US 11,839,338 B2
Fluid dispenser with wake up sensor
Albrecht Lang, Niederbipp (CH); Adrian Senn, Fraubrunnen (CH); and Michael Müller, Kestenholz (CH)
Assigned to OP-Hygiene IP GMBH, Niederbipp (CH)
Filed by OP-Hygiene IP GmbH, Niederbipp (CH)
Filed on Jun. 17, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/843,765.
Application 17/843,765 is a continuation of application No. 17/097,034, filed on Nov. 13, 2020, granted, now 11,389,035.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/935,809, filed on Nov. 15, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0313028 A1, Oct. 6, 2022
Int. Cl. A47K 5/12 (2006.01); G01J 1/42 (2006.01)
CPC A47K 5/1217 (2013.01) [A47K 5/1205 (2013.01); G01J 1/4204 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of operating a fluid dispenser, the fluid dispenser comprising:
a pump mechanism for dispensing fluid from the fluid dispenser;
a light emitter;
a light sensor; and
a movable component that moves when the pump mechanism is activated;
the method comprising:
emitting light from the light emitter;
detecting movement of the movable component using the light sensor by detecting changes in an amount of the light emitted by the light emitter that is reflected from the movable component towards the light sensor;
determining whether the pump mechanism has been activated based on detection data received from the light sensor; and
controlling a function of one or more electronic components of the fluid dispenser based on the detection data received from the light sensor;
wherein the one or more electronic components comprises a pump position sensor, the method further comprising:
sensing a property of the fluid dispenser that is indicative of a position of the pump mechanism using the pump position sensor.