Texas Instruments Corporation

Dresser, Inc.

Exxonmobile Oil Corporation

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Anne A Tip

Andreas Hagl

Thomas J Flaxl

Joseph Bernard Pearson

Don Charles McCall

Joseph A Giordano

Karen Scott Guthrie

Robert Allen Lorentzen

George A Holodak

Geeta Bholanath Nadkarni

Alex J Weyer

Lloyd G Sargent

Samuel S Hendricks

Jeffrey L Turner

Deborah T Wilkins

Carl R Jacobs

Bernard Barink

Thomas L Mays

Scott D Larson

A system and method for providing a fuel dispenser with radio frequency customer identification capabilities. The system and method determines whether a transponder containing customer identification data is within range of a dispenser, the dispenser requiring activation by the customer to initiate a transaction and including a reader associated therewith for emitting radio frequency signals within the dispenser range, and for receiving customer identification data from the transponder responsive to the emitted radio frequency signals received by the transponder. When the transponder is within range of the dispenser, an in-range indication is provided to the customer. A determination is made whether the dispenser has been activated by the customer following a determination that the transponder is within the dispenser range. Upon activation of the dispenser following the determination that the transponder is within the dispenser range, the customer identification data received by the reader is associated with a transaction at the activated dispenser, whereupon the transaction at the activated dispenser is permitted and charged to the customer according to the customer identification data. The system easily retrofits onto an existing, conventional fuel dispenser.

Dispensing system and method with radio frequency customer identification

A system of vehicle identification with a first interrogator that uses a Lower SideBand (LSB) receiver to receive a modulated signal from a vehicle transponder and a second interrogator that uses an Upper SideBand (USB) receiver to receive another modulated signal. The two interrogators are adjacent to each other at a toll plaza, and operate at different carrier frequencies to force a signal frequency bandgap between communication signals in adjacent vehicle lanes.

Automatic vehicle identification system capable of vehicle lane

The invention is an improved method and apparatus for synchronizing wireless communications utilizing a master source (10) for a transmitting a synchronizing pulse to multiple reader modules (20 and 28) each of which has an internal crystal oscillator (22 and 30). The synchronizing pulse periodically resets the interrogation cycle, the power burst and receive cycle, for all of the reader modules (20 and 28). Between pulses, the internal crystal oscillator (22 and 30) is used to run interrogation cycles, and thus functions as a 'flywheel' to absorb fluctuations in the synchronizing pulse such as when a particular synchronizing pulse is missed.

Wireless flywheel synchronization method

Growing community of inventors

Garland, TX, United States of America

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