Redundant data communication system for confirming a fuel event and method therefor

• Main Authors: Bones Sarah, Stevenson David L
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 27.12.2016
• Subjects: ALARM SYSTEMS; ANALOGUE COMPUTERS; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDEDFOR ELSEWHERE; CALCULATING; CHECKING-DEVICES; COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS; COMPUTING; COUNTING; DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS OR METHODS, SPECIALLY ADAPTED FORADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL, SUPERVISORYOR FORECASTING PURPOSES; ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; MEASURING; MEASURING VOLUME, VOLUME FLOW, MASS FLOW OR LIQUIDLEVEL; METERING BY VOLUME; ORDER TELEGRAPHS; PHYSICS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; SIGNALLING; SIGNALLING OR CALLING SYSTEMS; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE,COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL, SUPERVISORY OR FORECASTINGPURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; TESTING; TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS

An inventory of a consumable is managed by positioning a sensor within a storage tank holding the consumable and determining the volume of the consumable in the storage tank. A processor is also located on the vehicle for receiving data relative to the volume of the consumable in the storage tank, the mileage of the vehicle, and vehicle location, date, and time, and for transmitting such data to a remote inventory management server ("RIMS"). The RIMS also receives point-of-sale ("POS") data, including location, date/time, purchase amount, and purchase price related to a consumable intake event at the storage tank of the vehicle. The RIMS then reconciles the data received from the vehicle processor with the POS data to determine whether there are any discrepancies between the fuel purchased and the volume of fuel measured.