Paper product dispensing system and related methods

• US 9,398,833 B2
• Filed: 04/25/2012
• Issued: 07/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SCA Hygiene Products AB
• Original Assignee: SCA Hygiene Products AB
• Inventors: Saffran, Kenneth Ernest
• Primary Examiner(s): COLLINS, MICHAEL
• Application Number:
  US13/455,365
• Publication Number:
  US 20130289765A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,553 Days
• Field of Search: 700/232, 700/236, 700/240
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A47K 10/32 Dispensers for paper towels or toilet-paper
• CPC Class Codes: A47K 10/38 the web being rolled up with or without tearing edge A47K10/36 and A47K10/46 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A47K 10/42 dispensing from a store of single sheets, e.g. stacked
• CPC Class Codes: A47K 2010/389 Accessories or combination with other devices, e.g. music boxes, clocks, heating devices or shelfs
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/045 using payment protocols involving tickets
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 13/10 with associated dispensing of containers, e.g. cups or other articles
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/14 Systems including one or more distant stations co-operating with a central processing unit data transmission in general H04L; telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 5/00 Receipt-giving machines cash registers giving receipts G07G1/00

Abstract

A system for dispensing paper product at a food-selling establishment. The system includes a point-of-sale device for entering details of a particular sale transaction, with the point-of-sale device being configured to output a slip containing specific indicia associated with the particular sale transaction. A dispenser of paper product is configured to obtain information from the specific indicia on the slip and to dispense a predetermined quantity of paper product in response to the obtained information.

Claims

1. A dispenser for dispensing paper product comprising:

a main housing configured for supporting paper product therein and including a dispensing mouth for dispensing the paper product therethrough;

an input device external to said main housing and configured to receive at least one of a machine-readable code or a human-readable code while the paper product is supported by said main housing and ready for dispensing through said dispensing mouth; and

a controller operatively coupled to said input device and configured to cause the dispenser to dispense a quantity of paper product equal to a quantity accessed from a memory that stores a list that associates information contained in the at least one of the machine-readable code or the human-readable code with different quantities of paper product to be dispensed,

wherein said dispenser is configured to dispense napkins from a stack of napkins supported in said main housing, and wherein the quantity of paper product dispensed is a number of napkins.

2. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein said input device is configured to receive the machine-readable code or the human-readable code more than once, said dispenser being further configured to dispense the quantity of paper product only the first time the machine-readable code or the human-readable code is received by said input device.

3. The dispenser of claim 1, further comprising a tray, said dispenser being configured to deposit the quantity of paper product onto said tray.

4. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein said controller is configured to cause the dispenser to make the quantity of paper product being dispensed retrievable by a user thereof from within said main housing.

5. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein said dispenser is one of a plurality of interconnected dispensers, each configured to receive the machine-readable code or the human-readable code and to dispense a quantity of paper product based on the received code.

6. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein said input device includes a barcode reader.

7. The dispenser of claim 6, wherein said input device includes a panel configured to manually receive information entered by a user of said dispenser.

8. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein said input device includes a panel configured to manually receive information entered by a user of said dispenser.

9. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein said dispenser is configured to receive a slip containing the at least one of the machine-readable code or the human-readable code into an interior of said dispenser to thereby permit said input device to read the at least one of the machine-readable code or the human-readable code, said dispenser being further configured to subsequently store the slip in said interior.

10. A dispenser for dispensing napkins from a stack of napkins comprising:

a main housing configured for supporting a stack of the napkins therein and including a dispensing mouth for dispensing napkins from the stack of napkins therethrough;

a barcode reader external to said main housing and configured to read a barcode while the napkins are supported by and ready for dispensing from said main housing through said dispensing mouth; and

a controller operatively coupled to said barcode reader and configured to cause the dispenser to dispense a number of napkins equal to a number present at a specified location in information contained in the barcode or a number accessed from a memory that stores a list that associates information contained in the barcode with different numbers of napkins to be dispensed.

11. The dispenser of claim 10, further comprising:

a panel on an exterior surface of said main housing and configured to manually receive information entered by a user of said dispenser.