Sanitary touch-free automatic condiment dispensing apparatus and method of use

• US 9,809,439 B2
• Filed: 09/08/2014
• Issued: 11/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ernest F. Falco III
• Original Assignee: Ernest F. Falco III
• Inventors: Falco, III, Ernest F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Durand, Paul R
• Assistant Examiner(s): BAINBRIDGE, ANDREW PHILIP
• Application Number:
  US14/480,166
• Publication Number:
  US 20160068383A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,156 Days
• Field of Search: 700231, 700241, 222 1, 222 52, 222 61, 222 63, 222132, 222135, 2221811, 2221851, 222330-331, 222399, 222504, 222639, 222641, 222 37, 141 94- 95
• CPC Class Codes: A47K 5/1217 Electrical control means for the dispensing mechanism
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/0888 Means comprising electronic circuitry (e.g. control panels, switching or controlling means)
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 2210/0016 Adapted for dispensing high viscosity products
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 7/0238 utilising compressed air or other gas acting directly or indirectly on liquids in storage containers for dispensing beverages on draught B67D1/04
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 7/08 Arrangements of devices for controlling, indicating, metering or registering quantity or price of liquid transferred arrangement of flow- or pressure-control valves B67D7/36; computing, calculating, counting G06; coin-freed apparatus for dispensing fluids G07F13/00; prepayment devices for metering liquids G07F15/00
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 7/302 using electrical or electro-mechanical means B67D7/307 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 7/3263 using a pressurised gas acting directly or indirectly on the bulk of the liquid to be transferred use of compressed air or gas for transferring liquids B67D7/0238, B67D7/72
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 7/346 by reading a code
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 7/72 Devices for applying air or other gas pressure for forcing liquid to delivery point
• CPC Class Codes: E03C 1/057 touchless, i.e. using sensors

Abstract

A sanitary touch-free automatic condiment dispensing apparatus and method of use. The automatic sanitary touch-free condiment dispensing apparatus includes a two-stage detection process for detecting and automatically dispensing a pre-determined amount of a condiment/sauce (e.g., ketchup, mustard, mayo, food sauces, desert sauces, syrups, salad dressing, etc.) or another fluid (e.g., soap, shampoo, etc.). without accidental or wasteful dispensing.

Claims

1. A touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus, comprising in combination:

a power supply;

an electronic circuit including one or more processors, a non-transitory memory and an application program executing in the non-transitory memory connected to the power supply configured for automatically dispensing one or more pre-determined amounts of one or more different types of condiments, wherein the application program on the electronic circuit controls with one or more signals;

(1) a first infrared (IR) sensor detecting a first touch-free dispensing event, (2) a second infrared (IR) sensor detecting a second touch-free dispensing event, (3) one or more light emitting diodes (LED) visually indicating one or more operational modes, (4) a first timing of a solenoid valve which in turn controls a second timing of a second valve which in turn controls a propellant source which dispenses the one or more pre-determined amounts of the one or more different types condiments from one or more condiment sources, wherein an amount of time the solenoid valve is open and closed determines the one or more pre-determined amounts of the one or more different types of condiments dispensed and wherein the application program on the electronic circuit prevents the touch-free automatic condiment dispensing apparatus from intentionally or accidentally re-activating dispensing again of any condiments until a pre-determine time delay expires;

the first infrared (IR) sensor connected to the application program on the electronic circuit detecting with a first detection field of a first size and a first detection orientation the first touch-free dispensing event including;

(1) detecting an IR signal emanating from a person or a first portion of the person, or (2) detecting a first wireless signal from an external network device with one or more processors and (3) then activating dispensing of the one or more pre-determined amounts of the one or more different types of condiments by activating the second IR sensor and activating one or more light emitting diodes (LED) via one or more signals sent to the application program on the electronic circuit;

the one or more light emitting diodes (LED) connected to the application program on the electronic circuit visually indicating with one or more signals received from the application program on the electronic circuit the touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus is in an operational mode, visually indicating the first IR sensor has detected the first touch-free dispensing event and visually indicating the second IR sensor has detected the second touch-free dispensing event;

the second IR sensor connected to the application program on the electronic circuit activated by the first touch-free dispensing event detected by the first IR sensor with signals from the application program on electronic circuit detecting with a second detection field of a second size and a second detection orientation the second touch-free dispensing event, the second touch-free dispensing event including;

