Having regard to the application for an invention patent received by the Intellectual Property Office on 04/09/2017.

Whereas for patent applications that fall within the scope of Title 1, Book XI, of the Code of Economic Law (hereinafter WER), in accordance with Article XI.19, § 4, second paragraph, of the WER, the granted patent will be limited. to the patent claims for which the novelty search report was prepared, when the patent application is the subject of a novelty search report indicating a lack of unity of invention as referred to in paragraph 1, and when the applicant does not limit his filing and does not file a divisional application in accordance with the search report.

Decision:

Article 1

MEDIO BVBA, Leuvensesteenweg 286, 3190 BOORTMEERBEEK Belgium;

represented by

BECK Michaël A.T., Technologielaan 9, 3001, HEVERLEE;

a Belgian invention patent with a term of 20 years, subject to payment of the annual fees as referred to in Article XI.48, § 1 of the Economic Law Code, for: SYSTEM

FOR INVENTORY MANAGEMENT AND METHOD THEREFOR.

INVENTOR (S):

VANSTEENVOORT Jo, Dorpsstraat 43, 3078, MEERBEEK;

PRIORITY:

BREAKDOWN:

Split from basic application: Filing date of the basic application:

Article 2. - This patent is granted without prior investigation into the patentability of the invention, without warranty of the Merit of the invention, nor of the accuracy of its description and at the risk of the applicant (s).

Brussels, 07/08/2018,

With special authorization:

BE2017 / 5618

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD THEREFOR

The present invention relates to Methods and Systems using technical solutions for category and inventory management of corners or other graphic, musical or literary works or digital graphic, musical or literary works, in particular of new works not yet published for which no user data is available to be.

Background

As “big data” is being discussed in increasingly widespread circles and more and more parts of the business are infiltrating, the need to translate data into actions has become more acute. Large amounts of data can be available and meant the equivalent of what coal and other minerals for the Industrial Revolution in ^the 19th century - something to extract and exploit - but even access the data may have solved a technical problem to turn into. There are general problems with the use of digital data from different sources using digital analytical techniques:

a) Lack of understanding of the relevance of data software engineers producing management software do not always have a full understanding of what the underlying data mean or could mean to users, and users lack knowledge of software technologies and the limitations of digital analytical techniques.

b) A lack of understanding of how the data is grouped or simplified and the limitations of the analytical techniques applied mean that users either do not understand the visualization of the analytical results or are not aware of the possible interpretation errors that may be made by failing to understand the do not understand limitations of the analytical method used, eg statistical methods.

c) Insufficient metadata is available to provide additional clarifying statements or to derive innovative solutions at a later date.

d) A wide variety of data formats that must either be made uniform or treated separately in such a way that each

BE2017 / 5618 data format identified and then must be processed separately.

e) The privacy of the personal data of the user / consumer must be respected, e.g. through anonymization or pseudo-anonymization of the data, while retaining important aspects of the data that are relevant to the intended application. However, it has been noted that there is no such thing as perfect anonymization, so there is always a risk when extracting data where personal data is present.

Taking the example of a library, every major public library has a huge amount of data (if kept over time), which today is only used for lending follow-up. Libraries have databases or registers in which the lending behavior of people is registered. For example, VUBIS has a browser-based staff interface with integrated modules for cataloging, circulation, acquisition, reporting and magazine management of a library. Since a browser is used, no client software is required. VUBIS is said to enable easy, intuitive transparent access to information and provide deep integration by enabling links between various resources and services available in the library. Searching multiple sources of information simultaneously is possible through one interface and one search query and search results are then presented in one integrated list. But there are several library systems besides VUBIS, such as BICAT or CIBLIS, and it is a technical challenge to access all these Systems ideally with a single search. In addition, reporting lending behavior does not provide library administrators with direct information about category management, i.e. which new titles should appear in a given period and which readership expectations apply to those titles. A library's category management may be best determined in accordance with the interests of its readers. These readers differ according to the socio-cultural environment of the library, eg “regular readers” or “occasional readers”. It may be best to map out the interests of the public in the library through regular market research from a library's specific readership. However, the public's personal data is protected by various laws such as GDPR in Europe and Regulation S-P, Regulation S-ID and the Securities Ex change Act of 1934 in the US A. Even if one uses email addresses, social

BE2017 / 5618 could use media or post to contact the readership, would take too long and be irritating to that audience.

Tom Davenport of Babson College and MIT and author of the book “Keeping Up with the Quants,” explains that measuring how long it takes for analytical methods to arrive at a conclusion is often called “time-to-decision”. As information continues to grow in volume, speed and variety, management becomes more complex and may slow down time-to-decision. Davenports' solution is machine learning: a complex system has goals that can be solved in real time as an optimization problem based on a variety of fluctuating variables. Machine learning software can take into account all these factors, executing hundreds of calculations per second to control operation.

Another solution is to develop metrics. In a Study of Sales Education

Foundation and Vantage Point Performance identified 306 different metrics that sales leaders used in their efforts to manage their business. This does not seem easy to apply to library management and, like machine learning, seems to be too expensive and complex for application by small and medium sized companies seeking to offer category and inventory management to large libraries. Small and medium-sized businesses are often intimidated by the cost and technical complexity of handling large amounts of digital information. For the smallest companies, access to extensive user data can be prohibitive, especially if the information is stored in different Systems.

Digital books, also known as electronic books or ebooks, can be borrowed from libraries and are the digital equivalent of a conventional printed book. Digital books can be read on personal computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), smart phones, etc., or on specific hardware devices known as e-book readers or e-book devices such as Amazon's Kindle readers. Many public and private libraries allow their members of the public to borrow digital books. A digital book can only be borrowed from a lending library for a set finite period, after which the license to read the book expires. A program such as Adobe's Digital Editions can be installed on a reader device free of charge to control access to the digital book. As a member of it

BE2017 / 5618 has had public access to such a license, that digital book is not available for borrowing until after the license for one person expires and is released for another. Digital book lending libraries offer a limited number of copies of each digital book to borrow for a period of time determined by the number of licenses they purchase. Adobe's Digital Editions is an example of Digital Rights Management (DRM) that provides access control technologies for limiting the use of digital works especially copyrighted works, ie not just books but articles, newspapers, software, images, graphics, videos, etc. .

Books and ebooks are sold in bookstores and online. Many of the comments above also relate to bookstores and their databases. The behavior of the library user differs in that the books are not returned and the cost of purchasing a book is a greater obstacle to acquisition than borrowing a library.

Summary of the invention

An object of the present invention relates to the provision of methods and systems using technical solutions for category and inventory management of books or other graphic, musical or literary works or digital graphic, musical or literary works, in particular new works that not yet published for which no usage data is available.

In one aspect, the present invention provides a computer-based inventory management system for graphic or musical or literary works, each graphic, musical or literary work having a unique identifier, where there is a new graphic or musical or literary work by an author in a genre that has been published will be in the future, the system comprising:

at least a lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, an electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, a point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works, the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, in which the at least one of the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale having a first computer system, the first computer system having a first

BE2017 / 5618 processor has a first communication interface, and a first non-volatile memory, wherein the first computer system is configured to time over time in the first non-volatile memory, an indication of the physical borrowing, removal and return of a graphic or musical or literary work, or from the sale, removal and restocking of a graphic or musical or literary work, or from the physical unlocking and locking of access to a digital graphic or musical or literary work on an electronic reader.

wherein a management organization has a second computer system with a second processor, and a second communication interface and a second non-volatile memory, the second computer system adapted to generate a query and transmit the query through the first and second communication interfaces under the control of the first and second processors to provide the first computer system with indications of the physical borrowing, removal and return of the graphic or musical or literary works, or of the sale, removal and restocking of instances of the graphic or musical or to filter out literary works, or to physically unlock and lock access to the digital graphic or musical or literary works on the electronic reading devices, the second computer system being configured to provide a first historical availability in the second non-volatile memory for each graphic or musical or literary wer k through time, and to derive from this a first historical account of the availability of graphic or musical or literary works by the author which is not the new graphic or musical or literary work, and a second historical availability of graphic or musical or literary works over time belonging to the genre of the new graphic or musical or literary work or a third historical record of the availability of instances of graphic or musical or literary works that have the same synopsis or a similar synopsis as the new graphic or musical or literary work, the similarity being determined by a syntactic or semantic similarity, the second computer system being configured to provide a future predicted demand for the new graphic or musical or literary work of the first and second or third historical availability in the save second non-volatile memory and the at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or

BE2017 / 5618 musical or literary works is configured to increase the stock of at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale for graphic or musical or literary work works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works, respectively, based on the future predicted demand.

