FORM 2
The Patents Act 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
The Patent Rules 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See Section 10 and rule 13)
TITLE OF THE INVENTION:
PLATFORM BASED ARCHITECTURE FOR FUEL DISPENSERS
APPLICANT:
LARSEN & TOUBRO LIMITED
L&T House, Ballard Estate, P.O. Box No. 278,
Mumbai, 400 001, Maharashtra
INDIA.
PREAMBLE OF THE DESCRIPTION:
THE FOLLOWING SPECIFICATION PARTICULARLY DESCRIBES THE INVENTION AND THE MANNER IN WHICH IT IS TO BE PERFORMED

A) TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present invention generally relates to fuel dispensers and particularly to platform based architecture for several variants in fuel dispensers which pump different types of fuel in to vehicles. The present invention more particularly relates to platform based architecture with a common base board that can be upgradeabie to any variants in petrol pumps.
B) BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] A fuel dispenser is a machine provided at a filling station to pump different types of fuel in to vehicles. There are several commercial brands of fuel dispensers used in the retail petroleum industry to dispense fuel to the public. These dispensers are manufactured by different manufacturers. The dispensers are most often controlled by an automation system located at a remote place in the site. Using such an automation system, one can monitor and control the dispense, send different commands like price change, parameter change, send authorization and read many parameters of dispensers, fuel sale/ volume etc. The Automation system also sends commands to the dispensers including preset amounts of fuel (sale and volume) to dispense and pump authorization to dispense fuel. The dispensers likewise send responses to the controller including pump number, pump status, and dispensed fuel volume and required parameters.

[0003] Generally a fuel dispenser includes a pump, a fuel supply pipe, a flow meter, a flow quantity signal generator, a fuel supply hose with nozzle and pump electronics. The pump has a pipe connection to a fuel supply tank at one end and a hose connection to a fuel supply nozzle at the other end. The flow meter measures the quantity of fuel being pumped and the flow quantity generator generates a flow quantity signal from the flow meter. The display (pump electronics) indicates the quantity of fuel being dispensed.
[0004] Most dispenser modules include a card reader system for reading credit cards, debit cards, smart cards, and prepaid cards providing a method wherein customers can pay for the fuel dispensed at the dispenser. The system generally includes a card reader, input keys for selecting the type payment desired, input keys for entering personal identification numbers, a display for prompting the customers and a printer for printing a receipt of the fuel dispensed. There are several brands of dispensers used in the petroleum industry manufactured by different manufacturers. Each dispenser brand has its own unique protocol for communicating with the controller. Current loop, voltage levels, RS232, RS422, and RS485 are examples of communication used between the controller and the pumps and card readers.
[0005J Depending on the requirements, the fuel dispensers can be of various types, Depending on the variant of the dispenser, the number of nozzles/outlets for dispensing, the numbers of products it can dispense, the speed of dispensing and various other parameters are varied. The conventional architectures available for fuel dispensers are

variant specific. This caused problems in inventory maintenance. Also all the slave cards did not have the intelligence. This increased the processing load on the main card and made the design complex and debugging cumbersome. Previously each variant had different cards depending on its requirements. Even the microcontroller on the main card was different in many cases.
[0006] Hence there is a need to provide a common platform all the variants in petrol pumps with a common base board which is upgradeable to any variants depending on the requirement.
[0007] The above mentioned shortcomings, disadvantages and problems are addressed herein and which will be understood by reading and studying the following specification.
C) OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
[0008] The primary object of the present invention is to provide a platform based architecture for fuel dispensers with a common base board that is upgraded to any variants in petrol pumps.
[0009] Another object of the present invention is to provide a platform based architecture for fuel dispensers with a controller area network (CAN) protocol as a backbone for communication between the base board and the slave cards.

[0010] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a platform based architecture for fuel dispensers with a common base board is upgraded to higher configuration by connecting an expansion card to the base board.
[0011] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a platform based architecture for fuel dispensers with add-on card to provide features like Ethernet connectivity, USB, Bluetooth, interactive voice support.
[0012] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a platform based architecture for fuel dispensers to reduce complexity of the system and to simplify the debugging operation.
[0013] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a platform based architecture for fuel dispensers with a base board that is upgraded to support several variants such as sprint MONO/DUO, Z line, Auto LPG, Advance 4GDE, 4GDE, VMP MONO/DUO, EHD MONO/DUO, SPRINT QPD/QUAD, SPRINT 2/3/4 product etc in petrol pumps.
[0014] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a common base board for variants in fuel dispensers with a simplified, modular, scalable hardware and upgradeable software.

