Patent ID: 11922388
Assignee: WALMART APOLLO, LLC
Field: IT methods for management (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  B  F  Y | IPC B  F  G

Claim 0:
1. An energy-efficient system for producing and vending ice, the system comprising:
an ice-making device configured to manufacture ice;
a reservoir coupled to the ice-making device and configured to store the ice manufactured by the ice-making device; and
a control circuit communicatively coupled to the ice-making device, the control circuit configured to:
determine a beginning ice inventory at a first time;
determine an ice manufacturing quantity based on the beginning ice inventory, a predicted ice demand for a first period, and a manufacturing capacity of the ice-making device, wherein the predicted ice demand is a function of at least one of a historical factor, a weather factor, a customer social event factor, and a public social event factor; and
cause the ice-making device to produce an amount of ice consistent with the determined ice manufacturing quantity.