DESC:TECHNICAL FIELD

[001] The present disclosure generally relates to field of fuel dispensers. Particularly, but not exclusively, the present disclosure relates to a method and a system for remotely managing the fuel dispenser devices.

BACKGROUND

[002] In recent years, traditional fuel dispensers have evolved into elaborate point-of-sale (PoS) devices having sophisticated control electronics and user interfaces with larger displays and easier-to-use user interfaces. The fuel dispensers may include various types of payment means, such as, card readers and cash acceptors, to expedite and further enhance fuel transactions.

[003] Retail petroleum industry utilizes various types of fuel dispensers for dispensing fuel to customers. Some form of remote dispenser controller is typically used for controlling the fuel dispensers. Typically, the dispenser controller is often on same premises as the fuel dispensers and coupled to a store interface unit, so that a site attendant can monitor and control particular fuel dispensers from a building at the site (e.g., a store). The dispenser controller sends data signals (e.g., commands) to the fuel dispensers. The data may include price, payment data for the fuel dispensed, preset amounts of fuel to dispense, and authorization to dispense fuel. The fuel dispensers likewise send data signals to the controller, including pump number, pump status, and dispensed fuel volume and sale value.

[004] In existing fuel dispenser management, the fuel dispensers are connected to a local server / a Fore Court Controller (FCC). These FCC are in turn connected to a central server platform, where all activities related to functioning, working environment, operations and health of the fuel dispensers are tracked and updated. Hence, all the fuel dispensers and on-premise software /components are integrated with the FCC and complete management of retail environment is performed by the FCC in conjunction with the central server. Data collected from the fuel dispensers and other components in the retail environment is collated and updated with the central server which further analysis the data as per pre-defined business processes.

[005] However, existing architecture and structure of the FCC is such that, any control to be executed in the retail environment must be routed through the FCC. For example, for dispensing fuel from a Dispending Unit (DU), the control of the DU and functionalities like price, amount, reports and so forth have to be controlled and managed by the FCC. Similarly, many other functionalities are not supported without routing through the FCC. For example, if the DU is required to be deployed at any place, it will not work until an FCC is present at the backend, auto dispensing of the fuel is not feasible, since the DU cannot validate a user, remote visibility and direct control of operations in the DU is not possible and the like. Thus, existing architecture and structure of the FCC is not feasible for supporting standalone functioning and operations of fuel Dispensing units (DU). This makes a single channel for both data inbound and outbound of data from the retail environment. Such arrangement of the FCC may lead to a single point of failure in the management of overall operations in the retail environment.

[006] Further, if there is any issue with a fuel dispenser, controlling the fuel dispenser for shutting down or having a health check at component level has to be executed locally. Thus, the control of the fuel dispensers cannot be done directly from the central server and has to be routed through the FCC. Moreover, if connectivity to the FCC fails, the fuel dispensers may still perform dispensing of the fuel, which is a security risk. Also, remote monitoring of all the components within the retail environment is to be performed only through the FCC. Hence, in the existing approach, real time data of the activities / actions of all the components in the retail environment are exposed to the FCC. The FCC limits transfer of data and update of the current functioning of the fuel dispensers in the retail environment in near real time basis.

[007] The information disclosed in this background of the disclosure section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

SUMMARY

[008] In an embodiment, the present disclosure may relate to a method of managing Fuel Dispenser Devices (FDD) remotely. The method includes receiving a data request from an FDD of a plurality of FDD located in a fuel retail environment. The FDD among the plurality of FDD are identified based on a predefined identification information associated with each of the plurality of FDD. The method includes retrieving one or more control information for the identified FDD based on the data request. Thereafter, the method includes transmitting the one or more control information to the identified FDD for managing operations of the FDD.

[009] In accordance with the embodiment, the present disclosure may relate to a central automation server for managing Fuel Dispenser Devices (FDD) remotely. The central automation server may include a processor and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, where the memory stores processor executable instructions, which, on execution, may cause the central automation server to receive a data request from an FDD of a plurality of FDD located in a fuel retail environment. The FDD among the plurality of FDD are identified based on a predefined identification information associated with each of the plurality of FDD. The central automation server retrieves one or more control information for the identified FDD based on the data request. Thereafter, the central automation server transmits the one or more control information to the identified FDD for managing operations of the FDD.

