Touchless Fuel Dispenser Interface With Facial Recognition
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fuel dispensers require customers to physically interact with dirty interfaces and re-enter fueling preferences each time, posing hygiene risks and inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
Intelligent fuel dispensers equipped with image sensors and processors that use facial and vehicle recognition to identify customers, determine safety conditions, and provide touchless interfaces for personalized fueling sessions, including gesture-based interactions and vehicle diagnostics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If customers use traditional fuel dispenser interfaces, then they can initiate fueling sessions, but they must touch dirty interfaces and re-enter preferences each time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical touch-based interfaces with optical recognition systems. Image sensors capture customer images and vehicle information, while processors automatically identify customers and retrieve stored preferences, eliminating the need for physical contact with the dispenser interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs self-service by automatically identifying customers through image recognition, retrieving their stored preferences from memory, and configuring the fueling session without requiring manual input. The dispenser serves itself by automating the customer identification and preference retrieval processes.
2Productivity
If customers manually enter fueling preferences each time, then the system can be simple, but the process becomes repetitive and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by pre-storing customer preferences in memory before the actual fueling session. When a customer approaches, the system quickly retrieves the pre-stored preferences and configures the session automatically, eliminating the need for real-time manual entry and reducing the time required at the pump.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from image sensors to automatically identify customers and trigger retrieval of their stored preferences. This feedback loop enables the system to adapt to each customer's specific needs automatically, streamlining the fueling process and reducing time loss.
3Extent of automation
If the system uses image sensors and facial recognition, then customer identification is automated, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The processor performs multiple functions: it processes images from sensors, identifies customers, retrieves preferences from memory, and configures the fueling session. By making the processor multi-functional, the system achieves high automation without proportionally increasing complexity, as one component handles multiple tasks.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses an intermediary approach by employing a processor that acts as a mediator between the image sensors, memory storage, and fuel dispensing mechanisms. This intermediary component coordinates the various subsystems, enabling automated identification and preference retrieval while managing the overall system complexity through centralized processing.
Data Source
AI summary
In general, intelligent fuel dispensers are provided. In at least some implementations, an intelligent fuel dispenser can determine customer identities and/or other characteristics and provide customized fueling sessions based on the determined customer identities and/or other characteristics. In at least some implementations, the fuel dispenser includes a touchless interface allowing customers to complete fueling sessions with minimal physical contact with the fuel dispenser.