[0015] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a common base board for variants in fuel dispensers which is protected by electromagnetic interference (EMI) or electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) environmental effects.
[0016] Yet another object of the fuel dispenser is to provide a common architecture for fuel dispensers to suppress the ground noise effect generated by analog components in the pumps.
[0017] These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
D) SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0018] The various embodiments of the present invention provide a platform based architecture for fuel dispensers. The architecture provides a common platform such that all the variants have a common base board upgradeable to any variants. According to one embodiment of the present invention, platform based architecture for fuel dispensers in a petrol pump has a universal platform provided with a main board. Pluralities of fuel dispensers are connected to the main board. Pluralities of slave cards are provided in a fuel dispenser and connected to the main board. At least one expansion card is connected to the main board. An add-on card is connected to the main board. The slave cards and the add-on card are connected to the main boards through a controller area network

(CAN) bus and the expansion card is connected to the main board to increase the fuel dispensing capacity of a petrol pump.
[0019] The expansion card is connected to the main board through an input-output pin connector. The main board includes pluralities of analogue blocks and digital blocks. The analogue blocks and the digital blocks are separated using a plurality of magnetic isolators. The analogue blocks provided in the main board include pluralities of relays and a voltage supply. The digital blocks include pluralities of Microcontroller, CAN transceiver, flash random access memory (FRAM), real time clock (RTC) and digital ICs.
[0020] The pluralities of fuel dispensers correspond to the fuel dispensers of different types. The pluralities of slave cards include a sensor for counting pulses, an EMT card for totalize, a relay card for switching on and off a motor, a key pad and a display card for human interface. Each slave card has a controller. Each slave card communicates with the main board on a customized CAN protocol.
[0021] The expansion card has extra CAN ports, relays and motors. The add-on card is connected to the main board to provide Ethernet connectivity, USB, Bluetooth communication, interactive voice support.

[0022] According to one embodiment of the present invention, platform based architecture comprises a common baseboard or main card, an expansion card interfaced with the main card, an automation card interfaced with the main card, slave cards and a controller area network (CAN) protocol for communication between the main card and slave cards. It provides a distributed architecture where all the slave modules are intelligent thereby tremendously reducing the operational design complexity and simplifying the debugging process.
[0023] An expansion card is connected with the base board by means of input/output pin connector. An add-on automation card is connected with the base board via CAN bus or any other intelligent protocol. The expansion card is provided to expand the capacity of the system. When only one or two nozzles are required in the petrol pump, an expansion card is not required. When more than two nozzles are required, then an extra CAN bus is available on the expansion card to connect more number of sensors, keypads, displays etc. By using an expansion card, system will be enhanced to share the load. It provides a common baseboard which is cost effective and includes a simplified and scalable hardware and modular and upgradeable software.
E) BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0024] The other objects, features and advantages will occur to those skilled in the art from the following description of the preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawings in which:

[0025] FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a platform based architecture for fuel dispensers, according to one embodiment of the present invention.
[0026] FIG. 2 sh()Ws a block circuit diagram of a common baseboard in a platform based architecture f0r fuel dispensers, according to one embodiment of the present invention.
[0027] FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a common base board for connecting fuel dispenser variants of type MONO and DUO baseboard in a platform based architecture for fuel dispensers, according to one embodiment of the present invention.
[0028] FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of a platform based architecture for fuel dispenser which is Upgraded by interfacing an expansion card and add-on automation card with the base board or main card, according to one embodiment of the present invention.
[0029] Although the specific features of the present invention are shown in some drawings and not in others. This is done for convenience only as each feature may be combined with any ov all of the other features in accordance with the present invention.
F) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0030] In the following detailed description, a reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which the specific embodiments that may be practiced is shown by way of illustration. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and it is to be understood that the logical, mechanical 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.
[0031] The va-rious embodiments of the present invention provide a platform based architecture for fueJ dispensers. The architecture provides a common platform such that all the variants have a common base board upgradeable to any variants.
[0032] According to one embodiment of the present invention, platform based architecture for fuel dispensers in a petrol pump has a universal platform provided with a main board. Pluralities of fuel dispensers are connected to the main board. Pluralities of slave cards are provided in a fuel dispenser and connected to the main board. At least one expansion card is connected to the main board. An add-on card is connected to the main board. The slave cards and the add-on card are connected to the main boards through a controller area network (CAN) bus and the expansion card is connected to the main board to increase the fuel dispensing capacity of a petrol pump.

