US 11,910,963 B2
Dispenser monitoring system
Paul F. Tramontina, Harleysville, PA (US)
Assigned to Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc., Neenah, WI (US)
Appl. No. 17/298,039
Filed by Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc., Neenah, WI (US)
PCT Filed Nov. 30, 2019, PCT No. PCT/US2019/063894
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date May 28, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/113196, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 4, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/773,461, filed on Nov. 30, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2022/0095857 A1, Mar. 31, 2022
Int. Cl. A47K 10/36 (2006.01); A47K 5/12 (2006.01); A47K 10/32 (2006.01)
CPC A47K 10/36 (2013.01) [A47K 5/1217 (2013.01); A47K 2010/3226 (2013.01)] 12 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A dispensing system for dispensing consumable product comprising:
a dispenser including:
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 through a consumable product holder in the product storage area, and wherein the dispensing mechanism is configured to facilitate a dispensing cycle to dispense a portion of the consumable product;
a first impact sensor configured to sense a first impact to the dispenser;
a dispenser event sensor configured to sense an operational status of the dispenser; and
a data processing device configured to store impact data describing the first impact and operational status data describing the operational status and associate the first impact data and the operational status data, and wherein associate the first impact data and the operational status data comprises comparing a time of the first impact as detected by the first impact sensor with a time of a malfunction as detected by the dispenser event sensor to determine whether the malfunction occurred after the first impact.