Fluid sprinkling – spraying – and diffusing – Processes
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-12
2001-07-31
Scherbel, David A. (Department: 3752)
Fluid sprinkling, spraying, and diffusing
Processes
C239S069000, C239S070000, C239S071000, C239S099000, C239S326000, C239S333000, C239S337000, C222S646000, C222S649000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06267297
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
A programmable dispenser, especially for dispensing an olfactory stimulating material from a source of the material, is presented. More particularly, the present invention relates to a dispenser for an olfactory stimulating material, such as an air freshener composition, wherein the dispenser can be programmed so as to be operational within a wide variety of operating modes, such as starting and ending operations at specific times during the day, being operational during specific days of the week, and dispensing frequency (i.e., in the case of an aerosol or pump source) and/or intensity (i.e., in the case of a gel or cartridge source).
Dispensers which provide an olfactory stimulating material, such as an air freshener composition, are known, and often disposed, inter alia, in public rest rooms. Such dispensers provide to the surrounding atmosphere an olfactory stimulating material from a refill or other source of olfactory stimulating material. Since the need for air freshening varies widely, depending on the application, dispensers which cannot be programmed with wide flexibility are either operating even when the need for freshening is not great, resulting in waste, or operating with insufficient frequency or intensity when the need is greatest, resulting in insufficient air freshening. For instance, an air freshening dispenser mounted in a public restroom in an office building should be operational during normal business hours, such as 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., but not earlier or later since the need for air freshening is not great outside of those weekday hours. Similarly, even if the office building is occupied on weekends, the hours of operation and the frequency and/or intensity of dispensing should be reduced, since the need is undoubtedly reduced. The same logic can be applied to, e.g., restaurant restrooms, etc.
In addition, since such sources of olfactory stimulating material are finite in size, they have to be replaced when empty, or when near empty, i.e., when a predetermined amount of the olfactory stimulating material has been dispensed. However, in a programmable dispenser that does not operate solely on a continual basis, but rather only during set periods (such as during periods of daylight or during preset hours of operation) and/or does not operate to provide a constant level of olfactory stimulating material, but rather with variable frequency or intensity, the dispensing of a predetermined amount of olfactory stimulating material, such as when the source of olfactory stimulating material is empty or near empty, can occur at different times depending on the operation of the dispenser. Accordingly, the conventional assumption that a predetermined amount of olfactory stimulating material has been dispensed after, for example, thirty days will no longer suffice.
Moreover, it is also desirable in many cases to locate the dispenser in an unobtrusive location (such as near the ceiling) for aesthetic reasons as well as to forestall tampering. In such cases, programming of the dispenser and/or determining the status of characteristics of the dispenser, such as remaining life of the refill or the batteries, is an arduous process. This is especially true when there are several, if not many, dispensers located throughout a building.
What is needed, therefore, is a dispenser which can be programmed with a great deal of flexibility in terms of times and days of operation and frequency and/or intensity of dispensing. The dispenser should also include a method for determining the dispensing of a predetermined amount of a material such as an olfactory stimulating material, which takes into consideration the variables in programming characteristics. What is also needed is a dispenser having a system that permits the remote programming of the dispenser and/or for obtaining readings of dispenser status.
BACKGROUND ART
One example of a device which does provide an indication of when an aerosol container has been emptied is provided by U.S. Pat. No. 4,063,664 to Meetze, Jr., which utilizes a counter and/or a sensor to determine evacuation of an aerosol container. In a system like that of Meetze, Jr., Muderlak and Maloney, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,791, make use of a timer which provides pulses at periodic intervals, a counter which counts the pulses and generates a latch signal after a predetermined number of pulses is counted (corresponding to the calculated lifetime of the odor control cartridge) and a signal activated by the latch signal. As is apparent, this Muderlak and Maloney approach cannot compensate for variations in frequency and intensity, since the device discussed operates using a predetermined “count” of pulses which are generated at a predetermined frequency, to provide the desired signal.
In a refinement on their earlier work, Muderlak and Maloney describe a system very similar to that of Meetze, Jr. whereby the number of actuations of an aerosol dispenser is counted, and an indication of the dispenser being empty is provided after 3072 actuations, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,972. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,126,078, Steiner, Holzner, Harunan and Owen disclose a system which uses a timer to indicate either the need for replacement of the cartridge acting as the source of material to be dispensed or replacement of the battery (which are designed to coincide) of a fan type dispenser.
A unique approach to calculating the dispensing of a predetermined amount of a material is disclosed by Dial, Chang and Huang in U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,074. In their patent, Dial et al. teach a method wherein a dispensing score representative of the time of operation of a dispenser multiplied by a factor representative of the frequency or intensity of dispensing is calculated and the calculated dispensing score is compared with a predetermined total score. Although describing a system not heretofore seen, the Dial et al. patent does not disclose a programmable dispenser in accordance with the present invention.
Unfortunately, nothing in the prior art provides a system having the flexibility to provide variations in time of operation, including start and stop times as well as days of operation and frequency and/or intensity of dispensing, whether in a fan-driven dispenser or a discrete event aerosol or pump dispenser. Moreover, nothing seen provides such a programmable dispenser which provides status indicators for characteristics such as refill and/or battery life, nor a remote programmer/status check device. The present invention provides such a system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a dispenser for a material, wherein the dispenser is programmable with respect to operating modes such as daily start time, daily stop time, days of operation and frequency and/or intensity of operation.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a programmable dispenser for dispensing of a material which incorporates a method for indicating the status of one or more characteristics of the dispenser, such as the dispensing of a predetermined amount of the material and/or remaining life of the batteries, whereby programmed variations in dispensing time, days, frequency and/or intensity are accommodated.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a programmable dispenser which further includes a remote device for programming the dispenser and/or for obtaining information about the status of one or more characteristics of the dispenser.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a programmable dispenser for an olfactory stimulating material, which can comprise in either a constant operation fan-driven dispenser, or a discrete event pump or aerosol dispenser.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a dispenser for an olfactory stimulating material having a finite source of olfactory stimulating material, and which is powered by batteries, whereby the need to replace either the source of olfactory stimulating material or the batteries, or both, can be reliably and remotely indicated regardless of var
Contadini Carl D.
Dean John J.
Velezis Nicholas A.
Carmody & Torrance LLP
Ganey Steven J.
Scherbel David A.
Waterbury Companies Inc.
LandOfFree
Programmable dispenser does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Programmable dispenser, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Programmable dispenser will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2455720