Electronically controlled roll towel dispenser with data communication system
First Claim
1. An electronically controlled dispenser comprising:
- a housing having a back panel adapted to be fastened to a wall, first and second side panels, a front cover pivotally connected to the housing, and a discharge opening for feeding a length of paper out of the dispenser;
a dispenser assembly having a frame for rotatably supporting a supply roll of paper within the housing;
a feed drive assembly, having a drive motor and a plurality of rollers for advancing paper from the supply roll though the discharge opening;
, a movable trigger assembly for automatically activating the feed drive assembly in response to a user pulling or tensioning a previously dispensed length of roll paper to dispense another length of paper from the supply roll though the discharge opening; and
a fixed cutting bar, not connected to said trigger assembly, for tearing paper dispensed from said the dispenser.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electronically controlled roll towel dispenser with a data communication system. The dispenser automatically dispenses a predetermined length of paper toweling from a supply roll after a length of toweling has been detached by a user pulling and tearing the protruding toweling against a stationary cutting blade. The dispenser is battery powered with an electric motor, an electromechanical dispensing mechanism, and an embedded microcontroller for controlling and monitoring operation of the dispenser. In addition to primary control functions, the microcontroller monitors parameters such as battery condition, towel usage, system status, system errors, and unsafe operating conditions. Pushbutton switches are also provided for programming towel length and the dispense delay. The dispenser further includes an optical transmitter for transmitting visual and infrared data to a receiving device. Useful information about the status of the dispenser can be visibly discerned by an operator through the use of primitive low-speed flash patterns, while high-speed infrared digital data can be simultaneously embedded in or multiplexed with the visible data.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. An electronically controlled dispenser comprising:
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a housing having a back panel adapted to be fastened to a wall, first and second side panels, a front cover pivotally connected to the housing, and a discharge opening for feeding a length of paper out of the dispenser;
a dispenser assembly having a frame for rotatably supporting a supply roll of paper within the housing;
a feed drive assembly, having a drive motor and a plurality of rollers for advancing paper from the supply roll though the discharge opening;
,a movable trigger assembly for automatically activating the feed drive assembly in response to a user pulling or tensioning a previously dispensed length of roll paper to dispense another length of paper from the supply roll though the discharge opening; and
a fixed cutting bar, not connected to said trigger assembly, for tearing paper dispensed from said the dispenser. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. An electronically controlled dispenser comprising:
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a housing having a back panel adapted to be fastened to a wall, first and second side panels, a front cover pivotally connected to the housing, and a discharge opening for feeding a length of roll paper out of the dispenser;
a dispenser assembly having a frame for rotatably supporting a supply roll of roll paper within the housing;
a feed drive assembly, having a drive motor and a plurality of rollers for advancing paper from the supply roll though the discharge opening;
a movable trigger assembly for automatically activating the feed drive assembly in response to an operator pulling or tensioning a previously dispensed length of roll paper to dispense another length of roll paper from the supply roll though the discharge opening;
a fixed cutting bar, not connected to said trigger assembly, for tearing paper dispensed from said the dispenser; and
a drive control assembly having a microcontroller for controlling operation of the feed drive assembly through an embedded program to automatically dispense a the predetermined length of roll paper after the trigger assembly has been activated. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A rolled material dispenser comprising:
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a housing with a discharge opening through which rolled material is dispensed;
a support assembly for rotatably supporting a supply of rolled material to be dispensed;
a drive assembly having a drive motor for advancing the rolled material from the supply roll through the discharge opening; and
a trigger assembly, having a trigger arm rotatably actuated by a user tensioning a previously dispensed length of roller material, wherein the actuation of the trigger arm activates the drive motor to dispense a predetermined length of rolled material through the discharge opening; and
a fixed cutting bar, that is not attached to and is distinct from said trigger assembly for selectively tearing rolled material dispensed through the discharge opening.
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29. An electronically controlled roll towel dispenser with a data communication system comprising:
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a housing having a back panel adapted to be fastened to a wall, first and second side panels, a front cover pivotally connected to the housing, and a discharge opening for feeding a length of paper toweling out of the dispenser;
a dispenser assembly having a frame for rotatably supporting a supply roll of paper toweling within the housing;
a feed drive assembly, having a drive motor and a plurality of rollers for advancing paper toweling from the supply roll though the discharge opening;
a movable trigger assembly for activating the feed drive assembly to dispense a predetermined length paper toweling from the supply roll though the discharge opening;
a fixed cutting bar, not connected to said trigger assembly, for tearing paper dispensed from said the dispenser;
a drive control assembly having a microcontroller for controlling operation of the feed drive assembly through an embedded program to automatically dispense a predetermined length of paper toweling after the trigger assembly has been activated;
a data transmitter coupled to the drive control assembly for transmitting visual and digital data from the dispenser; and
,a data receiver located remotely from the dispenser for receiving data from the data transmitter. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32)
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Specification