[010] In accordance with the embodiment, the present disclosure may relate to a Fuel Dispenser Device (FDD) located in a fuel retail environment and connected with a central automation server. The FDD may include a transmitting unit, a receiving unit and a processing unit. The FDD includes sending data request to the central automation server associated with the fuel retail environment. In response to the data request, the receiving unit receives one or more control information from the central automation server. Thereafter, the processing unit manages one or more parameters associated with the FDD based on the one or more control information for controlling operations of the FDD.

[011] The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
[012] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments and, together with the description, serve to explain the disclosed principles. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. Some embodiments of system and/or methods in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter are now described, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:

[013] Fig.1 illustrates an exemplary environment for managing Fuel Dispenser Devices (FDD) remotely in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[014] Fig.2 shows a detailed block diagram of a central automation server in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[015] Fig.3 shows a simplified representation of a Fuel Dispenser Device (FDD) in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[016] Fig.4 illustrates a flowchart showing a method for managing Fuel Dispenser Devices (FDD) remotely in accordance with some embodiments of present disclosure.

[017] It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative systems embodying the principles of the present subject matter. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow charts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudo code, and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer readable medium and executed by a computer or processor, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[018] In the present document, the word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any embodiment or implementation of the present subject matter described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.

[019] While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiment thereof has been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail below. It should be understood, however that it is not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternative falling within the scope of the disclosure.

[020] The terms “comprises”, “comprising”, or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a setup, device or method that comprises a list of components or steps does not include only those components or steps but may include other components or steps not expressly listed or inherent to such setup or device or method. In other words, one or more elements in a system or apparatus proceeded by “comprises… a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the system or method.

[021] In the following detailed description of the embodiments of the disclosure, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the disclosure may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the disclosure, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The following description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.

[022] Embodiments of the present disclosure relates to a method and a central automation server for managing Fuel Dispenser Devices (FDD) remotely. A fuel dispenser is a machine at a retail outlet station which is used to pump gasoline, petrol, diesel, CNG, CGH2, HCNG, LPG, LH2, biofuels such as, biodiesel, kerosene and other types of fuels into vehicles. Typically, any control and management of the FDD’s, placed in the retail outlet (RO), is routed through a dispenser controller. Thus, the dispenser controller becomes a single channel for both data inbound and outbound from the retail outlet leading to a single point of failure in the management of overall operations in the FDD’s. The present disclosure in such case eliminates dependency on the dispenser controller by connecting each FDD in the retail outlet directly to the central automation server for controlling and managing operations of the FDD’s. The present disclosure aids in managing the FDD’s in the retail outlet remotely.

[023] Reference is now made to Fig.1 which illustrates an exemplary environment for managing Fuel Dispenser Devices (FDD) remotely in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig.1, an environment 100 includes a central automation server 101 connected through a communication network 107 to a Fuel Dispenser Device (FDD) 1031, a FDD 1032, …………………………………..and a FDD 103N (collectively referred as plurality of FDD 103) of a fuel retail outlet 102 and computing devices (1051, 1052,………………105N, referred as one or more computing devices 105).. In one embodiment each fuel retail outlet 102 may have one or more FDD 103. The one or more computing devices 105 are associated with a user who may be located away from the fuel retail outlet 102. In an embodiment, the one or more computing devices 105 may include, but is not limited to, a laptop, a desktop computer, a notebook, a smartphone, IOT devices, a tablet, a server, and any other computing devices. A person skilled in the art would understand that, any other devices, not mentioned explicitly, may also be used as the computing device in the present disclosure. The central automation server 101 may manage the plurality of FDD 103 remotely.