(1) detecting a condiment container of a pre-determined color, size and shape used to store the dispensed condiment, or (2) detecting a bar code on the condiment container or on a paper tray liner, the bar code including a first set of one or more pre-determined types of condiments to dispense and a first set of one or more pre-determined amounts for a first set of one or more pre-determined types of condiments to dispense, or (3) detecting a second wireless signal from the external network device including a second set of a pre-determined types of condiments and a second set of one or more pre-determined amounts of the condiments to dispense, and then (4) initiating automatic dispensing of;

(a) the first set of the one or more pre-determined types and the first set of the pre-determined amounts of the condiments, or (b) the second set of the pre-determined types of condiments and the second set of one or more pre-determined amounts of the condiments to dispense into the condiment container via one or more signals sent to the application program on the electronic circuit activating the solenoid valve; and

the solenoid valve connected to the application program on the electronic circuit, the second valve, the propellant source and the one or more condiment sources, the solenoid valve automatically controlling dispensing the first or second sets of the pre-determined amounts of the first or second sets of the one or more pre-determined types of condiments into the condiment container, wherein the solenoid valve controls the second valve which in turn controls the propellant source which dispenses the first or second sets of the pre-determined amounts of the first or second set of the one or more pre-determined types of condiments from the one or more condiment sources into the condiment container.

2. The touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the power source includes an alternating current (AC) power source or a direct current (DC) power source and wherein the DC power includes batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, or capacitors.

3. The touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the solenoid valve, the second valve and the propellant source is replaced with a pump controlled by the application program on the electronic circuit, wherein the pump dispenses the first or second sets of the pre-determined amounts of the first or second set of the one or more pre-determined types of condiments from the one or more condiment sources.

4. The touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the electronic circuit includes an integrated circuit including one or more processors, a non-transitory computer readable medium and an interface port.

5. The touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus of claim 1 further including the application program comprising a plurality of instructions in the non-transitory computer readable medium for causing the one or more processors in the electronic circuit to configure via an interface port connected to the application program on the electronic circuit, a first detection field size for the first infrared (IR) sensor, a second detection field size for the second IR sensor, dispensing of the first set or the second set of the pre-determined amounts of the first set or the second set of the one or more pre-determined types of condiments and the timing of the solenoid valve the second valve and the propellant source.

6. The touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus of claim 5 wherein the application program is configurable via the interface port from a second network device with one or more processors and wherein the application program when configured by the second network device automatically monitors operations of the touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus and sends one or more messages to the second network device when any operational errors occur or when the propellant source or the one or more condiment sources in the touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus need to be refilled.

7. The touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the network device includes a smart phone, electronic tablet, laptop computer or personal digital assistant.

8. The touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first infrared (IR) sensor and the second IR sensor include a passive infrared sensor, an active infrared sensor, a color detecting infrared sensor or a bar code reading infrared sensor.

9. The touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an audio speaker connected to the application program on the electronic circuit for indicating with an audio sound or tone the first IR sensor has detected the person.

10. The touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first detection field of the first size includes a four to six inch detection field size and the first detection orientation includes a forward, downward, upward or side-ways facing orientation.

11. The touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the second detection field of the second size includes a two to three inch detection field size and the second detection orientation includes a downward, upward, forward or side-ways facing orientation.

12. The touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the solenoid valve includes a plurality of solenoid valve ports controlled by the application program on the electronic circuit.

13. The touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the solenoid valve automatically controls dispensing of one condiment or a dispensing of a mixture of a plurality of condiments.

14. The touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the condiment includes, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, a food sauce, salad dressing or a selected combination thereof.

15. The touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the propellant source includes compressed air or carbon dioxide (CO₂).

16. The touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the condiment is replaced with soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion or another fluid.

