RENEWABLE RESOURCE DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• US 20130218755A1
• Filed: 12/06/2012
• Published: 08/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uniloc 2017 LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Uniloc Luxembourg S.à r.l. (f/k/a Uniloc Luxembourg S.A.) (Uniloc Corporation Pty. Limited)
• Inventors: ETCHEGOYEN, Craig S.
• Granted Patent: US 10,572,867 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/39
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/145 Payments according to the detected use or quantity
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/22 Payment schemes or models
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 13/025 wherein the volume is determined during delivery
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 15/003 for electricity

Abstract

Energy resource dispensing terminals can be added one-at-a-time to a wide area resource distribution system very easily where needed as needed. Each terminal can dispense any of a number of types of energy resources such as electricity, compressed hydrogen, compressed air, and waste vegetable oil. The energy dispensing terminal includes a terminal control computer that interacts with customer computing devices, such as personal, portable computing devices or onboard computers installed in vehicles to effect negotiation and fulfillment of energy resource purchase transactions. A resource sharing server facilitates such transactions by maintaining and verifying identities of customers and sellers along with financial account information such that a registered customer can purchase energy resources from any seller registered with the same resource sharing server.

Claims

1. A method for conducting an energy resource dispensing transaction with a customer computing device, the method comprising:

receiving a request for dispensing of an energy resource from the customer computing device, wherein the request includes a customer computing device identifier;

determining that one or more customer financial accounts that are associated with the customer computing device can be used to pay sufficient funds for a proposed amount of the energy resource;

causing a resource dispenser to dispense the energy resource in a dispensed amount that is no greater than the proposed amount;

effecting transfer of funds from the one or more customer financial accounts to one or more seller financial accounts associated with the resource dispenser, wherein the funds correspond to the dispensed amount of the energy resource.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the identifier of the customer computing device is a digital fingerprint of the customer device.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the proposed amount is the lesser of a requested amount and a maximum resource amount corresponding to a maximum amount of available funds in the customer financial accounts.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

authenticating the transaction on condition that the customer computing device establish a communication link through a local area network with a terminal control computer of the resource dispenser using a communication protocol that also requires transmission and reception of near-filed audio signals between the customer computing device and the terminal control computer to complete authentication.

5. A computer system comprising:

at least one processor;

a computer readable medium that is operatively coupled to the processor;

network access circuitry that is operatively coupled to the processor; and

energy resource dispensing logic (i) that executes in the processor from the computer readable medium and (ii) that, when executed by the processor, causes the computer to conduct an energy resource dispensing transaction with a customer computing device by at least;

receiving a request for dispensing of an energy resource from the customer computing device, wherein the request includes a customer computing device identifier;

determining that one or more customer financial accounts that are associated with the customer computing device can be used to pay sufficient funds for a proposed amount of the energy resource;

causing a resource dispenser to dispense the energy resource in a dispensed amount that is no greater than the proposed amount;

effecting transfer of funds from the one or more customer financial accounts to one or more seller financial accounts associated with the resource dispenser, wherein the funds correspond to the dispensed amount of the energy resource.