The new graphic or musical or literary work has a synopsis and the second computer system can be configured to provide a third historical record of the availability of copies of graphic or musical or literary works with the same synopsis or a similar synopsis as that of the new graphic or musical or literary work, where the similarity is defined by a syntactic or semantic similarity.

Each copy (instance) of a physical graphic, musical or literary work can be labeled with a unique identifier and an EAN code, or a barcode or a QR code that represent the unique identifier and the EAN code.

The future predicted demand can be determined per genre and / or per series of categories.

The first computer system can be configured to display over time in the first non-volatile memory, an anonymous indication of a person purchasing a graphic or musical or literary work, or a license to access a digital graphic or musical or literary work. an electronic reading device.

For example, the indication of a person can be generated with a "one-way" function such as a hash.

The increased stock of at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works, respectively, based on the future forecast demand, can be enabled by the second computer system configured to perform contractual obligations, the contractual obligations defining how many copies of works of the

BE2017 / 5618 future predicted demand will be added to the inventory of at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a computer-based inventory management method for graphic or musical or literary work, each graphic or musical or literary work having a unique identifier, where there is a new graphic or musical or literary work from an author in a genre that will be published in the future, the management method being for use with at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works, where the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the at least one of the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale has a first computer system, whereby the first computer system ee has a first processor, a first communication interface, and a first non-volatile memory, the method comprising the first computer system which, over time in the first non-volatile memory, is an indication of the physical lending, removal and return of a graphic or store musical or literary work, or from the sale, removal and restocking of a graphic or musical or literary work, or from the physical unlocking and locking of access to a digital graphic or musical or literary work on an electronic reader, a second computer system with a second processor, and a second communication interface and a second non-volatile memory, which is adapted to generate a search query and to send the search query through the first and second communication interfaces under the control of the first and second processors to retrieve, return and return indications from the first computer system bringing the graphic or musical or literary works, or selling, removing and restocking copies of the graphic or musical or literary works, or physically unlocking and locking access to the digital graphic or musical or literary works on the filter out electronic reading devices,

BE2017 / 5618, wherein the second computer system in the second non-volatile memory stores a first historical availability for each graphic or musical or literary work over time, and derives from it a first historical report of the availability of graphic or musical or literary works of the author who is not the new graphic or musical or literary work, and a second historical availability of graphic or musical or literary works over time belonging to the genre of the new graphic or musical or literary work or a third historical record of the availability of copies of graphic or musical or literary works having the same synopsis or a similar synopsis as the new graphic or musical or literary work, the similarity being determined by a syntactic or semantic similarity, the second computer system in the second non-volatile memory a future vo stores question for the new graphic or musical or literary work of the first and second or third historical availabilities and where the at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works the stock of at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works, respectively, increases based on future predicted demand.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method of inventory control for use with a computer-based inventory management system for graphic or musical or literary works, wherein each copy of a graphic or musical or literary work has a unique identifier, whereby a new graphic or musical or is literary work by an author to be published in the future, the method being suitable for use with a lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, an electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, a point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic, musical or literary works, whereby the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital

BE2017 / 5618 graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale, respectively, have a first to third computer system, each of the first to third computer systems having first to third processors, first to third communication interfaces, respectively, and first to third non-volatile memories, and wherein a management organization has a fourth computer system with a fourth processor, and a fourth communication interface and a fourth non-volatile memory, the method comprising:

wherein the first to third Computer Systems over time in the first to third memories, respectively, are indicative of the physical borrowing, removal, and return of a copy of a graphic, musical, or literary work, or of the sale, removal, and restocking of a copy of a graphic or musical or literary work, or of physically unlocking and locking access to a copy of a digital graphic or musical or literary work on an electronic reader, the fourth computer system generating a search and the search through the first through fourth communication interfaces under the control of the first to fourth processors to provide from the first to third Computer Systems indications of the physical borrowing, removal and return of copies of graphic or musical or literary works, or of the sale, removal and restocking of copies of graphic or musical or litera ire works, or to physically unlock and lock access to copies of digital graphic or musical or literary works on the electronic reading devices, with the fourth computer system in the fourth non-volatile memory having an initial historical availability for each copy of the stores graphic or musical or literary works over time, and derives from them a first historical record of the availability of copies of graphic or musical or literary works by the author which is not the new graphic or musical or literary work, and a second historical availability of instances of graphic or musical or literary works over time belonging to the genre that is the same as the genre of the new graphic or musical or literary work or a third historical record of the availability of instances of graphic or musical or literary works which has the same synopsis or an equivalent Have some synopsis like this of the new graphic or musical

BE2017 / 5618 or literary work, where the similarity is defined by a syntactic or semantic similarity, where the fourth computer system in the fourth non-volatile memory predicts a future question for the new graphic or musical or literary work of the first and second and third stores historical availability, and in which at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works works increases the stock of at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary work. recognize, respectively, based on future predicted demand.

A non-transient signal storage device may be provided on which at least one program is encoded to execute each of the methods of embodiments of the present invention when executed on a processor.

Brief description of the drawings

Figure 1 schematically shows a system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 shows a label or tag to be used with embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 3 shows a flow chart according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 schematically shows a further system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 5 schematically shows a further system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 6 shows a category rating pyramid for use with embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 7 schematically shows an analytical flow according to an embodiment of the present invention.

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Figure 8 schematically shows a further analytical flow according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Definitions

Genre as used with respect to the present invention refers to categories of written, spoken, digital or other audio or visual artistic communications, e.g. literature, music, or other arts or entertainment based on a range of stylistic or artistic criteria. In general, the definition of genre will be clear between parties, i.e. the list of genres will and should in fact be agreed upon. This list can be taken from a classification system such as the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), or Dewey Decimal System. This is a proprietary library classification system. It is currently maintained by the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), a non-profit cooperative that provides service to libraries. Another example is the US Library of Congress Classification. The classification uses letters, eg Class A - General works. Subclass AC; Collections, series, collected works. Subclass AE: Encyclopedias.

Availability refers to the historical record over the time of a work being available for loan or purchase. Availability may be reduced by borrowing or purchasing. Low availability means high demand.

Synopsis refers to a summary that defines the main aspects of a work in a short text. Generating summaries is well known. Unnecessary words and punctuation marks can be removed. The synopsis should be designed to allow searches, i.e. it should contain relevant keywords. A good synopsis summarizes the essential content of a work without providing unnecessary details. A standardized vocabulary can be used.

Detailed description of the illustrative embodiments

Figure 1 schematically illustrates a system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention containing users such as a lending library 2, a lending library 4 for e-book lending, a bookstore 6, a point of sale

BE2017 / 5618 for eBooks 8 and a management company 10. Users should be distinguished from those who borrow or purchase a work.

