THE FOLLOWING SPECIFICATION PARTICULARLY DESCRIBES THE
NATURE OF THE INVENTION

A METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CALIBRATING FUEL PUMPS
A) FIELD OF THE INVENTION
1. This invention relates generally to methods and systems for calibrating fuel pumps, and more particularly to, a method and system for electronically calibrating fuel pumps in a fuel station.
B) BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
2. In the modem world, fuel such as, gasoline is supplied to the customer at various stations or bunks by major oil companies across the world. At each station, a centralized site controller may control all of the cotnmunications with the plurality of fuel dispensers. The fuel dispensers may also include magnetic card readers for reading credit and debit cards for the purpose of collecting money from the customers. The fuel dispenser may also include devices such as bar code readers, cash acceptors, and change machines.
3. Each fuel bunk (station) may have one or more fuel dispenser units, which fetch fuel from a main storage space (generally under the ground). Each dispenser unit may have one or more pumps and nozzles to dispense fuel fetched from the main storage space. The fuel is pumped through the nozzle, which are of measured quantity and the measurements are done by various methods, such as mechanical movement of some rotor and the number rotations made by the rotor is measure by optical devices or directiy linked to the meter of the pump.

4. Each dispensing unit may have for example, eight or more dispensing no22les and each no22le needs calibration and correction now and then (normally done once in six months). Calibration is done by pumping a required quantity of fuel through the no22le and acmally measuring the amount dispensed. The procedure is repeated 4-5 times and the weighted average of the ratio of displayed amount and dispensed amount is taken as the calibration factor for the nozzle. It is of high importance that the calibration for each nozzle is done so that it pumps out exactly measured quantity of fuel as expected by the customer.
5, Conventionally, in most of the fuel dispensing units there is a main memory card which holds all the information about all the pumps connected to it. This leads to inconvenience of inability to use one of the pumps if the other pump is being calibrated. This also leads to the inconvenience of recalibrating all the nozzles if the main board gets corrupted or getting replaced.
C) OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
6. An object of this invention is to provide a method and system for electronically calibrating fuel pumps, wherein the calibration is faster and the system works independent of the main memory.
7. Another object of this invention is to provide a method and system for electronically calibrating fuel pumps, wherein the method and system allows continuous use of other fuel pumps while some of the fuel pumps are being calibrated.

D) SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
8. The above-mentioned shortcomings, disadvantages and problems are addressed herein, which wiU be understood by reading and studying the following specification.
9. In one embodiment, a system for calibrating fuel pumps in a fuel station, comprises a main processor board, a plurality of memory modules in communication with the main processor board, and said memory modules coupled individually to a plurality of fuel pumps, wherein the main processor board is adapted for selective communication with one or more of the memory modules for calibration.
10. A method for calibrating fuel pumps in a fuel station comprising the steps of (i) configuring a main processor board, (ii) configuring a plurality of memory modules in communication with the main processor board, (iii) the memory modules attached individually to a plurality of fuel pumps, (iv) determining a calibration coefficient using a measured fuel quantity and a corresponding dispensed fuel quantity for one pump, (v) storing the calibration coefficient in the memory, wherein the main processor board communicates with one memory module independent of the other memory modules.
E) BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRWAINGS
11. FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a system for calibrating fuel pumps according to one embodiment of this invention.

F) DETAILED DECRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
12. In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments which may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments, ands it is to be understood that logical, mechanical, electrical and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the embodiments. The following detailed description is, therefore not to be taken in a limiting sense.
13. Various embodiments of this invention provide a method and apparatus electronically calibrating fuel pumps in a fuel station. However, the embodiments are not limited and may be implemented in connection with various other Uquid pumps.
14. In general, a system for calibrating fuel pumps comprises providing a separate memory module for individual dispensing pump. A plurality of memory modules are configured for multiple pumps which can be chosen using a switch e.g a DIP switch and independently calibrated or removed while leaving the other pumps and nozzles dispensing fuel to the customer.
15. FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the electronic calibration setup according to one embodiment of this invention. The system comprises multiple memory modules 4 to store the calibration coefficient. Individual memory modules 4 are addressed by at least one DIP switch 6 from a main processor board 1. In