[0033] The expansion card is connected to the main board through an input-output pin connector. The main board includes pluralities of analogue blocks and digital blocks. The analogue blocks and the digital blocks are separated using a plurality of magnetic isolators. The analogue blocks provided in the main board include pluralities of relays and a voltage supply. The digital blocks include pluralities of Microcontroller, CAN transceiver, flash random access memory (FRAM), real time clock (RTC) and digital ICs.
[0034] The pluralities of fuel dispensers correspond to the fuel dispensers of different types. The pluralities of slave cards include a sensor for counting pulses, an EMT card for totalizer, a relay card for switching on and off a motor, a key pad and a display card for human interface. Each slave card has a controller. Each slave card communicates with the main board on a customized CAN protocol.
[0035] The expansion card has extra CAN ports, relays and motors. The add-on card is connected to the main board to provide Ethernet connectivity, USB, Bluetooth communication, interactive voice support.
[0036] According to one embodiment of the present invention, a platform based architecture comprises a common baseboard or main card, an expansion card interfaced with the main card, an automation card interfaced with the main card, slave cards and a controller area network (CAN) protocol for communication between the main card and

slave cards. It provides a distributed architecture where ail the slave modules are intelligent thereby tremendously reducing the operational design complexity and simplifying the debugging process.
[0037] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the base board or main card includes a dual core microcontroller. The main card is connected to various slave cards. The slave cards (independent cards) includes sensor for counting the pulses, electromechanical totalizer (EMT) cards, an expansion card with relays for switching on and off the motors of dispenser, a keypad and display card for human interface to display the amount, volume and price of the fuel dispensed. Each independent card (slave card) has its own controller. The slave cards communicate with the main card on a customized CAN protocol. Also, when a new concept has to be implemented, the CAN architecture provides an option of creating a new card and adding it on the CAN bus, thus making it more modular.
[0038] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the base board includes a microcontroller with analog and digital blocks, digital interfaces, analog interfaces, a serial RS485 ports for connecting printer and POS, an expansion board connector, a CAN transceiver, real time clock (RTC), FRAM, analog and digital circuit separation. The base board includes independent voltages with magnetic isolator circuit. The digital interfaces include a Micro controller; CAN transceiver, RTC, FRAM, digital ICs etc. The analog interface include relay block and voltage supply etc. The

architecture includes a CAN protocol as the backbone for communication between the main board and the slave cards. By having CAN implemented in a fuel dispenser, the architecture is now more robust, and modular.
[0039] The base board includes relays and motors sufficient for up to variants with two nozzles such as MONO variant with one nozzle and DUO variant with two nozzles. Using magnetic isolators, both analog and digital designs are segregated on board for fuel dispenser main board. The analog and digital voltage sources and ground's origins are separated hence reducing electromagnetic interference. (The digital and analog design on the board is completely isolated from each other.) For higher configurations i.e. for variants with more number of nozzles, an expansion board is attached to the base board. The expansion board includes an extra CAN ports and relays and motors required for these configurations. Thus the base board itself can be upgraded to higher configurations with the help of an expansion board. In case the fuel dispensers need to have features like Ethernet connectivity, universal serial bus (USB), Bluetooth, interactive voice support another Add-on card called the automation card is connected to the base card. This card has a controller/processor with higher processing capability and storage essential for these features. This card will also communicate with the base card on CAN.
[0040] An expansion card is connected with the base board by means of input/output pin connector. An add-on automation card can be connected with the base board via

CAN bus or any other intelligent protocol. The expansion card is provided to expand the capacity of the system. When only one or two nozzles are required in the petrol pump, an expansion card i§ not required. When more than two nozzles are required, then an extra CAN bus is available on the expansion card to connect more number of sensors, keypads, displays etQ, By using an expansion card, system will be enhanced to share the load.
[0041] The platform based architecture provides a common base board that is upgradeable to any variants in petrol pumps. The base board is upgraded to higher configuration by connecting expansion card and add-on card thereby reducing the design complexity and simplifying the debugging process. It provides a common baseboard which is cost effective and includes a simplified and scalable hardware and modular and upgradeable software.
[0042] FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a platform based architecture for fuel dispensers, according to one embodiment of the present invention. It provides a common base board' that is ungraded to any number of variants such as sprint MONO/DUO, Z line, Auto LPG, Advance 4GDE, 4GDE, VMP MONO/DUO, EHD MONO/DUO, SPRINT QPD/QUAD, SPRINT 2/3/4 product etc in petrol pumps. A pump with 8 nozzles (or more sometimes) can be developed using this common architecture and platform. According to present invention, the mono variant of petrol pump includes only one nozzle. It can be developed using the base board and some interface cards and hence

an expansion card is not required. Similarly, a Duo variant of petrol pump includes two nozzles and it can be developed using base board and some interfaced cards thereby eliminating the need for the expansion card. Whereas the QPD variant includes four nozzles and an expansion card is required for this variant. In base board, some nozzles and cards can be connected. Some cards can be connected on expansion card. If automation features are required, CAN (or any intelligent protocol) based extra card can be connected to the system using some intelligent protocol. In a similar manner, several variants can be developed using a common architecture. Hence the present architecture provides a common base board to develop different variants and features in petrol pumps.
[0043] FIG. 2 shows a block circuit diagram of a common baseboard for fuel dispensers, according to one embodiment of the present invention. With reference to FIG.2, the base board includes a microcontroller with analog and digital blocks, digital interfaces, analog interfaces, a serial RS485 ports for connecting printer and POS, an expansion board connector, a CAN transceiver, real time clock (RTC), FRAM, analog and digital circuit separation. The base board includes independent voltages with magnetic isolator circuit. The digital interfaces include a CAN transceiver, RTC and FRAM etc. The analog interface include relay block and voltage supply etc. The architecture includes a CAN protocol as the backbone for communication between the main board and the slave cards. By having CAN implemented in a fuel dispenser, the architecture is now more robust, and modular.

