Fluent material handling – with receiver or receiver coacting mea – Portable systems or track mounted supply means
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-22
2002-05-21
Jacyna, J. Casimer (Department: 3751)
Fluent material handling, with receiver or receiver coacting mea
Portable systems or track mounted supply means
C141S094000, C141S098000, C705S413000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06390151
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for delivering fuel and more particularly to an automated fuel dispensing system that employs a remote control system to supervise and manage the vehicle refueling operations requested by customers located at multiple distributed service station sites.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical refueling transaction requires the customer to first exit the vehicle and then interact with some type of input device arranged at the fuel dispenser housing area in order to request the refueling operation and indicate the form of payment. One conventional input device utilizes a simple keypunch entry pad that enables the customer to select the type of fuel, the volume of fuel to be dispensed, and any other related billing information. The billing mechanism typically employs an insert-type card slot that reads the relevant customer account information embedded on a magnetic strip. After the transaction request is authorized, the customer is notified of this acceptance and is ordered to commence the refueling operation. The customer would then manually insert the nozzle assembly into the fuel inlet of the vehicle and activate the attached lever or switch mechanism to dispense the fuel. The customer returns the nozzle assembly to its holding receptacle after completing the refueling activity and then retrieves the billing receipt being printed at the fuel dispenser housing.
Authorization of the refueling request typically involves transmission of the credit card information to the card issuer to verify that sufficient funds are available for the transaction. The refueling request is either approved or denied based upon the response received in connection with the verification inquiry. The fuel dispensing apparatus is appropriately operated pursuant to the decision made regarding the refueling request. For purposes of implementing these transaction processing functions, service station sites are conventionally provided with on-site processing facilities to request verification of the credit card account (i.e., by communicating with the card issuing institution) and then executing the proper course of control action relative to the fuel dispensing equipment based on the verification response. The control facility for processing the transaction request is typically implemented by processor devices and other such equipment located at the service station site. What is apparent from this arrangement is that the processing functions associated with making a decision regarding the transaction request and then formulating the proper control action to implement the decision are localized to the particular service station site where the refueling operation takes place. This form of dedicated on-site processing may be appropriate for franchises having only a few local service station outlets, but for larger entities having networks of franchises distributed throughout the world this type of processing arrangement is inefficient and not cost effective due to the redundant configuration of equipment and labor associated with each service station site.
What is therefore needed is some form of centralized system controller that can manage the entire portfolio of refueling requests that are generated at multiple service station sites distributed throughout a large service area. The centralized system controller should not be location-dependent but can be configured at any remote service facility deemed suitable for this purpose. Additionally, the fuel delivery system that incorporates this centralized system controller should execute the refueling operation in an automated manner so as to eliminate any customer involvement with the fuel dispensing apparatus and thereby permit the customer to remain in the vehicle throughout the entire refueling period.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention there is provided an automated fuel delivery system for managing the plurality of refueling transaction requests that are generated by a plurality of fuel dispensing systems arranged at a plurality of service station sites. Integrated with each fuel dispensing assembly is a respective dedicated control system that includes a controller, an RF transceiver, a robotic actuator assembly for selectively maneuvering the fuel dispensing nozzle assembly into fuel dispensing engagement with the vehicle fuel inlet, and a camera-based monitoring assembly mounted to the robot to provide video signals to assist in the robotic maneuvering activity. The vehicle for refueling is equipped with an RF transceiver that is arranged for communication with the RF transceiver associated with the dedicated control system. Each one of the dedicated control systems configured at each one of the service station sites is arranged for communication with a central system controller located at a remote service facility. The central system controller performs centralized processing of the refueling transaction requests received from the service station sites. In this manner, the transaction requests for all of the service station sites are processed in a centralized manner at the remote service facility. The appropriate control activity responsive to each transaction request is generated according to the relevant transaction processing results and then transmitted to the dedicated control system in the form of suitable control commands, where the associated controller then properly operates the robotic arm and the fuel dispenser in accordance with the control commands. The customer can request additional transactions other than the refueling request since the central system controller is arranged for connection to a communications network that provides access to other commercial retailers, e.g., online merchants having electronic commerce sites on the Internet and Worldwide Web.
The invention, in one form thereof, comprises a system for delivering fuel to a vehicle positioned for refueling at a service station site. The system comprises, in combination, a fuel dispensing system including a nozzle assembly and operative to selectively dispense fuel; an actuator assembly operatively associated with the fuel dispensing system, such actuator assembly being operative in response to suitable control commands applied thereto to selectively cause the nozzle assembly to be placed into mating fueling engagement with a fuel inlet of the vehicle, and the actuator assembly being operative in response to suitable control commands applied thereto to selectively cause the nozzle assembly to become disengaged from the fuel inlet of the vehicle; a means for operatively providing information including transaction signals relating to a refueling request associated with the vehicle; a controller operatively connected to the actuator assembly, the fuel dispensing system, and the information providing means; such controller being operative to control the operation of the actuator assembly, control the dispensing of fuel by the fuel dispensing system, and transmit the information provided by the information providing means. The system further comprises a remote system control means, which is disposed remote from the service station site and is operatively connected to the controller, for processing the information transmitted by the controller, generating control information based upon the processed refueling request information, such generated control information being representative of control action to be taken by the controller with respect to a refueling operation for the vehicle, and transmitting the generated control information to the controller.
The system, in one form thereof, further includes a first communications device integral with the vehicle and having at least one of a transmit capability and a receive capability. The information providing means further includes, in one form thereof, a second communications device operatively connected to the controller and having at least one of a transmit capability and a receive capability. The second c
Christman Gary L.
Goggin William
Jacyna J. Casimer
Knuth Randall J.
Tokheim Corporation
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