Ice machine with remote monitoring
First Claim
1. A system for monitoring the status and/or ice production of an ice making device, said system comprising:
- at least one detector for determining said status and/or ice production of said ice making device, thereby producing detected status and/or ice production data;
a microprocessor; and
a transmitter for communicating detected status and/or ice production data from said detector to said microprocessor.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A commercial ice making machine having an electronic monitoring device which captures the operating status and production history of the ice machine. The ice production history of the machine is communicated via telephony and/or the Internet on a regular recurring basis to a remote computer. The production history is used to generate invoices to the user of the ice machine, so that the user is charged based on his or her actual ice consumption. Failure of the ice machine is detected by the monitoring device and communicated immediately to a service company so that the ice machine can be repaired before the end user realizes the machine has failed.
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Citations
34 Claims
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1. A system for monitoring the status and/or ice production of an ice making device, said system comprising:
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at least one detector for determining said status and/or ice production of said ice making device, thereby producing detected status and/or ice production data;
a microprocessor; and
a transmitter for communicating detected status and/or ice production data from said detector to said microprocessor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for monitoring the status and/or ice production of an ice making device, said method comprising:
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determining said status and/or ice production of said ice making device, thereby producing detected status and/or ice production data; and
communicating said status and/or ice production data from said detector to a microprocessor. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A method for monitoring an ice making device comprising a bin switch and a hot gas valve, said method comprising:
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determining if said ice storage bin switch is either opened or closed;
determining if said hot gas valve is on or off;
determining the freeze and/or harvest times for said ice making device to freeze and/or harvest ice during an ice making freeze/harvest cycle and/or the number of the freeze/harvest cycles; and
generating said status and/or ice production data.
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34. An electronic device which is capable of monitoring an ice making machine having a bin switch and a hot gas valve, said device comprising:
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a first sensor for determining if said ice storage bin switch is either opened or closed;
a second sensor for determining if said hot gas valve is on or off;
a microprocessor for determining the freeze and/or harvest times for said ice making device to freeze and/or harvest ice during an ice making freeze/harvest cycle and/or the number of the freeze/harvest cycles; and
a data generator which is capable of producing said status and/or ice production data.
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Specification