The lending libraries for books and ebooks 2, 4 (which are users) each contain a computer based database system 12, 14, respectively, each system having a processor, memory, I / O ports such as a serial USB port, a input device such as a mouse and / or keyboard, display devices such as a monitor, and peripherals such as modems or printers. The computer-based database system 12 under the control of a processor 12P stores bibliographic descriptions of books (or other literary or gave or musical works such as any, some or all of articles, plays, optical discs such as CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs , videos, games software on optical discs, images, magazines, newspapers) in memory such as non-volatile memory 12M. The computer-based database system 12 under the control of a processor 12P stores non-volatile memory 12M book availability over time (“historical availability”) that records the presence of a work on a shelf and the physical change of location of a work as it becomes borrowed and removed from the library, preferably including the person borrowing. The person's identity can be hidden by registering the person with a unique anonymized identifier as created using a one-way function such as a hash function provided a unique identifier is created. This unique anonymized identifier must register when one person borrows the same book several times. The computer-based database system 12 under the control of a processor 12P stores in non-volatile memory 12M whether a particular work that is not currently available has been ordered or reserved by a member of the public, including requests for interlibrary loan (the the person making the application is also registered again, e.g. by the unique anonymized identifier). A computer based management system 12S is provided configured to store non-volatile memory 12M user data, i.e. library data. The computer based database system 12 under the control of a processor 12P also includes an accounting system 12A which has methods for storing in non-volatile memory 12M and for generating purchase data, fines for books and for billing. The computer-based data system 14 stores non-volatile memory 14M bibliographic data on ebooks (or other digital literary or

BE2017 / 5618 (musical, musical works such as any, some or all of articles, plays, optical discs such as CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, videos, images, magazines, newspapers). The computer-based database system 14 stores non-volatile memory 14M, ebook content, and borrowing licenses for ebooks. The computer-based data system 14 stores non-volatile memory 14M status of eBook licenses including availability of each license over time.

This availability over time is a record in a non-volatile memory 14M of physically locking and unlocking digital access to a work on an electronic reader 35, and the computer-based database system 14 stores non-volatile memories 14M or a particular work is currently not available, ordered or reserved by a member of the public, including requests for interlibrary loan. The person making the request is also registered again, eg by the unique anonymized identifier. A computer-based management system 14S is provided configured to store non-volatile memory 14M user data and has an accounting system 14A for storing non-volatile memory 14M and for generating purchase data and billing.

The bookstore 6 and the bookstore 8 (which are users) each include a computer-based database system 16, 18, respectively, each system having a processor, memory, I / O ports such as a serial USB port, an input device such as a mouse and / or a keyboard, display devices such as a monitor, and peripherals such as modems or printers. The bookstore 6 has a computer-based database system 16 which, in non-volatile memory 16M under the control of a processor, contains bibliographic descriptions of books (or other literary or gave or musical works such as any, part or all of articles, plays, optical discs such as CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, videos, images, magazines, newspapers). Computer-based database system 16 stores non-volatile memory 16M book availability over time that physically removes a work from the bookstore and computer-based database system 16 stores non-volatile memory 16M or a particular work that is not currently available, ordered or is reserved by a member of the public. The person making the purchase is also registered, e.g. by the unique anonymized identifier, especially if this person is a company. Computer-based database system 16 stores non-volatile memory 16M user purchasing data and also has an accounting system

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16A with means for storing in non-volatile memory 16M and generating invoices. The ebook outlet 8 has a computer-based database system 18 which, in non-volatile memory 18M under the control of a processor, provides bibliographic descriptions of ebooks (or other literary or gave or musical works such as any, some or all of articles, plays, videos, images, magazines, newspapers). The computer-based database system 18 stores in non-volatile memory 18M e-book availability over time that the physical change of locking and unlocking access to a work registers on an electronic reader 35 also registering the person applying for the license, e.g. by the unique anonymized identifier. Computer-based database system 18 stores in non-volatile memory 18M whether a particular work that is not currently available, ordered or reserved by a member of the public with the person applying for the license also being registered, e.g. by the unique anonymized identifier. The computer-based database system

18 also has an accounting system 18A configured to store user purchase data in non-volatile memory 18M and to store and generate invoices.

Accordingly, the lending library 2, the e-book lending library 4, the bookstore 6, and the e-book outlet 8 may each comprise a computer system having one or more terminals, each terminal having a processor and software for then performing at least one process for checking functions of the lending library for books, the lending library for ebooks, bookstore or the point of sale for ebooks, respectively. The lending library 2, the e-book lending library 4, the bookstore 6, and the e-book outlet 8 may be alien standalone or distributed branches, i.e., have more than one branch. The sites can be organized locally so that each site has its own local database and computer system or the sites can be centrally organized so that there is a central database with a central computer system providing a portal to each site's computer system. The lending library 2, the ebook lending library 4, the bookstore 6, and the ebook outlet 8 have each attracted clients from geographic regions, 3, 5, 7, 9 respectively, which may overlap and which parts or span the entirety of one or more countries.

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Operatively, the availability of graphic or musical or literary works (e.g.

on-the-shelf, in stock, borrowed, sold, ordered, etc.) such as any, all or part of corners, plays, articles, magazines, optical discs such as CD5 ROMs, DVD-ROMs, videos, images, newspapers registered by the book lending library 2, the e-book lending library 4, the bookstore 6, the e-book outlet 8 applicable in non-volatile memory 12M, 14M,

16M, 18M respectively, and also stores in non-volatile memory 12M, 14M, 16M, 18M respectively when availability changes by user activity. The available is recorded in non-volatile memory 12M, 14M, 16M, 18M over time so that there is a fully stored record of the physical use of each work (= “historical availability record” per item and per acquiring person, eg by the unique anonymized identifier). If there are multiple copies of a work, the availability record is stored over time in non-volatile memory 12M, 14M, 16M, 18M as determined by the work, eg ISBN number. This record can be computer generated under the control of processors 12P, 14P,

16P, 18P by the lending library 2, the e-book lending library 4, the bookstore 6, the e-book outlet 8, respectively, or may be generated at least in part by the management company 10.

The management company 10 may be linked to or linked to or may receive data for download from, via a telecommunications network 50 such as a local (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) such as, for example, the Internet, any of the user's Computer Systems such as the lending library 2, the e-book lending library 4, the bookstore 6, the e-book outlet 8 if available. The data that may be requested or received by the management company under the control of a processor 20P may be some or all of bibliographic descriptions of angles (or other literary or gave or musical works such as any of, some or all of articles, optical discs such as CD30 ROMs, DVD-ROMs, videos, images, magazines, newspapers) stored in non-volatile memory 12M, 14M, 16M, 18M, book availability over time stored in non-volatile memory 12M, 14M, 16M, 18M and or a specific work that is not currently available has been ordered by a member of the public as well as an indication of the acquiring person, e.g. by the unique anonymized identifier, as well as

BE2017 / 5618 metadata, sales, orders, deliveries and interlibrary loan, where applicable, stored in non-volatile memory 12M, 14M, 16M, 18M.

The data can be provided under the control of processors 12P, 14P, 16P,

18P at regular intervals through the lending library 2, the e-book lending library 4, the bookstore 6, the e-book outlet 8, or only as requested by the management company 10, e.g. by sending one or more searches . The relevant search or queries can be provided by the management company 10 to the lending library 2, the e-book lending library 4, the bookstore 6, the e-book sales point 8, e.g. by using a web browser under the control of a processor 20P and / or other specialized software or by other technical means and the results of the searches are communicated back to the management company 10. If the record with the historical availability data per item and per acquiring person, e.g. due to the unique anonymized identifier, is not directly available from the lending library 2, the library for lending e-books 4, the bookstore 6, the point of sale for e books 8, these can be generated by the management company 10, e.g. by analyzing the regular results under the control of the processor 20P such as daily or weekly registration of borrowing or sale of items provided by the lending library 2, the lending library ebooks 4, the bookstore 6, and / or the ebook outlets 8. The record with the historical availability data per item is generated and stored in non-volatile memory 20M of the computer system of the management company 10 with a stored reference to the lending or sales establishment as well as to the acquiring person, eg by the unique anonymized identifier, so that the record with the historical availability data per item and per acquiring person, eg by the unique anonymized identifier, is also registered per lending or sales location in the non-volatile memory 20M and thus per region associated with such a location. Thus, the socio-cultural environment of the members of the public who use each establishment is taken into account by reference to the establishment and its region preventing the recording of the full personal data of each member of the public. In this regard, management company 10 functions as a reliable third party, which is better able to prevent loss or misuse of personal data by only having an anonymized indicator.

