Polling remote fueling sites for product level information through the internet

Patent 6351689 Issued on February 26, 2002. Estimated Expiration Date:

July 10, 2020. Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.

Abstract Claims Description Full Text

Patent References

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Inventors

Assignee

Progressive Int'l Electronics

Application

No. 612840 filed on 07/10/2000

US Classes:

700/244, Monitoring or inspection700/236, Data collection or reporting (e.g., sales, inventory)700/241Central control of plural dispensing units

Examiners

Primary: Ellis, Christopher P.
Assistant: Tran, Khai

Attorney, Agent or Firm

Carr; Fred K.

International Class

G06F 017/00

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for gathering product level profile information from the POS of different, spaced apart fueling locations networked together to a server through the Internet. The POS monitors the dispensers through a pump control center to determine the amount of fuel dispensed and the ATG to determine the amount of product remaining in the USTs, and it tracts fuel additions to the USTs from delivery trucks. This information is stored in a data file in the POS, and is linked together along with a site identifier to form a data packet for transmission. A communication network interconnects the POS of the remote fueling sites to a server. The server maintains a first database of routing numbers for the remote sites, and a second database of product level information for each remote site. The server individually polls the remote sites to obtain the data packet. Configurators may be used to configure the logic signals from the POS into logic signals which are readable by different dispenser brands so that different dispenser types can be used in the information network.