17. The touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus of claim 1 further including a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) display for displaying status, error and dispensing information to a user of the automatic condiment dispensing apparatus.

21. The touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of solenoid valves placed together on a manifold, the plurality of solenoid values on the manifold including a plurality of solenoid valve ports, the plurality of solenoid values and the plurality of solenoid valves controlled by the application program on the electronic circuit.

18. A method for sanitary touch-free automatic condiment dispensing, comprising:

receiving a first input signal on an application program on an electronic circuit in a touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus configured for automatically dispensing one or more pre-determined types and amounts of, condiments, from (1) a first infrared (IR) sensor, or (2) a wireless interface port connected to the application program on the electronic circuit, the first IR sensor including a first detection field of a first size and a first detection orientation, the first input signal indicating detection of a first touch-free dispensing event including detecting;

(a) a condiment container of a pre-determined color, size and shape used to store the dispensed condiment, or (b) a first wireless signal from an external network device with one or more processors external to the touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus;

sending a first output signal from the application program on the electronic circuit to one or more light emitting diodes (LED) for visually indicating the first IR sensor or the wireless interface port has detected the first touch-free dispensing event to dispense one or more pre-determined types and amounts of the condiments;

receiving a second input signal on the application program on the electronic circuit from a second infrared (IR) sensor or on the wireless interface port connected to the application program on the electronic circuit, the second IR sensor including a second detection field of a second size and a second detection orientation, the second input signal indicating detection of a second touch-free dispensing event including detecting a bar code on the condiment container or on a paper tray liner within the second detection field, or the wireless interface detecting a second wireless signal from the network device on the wireless interface port with user preferences to dispense the pre-determined amount of the condiment; and

sending a second output signal from the application program on the electronic circuit to a solenoid valve connected to the application program of the electronic circuit automatically controlling dispensing one or more pre-determined types and amounts of condiments, wherein the solenoid valve is connected to a second valve, a propellant source and one or more condiment sources and controls dispensing one or more pre-determined types and amounts of the condiments from the automatic condiment dispensing apparatus into the condiment container.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the first detection field of the first size includes a four to six inch detection field size and the first detection orientation includes a forward, downward, upward or side-ways facing orientation and second detection field of the second size includes a two to three inch detection field size and the second detection orientation includes a downward, upward, forward or side-ways facing orientation.

19. A method for sanitary touch-free automatic condiment dispensing, comprising:

receiving a first input signal and a second signal on an application program on an electronic circuit in a touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus configured for automatically dispensing one or more pre-determined types and amounts of condiments, the first input signal from a first infrared (IR) sensor connected to the application program on the electronic circuit, the first IR sensor including a first detection field of a first size and a first detection orientation, the first input signal indicating detection of a first touch-free dispensing event including detecting a first bar code on a condiment container of a pre-determined color, size and shape or on a paper tray liner within the first detection field and the second input signal from a second infrared (IR) sensor connected to the application program on the electronic circuit, the second IR sensor including a second detection field of a second size and a second detection dispensing orientation, the second input signal indicating detection of a second touch-free dispensing event including detecting an IR signal emanating from a person or a portion of a person, or (2) the first input signal including a first wireless signal from a network device with one or more processors external to the touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus, the first input signal indicating detection of the first touch-free dispensing event including detection of the network device and the second input signal including a second wireless signal from the network device, the second input signal indicating detection of the second touch-free dispensing event including receiving user preferences from the network device for dispensing of condiments, to dispense the one or more pre-determined types and amounts of condiments within the second detection field;

sending a first output signal from the application program on the electronic circuit to one or more light emitting diodes (LED) for visually indicating the first IR sensor and second IR sensor has detected the first touch-free dispensing event and second touch-free dispensing event to dispense the one or more pre-determined types and amounts of condiments;

sending a second output signal from the application program on the electronic circuit to a pump connected to the application program on the electronic circuit automatically controlling dispensing the pre-determined amount of the condiment, wherein the pump is connected to one or more condiment sources, the pump controlling dispensing the one or more pre-determined types and amounts of condiments of the condiment from the touch-free sanitary automatic condiment dispensing apparatus.