Patent Description:
There are multiple types of dispensers for dispensing hygienic consumable products including, for example, paper towels and bath tissue. One such type of dispenser is a manual "sanitary" or "no-touch" dispenser. These types of manual dispensers allow a user to obtain a sheet of the consumable product by pulling a partially exposed sheet hanging from the dispenser, which causes both dispensing and cutting of the sheet. As such, these "sanitary" or "no-touch" dispensers allow a user to cause a sheet to be dispensed, in normal operation, without contacting the (body of the) dispenser.

On occasion a sheet may not properly dispense. For example, a user may pull on the exposed tail of the sheet only to have the sheet "tab" when the sheet prematurely or incompletely rips without fully dispensing. In these instances, many manual dispensers include a lever, push bar or rotatable knob or wheel that a user can actuate to complete the dispensing process. As such, use of the lever, push bar, knob or wheel in these types of "sanitary" or "no-touch" dispensers may be indicative of problems with the consumable product or dispenser malfunctions. Therefore it would be beneficial for a service attendant for the dispenser to have knowledge of a user having to resort to use of the emergency manual feed device (e.g., lever, push bar, knob or wheel) so that the attendant could proactively visit and service the dispenser to avoid or minimize any dispenser malfunctions or address any consumable product deficiencies. <CIT> and <CIT> disclose arrangements of the prior art.

In general, the subject matter of this specification relates to a dispenser, e.g., a consumable product dispenser. One aspect of the subject matter described in this specification is implemented in a dispenser according to independent claim <NUM> comprising a body comprising a front side and a back side, and a product holding area defined by the front side and the back side, wherein the product holding area is configured to store the consumable product within the dispenser; a dispensing mechanism operatively coupled to the consumable product, and wherein the dispensing mechanism is configured to facilitate a dispensing cycle to dispense a portion of the consumable product in response to a user pulling on an exposed portion of the consumable product; a product advancement device coupled to the dispensing mechanism and accessible external to the body, and wherein the product advancement device is configured to allow a user to manually actuate the dispensing mechanism; a product advancement sensor configured to sense the manual actuation; and a data processing device configured to communicate with the product advancement sensor and transmit an alert indicating the manual actuation. Other embodiments of this aspect include corresponding methods and apparatus.

Another aspect of the subject matter described in this specification can be implemented in a method according to claim <NUM> that includes providing a dispenser according to the invention; detecting, by a product advancement sensor, that a user has actuated a product advancement device to cause a dispensing mechanism in a dispenser to rotate to dispense consumable product to the user; and communicating, by a data processing device to a remote device, data describing the detection. Other embodiments of this aspect include corresponding systems and apparatus.

For example, for sanitary and no-touch dispensers (e.g., dispensers for which the user's primary means to retrieve consumable product does not involve touching the dispenser), information that the user had to use a manual feed device (e.g., through contacting the dispenser) to retrieve product from the dispenser can provide an indication to a service attendant that the dispenser is malfunctioning or the product is not to specification, as under normal operation the user would not have to use the manual feed device. This allows the attendant to quickly service the dispenser to address any problems or malfunctions, which provides a better user experience, less down time (e.g., poor or no operation periods) for the dispenser, and provides an indication to the service attendant as to the nature of the problem or malfunction.

Repeat use of reference characters in the present specification and drawings is intended to represent the same or analogous features or elements of the disclosure.

The present disclosure relates to determining potential dispenser malfunctions in, for example, "sanitary" or "no-touch" (e.g., manual feed) dispensers in which sheets of consumable product are dispensed by a user pulling an exposed tail of sheet. Thus, for such dispensers, in normal operation the user does not have to touch the dispenser, but rather only the sheet to-be-used.

If sheet does not fully dispense, is prematurely torn (e.g., tabbing) or causes a jam such that the user may have difficulty pulling the sheet off the roll or otherwise accessing an exposed portion of the sheet to complete the dispense process, a product advancement device on the dispenser, e.g., a wheel/knob, lever or push bar, allows the user to manually rotate the dispensing mechanism inside the dispenser, which draws sheets off the roll for access to the user to pull. As such, use of the product advancement device may indicate a malfunction with the dispenser or non-conformance of the consumable product, e.g., the consumable product is not within its manufacturing specification resulting in, for example, low strength and premature tearing. In either case, this information can be used to quickly identify problems with the dispenser and provided to a service attendant to expeditiously remedy the problem.

To this end, the dispenser includes a product advancement sensor that senses when the product advancement device has been used, and the dispenser includes a communication device to send an alert or message to, for example, a service attendant of the product advancement device's use (e.g., to investigate the potential issue). A dispenser with this functionality is described in more detail below with reference to <FIG>, which is a perspective representation of an example dispenser <NUM>.

