Patent Abstract:
A system for an ice merchandiser having a compressor in a compressor enclosure to cool the ice merchandiser includes a sensor disposed within the ice merchandiser, and a communications component disposed within the compressor enclosure and coupled to the sensor to receive signals from the sensor representative of the amount of ice in the ice merchandiser, wherein the communications component is configured to convert the received signals to a digital format and publish the signals via a network connection.

Full Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/451,513 (entitled INTEGRATED NETWORKED ASSET MANAGEMENT, filed Mar. 10, 2012) which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Managing ice merchandisers to keep them stocked with bags of ice has been performed by drivers of ice trucks, who visit sites and check the ice merchandisers visually to determine whether more bags of ice should be added. This process leads to wasted effort when the ice merchandisers do not need more ice. It also may lead to delay in refilling ice merchandisers and result in lost sales if not refilled quickly enough. 
         [0003]    One proposal to begin to address such problems has been to add weight sensors under the ice merchandiser to weigh the entire ice merchandiser. This retrofit solution is not able to offer level information on more than one product inside the merchandiser and its components, all external, may be negatively impacted by adverse weather conditions or subject to tampering or vandalism. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0004]    A system for an ice merchandiser having a compressor in a compressor enclosure to cool the ice merchandiser includes a sensor disposed within the ice merchandiser, and a communications component disposed within the compressor enclosure and coupled to the sensor to receive signals from the sensor representative of the amount of ice in the ice merchandiser, wherein the communications component is configured to convert the received signals to a digital format and publish the signals via a network connection. 
         [0005]    In one embodiment, the sensor includes a camera and a heating element proximate a lens of the camera. 
         [0006]    In another embodiment, an ice merchandiser is fitted with at least one weight scale that sits in the bottom of the ice merchandiser to measure the weight of ice bags placed upon it. The scale in one embodiment covers substantially the entire floor of the chest. The scale provides an output to a system outside a cooled volume of the ice merchandiser. The system takes the output and provides a signal on a network representative of the weight, and correspondingly, the ice supported by the scale. 
         [0007]    In some embodiments, multiple scales may be used in the chest side by side to measure the weight of different sized bags of ice placed upon the scales. 
         [0008]    In further embodiments, temperature sensors and contact switches may be coupled to the system to provide signals representative of temperature inside and outside of the chest, as well as whether a chest door is open or not. 
         [0009]    The system may provide signal processing to provide signals representative of the sensed parameters to the network. In one embodiment, the system includes a device having an IP address to facilitate exposing the sensed information via a website like interface. A wireless modem may be included. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a system to detect stocking of ice in an ice merchandiser according to an example embodiment. 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is a top view of components in a compressor container for the ice merchandiser of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is a side block diagram illustrating further details of a sensor system within the ice merchandiser of  FIG. 1   
           [0013]      FIG. 4  is a block schematic diagram of an example heater. 
           [0014]      FIG. 5  is a block flow diagram illustrating functions performed in accordance with an example embodiment. 
           [0015]      FIG. 6  is an example interface to interact with the system of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0016]      FIG. 7  is a block diagram a system for performing functions and communications according to an example embodiment. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0017]    In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments which may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural, logical and electrical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following description of example embodiments is, therefore, not to be taken in a limited sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims. 
         [0018]    The functions or algorithms described herein may be implemented in software or a combination of software and human implemented procedures in one embodiment. The software may consist of computer executable instructions stored on computer readable media such as memory or other type of storage devices. Further, such functions correspond to modules, which are software stored on a storage device, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. Multiple functions may be performed in one or more modules as desired, and the embodiments described are merely examples. The software may be executed on a digital signal processor, ASIC, microprocessor, or other type of processor operating on a computer system, such as a personal computer, server or other computer system. 
