Apparatus and methods for hygiene monitoring in restaurants and grocery superstores

• US 20170365157A1
• Filed: 09/04/2017
• Published: 12/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arian Shoari, Mona Komeijani
• Original Assignee: Arian Shoari, Mona Komeijani
• Inventors: Shoari, Arian, Komeijani, Mona
• Granted Patent: US 11,164,442 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B65C 2009/408 reading information before printing and applying a label
• CPC Class Codes: B65C 3/08 to container bodies B65C3/065 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B65C 9/40 Controls; Safety devices
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 13/00 Thermometers specially adapted for specific purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 3/005 Circuits arrangements for indicating a predetermined temperature fire detection G08B17/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06028 using bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07758 arrangements for adhering the record carrier to further objects or living beings, functioning as an identification tag
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1413 1D bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/182 Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/24 Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/245 Reminder of hygiene compliance policies, e.g. of washing hands
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/10 using wireless transmission systems G08B25/009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/23 Indication means, e.g. displays, alarms, audible means
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• 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: H04M 1/0202 Portable telephone sets, e.g. cordless phones, mobile phones or bar type handsets constructional features of telephone transmitters or receivers, e.g. of speakers or microphones H04M1/03
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/10 using a centralized architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/40 using a wireless architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/823 where the data is sent when the measured values exceed a threshold, e.g. sending an alarm
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/826 where the data is sent periodically
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/84 : Measuring functions
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/883 : where the sensing device enters an active or inactive mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/02 : Automatically-operated arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 : using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds

Abstract

This disclosure describes methods and apparatus for hygiene monitoring in chain restaurants and grocery superstores. Four sub-systems are introduced to take care of different aspects of hygiene in restaurants. One sub-system uses contactless and in-contact temperature sensors installed on appliances to constantly monitor the temperature of working appliances to be in pre-defined range and use an Internet of Things gateways to transmit the data to remote control unit. The system generate an alert or report if the temperature of the appliances falls beyond the predefined range for more than a specific period of time. Another sub-system use a combination of temperature, humidity, UV and gas detectors to monitor the environment to be unsuitable for growth of fungus and bacteria and alert in case of exposure to harmful material and sun radiation. This sub-system also use an Internet of Things gateways to transmit the data to remote control unit. The third sub-system use a combination of radio frequency tags attached to the staff, RF tag readers and infrared/proximity/motion/microphone/touch sensors installed over the faucet and dispenser to monitor if the staff wash their hands properly after going to the restroom. The forth sub-system automatically generate food expiring label for opened cans and food container based on RF tag worn by the staff. The system generate and print the label whenever the staff gesture their RF tags in front of them and potentially scan the container bar code or select it from a drop-down menu on its touch screen. The last sub-system can also monitor the inventory of opened cans of food in the refrigerator and provide a report or alert when they the time gets close to expiration date.

Claims

1. A hygiene monitoring system for restaurants or grocery stores, comprising:

One or more temperature sensors installed on or inside restaurant appliances;

A monitoring unit located in the vicinity or remote location;

An internet of things (IoT) gateway where data from sensors is received through a wireless link, and

retransmitted over a second wireless communication link to the monitoring unit;

wherein the temperature sensor has a memory chip and a wireless transceiver attached to it, and

stores a unique IP address; and

wherein the said monitoring unit compares the received value of the temperature of each appliance with an acceptable range defined for that appliance,

and display feedback if the temperature falls beyond that range.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the sensors are woken, measure the temperature, and go to sleep (or standby mode) on an adjustable duty cycle on a periodic basis.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the sensors have different period and duty cycle for wakeup-sleep cycles.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the temperature sensors are contactless sensors and are installed on or in the vicinity of the appliances.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the monitoring unit displays two or more temperature of appliances simultaneously.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the monitoring unit creates an alert whenever a working temperature of an appliance falls beyond the acceptable range.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the monitoring unit stores the history of each appliance temperature in a database, and

illustrates the history in a graph.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the monitoring unit has an application server which can send the reports and alerts to any device connected to the internet.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the temperature values are buffered in the attached memory of sensors and are transmitted to the IoT gateway based on some predefined event.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the temperature values will be buffered in the attached memory of sensors and are transmitted to the IoT gateway based on a predefined period.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one radio frequency tag attached to an employee;

a tag reader;

a label printer;

a processor;

a database;

wherein the processor generates a food expiring label for opened cans and containers including the name of the employee who used the system, the expiration date for the opened can (or container);

wherein the processor pulls up the name of the employee from the database keeping affiliation of tags and employees; and

wherein the processor calculates the expiration date for an opened can based on the type of food in the can which is communicated by the employee to the system.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising a bar code reader;

wherein the employee communicates the type of food to the system by scanning the bar code of the food container with a bar code reader.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising a touchscreen LED;

wherein the employee communicates the type of food to the system through selection from a dropdown menu on the touchscreen LED.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the system further comprises:

A bar code reader;

An inventory management software;

wherein the processor generates a unique bar code on any food expiring label;

wherein the unique bar code would be scanned upon disposal of the container; and

wherein the inventory management software keeps track of the opened cans in the refrigerator.

11. A hygiene monitoring system for restaurants or grocery stores comprising:

One or more interface to the appliances microcontroller units;

A monitoring unit located in the vicinity or remote location;

An internet of things (IoT) gateway where data from interfaces is received through a wireless link, and

retransmitted over a second wireless communication link to the monitoring unit;

wherein the interface can read the internal temperature of appliances,

has a memory and a wireless transceiver attached to it, and

stores a unique IP address; and

wherein the said monitoring unit compares the received value of the temperature of each appliance with an acceptable range defined for that appliance, and

display feedback if the temperature falls beyond that range.