BE2017 / 5618

The management company 10 may, under the control of the processor 20P, communicate with (and have digital communication devices with) other sources of information 30, e.g., through network 50. For example, a source 32 may provide information regarding forthcoming publication of books or other literary or graphic or musical works such as any, some or all of articles, optical discs such as CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, videos, games software on optical discs, images, magazines, newspapers to be published in the next time period such as within a day, a week, weeks, a month, months or a year.

For example, source 32 can be one or more publishers or publisher or publishers. A source 34 may provide metadata that may be useful in determining the value of future books or other literary or graphic or musical works such as any, part or all of articles, optical discs such as CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, videos, images, magazines, newspapers to be published in the coming period of time. These metadata are stored in non-volatile memory 20P and may include a summary or synopsis of a work that provides, for example, a brief summary description of the work as well as critical reviews or other relevant data useful in assessing the expected future demand for the work .

The book lending library 2, the ebook lending library 4, the bookstore 6, and / or the ebook selling point 8 can each have at least one “copy” (“instance”) of each of a variety of different graphic or musical or literary works. This copy can be any individual physical book or optical disc or optical discs such as CD-ROM or DVD on the shelf. A copy is also any license for a digital work.

A record of each instance and its movements can be stored in a non-volatile memory 12M, 14M, 16M, 18M of a data storage system 13, 15,

17, 19 of the databases 12, 14, 16, 18 of the lending library for books 2, the lending library for ebooks 4, the bookstore 6, and / or the point of sale for ebooks 8, respectively. By way of a specific and non-limiting example, a separate borrowing license is required for each copy of an ebook, digital recording of a song or music, or a play. A physical copy of a book on the shelf is one

BE2017 / 5618 “copy” of a work.

As shown in Figure 1, the management company 10 has a computer-based database system 20 which contains non-volatile memory 20M bibliographic descriptions of books (or other literary or graphic or musical works such as any, some or all of articles, plays, optical discs such as CD-ROMs, DVDROMs, videos, images, magazines, newspapers), saves book availability over time (“historical availability”) and optionally whether a particular work that is not currently available, ordered or reserved by a member of the public as well an indicator of the acquiring person, eg by the unique anonymized identifier.

Management company f0 may also have a computer-based management system 20S configured to store user data in non-volatile memory 20M, and has a computer-based accounting system 20A that includes devices for storing and generating a user's purchase data and billing.

The database system 20 can also store non-volatile memory 20M synopsies or summaries for each instance or work, optionally the relative synoptic value of each instance or work, the genre of an instance or work, a unique identifier for each instance (ie not just for any work), any grouping or category or subgrouping or subcategory associated with any copy or work. Optionally, a relevant event such as the date of first appearance of a copy of a work in the lending library 2, the e-book lending library 4, the bookstore 6, or the e-book retailer 8 can be registered in non- volatile memory 20M. All these data are kept over a long period, eg 5 to 10 years. If all borrowing licenses or physical copies have been issued to different users, the work is not available, eg cannot be borrowed or purchased. Generally, a work is taken from the library for a predetermined finite time period - the borrowing period - such as 7 days, for example,

14 days or 21 days. It is included in the present invention that the number of licenses or physical copies can be high or unlimited.

Each work is registered associated in one or more of the database systems 12,

14, 16, 18, 20 (by recording in non-volatile memory 12M, 14M, 16M, 18M respectively

BE2017 / 5618) with the following information: a unique code to be used by the management company 10 for each copy of a work (eg see Figure 2), name of the site (eg a library, see Figure 2), title of the work, any unique code used by the site e.g. the ISIL code for a library), indicator for a consumer goods label used for point-of-sale scanning (e.g. an EAN barcode), and optional genre and any processing information or other information such as an ISBN code. As shown in Figure 2, this information may be provided as a label attached to a work and comprising one or more barcodes and / or QR codes that can be read by a scanner at a retail or lending point containing the above information. Multiple codes of mixed symbologies within one field of view as shown in Figure 2 or multiple codes of the same symbology within one field of view can be read by Dataman ™ readers or Cognex Corporation One Vision Drive Natick, MA 01760-2059, USA.

Other barcodes can be used. The management company may obtain the works and then add this information physically or digitally (e.g. of the type shown in Figure 2 and described in relation thereto) to each copy of a work. The same information can be digitally recorded in the non-volatile memory 12M, 14M, 16M, 18M, 20M of each of the databases. The same information can be registered on a tag such as an RFID tag attached to a work, such as an RFID. An EPC code can be attached containing the EAN code and a unique item number and optionally additional information or as an ISO tag containing a family code, the ISIL code and an object identifier which any ID may have been used by embodiments of the present invention, eg of a work such as an ISBN number or a unique ID.

For digital works, the same information can be associated with a copy by storing in non-volatile memory 12M, 14M, 16M, 18M, 20M eg a copy of a license such as by a digital signature or digital certificate. With every transaction, be it on loan or sale, this information is recorded and stored in non-volatile memory 12M, 14M, 16M, 18M, 20M so that the movements of the works are recorded per copy of a work with sufficient information to register in not -volatile memory 12M, 14M, 16M, 18M, 20M:

a) What work is involved,

(b) Which establishment is involved and thus by way of inference the

BE2017 / 5618 geographical region to which the establishment belongs,

c) The title of the work and any code associated with it

d) Other codes that can be used in searches for other sources of information,

e) Optional: relevant information about the processing

f) Optional Genre.

Optionally, metadata can be obtained about user behavior. For example, if an e-book or other digital work is read using electronic device 35, this device can communicate the speed or constancy with which the user consults or reads the e-book or other digital work (without providing personal data) which information can be used by the management company 10 to derive a Strong or weak preference for the work, thus resulting in a high or low value attributed to the work.

On the other hand, a value can be generated based on one or more assessments provided by the user.

Embodiments of the present invention use system integration devices to integrate computer based Systems or management company 10. As shown schematically in Figure 4, an integrated system 40 is used as a system integration device wherein each of the lending library 2, the ebook lending library 4, the bookstore 6, or the ebook retailer 8 has a system for data storage 13, 15, 17, 19 of databases 12, 14, 16, 18 respectively. The data storage system 13, 15, 17, 19 and databases 12, 14, 16, 18 function as a register 48 for the works and the relevant events such as borrowing or purchasing them. The search query (or queries) from the management company 10 can be formulated and transferred using a web page 42 of a web browser. This search is formulated under the control of the processor 20P with approved terms and interpreted in a universal catalog system 44 that functions as a portal to all of the book lending library 2, the e-book lending library 4, the book store 6, or the point of sale for e-books 8. The search can be reformatted or translated if necessary. The search then proceeds to the relevant location 46 such as a library or bookstore, i.e. one of the

BE2017 / 5618 lending library 2, the e-book lending library 4, the bookstore 6, and the e-book point of sale 8. The site's computer-based system then opens its register 48 and returns the reply, eg directly to the management company 10 or by another facility.

This embodiment has the advantage of using a single unified system allowing universal and standardized searches, but has the disadvantage that all sites must use a unified system.

An alternative embodiment is shown in Figure 5. The management company 10 is linked to the database systems of the lending library 2, the e-book lending library 4, the book store 6, and the e-book outlet 8 in the form of a star integrated into an API environment 52, 54, 56, 58 as the systems integration devices. API Stands for Application Programming Interface and is used to integrate various software applications. This allows different computer based Systems to communicate with each other. Let's assume that information in Software A from a site 6 should be transferred to Software B from management company 10. Since Software B is from a different vendor, it is highly unlikely that the two applications have exactly the same fields and / or that they are on interpret the same way. Consequently, to make this integration one needs: (a) a way to easily and programmatically obtain and put the data of A (get / put), (b) A way to easily and programmatically obtain the data of B and put (get / put), (c) A small program in the middle to call A to get the data, adjust it as needed, and put it in B.

