Refuse container with weight indicator and danger alerting
OwnerGregory Mullaneyinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A refuse container provides an indication of the weight of the refuse stored therein and provides a danger alert when the weight of the refuse nears or exceeds a predetermined maximum. A display can display a value based on the weight of the refuse held in the refuse container. Further, one or more light sources can provide an indication of the weight of the refuse held in the refuse container. For example, the number of light source lit can provide an indication of the weight of the refuse held in the refuse container. A scale in the refuse container measures the weight of the refuse held therein. A controller uses the weight of the refuse held in the refuse container to determine the value to display on the display and whether to activate the light sources.
Claims18
A refuse container, comprising:
- a body in which refuse is held;
- a lid;
- a scale to measure a weight of the refuse being held in the body of the refuse container;
- a memory in which is stored a history of the weights that are measured by the scale;
- a controller to cause an alert to be provided based on the weight of the refuse, wherein the refuse container is configured to transmit the stored weight history to a service provider;
- and
- a locking mechanism to lock the lid to prevent further refuse from being placed in the refuse container when the weight of refuse in the refuse container reaches a predetermined weight.
A method for providing an alert in a refuse container, comprising:
- measuring a weight of refuse held in the refuse container as a measured weight using a scale;
- storing a history of the measured weights in a memory;
- transmitting the history of stored weights to a service provider;
- comparing the measured weight to a predetermined maximum weight;
- providing an alert based on the comparison;
- and
- locking a lid of the refuse container to prevent further refuse from being placed in the refuse container when the weight of refuse in the refuse container reaches a predetermined weight.
A refuse container, comprising:
- a body in which refuse is held;
- a scale to measure a weight of the refuse being held in the body of the refuse container;
- a memory in which is stored a history of the weights that are measured by the scale,
- wherein the memory comprises a table that has at least one entry that contains a location and a corresponding maximum weight;
- wherein the controller determines a location of the refuse container and uses the determined location as a look up into the table find a table entry having a location matching the determined location, and uses the corresponding maximum weight stored in the table entry with the matching location as the criterion for providing an alert;
- and
- a controller to cause an alert to be provided based on the weight of the refuse, wherein the refuse container is configured to transmit the stored weight history to a service provider.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.