[024] Further, the communication network 107 may include, but is not limited to, a direct interconnection, an e-commerce network, a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network, Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), wireless network (for example, using Wireless Application Protocol), Internet, Wi-Fi and the like. In one embodiment, the central automation server may include, but is not limited to, an intelligent engine/program residing in the server. The central automation server 101 may include an I/O interface 109, a memory 111 and a processor 113. The I/O interface 109 may be configured to receive data request from the plurality of FDD 103 and authentication data from the one or more computing devices 105. The data request and the authentication data from the I/O interface 109 may be stored in the memory 111. The memory 111 may be communicatively coupled to the processor 113 of the central automation server 101. The memory 111 may also store processor instructions which may cause the processor 113 to execute the instructions for managing the plurality of FDD’s 103 remotely.

[025] For managing and controlling one or more functions, each of the plurality of FDD’s 103 may send request to the central automation server 101. Thus, the central automation server 101 receives a data request from an FDD of the plurality of FDD’s 103. In an embodiment, the data request may be related to one or more functionalities and usage of the FDD. For instance, the data request may include, user-based request (from consumer or service engineer) such as access permission to a user, auto health check request, dispensing requested amount of fuel from the FDD, restart of a nozzle of the FDD and the like. The data request may be originated by the user associated with the one or more computing devices 105. On receiving the request, the central automation server 101 may identify the FDD among the plurality of FDD’s 103 by comparing a unique identification number associated with the FDD with prestored FDD identification data.

[026] For example, consider a scenario where a user comes to a retail outlet for filling fuel for vehicle. The user approaches an FDD of the plurality of FDD’s 103 and enters username and password. In such case, an onboard FDD firmware residing in the onboard FDD control board sends details of the user to the central automation server 101.The FDD in such case request the central automation server 101 for the details of the user such as, credential validations, wallet balance, previous used filling option etc. On receiving the request from the FDD, the central automation server 101 may process the request and send required information to the FDD. On receiving the information, the FDD displays the details to the user.

[027] Consider another scenario, an FDD of the plurality of FDD’s 103 is in a maintenance window. and a service engineer approaches the FDD. The FDD carries out authentication for the service engineer (as explained in above scenario) and sends a request to the central automation server 101 to check, if there is any schedule maintenance window, if the service engineer is the authorized person and which part of the FDD, the service engineer has access to. Accordingly, the central automation server 101 processes the request and provide control information to the FDD.

[028] Additionally, the central automation server 101 may authenticate a computing device of the one or more computing devices 105 associated with the user by comparing authentication data received from the computing device against pre-stored user data. Thus, once the FDD is recognized from the plurality of FDD’s 103, the central automation server 101 may retrieve one or more control information for the identified FDD based on the data request. For example, if the data request is associated with dispensing requested amount of fuel, for instance, 30 liters, the central automation server 101 may check prestored information related to amount of fuel to be dispensed by the associated FDD. Thus, the central automation server 101 may transmit the one or more control information to the identified FDD for managing operations of the FDD. In an embodiment, if the computing device is authenticated, the central automation server 101 may provide one or more permissions associated with the FDD of the plurality of FDD’s 103 to the user associated with the computing device. The one or more permissions may include, but not limited to, initiating the FDD in one or more modes, stopping the FDD, restarting the FDD, monitoring one or more activities on the FDD, initiating a nozzle of the FDD in one or more modes, stopping the nozzle, restarting the nozzle, monitoring one or more activities on the FDD and the like.

[029] In an embodiment, the central automation server 101 may send the data request to at least an FDD of the plurality of FDD’s 103. The data requested by the central automation server 101 may include for example, nozzle status, health of the FDD, current status of key components in the FDD such as, sensors, transaction details such as nozzle status, lock status and the like. The data request from the central automation server 101 is processed by respective FDD. In response to the data request, the central automation server 101 may receive information from the at least one FDD. Thus, based on the received information, the central automation server 101 may transmit the one or more control information to the FDD for managing operations of the FDD.

[030] The central automation server 101 may send the request for polling from all the FDD’s at a particular area (such as a country, state, city, locality etc). Alternatively, the central automation server 101 may send the request to a specific FDD at a particular location. Consider, for example, the central automation server 101 sends a request to a FDD1 at a retail environment requesting number of nozzles which are dispensing fuel in FDD 1. The FDD 1 for example is a 242 model, which includes two products, four nozzles and two display. In response to the request, the FDD1 provides response as nozzle 1 and nozzle 3 are active.

