Integrated fuel dispensing and accounting system

• US 20170188180A1
• Filed: 12/23/2015
• Published: 06/29/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fuelcloud, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Fuelcloud, Inc.
• Inventors: Bretthauer, Kevin A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,210,696 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/145 Payments according to the detected use or quantity
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3278 RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 13/025 wherein the volume is determined during delivery
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0014 for vending, access and use of specific services not covered anywhere else in G07F17/00 meter-controlled dispensing of liquid, gas or electricity G07F15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/0893 the card reader reading the card in a contactless manner
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/00 Telephonic communication systems specially adapted for combination with other electrical systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

An interface system extends a prior-art fuel delivery pump and reservoir so that authorization to activate the fuel delivery pump can be obtained from a remote authorization service over a long-range wireless communication link such as a cellular telephone connection or a satellite connection; and delivered to the interface system over a different, short-range wireless communication link such as a Bluetooth® connection or a WiFi connection. The system is structured so that different data link devices can serve in one part of the communication chain. Other features and characteristics of the system are described and claimed.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a short-range wireless transceiver;

an electronically-controlled switch; and

a computing device coupled to the short-range wireless transceiver and the electronically-controlled switch, said computing device configured with instructions and data to cause the computing device to perform operations comprising;

establishing a communication link with a data-link device via the short-range wireless transceiver;

receiving a vending authorization from the data-link device over the communication link, said vending authorization forwarded by the data-link device after receiving the vending authorization from a remote server via a second and different wireless transceiver of the data-link device;

activating the electronically-controlled switch after receiving the vending authorization;

deactivating the electronically-controlled switch after a product corresponding to the vending authorization is delivered; and

discontinuing communications with the data-link device.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the computing device is configured with additional instructions and data to cause the system to repeat the establishing, receiving, activating, deactivating and discontinuing operations with a second, different data-link device.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the computing device is configured with additional instructions and data to cause the computing device to perform additional operations comprising:

determining a quantity of product delivered while the electronically-controlled switch was active; and

reporting the quantity of product delivered to the data-link device.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the electronically-controlled switch is a solid-state relay or an electromagnetic relay.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the electronically-controlled switch provides a contact-closure function.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the electronically-controlled switch connects a pump to a power supply for the pump.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the short-range wireless transceiver is one of a Bluetooth®

transceiver or a WiFi transceiver.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a display coupled to the computing device, said display operative to present information to a user of the system.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a pump coupled to the electronically-controlled switch; and

a reservoir coupled to the pump, said reservoir containing the product.

21. The system of claim 1 wherein the data-link device receives the vending authorization from the remote server via the second and different wireless transceiver while the communication link via the short-range wireless transceiver is in operation.

22. The system of claim 1 wherein the computing device lacks a directly-connected interface to communicate directly with the remote server via a second and different wireless channel.

5. (canceled)

11. At least one tangible computer-readable medium containing a first set of data and instructions to cause a first programmable processor to perform a first set of operations comprising:

establishing a first wireless communications link with a second, different programmable processor;

receiving a vending authorization from the second, different programmable processor over the first wireless communications link; and

signaling a vending mechanism to dispense a product corresponding to the vending authorization;

the at least one tangible computer-readable medium further containing a second set of data and instructions to cause the second, different programmable processor to perform a second set of operations comprising;

establishing a second, different wireless communication link with a third, different programmable processor;

receiving the vending authorization from the third, different programmable processor via the second wireless communication link; and

transmitting the vending authorization to the first programmable processor via the first wireless communication link;

wherein the first programmable processor is to communicate with the second, different programmable processor via a short-range wireless link between a first wireless transceiver of the first programmable processor and a second wireless transceiver of the second programmable processor.

12. The at least one tangible computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the short-range wireless link is a Bluetooth®

link or a WiFi link.

13. The at least one tangible computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the short-range wireless link is an infrared link.

14. The at least one tangible computer-readable medium of claim 11 containing a third set of instructions and data to cause a fourth, different programmable processor to perform a third set of operations comprising:

establishing a third, different wireless communication link with the first processor;

establishing a fourth, different wireless communication link with the third, different programmable processor;

receiving the vending authorization from the third, different programmable processor via the fourth, different wireless communication link; and

transmitting the vending authorization to the first programmable processor via the third, different wireless communication link;

wherein the first programmable processor is to communicate with the fourth, different programmable processor via a short-range wireless link between the first wireless transceiver of the first programmable processor and a third wireless transceiver of the fourth programmable processor.

20. The at least one tangible computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein at least one is exactly one tangible computer-readable medium.

15. A system comprising:

a microcontroller comprising a programmable processor, volatile and non-volatile memories, and a plurality of general-purpose input/output (“

GPIO”

) lines controlled by the programmable processor in accordance with instructions and data stored in the non-volatile memory;

a short-range wireless transceiver coupled to the microcontroller by the GPIO lines and operative to exchange data with a data communication device over a short-range wireless connection;

an electrical switch coupled to the microcontroller by at least one GPIO line and operative to activate a pump, wherein the instructions and data stored in the non-volatile memory cause the programmable processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving a vending authorization from the data communication device over the short-range wireless connection, said vending authorization transmitted from a remote server to the data communication device over a wireless connection different from the short-range wireless connection and forwarded from the data communication device over the short-range wireless connection;

activating the electrical switch to cause the pump to dispense a liquid fuel product;

deactivating the electrical switch to cause the pump to cease dispensing the liquid fuel product; and

terminating the short-range wireless connection with the data communication device.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

a display coupled to the microcontroller for presenting instructions to a user.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

an input interface to receive data from a volume detection device.

18. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

a volume detection device coupled to the microcontroller.

19. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

a remote server transmitting the vending authorization to the data communication device via a long-range wireless connection; and

the data communication device receiving the vending authorization from the remote server via a long-range wireless interface and forwarding the vending authorization to the microcontroller via the short-range wireless connection.