Programmable electronic devices on containers

• US 10,621,850 B2
• Filed: 10/10/2018
• Issued: 04/14/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medea Inc.
• Original Assignee: Medea Inc.
• Inventors: Laidlaw, Brandon S., Taylor, Margaret L., Putterman, Jed
• Primary Examiner(s): Fan, Hongmin
• Application Number:
  US16/156,788
• Publication Number:
  US 20190043334A1
• Time in Patent Office: 552 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 2203/10 Transponders
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 23/14 of tags , labels, cards, coupons, decorations or the like B65D23/008 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/18 Status alarms G08B21/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/182 Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/22 Interactive procedures; Man-machine interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/00 Speech or audio signals analysis-synthesis techniques for redundancy reduction, e.g. in vocoders; Coding or decoding of speech or audio signals, using source filter models or psychoacoustic analysis in musical instruments G10H
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

Systems and methods for programmable electronic devices on containers are described. An example method may involve: receiving, by an electronic display device attached to an object, data indicating a quantity of a fluid in the object; determining, by the electronic display device, whether the data satisfies a criterion; responsive to determining that the data satisfies the criterion, generating a first message and a second message based on the data; transmitting, by the electronic display device, the first message to a computing device over a wireless connection; and presenting, by the electronic display device, the second message.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by an electronic display device attached to an object, data indicating a quantity of content in the object;

determining, by the electronic display device, whether the data satisfies a criterion;

responsive to determining that the data satisfies the criterion, generating a first message based on the data;

transmitting, by the electronic display device, the first message to a computing device over a wireless connection to request a replacement;

receiving, by the electronic display device, a response to the request for the replacement; and

presenting, by the electronic display device attached to the object, a second message indicating the replacement has been ordered.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the object comprises a container and the computing device comprises a mobile device comprising an application for communicating with the electronic display device attached to the container.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the data comprises measurement information generated by a sensor associated with the electronic display device.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the content comprises a fluid and the criterion comprises a quantity threshold, and wherein determining whether the data satisfies the criterion comprises determining whether the quantity of the fluid in the object is below the quantity threshold.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first message and the second message each indicate that the quantity of the fluid is below the quantity threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the data further comprises inventory information indicating a quantity of objects, wherein determining whether the data satisfies the criterion comprises determining whether the quantity of objects is below a quantity threshold, and wherein the first message comprises a recommendation to order additional objects.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein determining whether the data satisfies the criterion further comprises determining whether the mobile device is within a proximity threshold of the container based on a signal from the mobile device.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the second message presented by the electronic display device comprises at least one of a welcome message or an advertisement directed to a user associated with the mobile device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the second message comprises a personalized message comprising an identification of a user associated with the computing device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the data further comprises an audio signal containing voice data recorded by a microphone of the electronic display device, and wherein the first message comprises at least a portion of the audio signal and the second message comprises a textual message based on performing speech to text processing on at least the portion of the audio signal.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the data further comprises an audio signal containing voice data recorded by a microphone of the electronic display device, the method further comprising:

processing the audio signal by the electronic display device;

determining that the audio signal comprises a voice command based on the processing; and

performing an operation responsive to the voice command.

12. An electronic display device comprising:

a memory;

a processor operatively coupled to the memory, the processor configured to;

receive data indicating a quantity of content in an object attached to the electronic display device;

determine whether the data satisfies a criterion;

responsive to determining that the data satisfies the criterion, generate a first message based on the data;

transmit the first message to a computing device over a wireless connection to request a replacement;

receive a response to the request for the replacement; and

present, by the electronic display device, a second message indicating the replacement has been ordered.

13. The electronic display device of claim 12, wherein the object comprises a container and the computing device comprises a mobile device comprising an application for communicating with the electronic display device attached to the container.

14. The electronic display device of claim 12, wherein the data comprises measurement information generated by a sensor associated with the electronic display device.

15. The electronic display device of claim 12, wherein the content comprises a fluid and wherein the criterion comprises a quantity threshold, and wherein to determine whether the data satisfies the criterion the processor is to determine whether the quantity of the fluid in the object is below the quantity threshold.

16. The electronic display device of claim 12, wherein the data further comprises inventory information indicating a quantity of objects, and wherein to determine whether the data satisfies the criterion the processor is to determine whether the quantity of objects is below a quantity threshold, and wherein the first message comprises a recommendation to order additional objects.

17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions to cause a processor to:

receive, by an electronic display device attached to an object, data indicating a quantity of content in the object;

determine, by the electronic display device, whether the data satisfies a criterion;

responsive to determining that the data satisfies the criterion, generate a first message based on the data;

transmit, by the electronic display device, the first message to a computing device over a wireless connection to request a replacement; and

present, by the electronic display device attached to the object, a second message indicating the replacement has been ordered.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the object comprises a container and the computing device comprises a mobile device comprising an application for communicating with the electronic display device attached to the container.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the data comprises measurement information generated by a sensor associated with the electronic display device.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the content comprises a fluid and wherein the criterion comprises a quantity threshold, and wherein to determine whether the data satisfies the criterion the processor is to determine whether the quantity of the fluid in the object is below the quantity threshold.