[031] Fig.2 shows a detailed block diagram of a central automation server in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[032] The central automation server 101 may include data 200 and one or more modules 211 which are described herein in detail. In an embodiment, data 200 may be stored within the memory 111. The data 200 may include, for example, request data 201, identification data 203, user data 205, control information 207 and other data 209.

[033] The request data 201 may include information regarding the data requested by the at least one FDD of the plurality of FDD’s 103. The information may be associated with one or more functions and control of the at least one FDD. The information may include, for example, transaction details, one or more activities on the FDD and the like. Further, the request data 201 may include information regarding the data requested by the central automation server 101 from the plurality of FDD’s 103.

[034] The identification data 203 may include predefined unique identification number associated with each of the plurality of FDD’s 103. In an embodiment, each component in the fuel retail outlet 102 such as, the plurality of the FDD 103, payment gateways, level indicators or any new device which may be integrated in the fuel retail outlet 102 is provided with a unique identity. Thus, the identification data 203 may include unique identification number associated with each component of the fuel retail outlet 102.

[035] The user data 205 may include predefined authentication data associated with one or more users of the retail outlet. The authentication data may include for example, name, identification number of the computing device used by the user and the like.

[036] The control information 207 may include information regarding controlling the plurality of FDD’s 103. For instance, the information may include one or more permissions set for each of the plurality of FDD’s 103.

[037] The other data 209 may store data, including temporary data and temporary files, generated by modules 211 for performing the various functions of the central automation server 101.

[038] In an embodiment, the data 200 in the memory 111 are processed by the one or more modules 211 present within the memory 111 of the central automation server 101. In an embodiment, the one or more modules 211 may be implemented as dedicated units. As used herein, the term module may refer to an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), Programmable System-on-Chip (PSoC), a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that provide the described functionality. In some implementations, the one or more modules 211 may be communicatively coupled to the processor 113 for performing one or more functions of the central automation server 101. The said modules 211 when configured with the functionality defined in the present disclosure will result in a novel hardware.

[039] In one implementation, the one or more modules 211 may include, but are not limited to a receiving module 213, an authentication module 215, an identification module 217, a control information retrieval module 219 and a transmission module 221. The one or more modules 211 may also include other modules 223 to perform various miscellaneous functionalities of the central automation server 101. In an embodiment, the other modules 223 may include an Enterprise Resource Platform (ERP) module which supports in having required resources planned for the fuel retail outlet 102 along with roles, permissions, access limitations and role definition including an area of operation in the fuel retail outlet 102. Further, the other modules 223 may include a built fuel dispenser management module and a fuel dispenser protection module. The fuel dispenser management module interacts with all functioning components of respective FDD. The fuel dispenser protection module manages access to the FDD and acts as entry security wall.

[040] The receiving module 213 may receive the request data from the FDD of the plurality of FDD 103 of the fuel retail outlet 102. Additionally, the receiving module 213 may receive information from the FDD of the plurality of FDD’s 103 in response to the data request to at least one FDD. Further, the receiving module 213 may receive the authentication data for from the one or more computing devices 105 associated with users for controlling the FDD of the plurality of FDD’s.

[041] The authentication module 215 may authenticate the user associated with the computing device of the one or more computing devices 105. The authentication module 215 may authenticate the user by mapping the authentication data received from the computing device with prestored user data. The authentication data may include unique identification number of the computing device, name of the user and the like.

[042] The identification module 217 may identify the FDD from which the data request is received from among the plurality of FDD’s 103 of the fuel retail outlet 102. The identification module 217 may identify the FDD by comparing the unique identification number associated with the FDD with the prestored unique identification number associated with each of the plurality of FDD’s 103.

[043] The control information retrieval module 219 may retrieve the one or more control information for the FDD. In an embodiment, the control information associated with each FDD of the plurality of FDD’s 103 may be stored in the central automation server 101. Thus, once the FDD is identified, the control information retrieval module 219 may retrieve associated one or more control information for the FDD. The one or more control information may include for example, when to initiate the FDD in one or more modes, when to stop fuel dispensing from the FDD, restart time for the FDD and the like.