         [0019]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a system  100  to detect stocking of ice in an ice merchandiser  110  according to an example embodiment. One or more different types of sensors may be placed inside the ice merchandiser  110  in various embodiments. In one embodiment, a sensor includes a camera  115  placed to obtain images, such as still images or video images of items, such as bags of ice placed on one or more platforms  120 ,  122  inside of the ice merchandiser  110 . In one embodiment, platform  120  is used to hold bags  124  of one size, and platform  122  is used to hold bags  126  of a different size. 
         [0020]    In one embodiment, the camera has a lens that provides field of view  128  that is wide enough, such as at least 70 degrees in one embodiment that is sufficient to enable someone to determine whether the items need restocking. One or more further sensors may be included, such as a temperature sensor  130  disposed within the ice merchandiser  110  to measure the temperature within the ice merchandiser. Sensor  130  may also include multiple sensors to sense further parameters, such as humidity in further embodiments. 
         [0021]    In one embodiment, the platforms  120  and  122  may comprise load cells, forming weight scales that sit in the bottom of the ice merchandiser to measure the weight of ice bags placed upon them. The scales may be used with or without the camera, and the camera may also be used without the scales in various embodiments. In one embodiment, one scale is used that covers substantially the entire floor of the chest and measures the pressure on each of four feet supporting the scale off the floor of the chest. In further embodiments, the scale provides a linear analog output representative of weight. The output may be provided to circuitry either inside, or outside the ice merchandiser  110 , such as within a compressor enclosure  140  housing a compressor  142  and fan  144  in various embodiments, where the output may be converted to standardized signal such as a linear zero to five volt signal representative of the weight of ice bags on the scale. 
         [0022]    The scale has a low profile such that it does not adversely impact the cooling volume of the ice merchandiser for holding ice bags. The scales are sized to fit within the ice merchandiser, and to ensure that they cover enough of the floor to accurately measure the amount of ice stacked on them. In some embodiments, some space is left between walls of the ice merchandiser and sides of the scale to ensure that the scales are not adversely affected by interference from the wall. The space is also small enough to ensure that bags of ice are properly accounted for by the scale without falling between the scale and walls. Such a sized scale is said to substantially cover a desired portion of the ice merchandiser floor. As can be seen, there is some tolerance permitted. 
         [0023]    In some embodiments, multiple scales may be used in the chest side by side to measure the weight of different sized bags of ice placed upon the scales. In an ice merchandiser with two doors, one door may be used for bags of one weight having a first scale, and the other door may be used for bags of a different weight having a second scale. Thus, two weights are provided to the system for publishing via the network connection. In some embodiments, the system may provide alerts regarding a need for restocking one side or the other of the ice merchandiser when the weight falls below a desired level. In various embodiments, the alerts may be provided via text messages, email, voicemail or other mechanisms including various social media. Information regarding the ice merchandiser may be accessible from at least mobile devices, computer systems, and other devices capable of providing information. 
         [0024]    In further embodiments, temperature sensors and contact switches may be coupled to the system to provide signals representative of temperature inside and outside of the chest, as well as whether a chest door is open or not.  FIG. 2  is a top view block diagram of components in the compressor enclosure  140 . A compressor electrical enclosure  210  contains circuitry for controlling the compressor and fan, as in standard compressor designs. In some embodiments, sensors are provided to sense temperature within the compressor enclosures  140 , external temperature, and compressor power draw. Still further sensors may be included in further embodiments. 
         [0025]    A communications enclosure  215  is included, and contains circuitry for controlling the sensors that have been added to the ice merchandiser  110  in various embodiments. The circuitry has an IP address and modem, and provides data to a network such as the Internet, representative of the sensed parameters, such as images, weight, temperature, humidity or other parameters that may be sensed, and correspondingly, the ice supported by the scale. In one embodiment, a web enabled sensor appliance, such as a Maverick IP Sensor Appliance by Mamac Systems, incorporates a web server, analog/digital inputs and relay outputs. The appliance operates with any 24 VAC transformer, and may be plugged into a hub/router. Any web browser can be used to enter the default IP address to receive the data. 
