Methods and systems for monitoring liquids

• US 9,057,677 B2
• Filed: 11/06/2012
• Issued: 06/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Inventors: Field, Christopher David
• Primary Examiner(s): Hyun, Paul
• Application Number:
  US13/825,052
• Publication Number:
  US 20140127742A1
• Time in Patent Office: 952 Days
• Field of Search: 367/117, 367/137, 367/140
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/02809 Concentration of a compound, e.g. measured by a surface mass change
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/02881 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/048 Transmission, i.e. analysed material between transmitter and receiver
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/032 by measuring attenuation of acoustic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/343 pulse waves, e.g. particular sequence of pulses, bursts
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/346 with amplitude characteristics, e.g. modulated signal
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/348 with frequency characteristics, e.g. single frequency signals, chirp signals measuring frequency of mechanical vibrations or acoustic waves in general G01H1/06, G01H3/04; measuring frequency or analysing frequency spectra G01R23/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/46 by spectral analysis, e.g. Fourier analysis or wavelet analysis spectral signal processing per se G06F17/14
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/72 using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 11/00 Transmission systems employing sonic, ultrasonic or infrasonic waves

Abstract

Technologies are generally disclosed for systems and methods for monitoring a liquid. An illustrative method may include disposing one or more sensors in the liquid, sensing one or more properties exhibited by the liquid using the one or more sensors, producing sensed data from the properties by the one or more sensors, encoding the sensed data into an acoustic signal by the one or more sensors, transmitting the acoustic signal through the liquid by the one or more sensors and receiving the acoustic signal by one or more sound receiving devices.

Claims

1. A system to monitor a liquid, the system comprising:

a container comprising a packaging material configured to hold the liquid therein;

one or more sensors disposed in the liquid and configured to sense one or more properties of the liquid and transmit an acoustic signal encoded with data regarding the sensed one or more properties through the liquid; and

one or more sound receiver devices disposed in the liquid and configured to;

receive the acoustic signal transmitted by at least one of the one or more sensors, and

determine a location of the one or more sensors via echolocation.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more sound receiver devices include hydrophones and are further configured to decode the acoustic signal to obtain the data regarding the sensed one or more properties and transmit the data to an electronic device.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising the electronic device that is configured to process the data obtained by and received from the sound receiver device to obtain content-related information.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the container comprises one or more walls, wherein each of the one or more walls comprises an inside surface and an outside surface and wherein each of the one or more sensors:

is affixed to the inside surface of at least one of the walls,

is configured to move freely within the liquid and is not affixed to a surface of the container,

is tethered to an immobile object within the container, or

is tethered to the container.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the container includes one of a food container, a beverage container, a can, a chemical storage container, an aerosol container, a flexible liquid storage bladder, and a medical transport container.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the liquid includes one or more of oil, gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel, water, salt water, fresh water, milk, juice, beer, alcohol, ethanol, methanol, organic solvents, wine, spirits, carbonated drinks, blood, or medical fluids.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more sensors comprises one or more of a carbon dioxide sensor, an oxygen sensor, a biological oxygen demand sensor, a turbidity sensor, a pathogen sensor, a temperature sensor, an optic sensor, an analytic sensor, a chemical sensor, a pH sensor, a salinity sensor, a vibration sensor, and an accelerometer.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more properties comprise one or more of color, turbidity, temperature, chemical composition, carbon dioxide content, oxygen content, presence of pathogens, pH, salinity, and vibration exposure.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the acoustic signal is further encoded with a unique identifier corresponding to an identity of the sensor.

10. A method to monitor a liquid, the method comprising:

sensing, using one or more sensors disposed in a packaging material that contains the liquid therein, one or more properties exhibited by the liquid;

producing, by the one or more sensors, data from the sensed one or more properties;

encoding, by the one or more sensors, the produced data into an acoustic signal;

transmitting, by the one or more sensors, the acoustic signal having the data encoded therein through the liquid to one or more sound receiver devices;

receiving the acoustic signal by one or more sound receiving devices; and

detecting, by the one or more sound receiver devices, a location of each sensor via echolocation.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

decoding the acoustic signal, transmitted by the one or more sensors and received by the one or more sound receiver devices, to obtain the data;

transmitting, by the one or more sound receiver devices, the data to an electronic device;

processing, by the electronic device, the data to obtain liquid-related information; and

displaying, by the electronic device, the liquid-related information on a display.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein sensing the one or more properties comprises sensing one or more of color, turbidity, temperature, chemical composition, carbon dioxide content, oxygen content, presence of pathogens, pH, and salinity.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein transmitting the acoustic signal to the one or more sound receiver devices comprises transmitting a unique identifier corresponding to an identity of one of the one or more sensors.

14. An article of manufacture comprising:

a container comprising a packaging material configured to hold a liquid therein;

one or more sensors disposed within the packaging material and configured to sense one or more properties of the liquid and transmit an acoustic signal encoded with data regarding the sensed one or more properties through the liquid; and

one or more sound receiver devices, each sound receiver device comprising a hydrophone and configured to;

receive the acoustic signal transmitted by the one or more sensors,

decode the acoustic signal to obtain the data, and

transmit the data to an electronic device.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein each of the one or more sound receiver devices is configured to process the data encoded in the received acoustic signal to obtain content-related information.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the container has one or more walls comprising an inside surface and an outside surface and wherein each of the one or more sensors:

is affixed to an inside surface of at least one of the walls,

is configured to move freely within the liquid and is not affixed to a surface of the container,

is tethered to an immobile object within the container, or

is tethered to the container.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the container includes one of a food container, a beverage container, a can, a chemical storage container, an aerosol container, a flexible liquid storage bladder, and a medical transport container.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein each of the one or more sensors comprises one or more of a carbon dioxide sensor, an oxygen sensor, a biological oxygen demand sensor, a turbidity sensor, a pathogen sensor, a temperature sensor, an optic sensor, an analytic sensor, a chemical sensor, a pH sensor, a salinity sensor, a vibration sensor, and an accelerometer.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the one or more properties comprise one or more of color, turbidity, temperature, chemical composition, carbon dioxide content, oxygen content, presence of pathogens, pH, and salinity.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 14, further comprising at least one memory in operable communication with the one or more sensors, wherein the memory is configured to store manufacturing information for the liquid, and handling information for the content and wherein the manufacturing information and the handling information are encoded in the acoustic signal.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein each sensor is configured to encode the acoustic signal with a unique identifier corresponding to an identity of the sensor.

22. An article of manufacture comprising:

a container comprising a packaging material configured to hold a liquid therein;

one or more sensors disposed within the packaging material and configured to sense one or more properties of the liquid and transmit an acoustic signal encoded with data regarding the sensed one or more properties through the liquid; and

one or more sound receiver devices configured to receive the acoustic signal transmitted by the one or more sensors and detect a location of each of the one or more sensors via echolocation.