[044] The transmission module 221 may transmit the one or more control information to the FDD for managing the operations of the FDD. Additionally, the transmission module 221 may transmit the data request to the FDD of the plurality of FDD 103 for one or more control operations.

[045] Fig.3 shows a simplified representation of a Fuel Dispenser Device (FDD) in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[046] As shown in Fig.3a, an FDD 300 of the fuel retail outlet 102 is illustrated. The FDD 300 includes a display 301 for displaying information associated with the FDD and fuel. Further, the FDD 300 comprises a transmitting unit 303, a receiving unit 305 and a processing unit 307. The FDD 300 may include a process firmware residing in control board (not shown explicitly). While performing any functionalities such as fuel dispense, the transmitting unit 303 of the FDD 300 may send the data request to the central automation server 101 associated with the fuel retail outlet 102. In an embodiment, the central automation server 101 may validates and analyses every information and transaction received from the FDD’s. The data request is processed by the central automation server 101 as explained above. Thus, the receiving unit 305 may receive the one or more control information from the central automation server 101. Once the one or more control information is received, the processing unit 307 may manage one or more parameters associated with the FDD based on the one or more control information for controlling operations of the FDD. The one or more parameters may be associated with for example, start, stop, restart of the FDD and replacement of one or more components of the FDD such as, the nozzle. Consider an example for auto-diagnosis, where a nozzle of the FDD 300 is not dispensing any fuel to the user or dispensing less fuel to the user. In such case, the transmitting unit 303 of the FDD 300 may send the data request to the central automation server 101. The central automation server 301 may send control information to stop dispensing fuel from the nozzle. Thus, based on the control information, the FDD 300 may disable the nozzle.

[047] In the above example, if the auto diagnosis is changed to human intervention-based activity where an anomaly is observed by an operator in the retail environment. With authentication, roles and process access, the operator may also disable the nozzle in the FDD 300.

[048] Fig.4 illustrates a flowchart showing a method for managing Fuel Dispenser Devices (FDD) remotely in accordance with some embodiments of present disclosure.

[049] As illustrated in Fig.4, the method 400 includes one or more blocks for managing the FDD remotely. The method 400 may be described in the general context of computer executable instructions. Generally, computer executable instructions can include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, procedures, modules, and functions, which perform particular functions or implement particular abstract data types.

[050] The order in which the method 400 is described is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks can be combined in any order to implement the method. Additionally, individual blocks may be deleted from the methods without departing from the scope of the subject matter described herein. Furthermore, the method can be implemented in any suitable hardware, software, firmware, or combination thereof.

[051] At block 401, the data request is received by the receiving module 213 from the FDD of the plurality of FDD’s 103 located in the fuel retail outlet 102.

[052] At block 403, the FDD among the plurality of FDD’s 103 is identified by the identification module 217 based on the predefined identification information associated with each of the plurality of FDD’s 103.

[053] At block 405, the one or more control information for the identified FDD is retrieved by the control information retrieval module 219 based on the data request.

[054] At block 407, the one or more control information is transmitted by the transmission module 221 to the identified FDD for managing the operations of the FDD.

[055] In some embodiment, the method 400 involves sending the data request by the transmission module 221 to the FDD. In response to the data request, information is received by the receiving module 213 from the FDD. Thereafter, based on the information, the transmission module 221 may transmit the one or more control information to the FDD for managing operations of the FDD.

[056] In some embodiment, the method 400 includes receiving the authentication data from the computing device associated with the user who may be located away from the fuel retail outlet 102. The authenticating data is utilized for authenticating the user based on the pre-stored user data. In an embodiment, the authentication data is provided to the FDD of the plurality of FDD 103 for managing the operations of the FDD. Once the user is authenticated, the method includes providing the one or more permissions associated with the FDD to the user. The one or more permissions may include for example, initiating the FDD in one or more modes, stopping the FDD, restarting the FDD, monitoring one or more activities on the FDD, initiating a nozzle of the FDD in one or more modes, stopping the nozzle, restarting the nozzle and monitoring one or more activities on the FDD etc.