A program will read what is in A (in the context that it is stored in A) and then enter it in B (the way B expects the data to be entered).

This is a process called Data Mapping. To achieve this through APIs (assuming both applications have and support APIs), one would use an API in A to get the data and then an API in B to write the data in B based on the mapping:

1) Obtain Data from A.

2) Set Software B's parameter values equal to Software B's parameter values

3) Put Data in B

ΊΊ

2017/5618

Once these translation programs are written, the two software applications will maintain communication. An important advantage of the API approach is that, because a small specialized program is written, one has the possibility or at least the opportunity to validate and clean up the data from the source software before it is placed in the target software; that solves one of the common Problems = dealing with bad data. Finally, the API approach also allows any software to communicate with any other software, not just the one or two applications the vendor decided to support. This includes software that may not have existed when the application was written.

In this environment, the data from the lending library 2, the e-book lending library 4, the bookstore 6, and the e-book outlet 8 are transferred to the computer-based system of the management company 10 under the control of the processors 12P, 14P, 16P, 18P, 20P and stored there in non-volatile memory 20M. A disadvantage of the API environment is that access to the data is at the source and therefore care must be taken to avoid loss or misuse of personal data. Furthermore, individual APIs must be written per user. The management company 10 should function as a reliable third party.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a category management system including a category management module 22 as shown in Figure 1. The category management module 22 may have its own processor and non-volatile memory and obtains / obtains and lists the new titles within a given period will appear in the future. The category management module 22 is also configured to store a prediction of future demand for these titles in non-volatile memory 20M. The future expected demand can be quantified in categories. Each assigned category of these new titles can be determined by a team of experts or an expert system.

Embodiments of the present invention can utilize a category pyramid provided by a computer-based expert system that functions in accordance with rules on top of a knowledge base. A team of experts with years of experience defines rules on how the

BE2017 / 5618 category pyramid is determined and these rules are contained in the computer-based expert system. The knowledge base contains information such as, for example, any, some or all of the IDs and codes as described with respect to Figure 2 for example, addresses of users including both street and email addresses, genres names, names authors, user names, user roles, metadata.

The knowledge base and, as a result, the expert system can be improved / changed by adding or changing rules. The expert system can function through a generic interface where the expert system learns about the titles and metadata or other attributes of the works and the number of rules of the expert system are not limited.

Each new title can be assigned by the team of experts or the expert system to one of a number of grading categories for an assessment pyramid, eg AAA for high demand, AA, A, B, down to C. The category rating such as AAA etc. is directly related to the future question of each title. The future question can be specified per genre. The result is shown in Figure 6 and shown below in Table 1 showing the predicted demand for works titles, in this case books for lending libraries, in five categories and for four genres: adult function, adult non-function, youth function and youth non-fiction.

The five categories are shown as five rating classes AAA, AA, A, B, C for future demand for titles. The future question can also be specified on the other hand per location and / or per genre and per location. This future demand for works will be communicated to the users e.g. one of the lending library 2, the ebook lending library 4, the bookstore 6, or the ebook outlet 8, as needed by the management company 10, e.g. under the control of the processor 20P and the non-volatile memory 20M. The users agree on a contractual commitment to purchase the works specified in the pyramid and thus to adjust their stock by adding copies of these works. That is, the users complete a contractual agreement with contractual commitments to accept the purchase and delivery of copies of the works with these titles in the category pyramid as soon as it is communicated to them. These deliveries can be made at regular intervals, eg all 6 months or every year. This contractual commitment may exist in the form of a digital profile P specifying how many of each title will be purchased (see Figure 8). For example, this profile will specify that so many copies per

BE2017 / 5618 title in category AAA etc. will be purchased and presented and in a similar way for the other categories. Profile P may contain other contractual rules that must be followed by management company 10. The profile P is configured so that it can be parsed by the processor 20P and automatically converted into purchase orders, delivery notes and invoices etc. by the accounting system 20A to result in the change of the stocks of one of the lending library 2, the library for e-book lending 4, bookstore 6, or e-book sales point 8. The accounting system 20A has access to user addresses including both street and email addresses, genres names, authors names, user names, user roles, metadata etc.

Adult fiction Adult non-fiction Youngsters fiction Youngsters non-fiction totals AAA 316 12 7 - 335 AA 232 103 207 13 555 a 381 395 448 41 1265 B 182 1135 423 130 1870 C 123 1268 356 123 1870 totals 1234 2913 1441 307 5895

Table 1 - Number of titles from four genres in five different category ratings.

Figures 7 and 8 show embodiments of the present invention of further analytical processing which can be used with any of the other embodiments and which may assist in generating and / or revising the values of the future demand of Figure 6 for works still in progress have not been published. The prediction of the future demand can be made by one or more teams of experts or by one or more expert systems 78, 80.

Availability refers to whether a work is available to be borrowed or sold. Low availability means high popularity, high judgment and the need for a large number of copies of a work to be submitted.

BE2017 / 5618

As shown in Figure 7, the end of an analytical process to availability 70 has been performed by the management company computer-based management system 10, e.g., in the category management module 22 for use with any of the embodiments of the present invention, a recommendation or report 77 related to to a new work that has not yet been released. The report 77 can be configured as executable on the computer system of company 10. As explained above when dealing with Big Data of the kind stored in large libraries, several suggestions in the prior art include use of machine learning or a large number of metrics. Investigations by the inventors have shown that a very limited number of parameters can provide useful information in a simple manner and that the complex and expensive solutions proposed in the prior art are not necessary. The analytical process 70 starts from the historical availability data 71 per item as discussed above which is available to the management company 10 and is stored in non-volatile memory 20M. In step

71, historical availability is analyzed under the control of the processor

20P and the relevant information is extracted, eg which relates to books in a particular genre. In step 73, all works of an author or all works of an author in a given genre are examined under the control of processor 20P and the historical availability of that author is determined. For example, the average availability of all other previously published titles from a book author is determined. For example, it can be averaged over a time period such as the last five years (“moving average”). Keeping in mind that past successes or failures have little effect on the foreseeable future, the impact of past availability can be reduced by discounting older values, eg by reducing the values for each time period going back in time, eg for each year by a multiplication factor.

In step 74, all works within a particular genre are examined under the control of processor 20P and availability for that genre is determined. For example, the average availability for all titles in a genre is determined. For example, it can be averaged over a time period such as the last five years (“moving average”). Keeping in mind that past success or failure has little effect on the foreseeable future, the impact of past availability can be reduced by discounting older values, e.g.

BE2017 / 5618 reduce the values for each time period going back in time, eg for each year by a multiplication factor.

In step 75, all works having a common or similar synopsis or summary are examined under the control of processor 20P and availability for such works is determined. For example, the average availability for all titles with a similar synopsis is determined. For example, it can be averaged over a time period such as the last five years (“moving average”). Keeping in mind that past success or failure has little effect on the near future, the impact of past availability can be reduced by discounting older values, eg by reducing the values for each period of time going back in the time, eg for each year by a multiplication factor.

In steps 73 to 75 other factors can be taken into account. For example, if the author has not produced any previous work, only 74 and 75 can be performed. Step 73 can then be determined by other aspects such as whether the author is known (e.g. a well-known sports athlete writes a book), i.e. relying on source metadata

34. Based on experience, a value can be determined. Furthermore, world or local events may be accessible to increase or decrease the availability determined in steps 73 to 75, eg a journalist writes a book about a political situation of great importance relying on metadata from source 34. A further aspect is whether for certain regions 3, 5, 7, 9 language is important, so that if no translation is available, availability should be increased (= less demand expected).

Since each work or copy of a work is recorded separately, the metadata associated with a work or copy may contain language, i.e., relying on source 34 metadata, or language can be detected from text.

