US 11,937,741 B2
Distributed dispenser network
Cleary E. Mahaffey, Canton, GA (US); and Stephen Becker, Cumming, GA (US)
Assigned to Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc., Neenah, WI (US)
Appl. No. 17/051,698
Filed by Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc., Neenah, WI (US)
PCT Filed Apr. 25, 2019, PCT No. PCT/US2019/029117
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Oct. 29, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/212855, PCT Pub. Date Nov. 7, 2019.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/664,731, filed on Apr. 30, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0093127 A1, Apr. 1, 2021
Int. Cl. A47K 10/32 (2006.01); A47K 5/12 (2006.01); G06F 9/48 (2006.01); G06Q 10/0631 (2023.01)
CPC A47K 10/32 (2013.01) [A47K 5/1217 (2013.01); G06F 9/4818 (2013.01); G06F 9/4881 (2013.01); G06Q 10/06316 (2013.01); A47K 2010/3226 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system comprising:
a plurality of dispensers each configured to dispense a respective hygienic consumable product during a dispense operation and each including a processor and memory;
a distributed computing program configured to receive data defining a computational task comprising work streams and generate data assigning the work streams to at least two of the plurality of dispensers, wherein each of the at least two of the plurality of dispensers are configured to use their respective processor and memory to work on their respective work streams, and further wherein the work streams are different from hygienic dispensing operations, and wherein assigning the work streams to at least two of the plurality of dispensers comprises providing instruction data defining a time during which to work on the work streams where the time is based on one or more of a type of dispenser, a location of the dispenser and a use profile of the dispenser; and
a data processing apparatus configured to run the distributed computing program.