IPC분류정보
국가/구분 |
United States(US) Patent
등록
|
국제특허분류(IPC7판) |
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출원번호 |
UP-0672932
(2007-02-08)
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등록번호 |
US-7783435
(2010-09-13)
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발명자
/ 주소 |
- Hillam, John D.
- Guillerm, Thierry J.
- Peterson, Aaron R.
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출원인 / 주소 |
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대리인 / 주소 |
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인용정보 |
피인용 횟수 :
4 인용 특허 :
41 |
초록
▼
Disclosed are methods, systems, and computer program products for determining a volume of liquid product in a manifold set of tanks. The method includes identifying a plurality of book volumes of liquid product in the manifold set of tanks. The method further includes identifying a plurality of meas
Disclosed are methods, systems, and computer program products for determining a volume of liquid product in a manifold set of tanks. The method includes identifying a plurality of book volumes of liquid product in the manifold set of tanks. The method further includes identifying a plurality of measured physical volumes of liquid product in the manifold set of tanks, each measured physical volume being associated with one book volume of the plurality of book volumes. Following collecting the volumes, the method includes determining a variance between each measured physical volume of the plurality of measured volumes and each book volume of the plurality of book volumes and then using those variances to generate an expected variance to each of the plurality of measured physical volumes, the combination of the expected variance and the measured physical volume being the volume of the liquid product in the manifold set of tanks.
대표청구항
▼
What is claimed is: 1. In a liquid product facility that periodically performs a physical to book balance reconciliation process, a method of trending the variance between volume of liquid product as recorded in a book balance and a measured volume of physical liquid product in a tank, the method c
What is claimed is: 1. In a liquid product facility that periodically performs a physical to book balance reconciliation process, a method of trending the variance between volume of liquid product as recorded in a book balance and a measured volume of physical liquid product in a tank, the method comprising: collecting three or more volume book balances of the liquid product in a manifold set of tanks at three or more physical to book balance reconciliation times, the three or more volume book balances generated using a reconciliation system capable of dynamically performing a physical product to book balance reconciliation process regardless of current delivery and dispensing of the liquid product into and out of the manifold set of tanks; collecting, by the reconciliation system, three or more physical volumes of the liquid product in the manifold set of tanks, which correspond to an actual volume of liquid product within the manifold set of tanks, at three or more physical to book balance reconciliation times, wherein the at least three or more physical to book balance reconciliation times comprises a first time during a delivery of liquid product into the manifold set of tanks and a second time during a dispensing of liquid product from the manifold set of tanks, wherein the three or more physical volumes are determined by taking a tank manifold volume reading at one or more gauges within the manifold set of tanks at one or more tank reading times, taking one or more dispenser sales readings at one or more dispenser reading times, the one or more dispenser reading times differing from the one or more tank reading times, and automatically interpolating or extrapolating the one or more dispenser sales readings to determine one or more additional dispenser sales readings at a time equal to the one or more tank reading times; automatically calculating, by the reconciliation system, variance data indicative of a difference between each of the three or more physical volumes and the three or more volume book balances at the corresponding physical balance reconciliation times including the delivery time and dispensing time; and storing the variance data for showing a pattern-like relationship of a loss, gain, or both, of liquid product over a period of time. 2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising identifying three or more volume book balances by identifying an initial volume book balance and two or more addition volume book balances. 3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising monitoring the amount of liquid product by tracking the amount of product dispensed from one or more dispensers at a retail facility. 4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising measuring the physical volume of the liquid product at the manifold set of tanks by measuring a tank physical volume of the liquid product in each tank of the manifold set of tanks and aggregating the tank physical volumes to generate the physical volume of the liquid product at the manifold set of tanks. 5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the variance data stored is used to generate a graph that shows the pattern-like relationship of loss, gain, or both, of liquid product over a period of time in order to determine one or more of: (i) if a dispenser needs recalibration; (ii) if theft of the liquid product has occurred; (iii) the non or partial delivery of liquid product; or (iv) if a leak exists in the fuel tank, plumbing, or dispensers of the liquid product facility. 6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising identifying each reconciliation time of the plurality of reconciliation times when the liquid product is delivered to the manifold set of tanks. 7. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising generating a relationship between three or more data points representative of the variance data, the data representative of the relationship being used to calibrate the manifold set of tanks. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first time equals the second time such that at least one of the three reconciliation times occurs during both a delivery and dispensing of liquid product from the manifold set of tanks. 9. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising assigning the variance data with a zero value at each reconciliation time of the plurality of reconciliation times when the liquid product is delivered to the manifold set of tanks. 