         [0026]      FIG. 3  is a side block diagram illustrating further details of the sensor  115  within the ice merchandiser  110  of  FIG. 1 . A circuit board  310  has a camera  315  mounted on it, along with a light emitting diode  320  (LED) near the camera and corresponding lens of the camera. In one embodiment the camera  315  and LED  320  are enclosed in a transparent camera enclosure  325 . The camera enclosure  325  may be made of polycarbonate materials in one embodiment, and the volume enclosed may be heated sufficiently by the LED  320  to remove or prevent moister from condensing or freezing on the lens of the camera  315 , allowing a clear field of view of the items stocked in the ice merchandiser  110 . In further embodiments, the LED  320  may be positioned very close to the lens to obviate the need for the enclosure  325 . The proximity of the LED  320  to the camera may thus vary in different embodiments, but should be within a distance to allow it to perform the function of providing a clear field of view. In addition, the LED  320  may serve to illuminate the items for viewing. In still further embodiments, the camera may include circuitry to allow for imaging without the use of visible light. 
         [0027]    The circuit board  310  may further include control circuitry  330  which can be used to control the camera and LED, and communicate with the circuitry in the electrical enclosure  210  in various embodiments. The processing of data may be split between such circuitry in various embodiments, or only one set of circuitry may perform all the functions. In still further embodiments, one or more sensors, such as temperatures sensor  335  may be included on the circuitry board  310 . 
         [0028]      FIG. 4  is a block schematic diagram of an example heater  400  that may be used to provide a clear field of view for the lens of the camera. The heater may include a substrate having fine resistive heating wires to provide heat when powered via circuitry. The substrate may be adhesive, with the wires on or embedded, similar to add on rear windshield heaters for automobiles. The heater  400  be positioned proximate the lens of the camera or in the field of view of the lens on or embedded within the transparent camera enclosure  325 . The heater may be positioned outside the field of view on the camera enclosure  325  if it provides sufficient heat to create a clear field of view when images are obtained. 
         [0029]      FIG. 5  is a block flow diagram  500  illustrating sensed parameters and components involved in data flow in various embodiments. Internal conditions  510  represent conditions inside of the ice merchandiser  110  in one embodiment. Internal conditions may include measurements from two scales at  512  and  514 , the camera  516 , and internal temperature  518 . External conditions  520  may include compressor enclosure or hood temperature  522 , compressor power draw  524 , a maintenance log  526 , and power loss indications  528 . 
         [0030]    The information collected corresponding to these conditions is then communicated via the communications module  215  at  530 . The module  215  may be a 3 G, 4 G, WIFI, or other type of wireless communications module in various embodiments that is coupled to the internet represented at  532 . The information is then provided to server  534 , and back via a network  536 , such as the internet, to a provider of the items at  538 . The provider  538  may be an ice company in one embodiment responsible for restocking the ice merchandiser. One or more user interfaces may be provided on a personal computer, smart phone, tablet, or other device enabling a person responsible for restocking to determine whether or not an ice merchandiser needs restocking, and with what types of items. The information may distinguish between different sized bags of ice, such as 10 lbs or 20 lbs. 
         [0031]      FIG. 6  is an example interface  600  to interact with the system of  FIG. 1 . In one embodiment, the server  534  processes the information and creates a user interface allowing viewing of the information in various forms. Multiple different parameters may be published and viewable via interface  600 . A web type interface, or any number of other media, such as social media, including email and other forms of electronic communication may be used. Still further, the system may provide visible and audio alerts proximate the ice merchandiser. 
         [0032]    In example interface  600 , images are shown at  610 ,  612 ,  614 . The images may be thumbnail images that are linked to higher quality images in further embodiments. The newest image is indicated at  614 , with prior images available to the left side of the display. In one embodiment, clicking on the latest image may initiate communications back to the system  100  to provide a real time image. 
         [0033]    A graph  620  illustrates desired parameters over time. In some embodiments the time frame may be selected by the user in a common manner. Illustrated on graph  620  are internal ice merchandiser temperature  622  and ambient temperature  624 , which varies significantly over the few days that are shown. As desired, the internal temperature  622  is fairly constant. Note that a winter environment is like occurring in this representation as the ambient temperature dips below the internal temperature. While temperature is shown on the graph, other parameters may be shown in further embodiments. In addition, a link to multiple settings  630  may be provided to enable the user to change timing of when data is periodically provided, or change any other control points used to control the system  100 , including the compressor and fan in some embodiments. 
         [0034]    Some example control points and corresponding notes are shown in the following TABLE 1: 
         [0000]    
       