an example, 3-DIP switches may be implemented to control 8-memory modules concurrendy connected to the main processor board 1. However, depending on the number of fuel pumps and dispensing nozzles required, the DIP switches 6 can be adjusted and that many number of memory modules 4 can be added and selected individually. The individual modules are connected to the main processor board 1 by means of FRC. An erasable memory such as an EEPROM 3 is provided in the memory module 4.
16. In some embodiment, one additional switch may be provided in the memory module 4. This switch may act as a write protect switch and hence the calibration co-efficient that is stored the EEPROM 3 cannot be tampered.
17. In an example of a method for calibrating a fuel pump according to this invention, the calibration co-efficient is calculated by dispensing measured amount of fuel and measuring physically the dispensed fiael. This calibration coefficient of the particular nozzle is stored in the EEPROM 3 of the memory module 4. In one example, the main processor board 1 communicates with this memory module 4 by means of I2C communication. The memory module 4 is also provided with a switch to write protect the memory card so that the calibration co-efficient that is stored the EEPROM 3 cannot be tampered.
18. In some embodiments, the electronic calibration procedure is secured in three levels, namely by PIN authentication, password authentication every time the main processor board interacts with the memory module, and encrypting the data when the main processor board communicates with the memory module.

EXAMPLE:
19. To summarize, the scheme presented here is implemented by designing memory cards for fuel pumps and is attached to the fuel dispensing unit. Individual dispensing pumps were calibrated separately and while calibrating a pump, already calibrated pump was used for dispensing fuel. The Calibration Procedure is carried out as explained below:
• The Calibration is initiated by pressing a set of local keys in the main processor board.
• Once this is done, the system prepares to go into the calibration mode.
• A password entry may be provided in a master keypad in order to calibrate
• Then the nozzle to be calibrated is selected from the master keypad.
• The particular nozzle can be calibrated for maximum of 5 Preset values of fuel to be dispensed and 5 Manual Dispense.
• At least 1 Preset mode or 1 manual mode has to be done for calibration to take place effectively
• After selecting the mode, the fuel is dispensed and the amount of fuel dispensed is measured.
• The measured value is entered and the procedure is repeated if necessary.
• After completing the above it is confirmed through the master keyboard.
20. Once the confirmation takes place the main processor calculates the calibration co-efficient with the entered values, fuel pump serial number and meter serial number. These are unique numbers given to the fuel pump and individual metering unit.

21. Thus, various embodiments of the present invention provide a method for calibrating fuel pump. Further embodiments of this invention provide a system for calibrating fuel pump.
22. While this invention has been described with various specific embodiments, it will be obvious for a person of skilled in the art to practice the invention with modifications. However, all those modifications will be deemed to be covered within the scope of the invention as covered in the claims hereunder.

G) WE CLAIM:
1. A system for calibrating fuel pumps in a fuel station, comprising:
(i) a main processor board;
(ii) a plurality of memory modules in communication with the main processor board; and
(iii) said memory modules coupled individually to a plurality of fuel pumps, wherein the main processor board is adapted for selective communication with one or more of the memory modules for calibration.
2. A system as claimed in claim 1 further comprises a switch configured in the main processor board for selecting a fuel pump for calibration.
3. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the memory module further comprises an erasable memory for storing the calibration information.
4. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the memory module further comprises a switch for write protection of the memory.
5. A system as claimed in claim 1 further comprises a serial number accorded to each fuel pump wherein the serial number has a predetermined security relationship with the memory module.

6. A method for calibrating fuel pumps in a fuel station comprising the steps
of:
(i) configuring a main processor board;
(ii) configuring a plurality of memory modules in communication with the main processor board;
(iii) the memory modules attached individually to a plurality of fuel pumps;
(iv) determining a calibration coefficient using a measured fuel quantity and a corresponding dispensed fuel quantity for one pump;
(v) storing the calibration coefficient in the memory, wherein the main processor board communicates with one memory module independent of the other memory modules,
7. A method as claimed in claim 6 wherein the memory module is configured having an erasable memory.
8. A method as claimed in claim 7 comprising locking the memory for write protection.
9. A method as claimed in claim 6 comprising numbering the fuel pumps in secure relationship with the memory modules.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising providing secure communication between the main processor board and the memory modioles.