Dispensing system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12462227-B2
Application number	US-202017800814-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 21, 2020
Priority date	Feb 21, 2020
Publication date	Nov 4, 2025
Grant date	Nov 4, 2025

Abstract

Methods, systems and apparatus for operating a dispenser system including receiving product usage information and battery status from each of a plurality of dispensers, determining expected product depletion dates for each of the plurality of dispensers based on the respective product usage information; determining expected battery depletion dates for each of the plurality of dispensers based on the respective battery status; determining respective dispenser tasks for one or more of the plurality of dispensers that specify tasks a dispenser is responsible to perform over a given time period to cause, for each of one or more of the plurality of dispensers, the respective expected product depletion date and expected battery depletion date to be within a threshold range of one another, and communicating the respective dispenser tasks to the one or more of the plurality of dispensers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A dispensing system comprising:
a plurality of dispensers, each configured to dispense one of soap, sanitizer paper towels or air freshener and each is configured to report product usage information and battery status, wherein the battery status of a dispenser represents battery energy available to the dispenser to complete a dispenser task; and a data processing system configured to:
receive the product usage information and battery status for each of the plurality of dispensers,
determine expected product depletion dates for each of the plurality of dispensers based on the respective product usage information, and
determine expected battery depletion dates for each of the plurality of dispensers based on the respective battery status, determine a respective dispenser task for one or more of the plurality of dispensers that specify a task a dispenser is responsible to perform over a given time period to cause, for each of one or more of the plurality of dispensers, the respective expected product depletion date and expected battery depletion date to be within a threshold range of one another, wherein the determination comprises identifying which of the one or more of the plurality of dispensers that is outside of the threshold range, and
communicate the respective dispenser task to the one or more of the plurality of dispensers that are outside of the threshold range of the expected battery depletion date, wherein the respective dispenser task comprises collecting the product usage information and the battery status from each of the plurality of dispensers and transmitting the product usage information and the battery status thereby increasing usage of the battery energy of the one or more of the plurality of dispensers to which the respective dispenser task is communicated to bring the one or more plurality of dispensers within the threshold range of the expected battery depletion date.

2 . The dispensing system of claim 1 , wherein the dispenser task includes receiving product usage information and battery status from each of the plurality of dispensers and transmitting the product usage information and battery status from each of the plurality of dispensers to the data processing system.

3 . The dispensing system of claim 2 wherein the dispenser task includes receiving a respective dispenser task, from the data processing system, for one or more of the plurality of dispensers, and transmitting the respective dispenser task to the respective one or more of the plurality of dispensers.

4 . The dispensing system of claim 1 , wherein the product usage information comprises a number of dispenses over a given time period.

5 . The dispensing system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more of the plurality of dispensers are configured to receive the respective the dispenser task and perform the respective dispenser task.

6 . The dispensing system of claim 1 , wherein the threshold range is on a same day.

7 . The dispensing system of claim 1 , wherein the respective expected product depletion date and expected battery depletion date is on a same day as a scheduled service visit for the one or more of the plurality of dispensers.

8 . The dispensing system of claim 7 , wherein a time of the respective expected product depletion date and expected battery depletion date are after a time of the scheduled service visit.

9 . The dispensing system of claim 1 , wherein the respective expected product depletion date and expected battery depletion date are after a date of a scheduled service visit for the one or more of the plurality of dispensers.

10 . A method comprising:
receiving product usage information and battery status for each of a plurality of dispensers; determining expected product depletion dates for each of the plurality of dispensers based on the respective product usage information; determining expected battery depletion dates for each of the plurality of dispensers based on the respective battery status; determining respective dispenser tasks for one or more of the plurality of dispensers that specify tasks a dispenser is responsible to perform over a given time period to cause, for each of one or more of the plurality of dispensers, the respective expected product depletion date and expected battery depletion date to be within a threshold range of one another, wherein the determination comprises identifying which of the one or more of the plurality of dispensers that is outside of the threshold range, and communicating the respective dispenser tasks to the one or more of the plurality of dispensers that are outside of the threshold range of the expected battery depletion date, wherein the respective dispenser task comprises collecting the product usage information and the battery status from each of the plurality of dispensers and transmitting the product usage information and the battery status thereby increasing usage of battery energy of the one or more of the plurality of dispensers to which the respective dispenser tasks is communicated to thereby bring the one or more plurality of dispensers within the threshold range of the expected battery depletion date.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the product usage information comprises a number of dispenses over a given time period.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the one or more of the plurality of dispensers are configured to receive the respective the dispenser tasks and perform the respective dispenser tasks.

13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the threshold range is on a same day.

14 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the respective expected product depletion date and expected battery depletion date is on a same day as a scheduled service visit for the one or more of the plurality of dispensers.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein a time of the respective expected product depletion date and expected battery depletion date are after a time of the scheduled service visit.

16 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the respective expected product depletion date and expected battery depletion date are after a date of a scheduled service visit for the one or more of the plurality of dispensers.

Assignees

• Kimberly Clark Co

Inventors

• Howell Reilly
• Becker Stephen

Classifications

• A47K2010/3226

  collecting data of usage · CPC title

• A47K10/32

  Dispensers for paper towels or toilet paper · CPC title

• G01R31/392

  Determining battery ageing or deterioration, e.g. state of health · CPC title

• G01R31/371

  with remote indication, e.g. on external chargers · CPC title

• A47K5/1217

  Electrical control means for the dispensing mechanism · CPC title