As indicated above, if the author has no mention of previous work, the availability determined in step 74 for working with similar synopsis is important. Synopsis can be as simple as a text provided by the editor or publisher, or it can be made more complex. For example, reviews can be stored over time (e.g. in source 34 metadata) in non-volatile memory 20M along with the first synopsis. For a book you can use the foreword

BE2017 / 5618 can also be saved. Operators at the management company 10 can add comments about an author, a genre, etc. over time.

Over time, a significant amount of text can accumulate in non-volatile memory 20M. The present invention encompasses a variety of methods for finding similar synopsis despite the increase in data stored with the original synopsis. For example, the number of words can be reduced by removing any duplicate text (known as redundancy removal), removing formatting such as tags in html documents, by removing punctuation, by lowering all text, by information remove where certain types of information are missing, by removing definite and indefinite articles, conjunctions, etc., by leaving only nouns and verbs, by reducing nouns and verbs to their root. The language of a synopsis contribution can be automatically recognized and only synopsis of the same language can be compared for similarity. The present invention encompasses the use of ways to determine similarity of text passages so that a series of synopsies can be used to generate a relevant availability for this series. Grouping similar texts together is called clustering, i.e. determining whether two groups of text are similar.

For example, use is included within the scope of the present invention of similarity such as using the Jaccard coefficient, Dice or Cosine similarity. Similar synopsies can be grouped or clustered according to semantic similarity or syntactic similarity. Semantic similarity is a metric defined over a series of documents or terms, where the idea of distance between them is based on the similarity of their meaning or semantic content.

Returning to Figure 7, in step 76 the three availabilities are combined,

i.e. the combination is a function of the availability of author, genre and synopsis. The combination can be an average or a weighted average where a weighting factor w1, w2, w3 is applied to the availability of author, genre and synopsis, respectively.

Relative availability can be used instead of absolute availability. The difference between the availability of all authors in the genre and

BE2017 / 5618, for example, the availability for the respective author in that genre can be determined. For example, the difference between the availability in all genres and the availability of the genre in question can be determined. For example, the difference between the availability for all synopsis in a genre and the availability for the particular synopsis in that genre can be determined resulting in a relative synoptic value. The three relative availabilities are combined, i.e. the combination is a function of the relative availabilities of author, genre and synopsis. The combination can be an average or a weighted average where a weighting factor w1, w2, w3 is applied to the availability of author, genre and synopsis, respectively.

The final step in Figure 7 is the formulation of a recommendation or report 77. This may be a recommendation of the predicted number of works titles as shown in Figure 6 or a recommendation to increase or decrease the predicted number as shown in Figure 6. The report 77 may contain one or more lines that may be input to a team of experts or an expert system 78, where the team of experts or the expert system generates the predicted number of new titles belonging to each category in the pyramid as shown in Figure 6. On the other hand, the report 77 may contain one or more lines that may be input to a team of experts or an expert system 78 to generate a recommendation to increase or decrease the predicted number of titles per category as shown in Figure 6 Several reports 77 relevant to the same new work can be generated eg one for each site eg of different ones locations.

These results reports 77 will be recommended or provided to one of the lending library 2, the ebook lending library 4, the bookstore 6, and the ebook retailer 8 and their inventory will be changed accordingly by purchasing the work in accordance with the results.

This assessment of the future demand as shown in Figure 6 is used in embodiments of the present invention to purchase the works in the relevant class for the lending library 2, the ebook lending library 4, the bookstore 6, or the point of sale for ebooks 8 so that they become available as stock in the lending library for books 2, the lending library for e29

BE2017 / 5618 books 4, the bookstore 6, or the e-book sales point 8, eg without separate and individual approval from one of these branches. The accounting system 20A automatically generates from the pyramid of Figure 6 the orders, invoices, etc. for the copies of the relevant works to be purchased. The titles of works generated by the category management module 22 to generate the pyramid of Figure 6 ensure that at least some and preferably most of the works that will be in high demand are ordered and delivered on time. This has advantages for more efficient ordering and delivery, as well as automatic and faster placing of new orders in function of the latest new releases, monitoring of stock, etc.

With respect to Figure 8, a further embodiment of the present invention for determining future demand assessment will be described as shown in Figure 6. As in Figure 6, the assessment pyramid has 355 titles rated AAA, 555 titles rated AA , 1265 titles with rating A, 1870 titles with rating B and C. Two libraries L1 and L2 have purchase profiles PI and P2. Profiles PI and P2 are configured as digital files that can be parsed by the processor 20P. For example, libraries L1 and L2 agree to purchase 10 copies of each title with ratings AAA and AA, and 5 copies with ratings A, B, C and these lines are specified in profiles PI and P2 in digital form. The assessment pyramid is generated by a team of experts or an expert system 80 based on rules used by the team of experts. The two executable reports 77 (L1) and 77 (L2) of Figure 7 for L1 and L2 respectively are input for a further team of experts or expert system 78. The effect of reports 77 (L1) and 77 (L2) is the number of reduce purchased copies for L2 rated AAA from 3550 to 2870, to increase the number of copies for rating A for L2 from 6325 to 7000, and to reduce the number of copies of titles rated C for L1 from 9350 to 8500. These changes are caused by specific results of availability in the availability of the genre, author and synopsis for L1 and L2 as determined by the analytical process of Figure 7.

Embodiments of the present invention use order management (order, delivery, and invoice flow) which users (e.g., the lending library for books 2, the

BE2017 / 5618 lending library for ebooks 4, the bookstore 6, or the ebook retailer 8) allows to make significant cost effective adjustments to their order management. The user does not have to do extensive research to select the works that are likely to be in high demand. The user has to perform fewer operations, because the order no longer has to be entered in different places. In addition, it is a simple and efficient way to track inventory in the book lending library 2, the ebook lending library 4, the bookstore 6, or the ebook retailer 8.

The unique label of the type shown in Figure 2, when the information contained therein is entered into the management company 10 system, enables the automation of purchase and delivery, because the management company 10 consumer system immediately assigns deliveries of new works to the correct location and organizes. Each copy of the work receives the unique code to which various data can be linked eg name of the lending library 2, the library for e-book lending 4, the bookstore 6, or the e-book point of sale 8 where applicable , code for literary or graphic or musical work such as the EAN code of the book, title of the work, ISBN code, information about the processing, etc. Thanks to this functionality, an automated ordering procedure for the lending library 2, the library for the ebook lending 4, the bookstore 6, or the ebook outlet 8 set up and executed by the processor 20P with non-volatile memory 20M.

As suggested above, past embodiments of the present invention establish use of literary or graphic or musical works for a particular establishment in accordance with the interests of its clientele, e.g., the socio-cultural environment of the establishment. Once the interests of the clientele have been identified, the order process for new works can be determined for each site as determined by the pyramid of Figure 6, profiles Pl and P2 of Figure 8 optional as adjusted by the effect of report 77 of Figure 7. Embodiments of the present invention combine data-driven information with the concept of category management. Where necessary, a transformation of data from different computer-based systems such as different library systems (eg VUBIS, BICAT or CIB LIS) is made to the

BE2017 / 5618 order system of the management company 10 in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. Data files provided by the lending library 2, the e-book lending library 4, the bookstore 6, or the e-book outlet 8 can take various forms with file extensions such as SAP, DAT, XLS, DBF, etc. Computer-based systems according to Embodiments of the present invention can access this data and link it to the data available to and collected by the management company 10, e.g., using APIs. Then, from the linking of the data, the future demand for new works is determined and the order of new works is arranged for each of the lending library 2, the library for lending ebooks 4, the bookstore 6, or the point of sale for ebooks 8 when available. Embodiments of the present invention use various parameters such as Author, Genre and Synopsis as key parameters for estimating future demand for new works by determining historical availability with respect to other works by the same author, to other works with a similar synopsis and other works in same genre as the new book. In addition, no explicit personal data of the purchasers and borrowers should be stored in the database 20 of the management company 10.

