Patent ID: 8245877

Claim:
A method of dispensing material onto a person's hand comprising: placing a user's hand such that an upwardly directed palm of the user's hand is disposed under a fluid outlet from which fluid is to be dispensed, sensing with a hand sensor that the palm of the user's hand is underneath the outlet within a desired proximity of the outlet, after sensing with the hand sensor that the hand is proximate the outlet in the desired proximity activating a palm reader disposed to read the upwardly directed palm of the user's hand when the user's hand is below the outlet to determine whether the palm reader senses a user's palm below the outlet, and if the palm reader senses a user's palm is below the outlet by the palm reader receiving an image representing an image which a control mechanism recognizes as reasonably representative of an upwardly directed palm of a user's hand, then dispensing material from the outlet for a period of time in a manner that the material will engage the palm of the user's hand underneath the outlet within the desired proximity of the outlet, including determining whether a user's hand remains underneath the outlet as sensed by the hand sensor for at least part of a period of time during which the material is dispensed, activating the palm reader to determine whether the palm reader senses a user's palm below the outlet with the dispensed material on the upwardly directed palm by receiving an image representing an image which the control mechanism recognizes as reasonably representative of an image of an upwardly directed palm of a user's hand yet with portions of the image replaced by an image the control mechanism recognizes as reasonably representative of dispensed material on the upwardly directed palm.