Remote management of retail petroleum equipment
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system, comprising:
- a plurality of fuel dispenser sites each having a plurality of fuel dispenser positions;
a system administrator to provide remote management of said plurality of fuel dispenser sites;
a plurality of agent facilities, each agent facility associated with a respective fuel dispenser site to operatively cooperate with said system administrator in the management of the respective fuel dispenser site; and
a connection between said system administrator and said plurality of fuel dispenser sites.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A network management system remotely manages a fuel dispensing network comprising a plurality of refueling stations each including several fuel dispensing assemblies. The network management functions include reconfiguring the fuel dispensing equipment, downloading software updates, monitoring the status and performance of the fuel dispensing equipment, performing diagnostic and troubleshooting procedures, and scheduling maintenance calls and other servicing activity in response to the diagnostic evaluations. The management application performs its various network management functions in conjunction with a plurality of dedicated software agents each resident at a respective refueling station.
116 Citations
33 Claims
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1. A system, comprising:
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a plurality of fuel dispenser sites each having a plurality of fuel dispenser positions;
a system administrator to provide remote management of said plurality of fuel dispenser sites;
a plurality of agent facilities, each agent facility associated with a respective fuel dispenser site to operatively cooperate with said system administrator in the management of the respective fuel dispenser site; and
a connection between said system administrator and said plurality of fuel dispenser sites. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A management system for use with a fuel dispenser environment, said fuel dispenser environment comprising a plurality of fuel dispenser locations each having a plurality of fuel dispenser positions, said management system comprising:
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a remote management application facility, said management application facility enabling the execution of at least one management task involving at least one fuel dispenser location;
a plurality of interface means each operatively associated with a respective fuel dispenser location, each interface means operatively acting in cooperation with said management application facility to manage at least one of the fuel dispenser positions associated therewith; and
a means to connect said management application facility with at least one fuel dispenser location. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A system for use with a fuel dispenser environment, said fuel dispenser environment comprising a plurality of fuel dispenser sites each having a plurality of fuel dispenser positions, said system comprising:
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a remote network management facility, said network management facility being operatively arranged in a network configuration with at least one fuel dispenser site, said network management facility enabling the management of at least one fuel dispenser site;
a plurality of agent systems, each agent system associated with a respective fuel dispenser site and disposed to enable operative communication with at least one fuel dispenser position associated therewith; and
a means for enabling communication between said network management facility and at least one fuel dispenser site. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method for use with a fuel dispenser environment, said fuel dispenser environment comprising a plurality of fuel dispenser sites each having a plurality of fuel dispenser positions, said method comprising the steps of:
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remotely executing management operations involving at least one fuel dispenser site, said management operations comprising at least one of;
downloading software relating to a fuel dispenser site activity, downloading software relating to a fuel dispenser position activity, downloading reconfiguration information, updating and/or modifying software resident at a fuel dispenser site, reconfiguring at least one fuel dispenser site and/or at least one fuel dispenser position, monitoring at least one of fuel dispensing operation, fuel dispenser site status, and fuel dispenser position status, controlling a fuel dispensing operation, evaluating diagnostic information operatively received from a fuel dispenser site, and scheduling at least one of a software download, a configuration download, and a service call in response to the diagnostic information evaluation. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33)
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Specification