A process flow 300 of an embodiment of the present invention is shown in Figure 3. The process is suitable for use with a computer-based inventory management system for graphic or musical or literary works, each copy of a graphic, musical or literary work optionally having a unique identifier, where there is a new graphic or musical or literary work by an author in a genre that will be published in the future. It is suitable for use with at least one of a lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, an electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, a point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works, the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale, for example, having a first to third computer system, respectively, each of the first to third computer systems being first to third processors have first to third communication interfaces, and first to third non-volatile memories, respectively.

BE2017 / 5618

In addition, a management organization has a fourth computer system with a fourth processor, and a fourth communication interface and a fourth non-volatile memory.

A process begins with step 302 in which the first to third Computer Systems store over time in the first to third non-volatile memories, respectively, an indication of the physical borrowing, removal, and return of a work or instance of a graphic, musical, or literary work work, or from the sale, removal and restocking of a work or copy of a graphic or musical or literary work, or of physically unlocking and locking access to a work or copy of digital graphic or musical or literary work at an electronic reading device. An anonymous indication of a transferee can also be stored.

In step 304, the fourth computer system generates a query and sends the query through the first to fourth communication interfaces under the control of the first to fourth processors to filter out indications of physical borrowing, removal and return from the first to third Computer systems of works or entities of the graphic or musical or literary works, or of the sale, removal and restocking of or copies of the graphic or musical or literary works, or of the physical unlocking and locking of access to works or copies of digital graphic or musical or literary works on the electronic reading devices. In step 306, the fourth computer system in the fourth non-volatile memory stores a first historical availability for each work or copy of the graphic or musical or literary works over time, and derives a first historical record of the availability of works or copies of graphic or musical or literary works by the author that are not the new graphic or musical or literary work, and a second historical availability for works or copies of the graphic or musical or literary works over time belonging to the genre of the new graphic or musical or literary work. In step 308, the fourth computer system stores in the fourth non-volatile memory a future predicted demand for the new graphic or musical or literary work of the first and second historical availabilities. In step 310, at least one of the lending library for graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale for graphic or musical works

BE2017 / 5618 musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works the stock of at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works, respectively, based on the future predicted demand.

Processors described with respect to embodiments of the present invention such as for use with non-volatile memories can be operated by a standalone digital processing device or integrated into another device. Preferably, the processor has processing capability as provided by one or more microprocessors, FPGAs, or a central processing unit (CPU) and / or a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), and is equipped to perform the respective functions by being programmed with software ie one or more computer programs. References to software can include any type of program in any language directly or indirectly executable by a processor, or through a compiled or interpretative language such as Java. The implementation of any of the methods of the present invention may be performed by or supported by logic circuits, electronic hardware, processors, or a switching system that may include any kind of logic or analog switching system integrated to any extent, and not limited to general purpose processors, digital signal processors, ASICs, FPGAs, discrete components or logic transistor ports and similar.

Such devices may have memory (such as non-volatile memory, non-corruptible, computer readable medium, RAM and / or ROM), an operating system, optionally a display such as a fixed format display, ports for data input devices such as a keyboard, a pointing device such as a “mouse”, serial or parallel ports to communicate with other devices, network cards and connections to connect to each of the networks.

The software may be integrated into a computer program product equipped to perform the functions specified in the description and the appended claims when the software is loaded on the controller and executed on one or more processing devices such as microprocessors, ASICs, FPGAs etc. Devices for use with any of the embodiments of the present invention

BE2017 / 5618 incorporate a computer system Capable of running one or more applications in the form of Computer software.

The methods of embodiments of the present invention may be performed by one or more computer application programs running on the computer system by being loaded into memory and on or in conjunction with an operating system such as Windows ™ supplied by Microsoft Corp, USA, Linux, Run Android or similar. The computer system may include a main memory, preferably RAM (RAM), and may also include a non-perishable hard disk drive and / or a removable non-perishable memory, and / or an perishable fixed memory. Non-perishable removable memory can be an optical disc such as a compact disc (CD-ROM or DVD-ROM), a magnetic tape that is read by and written on by a suitable reader. The removable non-corruptible memory may be a computer readable medium in which Computer software and / or data is stored. The non-volatile storage memory can be used to store persistent information that should not be lost when the computer system is turned off. The application programs can use and store information in non-volatile memory.

The software integrated into the computer program product is equipped to perform the following functions of any of the method steps of the embodiments of the present invention when the software is loaded on the respective device or devices and executed on one or more processing devices such as microprocessors, ASICs, FPGAs etc.

Any software above can be implemented as a computer program product that is compiled for a processor in any of the servers or nodes of the network or written in an interpretive language such as Java running on a virtual machine such as the Java virtual machine. The computer program product can be stored in an immortal signal storage medium such as an optical disk (CD-ROM or DVD-ROM), a digital magnetic tape, a magnetic disk, a fixed memory such as a USB flash memory, a ROM, etc.

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Claims (20)