The dispenser <NUM> can be, for example, a hand towel dispenser, bath or facial tissue dispenser, wiper dispenser, or the like. The dispenser <NUM>, more generally, is a device that holds consumable product and dispenses the consumable product in response to a stimulus, e.g., a user or environmental stimulus such as a user pulling on an exposed portion (e.g., tail) of the consumable product. For example, the dispenser <NUM> dispenses sheets from a roll of sheets of absorbent material (e.g., the sheets on the roll can be perforated or non-perforated) or from a stack of interlaced sheets as in a folded towel configuration. This type of dispenser <NUM> generally dispenses consumable hygiene products, which are products intended to promote good hygiene or sanitation such as by cleaning or sanitizing a user and/or a surface.

The dispenser <NUM> includes a body <NUM>, e.g., a composite, polymeric or metal housing. The body <NUM> encloses, fully or partially, a product holding area and serves to hold the consumable product and protect the internal components of the dispenser <NUM>. In some implementations, for consumable products such as rolled hand towels or bath tissue, the product holding area can be accessed by rotating a front side <NUM> of the body <NUM> away from a back side <NUM> (e.g., the wall mounted side) by a hinge or the like. The back side <NUM> may have a rear wall <NUM>, top wall <NUM>, sidewalls <NUM> and a bottom wall <NUM>.

In some implementations, the dispenser <NUM> includes a dispensing opening <NUM> located in the front side <NUM> or bottom wall <NUM>, or the dispensing opening <NUM> may be formed by a gap between the front side <NUM> and the back side <NUM>. The dispensing opening <NUM> provides a point for the consumable product to exit the dispenser <NUM> for access by a user.

The dispenser <NUM> includes a dispensing mechanism <NUM>, as described in more detail below with respect to <FIG> and <FIG>. <FIG> is a perspective representation of the example dispenser <NUM> with the front side <NUM> in an open position, and <FIG> is a side cutaway representation of the example dispenser <NUM>. The dispensing mechanism <NUM> is operatively coupled to the consumable product <NUM> to facilitate a dispensing cycle to dispense a portion (e.g., sheet) of the consumable product <NUM> in response to, for example, a user pulling on an exposed portion (e.g., tail) of the consumable product <NUM>.

In general, the dispensing mechanism <NUM> is coupled to the consumable product <NUM> through a consumable product holder <NUM>, <NUM> (which in some implementations can be part of the dispensing mechanism <NUM> and include arms on each side of the roll <NUM> to support each end of the roll <NUM>). The dispensing mechanism <NUM> operates to dispense a portion of the consumable product <NUM> (e.g., dispense a length of roll <NUM> for use to dry hands), for example, in response to a user pulling on a tail of the sheet <NUM> exposed through the opening <NUM>.

In some implementations the dispensing mechanism <NUM> includes a dispensing actuator roller <NUM> that is rotatably mounted within or proximate the holding area <NUM>. The actuator roller <NUM> has, for example, a cylindrically-shaped outer peripheral portion and is rotatable in a predetermined direction of rotation. The actuator roller <NUM> is spaced apart from the consumable product holder <NUM>, <NUM> to allow the roll <NUM> to be fed over the actuator roller <NUM>, as shown in <FIG> such that when the roller <NUM> rotates it draws sheets from the roll <NUM> and pushes a sheet, on a sheet-by-sheet basis, through the opening <NUM>.

In some implementations, the dispensing mechanism <NUM> includes a guide roller or tensioning device <NUM>. Generally, the guide roller or tensioning device <NUM> is rotatably mounted and serves to guide sheets from the roll <NUM> to the actuator roller <NUM>. The guide roller or tensioning device <NUM> may be positioned next to the actuator roller <NUM> and can be biased against the actuator roller <NUM> using a biasing device such as a spring, o-ring bands and the like.

The dispensing mechanism <NUM> can, in some implementations, include a pivotally mounted cutter blade housed within the actuator roller <NUM>. The cutter blade has, for example, teeth that operate to cut a sheet from the roll <NUM> when the blade extends during rotation of the roller <NUM>, e.g., by an eccentric cam. The cutter blade, in this example implementation, is pivotally connected to the actuator roller <NUM> about a pivot point located near an outer portion of the cylindrically-shaped actuator roller <NUM>. With this configuration the cutter blade extends outward from the actuator roller <NUM> to cut the roll <NUM> into an individual sheets at a certain point in the rotation of the actuator roller <NUM>.

The dispenser <NUM> includes a product advancement device <NUM>, e.g., as an emergency manual feed mechanism/device. The product advancement device <NUM> is coupled to the dispensing mechanism <NUM> and is accessible external to the body <NUM>. The product advancement device <NUM> allows a user to manually actuate the dispensing mechanism <NUM> to dispense a sheet of consumable product <NUM>, for example, when a tail of the sheet is not accessible to the user due to a malfunction. In some implementations the product advancement device <NUM> is a knob <NUM>.

