Back to results
US 12,223,383 B2Granted
Smart food pan system
AssigneeDuke Manufacturing Co.
InventorsBenjamin Kingbay Wann, Gregory Glen Stettes, John Sweaney, Jason Smith
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A smart pan system comprising a food pan having one or more radio frequency tag coupled thereto that store a unique identifier associated with the food pan. A tag reader associated with a food preparation apparatus reads the unique identifier for linking to information relating to the food carried in the pan.
Claims23
A system comprising:
- a food pan configured for carrying food, the food pan having at least one radio frequency tag coupled thereto, the radio frequency tag storing a unique identifier associated with the food pan;
- and
- at least one food preparation apparatus, comprising:
- one or more tag readers configured to read the identifier from the tag and generate a tag signal when the tag is within range thereof;
- and
- a single board computer communicatively coupled to a wireless network, the network comprising a plurality of nodes, wherein the single board computer is one of the nodes of the network, the single board computer comprising:
- a processor, and
- one or more memory devices communicatively coupled to the processor, the memory devices storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed, configure the processor to:
- receive the tag signal, the tag signal including the identifier read from the tag by the one or more tag readers,
- communicate the identifier on the network,
- link the identifier to information relating to the food carried in the pan;
- measure a gain of the tag signal;
- and
- determine whether the food pan is nearing or leaving the one or more tag readers when the gain of the tag signal is increasing or decreasing, respectively.
11 more elements
A smart pan system comprising:
- a food pan configured for carrying food, the food pan having at least one radio frequency tag coupled thereto, the radio frequency tag storing a unique identifier associated with the food pan;
- and
- one or more tag readers configured to read the identifier from the tag and generate a tag signal when the tag is within range thereof, wherein each of the one or more tag readers is associated with a food preparation apparatus communicatively coupled to a wireless network, and wherein the food preparation apparatus is configured to receive the tag signal, the tag signal including the identifier read from the tag by the one or more tag readers, communicate the identifier on the network, link the identifier to information relating to the food carried in the pan, and determine whether the food pan is nearing or leaving the one or more tag readers based on whether a gain of the tag signal is increasing or decreasing, respectively.
A method comprising:
- reading a unique identifier stored on a radio frequency tag, wherein the tag is coupled to a food pan configured for carrying food, and wherein the identifier is read by one or more tag readers associated with one or more food preparation apparatuses when the tag is within range of the one or more tag readers;
- receiving a tag signal generated by the one or more tag readers, the tag signal including the identifier read from the tag by the one or more tag readers;
- communicating the identifier on a wireless network, wherein the network comprises a plurality of nodes, and wherein the one or more food preparation apparatuses are nodes of the network;
- linking the identifier to information relating to the food carried in the pan;
- measuring a gain of the tag signal;
- determining if the gain of the tag signal is increasing or decreasing;
- and
- determining the food pan is nearing or leaving the one or more tag readers when the gain of the tag signal is increasing or decreasing, respectively.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.