Conclusions 1. A computer-based inventory management system for graphic or musical or literary works, where each graphic or musical or literary work has a unique identifier, whereby a new graphic or musical or literary work by an author in a The computer-based inventory management system according to claim 1, wherein the new graphic or musical or literary work has a synopsis and the second computer system is configured to provide a third historical record of the availability of copies of graphic or musical or literary works that have the same synopsis or have a synopsis similar to that of the new graphic or musical or literary work, the similarity being defined by a syntactic or a semantic similarity. 3. A computer-based inventory management system for graphic or musical or literary works, where each graphic or musical or literary work has a unique identifier, where there is a new graphic or musical or literary work by an author in a genre to be published in the future, including the system: at least one of a lending library for graphic or musical or literary works, an electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, a point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works, whereby the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the at least one of the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale have a first computer system, the first computer system having a first processor, a first BE2017 / 5618 communication interface, and a first non-volatile memory, wherein the first computer system is configured over time in the first non-volatile memory, an indication of the physical borrowing, removal and return of a graphic or musical or literary work, or from the sale, removal and the The computer-based inventory management system according to claim 3, wherein the second computer system is configured to provide a third historical availability for graphic or musical or literary works over time. 5 stores works over time, deriving from them a first historical record of the availability of copies of graphic or musical or literary works by the author that are not the new graphic or musical or literary work, and a second historical availability for copies of the graphic or musical or literary works over time belonging to the genre that is the same as the genre of the 5 inventory management system for graphic or musical or literary works, where each copy of a graphic or musical or literary work has a unique identifier, where there is new graphic or musical or literary work by an author in a genre that will be published in the the method is suitable for use with a lending library for graphic, musical or literary works, a 5 copy of a physical graphic, musical or literary work with a unique identifier and an EAN code, or a barcode or a QR code representing the unique identifier and the EAN code. 5 to resupply copies of the graphic or musical or literary works, or to physically unlock and lock access to the digital graphic or musical or literary works on the electronic reading apparatus, filtering the second computer system into the second non-volatile memory a first historical availability for any graphic or musical or literary work over time 5 musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works, respectively, based on the future forecast demand, is enabled by the second computer system configured to perform contractual obligations, the contractual obligations defining how many copies of works of the future predicted demand will be added to the inventory of the The computer-based inventory management system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein each copy of a physical graphic or musical or literary work is labeled with a unique identifier and an EAN code, or a barcode or 5 to increase musical or literary works, respectively, based on future predicted demand. 5 resupply of a graphic or musical or literary work, or of physically unlocking and locking access to a digital graphic or musical or literary work on an electronic reading device, where a management organization has a second computer system with a second processor, and a second communication interface and a second non-volatile memory, 5 genre that will be published in the future, the system including: at least one of a lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, an electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, a point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works, whereby the lending library of graphic or musical or The computer-based inventory management system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the future forecast demand is determined by genre. 20 The computer-based inventory management system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the future forecast demand is determined by series of categories. 8. The computer-based inventory management system according to any of the previous Claims, wherein the first computer system is configured to display over time in the first non-volatile memory, an anonymous indication of a person viewing a graphic or musical or literary work, or a license to access a digital graphic or musical or literary purchase work on an electronic reader. The computer-based inventory management system according to claim 8, wherein the indication of a person is a one-way function. BE2017 / 5618 10 new graphic or musical or literary work or a third historical record of the availability of copies of graphic or musical or literary works that have the same synopsis or a similar synopsis as that of the new graphic or musical or literary work, defining the similarity by a syntactic or a semantic similarity, 10 electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, a point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works, whereby the lending library for graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale respectively a first to third computer system 10 predicted demand is determined per genre. 10, and derives therefrom a first historical record of the availability of graphic or musical or literary works by the author that are not the new graphic or musical or literary work, and a second historical availability for graphic or musical or literary works over time belonging to the genre of new graphic or musical or literary work or a third historical record of availability 10 at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works. 15 The computer-based inventory management system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the increased inventory of at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale for graphic or 10 belong to the genre of the new graphic, musical or literary work, 10 wherein the second computer system is equipped to generate a query and transmit the query through the first and second communication interfaces under the control of the first and second processors to derive the indications of the physical borrowing from the first computer system and return the graphic or musical or literary works, or the sale, removal and 10 literary works, the at least one of the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale has a first computer system, the first computer system having a first processor, a first communication interface, and a first non-volatile memory , wherein the first computer system is configured to change over time in the first non-volatile 11. A computer-based inventory management method for graphic or musical or literary works, where each graphic or musical or literary work has a unique identifier, where there is a new graphic or musical or literary work by an author in a genre to be published in the future, the management method being for use with at least one of a graphic lending library 20 or musical or literary works, electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, a point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works, whereby the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the at least the electronic lending library for digital graphic, musical or literary work, or the point of sale 25 have a first computer system, wherein the first computer system has a first processor, a first communication interface, and a first non-volatile memory, the method of the first computer system passing through time in the first non-volatile memory, an indication of the physical borrowing, removing and returning a graphic, musical or literary work, or from the sale, removal and the 30 resupply of a graphic or musical or literary work, of physically unlocking and locking access to digital graphic or musical or literary work on an electronic reading device, a second computer system with a second processor, and a second communication interface and a second non- volatile memory, which is equipped to perform a search BE2017 / 5618 and send the query via the first and second communication interfaces under the control of the first and second processors to obtain from the first computer system the indications of the physical, removal and return of the graphic or musical or literary works, or of the sale, the removal and the The method of claim 11, wherein the new graphic or musical or literary work has a synopsis and the second computer system has a third historical record of the availability of copies of graphic or musical or literary works that have the same synopsis or a similar synopsis as that of the new BE2017 / 5618 derives graphic or musical or literary work, the likeness being defined by a syntactic or a semantic similarity. The method of claim 11 or 12, further comprising labeling each The method of any of claims 11 to 13, wherein the future 15 wherein the fourth computer system stores in the fourth non-volatile memory a future predicted demand for the new graphic or musical or literary work of the first and second or third historical availabilities, and wherein the at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic, musical or literary 20 work, whether the point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works increases the stock of at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or 25 literary works, respectively, based on future predicted demand. 15, wherein each of the first to third Computer Systems have first to third processors, respectively, first to third communication interfaces, and first to third non-volatile memories, respectively, and wherein a management organization has a fourth computer system with a fourth processors and a fourth communication interface and a fourth non-volatile memory, the method comprising: the first to third Computer systems that store over time in the first to third non-volatile memory, respectively, an indication of the physical borrowing, removal and return of a copy of a graphic or musical or literary work, or of the sale, removal and restocking a copy of a graphic or 25 musical or literary work, or from the physical unlocking and locking of access to a copy of a digital graphic or musical or literary work on an electronic reader, the fourth computer system generating a query and transmitting the query through the first to fourth communications interfaces under the control of the first 30 to fourth processors to provide indications from the first to third Computer Systems of the physical borrowing, removal and return of copies of the graphic or musical or literary works, or of the sale, removal and restocking of copies of the graphic or musical or literary works, or of physically unlocking and locking access to copies of the digital graphic or BE2017 / 5618 to filter out musical or literary works on the electronic reading devices, the fourth computer system in the fourth non-volatile memory providing an initial historical availability for each copy of the graphic or musical or literary The method of any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein the future predicted demand is determined by series of categories. 15 15 of copies of graphic or musical or literary works that have the same synopsis or a similar synopsis to that of the new graphic or musical or literary work, the similarity being defined by a syntactic or semantic similarity, the second computer system in the second non-volatile memory a future 20 predicts demand for the new graphic or musical or literary work of the first and second or third historical availability and where the at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or 25 literary works increases the stock of at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works, respectively, based on future predicted demand. 15 a QR code representing the unique identifier and the EAN code. Resupply of copies of graphic or musical or literary works, or of the physical unlocking and locking of access to the digital graphic or musical or literary works on the electronic reading devices, the second computer system being configured to store in the second non-volatile memory first historical availability for any graphic or musical or literary 20 to store work over time, and to derive from it a first historical record of the availability of graphic or musical or literary works by the author which is not the new graphic or musical or literary work, and in which the new graphic whether musical or literary work has a synopsis and the second computer system is configured to provide a second historical availability To deduce graphic or musical or literary works over time that have the same synopsis or a similar synopsis as that of the new graphic or musical or literary work, the similarity being defined by a syntactic or a semantic similarity, the second computer system is configured to be non-volatile in the second 30 memory to store a future predicted demand for the new graphic or musical or literary work from first and second historical availabilities and where the at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or BE2017 / 5618 musical or literary works is configured to stock the at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for the digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphics or 15 store memory an indication of the physical borrowing, removal and return of a graphic or musical or literary work, or of the sale, removal and restocking of a graphic or musical or literary work, or of the physical unlocking and locking of access to a digital graphic or musical or literary work on an electronic reading device, 20 wherein a management organization has a second computer system with a second processor and a second communication interface and a second non-volatile memory, the second computer system being equipped to generate a search query and transmit the search query via the first and second communication interfaces under the control of the first and second processors to control the first computer system 25 indications of the physical borrowing, removal and return of the graphic or musical or literary works, or of the sale, removal and restocking of copies of the graphic or musical or literary works, or of the physical unlocking and locking of access to the digital graphic or musical or literary works on the electronic reading devices, 30 in which the second computer system is configured to store in the second non-volatile memory a first historical availability for each graphic or musical or literary work over time, and from this a first historical record of the availability of graphic or musical or literary work to derive works from the author which is not the new graphic or musical or literary work, and a second historical one BE2017 / 5618 availability for graphic or musical or literary works over time belonging to the genre of the new graphic or musical or literary work, the second computer system being configured to provide a future forecast demand for the new non-volatile memory in the second store graphic or musical or literary works of the first and second historical availabilities and where at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works is configured to increase the stock of at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale for graphic or music le or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works, respectively, based on the future predicted demand. The method of any of claims 11 to 15, wherein the first computer system over time in the first non-volatile memory, an anonymous indication of a person viewing a graphic or musical or literary work, or a license to access purchases, stores a digital graphic, musical or literary work on an electronic reading device. The method of claim 16, wherein the indication of a person is an "oneway" function. The method of any one of claims 11 to 17, wherein increasing 25 the stock of at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works, respectively, based on the future forecast demand enabled by the second computer system 30 is configured to perform contractual obligations, the contractual obligations defining how many copies of works of the future predicted demand will be added to the inventory of at least one of the lending library of graphic or musical or literary works, the electronic lending library for digital graphic or musical or literary work, or the point of sale BE2017 / 5618 for graphic or musical or literary works or for digital graphic or musical or literary works. 19. An inventory control method for use with a computer based Apparatus for storing a non-perishable signal on which at least one program is encoded to perform any of the methods of claims 11 to 19 when executed on a processor. BE2017 / 5618