In some implementations, the product advancement device <NUM> is releasably coupled to the dispensing mechanism <NUM> such that the product advancement device <NUM> will not rotate unless it is manually engaged by the user to the dispensing mechanism <NUM>. For example, the product advancement device <NUM> can be mounted with a biasing device (not shown) which would require the user to push the product advancement device <NUM> toward the dispensing mechanism <NUM> or, in the alternative, to pull the product advancement device <NUM> away from the dispensing mechanism <NUM> to engage the product advancement device <NUM> with the dispensing mechanism <NUM>.

In some implementations, the product advancement device <NUM> is continuously engaged with the dispensing mechanism <NUM> so that the product advancement device <NUM> will rotate with the dispensing mechanism <NUM> as the dispensing mechanism <NUM> turns. The product advancement device <NUM> can be, for example a knob <NUM> (as described above), or a user-actuated lever or push bar. Regarding the lever or push bar, for example, each is configured to rotate the dispensing mechanism <NUM> when actuated by a user, and operate, in effect, similar to the knob implementation as described above.

The dispenser <NUM> includes a product advancement sensor <NUM> to sense the manual actuation of the dispensing mechanism <NUM> through use of the product advancement device <NUM>. For example, the product advancement sensor <NUM> identifies when the user uses the product advancement device <NUM> to feed out (or try to feed out) a sheet or complete feeding out the remainder of a torn sheet, as opposed to a user pulling the tail of the exposed sheet to cause a sheet dispense during normal operation. As described above, the use of the product advancement device <NUM> can be a sign that the dispenser <NUM> is malfunctioning or that the consumable product <NUM> is not in specification.

In some implementations, the product advancement sensor <NUM> is a capacitive sensor <NUM> mounted on or in the product advancement device <NUM> that sensors when a user's hand is proximate or touching the product advancement device <NUM> (by sensing a change in the dielectric constant in the area of the product advancement device <NUM>. Alternatively, the product advancement sensor <NUM> could be an optical sensor <NUM> (e.g., a photodiode) mounted on or in the product advancement device <NUM> that sensors when a user's hand is proximate or touching the product advancement device <NUM> by detecting a change in the light sensed by the sensor <NUM>. In some implementations, the product advancement sensor <NUM> is a pressure sensor <NUM> that senses when force is applied to the product advancement device <NUM>, e.g., to actuate the product advancement device <NUM>.

The dispenser <NUM> includes a data processing device <NUM> that communicates with the product advancement sensor <NUM> to determine when it has sensed a use of the product advancement device <NUM> and, in response to such determination, transmits (e.g., through use of a transceiver) an alert indicating such use/manual actuation of the product advancement device <NUM>. For example, the data processing device <NUM> transmits the alert to a mobile device/remote device of a service attendant for the dispenser <NUM> to notify the attendant of the potential issue.

The data processing device <NUM> can be integral to and resident at the dispenser <NUM> or remote and separate from the dispenser <NUM> (e.g., in which case the data processing device <NUM> and the dispenser <NUM> could communicate through transceivers or transmitters and/or receivers).

Portions of implementations of the subject matter and the operations described in this specification can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry, or in computer software, firmware, or hardware, including the structures disclosed in this specification and their structural equivalents, or in combinations of one or more of them. Implementations of the subject matter described in this specification can be implemented as one or more computer programs, i.e., one or more modules of computer program instructions, encoded on computer storage medium for execution by, or to control the operation of, data processing apparatus.

The term "data processing device" encompasses all kinds of apparatus, devices, and machines for processing data, including by way of example a programmable processor, a computer, a system on a chip, or multiple ones, or combinations, of the foregoing The apparatus can include special purpose logic circuitry, e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit).

Devices suitable for storing computer program instructions and data include all forms of nonvolatile memory, media and memory devices, including by way of example semiconductor memory devices, e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magnetic disks.

While this specification contains many specific implementation details, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of any inventions as claimed, but rather as descriptions of features specific to particular embodiments of particular inventions.

Claim 1:
A dispenser for dispensing consumable product (<NUM>) comprising:
a body (<NUM>) comprising a front side (<NUM>) and a back side (<NUM>), and a product holding area (<NUM>) defined by the front side (<NUM>) and the back side (<NUM>), wherein the product holding area (<NUM>) is configured to store the consumable product (<NUM>) within the dispenser;
a dispensing mechanism (<NUM>) operatively coupled to the consumable product, and wherein the dispensing mechanism (<NUM>) is configured to facilitate a dispensing cycle to dispense a portion of the consumable product (<NUM>) in response to a user pulling on an exposed portion of the consumable product (<NUM>);
a product advancement device (<NUM>) coupled to the dispensing mechanism (<NUM>) and accessible external to the body (<NUM>), and wherein the product advancement device (<NUM>) is configured to allow a user to manually actuate the dispensing mechanism (<NUM>); characterized in that the dispenser further comprises a product advancement sensor (<NUM>) configured to sense the manual actuation; and
a data processing device (<NUM>) configured to communicate with the product advancement sensor (<NUM>) and transmit an alert indicating the manual actuation.