The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 24, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 05, 2000
Applicant:
Inventor:
Ronald C. Ward, Salt Lake City, UT (US);
Assignee:
eRoomSystem Technologies, Inc., Las Vegas, NV (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01R 3/312 ; G01R 3/300 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G01R 3/312 ; G01R 3/300 ;
Abstract
A product sensor system for use in a refreshment center configured to sense a number of metal product containers. The sensor device can comprise a support shelf mounted in the refreshment center, which holds the product containers. One or more sensor loops are arranged on the shelf below the product containers, and an analysis circuit is connected to the sensor loops to measure the changes in inductance at the sensor loop when product containers are removed from the refreshment center. A microprocessor compares the signals from the inductance sensing circuit with values stored in memory to determine the amount of product remaining.