Fluent material handling – with receiver or receiver coacting mea – Processes
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-22
2002-04-09
Jacyna, J. Casimer (Department: 3751)
Fluent material handling, with receiver or receiver coacting mea
Processes
C141S094000, C141S098000, C141S231000, C705S413000, C700S232000, C700S236000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06367516
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 centrally 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 the 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 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 method and 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 method of delivering fuel to a vehicle positioned at a service station site, such service station site including a fuel dispensing assembly arranged to operatively provide fuel to the vehicle and having a nozzle assembly. The method comprises, in combination, the steps of: providing a remote system controller disposed remote from the service station site; generating at the service station site information relating to a refueling transaction request associated with the vehicle; transmitting the generated information from the service station site to the remote system controller; such remote system controller operatively performing the steps of processing the refueling transaction request associated with the information received from the service station site and generating control commands based on the processing activity for the refueling transaction request, such generated control commands being representative of a selectable refueling operation for the vehicle; placing the nozzle assembly of the fuel dispensing assembly into a selective one of engagement and disengagement with respect to a fuel inlet of the vehicle in accordance with the control commands generated by the remote system controller; and operating the fuel dispensing assembly in accordance with the control commands generated by the remote system controller.
The information generation step further comprises the steps of: providing a first wireless communications device in integral association with the vehicle, such first wireless communications device being operatively activatable by a refueling customer associated with the vehicle; and providing a second wireless communications device being disposed at the service station site in a manner sufficient to enable operative communications with the first wireless communications device while the vehicle is positioned for refueling relative to the fuel dispensing assembly. The operative communications between the first wireless communications device and the second wireless communications device includes the information relating to the refueling transaction request.
The nozzle assembly placement
Christman Gary L.
Goggin William
Jacyna J. Casimer
Knuth Randall J.
Tokheim Corporation
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