Tracking a fuel cell
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorJohn Janes
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and system for tracking a fuel cell disposed within a device that has been inserted into an apparatus such that information has been extracted from the inserted device. An identity of the fuel cell is determined from the extracted information. An identity of a registered user of the fuel cell is determined. A current status of the fuel cell of the inserted device is determined. A previous history of the fuel cell is determined from the identity of the fuel cell. A debit or credit to the registered user of the fuel cell is computed in dependence on the determined current status of the fuel cell and on the determined previous history of the fuel cell. The debit or credit is posted to a billing account of the registered user of the fuel cell.
Claims40
A method for tracking a fuel cell disposed within a device that has been inserted into an apparatus such that information has been extracted from the inserted device, said method comprising:
- determining an identity of the fuel cell from the extracted information;
- determining an identity of a registered user of the fuel cell;
- determining a current status of the fuel cell of the inserted device;
- determining a previous history of the fuel cell from the identity of the fuel cell;
- computing a debit or credit to the registered user of the fuel cell in dependence on the determined current status of the fuel cell and on the determined previous history of the fuel cell;
- and
- posting the debit or credit to a billing account of the registered user of the fuel cell.
A system comprising an apparatus and a processor adapted to perform a method for tracking a fuel cell disposed within a device that has been inserted into the apparatus such that information has been extracted from the inserted device, said method comprising:
- determining an identity of the fuel cell from the extracted information;
- determining an identity of a registered user of the fuel cell;
- determining a current status of the fuel cell of the inserted device;
- determining a previous history of the fuel cell from the identity of the fuel cell;
- computing a debit or credit to the registered user of the fuel cell in dependence on the determined current status of the fuel cell and on the determined previous history of the fuel cell;
- and
- posting the debit or credit to a billing account of the registered user of the fuel cell.
The system of claimI 11, wherein determining the current status of the fuel cell comprises at least one of:
- determining an amount of fuel currently within the fuel cell of the inserted device;
- determining at least one type of fuel that the fuel cell is adapted to utilize;
- and
- determining how the fuel cell is constructed.
The system of claim 55, wherein the determined financial history of the registered user includes a transaction history of the registered user, a credit history of the registered user, or a combinations thereof.
A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code comprising an algorithm adapted to implement a method for tracking a fuel cell disposed within a device that has been inserted into the apparatus such that information has been extracted from the inserted device, said method comprising:
- determining an identity of the fuel cell from the extracted information;
- determining an identity of a registered user of the fuel cell;
- determining a current status of the fuel cell of the inserted device;
- determining a previous history of the fuel cell from the identity of the fuel cell;
- computing a debit or credit to the registered user of the fuel cell in dependence on the determined current status of the fuel cell and on the determined previous history of the fuel cell;
- and
- posting the debit or credit to a billing account of the registered user of the fuel cell.
A process for deploying computing infrastructure, comprising integrating computer-readable code into a computing system, wherein the code in combination with the computing system is capable of performing a method comprising:
- determining an identity of the fuel cell from the extracted information;
- determining an identity of a registered user of the fuel cell;
- determining a current status of the fuel cell of the inserted device;
- determining a previous history of the fuel cell from the identity of the fuel cell;
- computing a debit or credit to the registered user of the fuel cell in dependence on the determined current status of the fuel cell and on the determined previous history of the fuel cell;
- and
- posting the debit or credit to a billing account of the registered user of the fuel cell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.