US 12,030,769 B2
Distributed fuel sentry system with relayed communication
Victor Thomas Wilcox, Jr., Tomball, TX (US); and Raymond William Benefield, Jr., Spring, TX (US)
Assigned to FLEET SPARTAN INC., Spring, TX (US)
Filed by Fleet Spartan Inc., Spring, TX (US)
Filed on Dec. 2, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/540,791.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/120,516, filed on Dec. 2, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0169494 A1, Jun. 2, 2022
Int. Cl. B67D 7/14 (2010.01); B67D 7/16 (2010.01); B67D 7/22 (2010.01)
CPC B67D 7/145 (2013.01) [B67D 7/16 (2013.01); B67D 7/228 (2013.01)] 21 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A fuel sentry, comprising:
a processor;
storage storing configuration data;
a communication module; and
memory operatively coupled to the processor, the storage, and the communication module, the memory comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
receive, from an external device and via the communication module, a request to perform a fuel dispensing operation on the fuel sentry;
determine, based on the configuration data stored in the storage, whether a user of the external device is authorized to perform the fuel dispensing operation on the fuel sentry;
in response to determining that that user is authorized to perform the fuel dispensing operation on the fuel sentry, transmit a notification authorizing the user to begin the fuel dispensing operation;
transmit, to the external device and during the fuel dispensing operation, first level indicator data indicating a level of fuel remaining in a fuel tank, and second level indicator data indicating an amount of fuel pumped;
generate a transaction record when the fuel dispensing operation has ended;
deliver the generated transaction record to a server instance deployed on a cloud;
store the transaction record in an undelivered record data table on the storage when the communication module is not in a communication range of a network of the server instance; and
relay the transaction record to one or more external devices when the communication module is communicatively coupled to the one or more external devices via short-range wireless communication for relay to the server instance.