Capacitive sensor based inventory control

• US 7,775,130 B2
• Filed: 10/26/2007
• Issued: 08/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ypoint Capital, Inc,
• Original Assignee: Loadstar Sensors Incorporated (Ypoint Capital, Inc,)
• Inventors: Harish, Diyyasimba, Schultz, John, Lim, Jonathan T., Wong, King
• Primary Examiner(s): NOORI, MAX H
• Application Number:
  US11/925,709
• Publication Number:
  US 20090114041A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,026 Days
• Field of Search: 737/80, 738/626.26
• US Class Current: 73/862.626
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A method, apparatus and system of capacitive sensor based inventory control is disclosed. In one embodiment, an inventory management system includes a first conductive surface and a second conductive surface substantially parallel to the first conductive surface, a sensor to generate a measurement based on a change in a distance between the first conductive surface and the second conductive surface, a scale formed with a set of plates having inserted between the set of plates the first conductive surface and the second conductive surface and a container placed above the scale such that an item (e.g., a liquid, a solid, a discrete part, a powder and/or a gas, etc.) of the container is weighed through the measurement. The inventory management system may further include a reference capacitor associated with the apparatus to enable the sensor to adjust the measurement based on the environmental condition.

Claims

1. An inventory management system, comprising:

a first conductive surface and a second conductive surface substantially parallel to the first conductive surface;

a sensor of the inventory measurement system to generate a measurement based on a change in a distance between the first conductive surface and the second conductive surface such that an aggregate value of a stock of items is determined by said measurement;

a scale of the inventory measurement system formed with a set of plates having inserted between the set of plates the first conductive surface and the second conductive surface, wherein the scale to indicate a shortage of the at least one item when the measurement of the at least item varies from a tolerance weight; and

a container of the inventory measurement system placed above the scale such that at least one item of the container is weighed through the measurement.

2. The inventory management system of claim 1 wherein the at least one item of the container comprises a solid, a discrete part, a powder, and a gas.

3. The inventory management system of claim 1 further comprising a housing of the inventory measurement system that encompasses the first conductive surface, the second conductive surface, the sensor, the scale and the container placed above the scale.

4. The inventory management system of claim 1 wherein the change in the distance is caused by a deflection of the first conductive surface with respect to the second conductive surface;

and wherein the deflection is at least one of a compressive force and an expansive force.

5. The inventory management system of claim 1 wherein the change in the distance is caused by a change in thickness of at least one spacer between the first conductive surface and the second conductive surface.

6. The inventory management system of claim 1 wherein the sensor applies an algorithm that converts a change in capacitance to at least one of a change in voltage and a change in frequency to generate the measurement.

7. The inventory management system of claim 6 wherein the measurement is of a force applied to a surface above the first conductive surface with respect to the second conductive surface.

8. The inventory management system of claim 7 wherein the change in the distance is caused by a load applied to the surface above the first conductive surface with respect to the second conductive surface.

9. The inventory management system of claim 8 wherein the first conductive surface and the second conductive surface form a sensor capacitor, and wherein a change in capacitance of the sensor capacitor is inversely proportional to the change in the distance between the first conductive surface and the second conductive surface.

10. The inventory management system of claim 1 further comprising a reference capacitor of the inventory measurement system associated with the apparatus to enable the sensor to adjust the measurement based on at least one environmental condition.

11. The inventory management system of claim 10 wherein the at least one environmental condition is humidity in a gap between the first conductive surface and the second conductive surface, a temperature of the apparatus, and an air pressure of an environment surrounding the apparatus.

12. The inventory management system of claim 1 wherein the first conductive surface and the second conductive surface are fabricated in any geometric shape, including a rectangular shape, an oval shape, and a shape having sides that are not all the same length.

13. An inventory management system of claim 1 wherein the first conductive surface and the second conductive surface are painted on a plurality of nonconductive printed circuit boards forming the apparatus.

14. The inventory management system of claim 1:

wherein the housing is formed by a plurality of metal plates that are each laser etched and bonded together to create the housing,

wherein the housing is formed by a single metal block that is milled to form the housing, and wherein the deflection of the at least one plate forming the sensor capacitor is caused by a load applied to the housing; and

wherein the measurement is of a force applied to the housing.

15. The inventory management system of claim 1 further comprising a shielding spacer of the inventory measurement system between the reference capacitor and a bottom of the housing to minimize an effect of a stray capacitance affecting the measurement, wherein a height of the shielding spacer is at least ten times larger than a plate spacer between plates of the reference capacitor and between plates of the sensor capacitor.

16. The inventory management system of claim 1 wherein an area of each plate forming the reference capacitor is at least ten times larger than an area of each plate forming the sensor capacitor to reduce the amount of amplification required in generating the measurement.

17. The inventory management system of claim 1 further comprising:

a circuit of the inventory measurement system to determine a weight of at least one item of a bin when the bin having the at least one item is placed on a surface of the sensor capacitor after removing an effect of the environmental condition from a capacitance of the sensor capacitor.

18. The inventory management system of claim 1 wherein the circuit includes a wireless transmitter and a wireless receiver and wherein the apparatus communicates through a network with a data processing system that analyzes data generated by various operation of the apparatus.