Exemplary scenario:

[057] In an implementation, users may login to associated computing device via existing authentication techniques and may acquire authorization from the central automation server 101. In an embodiment, the user may use any public/private internet services for accessing the central automation server 101. In an embodiment, the central automation server 101 may monitor and control installation and login by the computing device. On authenticating the user, the central automation server 101 may provide the one or more permissions associated with the FDD to the user. In an embodiment, the one or more permissions include, region/location of retail outlet/FDD based access and on actions which may define an extent to which the user may control the FDD. The control actions may include for example, start the FDD in one or more modes such as, production mode, debug mode, test mode, diagnosed mode etc., stop the FDD, restart the FDD. Further, the control may include monitoring the FDD on dispensing, on status, for failures, warnings, tampering, alarms, failovers, product types, offers etc. Further, the control actions may also be associated with one or more components of the FDD such as, for start of the nozzle in the one or more modes, stop of the nozzle, restart of the nozzle and monitoring activities of the nozzle.

[058] The present disclosure provides a method for controlling and managing fuel retail outlets remotely.

[059] In an embodiment, the present disclosure facilitates for controlling FDD connected via cloud connected secure applications. A secure application is provided or the central automation server which can be used to control the plurality of FDD’s and the nozzles in the FDD remotely.

[060] In an embodiment, the controlling of the FDD and associated nozzle may also include subcomponents which can be configured during upgrade.

[061] It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended. For example, as an aid to understanding, the detail description may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to inventions containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations).

[062] While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following detailed description.

[063] The described operations may be implemented as a method, system or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof. The described operations may be implemented as code maintained in a “non-transitory computer readable medium”, where a processor may read and execute the code from the computer readable medium. The processor is at least one of a microprocessor and a processor capable of processing and executing the queries. A non-transitory computer readable medium may include media such as magnetic storage medium (e.g., hard disk drives, floppy disks, tape, etc.), optical storage (CD-ROMs, DVDs, optical disks, etc.), volatile and non-volatile memory devices (e.g., EEPROMs, ROMs, PROMs, RAMs, DRAMs, SRAMs, Flash Memory, firmware, programmable logic, etc.), etc. Further, non-transitory computer-readable media include all computer-readable media except for a transitory. The code implementing the described operations may further be implemented in hardware logic (e.g., an integrated circuit chip, Programmable Gate Array (PGA), Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), etc.).

[064] The terms “an embodiment”, “embodiment”, “embodiments”, “the embodiment”, “the embodiments”, “one or more embodiments”, “some embodiments”, and “one embodiment” mean “one or more (but not all) embodiments of the invention(s)” unless expressly specified otherwise.

[065] The terms “including”, “comprising”, “having” and variations thereof mean “including but not limited to”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

[066] The enumerated listing of items does not imply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise.

[067] The terms “a”, “an” and “the” mean “one or more”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

[068] A description of an embodiment with several components in communication with each other does not imply that all such components are required. On the contrary, a variety of optional components are described to illustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the invention.

[069] When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readily apparent that more than one device/article (whether or not they cooperate) may be used in place of a single device/article. Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein (whether or not they cooperate), it will be readily apparent that a single device/article may be used in place of the more than one device or article or a different number of devices/articles may be used instead of the shown number of devices or programs. The functionality and/or the features of a device may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices which are not explicitly described as having such functionality/features. Thus, other embodiments of the invention need not include the device itself.

[070] The illustrated operations of Fig.4 show certain events occurring in a certain order. In alternative embodiments, certain operations may be performed in a different order, modified or removed. Moreover, steps may be added to the above described logic and still conform to the described embodiments. Further, operations described herein may occur sequentially or certain operations may be processed in parallel. Yet further, operations may be performed by a single processing unit or by distributed processing units.

[071] Finally, the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on an application based here on. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodiments of the invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

[072] While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.

[073] With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application. The various singular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity.

