MONITORING AND REPORTING A LIQUID LEVEL OF A COMMODITY IN A TANK

• US 20160292632A1
• Filed: 04/06/2016
• Published: 10/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tank Utility
• Original Assignee: Tank Utility
• Inventors: Mashburn, Nicholas, Kemper, Nathan
• Granted Patent: US 9,911,095 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0835 Relationships between shipper or supplier and carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1097 Task assignment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link

Abstract

Techniques for monitoring and reporting a liquid level of a commodity in a tank includes measuring a commodity level in the tank using a tank meter and transmitting information indicating the commodity level to a server. A user may access the information from a user interface of a device to view the commodity level of the tank, informing the user of whether the commodity level is low. A provider of the commodity may receive a notification when the tank level is low. Information about the location of the tank may be used to schedule a future delivery of the commodity to one or more tanks.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring a commodity stored in a tank, the system comprising:

a Hall Effect sensor configured to detect a commodity level of the commodity stored in the tank;

a transmitter configured to transmit, over a wireless network, information indicating the commodity level, wherein the transmitter is in communication with the Hall Effect sensor;

at least one processor; and

at least one non-transitory storage medium storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, control the processor to;

receive the information indicating the commodity level;

store the information indicating the commodity level in association with information identifying a user account corresponding to the tank; and

present, on a display of a user device associated with the user account, the information indicating the commodity level to a user.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the information indicating the commodity level over a cellular data network.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the information indicating the commodity level over a local area network associated with a building that receives the commodity from the tank, and the system further comprises a router configured to provide the local area network and transmit the information indicating the commodity level.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to determine a commodity amount stored in the tank, determine whether the commodity amount is below a threshold amount, and present, to the user, an indication of a low commodity level if the commodity level is determined to be below a threshold level.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein determining whether the commodity level is below a threshold level comprises receiving information identifying a capacity of the tank from settings associated with the user account and determining a commodity amount based on the commodity level and the capacity of the tank.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to receive, from the user, input requesting a commodity delivery and transmit an indication of the request to a computing device associated with a commodity provider.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one visual indicator configured to provide an indication of a connectivity status of the transmitter to the wireless network.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one visual indicator configured to provide an indication of transmission of the information indicating the commodity level over the wireless network.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a magnetic sensor coupled to the Hall Effect sensor and configured to receive a signal indicating a change in operating state when a magnet is positioned proximate to the magnetic sensor.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the transmitter is configured to receive connectivity credentials associated with the wireless network from the user device.

11. A method of reporting commodity amounts stored in a plurality of tanks to a commodity provider, the method comprising:

monitoring commodity usage for each tank in the plurality of tanks by measuring, using a sensor located in each tank, a commodity level in each tank over time;

selecting a subset of tanks from among the plurality of tanks for scheduling of a future delivery by determining whether a current commodity level tor a tank in the plurality of tanks is below a threshold level; and

notifying the commodity provider to include the subset of tanks in a future delivery by transmitting information identifying the subset of tanks to a computing device associated with the commodity provider and presenting information identifying locations and commodity levels associated with the subset of tanks to the commodity provider.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein selecting a subset of tanks from among the plurality of tanks comprises receiving a commodity delivery request from a user associated with a first tank of the plurality of tanks and selecting the subset of tanks to include the first tank.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein presenting information identifying locations and commodity levels associated with the subset of tanks comprises presenting, on a display, a visual representation of locations associated with the subset of tanks on a map.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein presenting a visual representation comprises displaying identifiers positioned on the map corresponding to the locations associated with the subset of tanks, wherein each identifier indicates an amount of commodity stored in a tank at the location corresponding to the position of the identifier on the map.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining a schedule for delivering the commodity to the subset of tanks by receiving information identifying locations associated with the subset of tanks and determining the schedule based on the locations associated with the subset of tanks.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein determining a schedule for delivering the commodity further comprises calculating estimated costs associated with a plurality of schedules for delivering the commodity to the subset of tanks and selecting a schedule from the plurality of schedules having the lowest estimated cost.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein determining the schedule based on the locations associated with the subset of tanks comprises identifying a group of tanks from the subset of tanks by estimating distances for a provider to travel to the locations associated with the subset of tanks and selecting the group of tanks as being geographically located in proximity to each other based on the estimated distances.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein determining a schedule for delivering the commodity comprises receiving travel time information associated with the plurality of schedules and calculating estimated costs associated with the plurality of schedules based on the travel time information.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein monitoring commodity usage for each of the plurality of tanks comprises detecting a commodity level for a tank by a Hall Effect sensor positioned at the tank and transmitting information indicating the commodity level over a wireless network via a transmitter in communication with the Hall Effect sensor.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein transmitting information indicating the commodity level over the wireless network occurs automatically.