10. In a liquid product facility that periodically performs a physical to book balance reconciliation process, a computer program product for implementing a method of trending the variance between volume of liquid product as recorded in a book valance and a measure volume of physical liquid product in the tank, the computer program product comprising one or more computer readable media having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, can cause the distributed computing system to perform the following: collect a plurality of volume book balances of liquid product in a manifold set of tanks at a plurality of physical to book balance reconciliation times between a first delivery of liquid product and a second delivery of liquid product, the plurality of volume balances generated using a reconciliation system capable of dynamically performing a physical product to book balance reconciliation process regardless of current delivery and dispensing of the liquid product into and out of the manifold set of tanks; collect by the reconciliation system, a plurality of measured physical volumes of liquid product in the manifold set of tanks between the first delivery of liquid product and the second delivery of liquid product, each measured physical volume of said plurality of measured physical volumes corresponding to an actual volume of liquid product within the manifold set of tanks at the plurality of physical to book balance reconciliation times, and wherein each measured physical volume is determined by taking a tank manifold volume reading at one or more gauges within the manifold set of tanks at one or more tank reading times, taking one or more dispenser sales readings at one or more dispenser reading times, the one or more dispenser reading times differing from the one or more tank reading times, and automatically interpolating or extrapolating the one or more dispenser sales readings to determine one or more additional dispenser sales readings at a time equal to the one or more tank reading times and wherein the plurality of physical to book balance reconciliation times comprises a first time during a delivery of liquid product into the manifold set of tanks and a second time during a dispensing of liquid product from the manifold set of tanks; automatically calculate, by the reconciliation system, variance data indicative of a difference between each measured physical volume of said plurality of measured volumes and each volume book balance of said plurality of volume book balances at the corresponding physical to book balance reconciliation times including the delivery time and dispensing time; and store the variance data for showing a pattern-like relationship of a loss, gain, or both, of liquid product over a period of time between the first delivery and second delivery. 11. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising identifying the plurality of measured physical volumes by measuring a tank physical volume of the liquid product in each tank of the manifold set of tanks and aggregating the tank physical volumes to generate the physical volume of the liquid product at the manifold set of tanks. 12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the variance data stored is used to generate a graph that shows the pattern-like relationship of loss, gain, or both, of liquid product over a period of time in order to determine one or more of: (i) if a dispenser needs recalibration; (ii) if theft of the liquid product has occurred; (iii) the non or partial delivery of liquid product; or (iv) if a leak exists in the fuel tank, plumbing, or dispensers of the liquid product facility. 13. The method of claim 10, wherein the first time equals the second time such that at least one of the plurality of reconciliation times occurs during both the delivery and the dispensing of liquid product from the manifold set of tanks. 14. In a liquid product facility that periodically performs a physical to book balance reconciliation process, a method of trending the variance between volume of liquid product as recorded in a book balance and a measured volume of physical liquid product in a tank, the method comprising: collecting a plurality of book balances of the liquid product in a manifold set of tanks at a plurality of physical to book balance reconciliation times, the plurality of volume book balances generated using a reconciliation system capable of dynamically performing a physical product to book balance reconciliation process during delivery and dispensing of the liquid product from the manifold set of tanks; collecting, by the reconciliation system, a plurality of physical volumes of the liquid product in the manifold set of tanks, which corresponds to an actual volume of liquid product within the manifold set of tanks, at the plurality of physical to book balance reconciliation times, wherein the plurality of physical volumes are determined by taking a tank manifold volume reading at one or more gauges within the manifold set of tanks at one or more tank reading times, taking one or more dispenser sales reading at one or more dispenser reading times, the one or more dispenser reading times differing from the one or more tank reading times, and automatically interpolating or extrapolating the one or more dispenser sales readings to determine one or more additional dispenser sales readings at a time equal to the one or more tank reading times; automatically calculating, by the reconciliation system, variance data indicative of a difference between each of the plurality of physical volumes and the plurality of volume book balances at the corresponding physical to book balance reconciliation times; identifying each reconciliation time of the plurality of reconciliation times when the liquid product is delivered to the manifold set of tanks; assigning the variance data with a zero value at each reconciliation time of the plurality of reconciliation times when the liquid product is delivered to the manifold set of tanks; and storing the variance data for showing a pattern-like relationship of a loss, gain, or both, of liquid product over a period of time. 15. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the variance data stored is used to generate a graph that shows the pattern-like relationship of loss, gain, or both, of liquid product over a period of time in order to determine one or more of: (i) if a dispenser needs recalibration; (ii) if theft of the liquid product has occurred; (iii) the non or partial delivery of liquid product; or (iv) if a leak exists in the fuel tank, plumbing, or dispensers of the liquid product facility.
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