REFERRAL NUMERALS:

Reference number Description
100 Environment
101 Central automation server
103 Plurality of FDD’s
105 One or more computing devices
107 Communication network
109 I/O interface
111 Memory
113 Processor
200 Data
201 Request data
203 Identification data
205 User data
207 Control information
209 Other data
211 Modules
213 Receiving module
215 Authentication module
217 Identification module
219 Control information retrieval module
221 Transmission module
223 Other modules
300 FDD
301 Display
303 Transmitting unit
305 Receiving unit
307 Processing unit
,CLAIMS:1. A method of managing Fuel Dispenser Devices (FDD) (103) remotely, the method comprising:

receiving, by a central automation server (101), a data request from an FDD of a plurality of FDD (103) located in a fuel retail environment (102);
identifying, by the central automation server (101), the FDD among the plurality of FDD (103) based on a predefined identification information associated with each of the plurality of FDD (103);
retrieving, by the central automation server (101), one or more control information for the identified FDD based on the data request; and
transmitting, by the central automation server (101), the one or more control information to the identified FDD for managing operations of the FDD.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising receiving authentication data from a computing device (105) associated with a user located away from the fuel retail environment (102).

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 further comprising authenticating the user based on the received authentication data and a pre-stored user data.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising providing authentication data to the FDD of the plurality of FDD (103) for managing operations of the FDD.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising providing one or more permissions associated with the plurality of FDD (103) to a user associated with the fuel retail environment (102).

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the one or more permissions comprises initiating the FDD in one or more modes, stopping the FDD, restarting the FDD, monitoring one or more activities on the FDD, initiating a nozzle of the FDD in one or more modes, stopping the nozzle, restarting the nozzle and monitoring one or more activities on the FDD.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:
sending, by the central automation server (101), a data request to at least an FDD of the plurality of FDD (103) located in the fuel retail environment (102);
receiving, by the central automation server (101), information in response to the data request from at least the FDD; and
transmitting, by the central automation server (101), the one or more control information based on the information to the FDD for managing operations of the FDD.

8. A central automation server (101) for managing Fuel Dispenser Devices (FDD) (103) remotely, comprising
a processor (113); and
a memory (111) communicatively coupled to the processor (113), wherein the memory (111) stores processor instructions, which, on execution, causes the processor (113) to:
receive data request from an FDD of a plurality of FDD (103) located in a fuel retail environment (102);
identify the FDD among the plurality of FDD (103) based on a predefined identification information associated with each of the plurality of FDD (103);
retrieve one or more control parameters for the identified FDD based on the data request, wherein the one or more control parameters are predefined for each of the plurality of FDD (103); and
transmit the one or more control parameters to the identified FDD for managing operations of the FDD.

9. The central automation server (101) as claimed in claim 8, wherein the processor (113) receives authentication data from a computing device (105) associated with a user located away from the fuel retail environment (102).

10. The central automation server (101) as claimed in claim 9, wherein the processor (113) authenticates the user based on the received authentication data and a pre-stored user data.

11. The central automation server (101) as claimed in claim 1 further comprising providing authentication data to the FDD of a plurality of FDD (103) for managing operations of the FDD.

12. The central automation server (101) as claimed in claim 8, wherein the processor (113) provides one or more permissions associated with the plurality of FDD (103) to a user associated with the fuel retail environment (102).

13. The central automation server (101) as claimed in claim 12, wherein the one or more permissions comprises initiating the FDD in one or more modes, stopping the FDD, restarting the FDD, monitoring one or more activities on the FDD, initiating a nozzle of the FDD in one or more modes, stopping the nozzle, restarting the nozzle and monitoring one or more activities on the FDD.

14. A Fuel Dispenser Device (FDD) (300) capable to connect with a central automation server (101), comprising:
a transmitting unit (303) for sending data request to the central automation server (101) associated with a fuel retail environment (102), wherein the FDD is associated with the fuel retail environment (102);
a receiving unit (305) for receiving one or more control information from the central automation server (101) based on the data request; and
a processing unit (307) for managing one or more parameters associated with the FDD based on the one or more control information for controlling operations of the FDD.

15. The FDD (300) as claimed in claim 14 further comprising receiving authentication data from one of the central automation server (101) and a computing device associated with a user located away from the fuel retail environment.

16. The FDD (300) as claimed in claim 14 further comprising controlling the operation of the FDD based on one or more permission assigned to a user from the central automation server (101).

17. A method and a central automation server (101) for managing Fuel Dispenser Devices (FDD) remotely and the device thereof as herein substantiated in the description along with accompanied drawings.