         
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
                 TABLE 1 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
                 Product 
                 Product Level Measured 
               
               
                   
                 Level 
                 Within ±5% 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Product Level Differentiation 
               
               
                   
                   
                 by Merchandiser Side 
               
               
                   
                 Compressor Status 
                 Defrost Monitoring and 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Control 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Electric Current Draw 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Monitoring 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Power Outage Monitoring 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Compressor Hood 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Temperature Change 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Monitoring 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Maintenance Tracking and 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Alerts 
               
               
                   
                 Interior Case Temperature 
                 Temperature Change 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Monitoring 
               
               
                   
                 Merchandiser Door Status 
                 Open Door Alarm Set Points 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
         [0035]      FIG. 7  is a block diagram a system for performing functions and communications according to an example embodiment.  FIG. 7  is a block diagram of a computer system or circuitry which may be used to process and publish sensed data and information according to an example embodiment. In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 7 , a hardware and operating environment is provided that is applicable to any of the circuitry, servers and/or remote clients shown in the other Figures. It should be noted that many devices to provide the functions described herein may be formed with far fewer components than described below. Components may be included or excluded as desired and appropriate for the functions to be provided. 
         [0036]    As shown in  FIG. 7 , one embodiment of the hardware and operating environment includes a general purpose computing device in the form of a computer  700  (e.g., a personal computer, workstation, or server), including one or more processing units  721 , a system memory  722 , and a system bus  723  that operatively couples various system components including the system memory  722  to the processing unit  721 . There may be only one or there may be more than one processing unit  721 , such that the processor of computer  700  comprises a single central-processing unit (CPU), or a plurality of processing units, commonly referred to as a multiprocessor or parallel-processor environment. In various embodiments, computer  700  is a conventional computer, a distributed computer, or any other type of computer. 
         [0037]    The system bus  723  can be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. The system memory can also be referred to as simply the memory, and, in some embodiments, includes read-only memory (ROM)  724  and random-access memory (RAM)  725 . A basic input/output system (BIOS) program  726 , containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within the computer  700 , such as during start-up, may be stored in ROM  724 . The computer  700  further includes a hard disk drive  727  for reading from and writing to a hard disk, not shown, a magnetic disk drive  728  for reading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk  729 , and an optical disk drive  730  for reading from or writing to a removable optical disk  731  such as a CD ROM or other optical media. 
         [0038]    The hard disk drive  727 , magnetic disk drive  728 , and optical disk drive  730  couple with a hard disk drive interface  732 , a magnetic disk drive interface  733 , and an optical disk drive interface  734 , respectively. The drives and their associated computer-readable media provide non volatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the computer  700 . It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any type of computer-readable media which can store data that is accessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks, Bernoulli cartridges, random access memories (RAMs), read only memories (ROMs), redundant arrays of independent disks (e.g., RAID storage devices) and the like, can be used in the exemplary operating environment. 
         [0039]    A plurality of program modules can be stored on the hard disk, magnetic disk  729 , optical disk  731 , ROM  724 , or RAM  725 , including an operating system  735 , one or more application programs  736 , other program modules  737 , and program data  738 . Programming for implementing one or more processes or method described herein may be resident on any one or number of these computer-readable media. 
         [0040]    A user may enter commands and information into computer  700  through input devices such as a keyboard  740  and pointing device  742 . Other input devices (not shown) can include a microphone, joystick, game pad, touch screen, mobile phone, mobile pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like. These other input devices are often connected to the processing unit  721  through a serial port interface  746  that is coupled to the system bus  723 , but can be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, game port, wireless, or a universal serial bus (USB). A monitor  747  or other type of display device, including a touch screen, can also be connected to the system bus  723  via an interface, such as a video adapter  748 . The monitor  747  can display a graphical user interface for the user. In addition to the monitor  747 , computers typically include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers and printers. 
         [0041]    The computer  700  may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers or servers, such as remote computer  749 . These logical connections are achieved by a communication device coupled to or a part of the computer  700 ; the invention is not limited to a particular type of communications device. The remote computer  749  can be another computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a client, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above I/O relative to the computer  700 , although only a memory storage device  750  has been illustrated. The logical connections depicted in  FIG. 7  include a local area network (LAN)  751  and/or a wide area network (WAN)  752 . Such networking environments are commonplace in office networks, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets and the internet, which are all types of networks. 
         [0042]    When used in a LAN-networking environment, the computer  700  is connected to the LAN  751  through a network interface or adapter  753 , which is one type of communications device. In some embodiments, when used in a WAN-networking environment, the computer  700  typically includes a modem  754  (another type of communications device) or any other type of communications device, e.g., a wireless transceiver, for establishing communications over the wide-area network  752 , such as the internet. The modem  754 , which may be internal or external, is connected to the system bus  723  via the serial port interface  746 . In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computer  700  can be stored in the remote memory storage device  750  of remote computer, or server  749 . It is appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of, and communications devices for, establishing a communications link between the computers may be used including hybrid fiber-coax connections, T1-T3 lines, DSL&#39;s, OC-3 and/or OC-12, TCP/IP, microwave, wireless application protocol, and any other electronic media through any suitable switches, routers, outlets and power lines, as the same are known and understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. 
         [0043]    On the upper left part of the above picture is a signal conditioner that takes voltage signals entering the system on the lower part of the picture and converts them to a zero to five volt range compatible with the web enabled sensor appliance just below it. A model on the upper right couples the server to a wireless network. Wires from the sensors may follow the path of the condenser tubing placed on top of the ice merchandiser, and the entire device may fit inside the container for the condenser and include an antenna on top of the container as shown.

Technology Classification (CPC): 5