[0044] The base board includes relays and motors sufficient for up to variants with two nozzles such as MONO variant with one nozzle and DUO variant with two nozzles. Using magnetic isolators, both analog and digital designs are segregated on board for fuel dispenser main board. The analog and digital voltage sources and ground's origins are separated thereby reducing an electromagnetic interference. When only one or two nozzles are required in the petrol pump, an expansion card is not required. For higher configurations i.e. for variants with more number of nozzles, an expansion board is attached to the base board. The expansion board includes an extra CAN ports and relays and motors required for these configurations. Thus the bass board itself can be upgraded to higher configurations with the help of an expansion board. In case the fuel dispensers need to have features like Ethernet connectivity, universal serial bus (USB), Bluetooth, interactive voice support another Add-on card called the automation card is connected to the base card. This card has a controller/processor with higher processing capability and storage essential for these features. This card will also communicate with the base card on CAN.
[0045] FIG. 3 shows a block diagram illustrating a common base board for connecting fuel dispenser variants of type MONO and DUO, according to one embodiment of the present invention. The base board or main card includes a dual core microcontroller. The main card is connected to the fuel dispenser variants MONO and DUO. The slave cards includes sensor for counting the pulses, EMT cards for totalizers,

expansion card with relays for switching on and off the motors of dispenser, keypad and display card for human interface (where amount, volume and price are displayed) and flow quantizer. Each independent slave card has its own controller. The slave cards communicate with the main card on a customized CAN protocol. The base board also includes relays and motors sufficient for up to variants with two nozzles (i.e. MONO with on nozzle and DUO with two nozzles). The digital and analog design on the board is completely isolated from each other.
[0046] For mono variant, only one nozzle is required and a base board is required while an expansion card is not required. The voltages to electronic cards (ERA) are supplied by switched mode power supply unit (SMPS). One sensor card, one electromechanical totalizer (EMT), two displays, one keypad will be connected to main board via CAN or through other intelligent protocol. Once a nozzle is lifted, it is sensed on the main card and the relay provided on the main card is operated. The relay operates some mechanical interface of the pump and fuel dispense process is started. According to the dispensed fuel, the display value is incremented. An electronic totalizer (ET) is incremented. According to ET value, EMT (electromechanical) totalizer is incremented (via CAN or any other interface). Nozzle is hooked once the dispense is completed. The mono variant of petrol pump includes only one nozzle, it is developed using the base board and some interface cards and hence an expansion card is not required. Similarly, a Duo variant of petrol pump includes two nozzles and it can be developed using base board and some interfaced cards and hence the expansion card is not required.

[0047] FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of a platform based architecture for fuel dispenser which is upgraded by interfacing an expansion card and add-on automation card with the base board or main card, according to one embodiment of the present invention. With reference to FIG. 4, the main card is connected to various slave cards. Each slave cards includes sensor for counting the pulses, EMT cards for totalizers, expansion card with relays for switching on and off the motors of dispenser, keypad and display card for human interface (where amount, volume and price are displayed) and flow quantizer. Each independent slave card has its own controller. The slave cards communicate with the main card on a customized CAN protocol. The CAN architecture provides an option of creating a new card and adding it on the CAN bus, thus making it more modular. The base board includes relays and motors sufficient for up to variants with two nozzles (i.e. MONO with on nozzle and DUO with two nozzles). The digital and analog design on the board is completely isolated from each other.
[0048] For higher configurations i.e. for variants with more number of nozzles, an expansion board is attached to the base board as shown in the figure FIG. 4. The expansion board has the extra CAN ports and relays and motors required for these configurations. Thus the base board itself can be upgraded to higher configurations with the help of an expansion board. In case the fuel dispensers need to have features like Ethernet connectivity, USB, Bluetooth, interactive voice support another add-on card

called the automation card is connected to the base card. This card has a controller/processor with higher processing capability and storage essential for these features. This card will also communicate with the base card on CAN.
G) ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION
[0049] The various embodiments of the present invention provide a platform based architecture for fuel dispensing system. The platform based architecture provides a common base board that is upgraded to any variants in petrol pumps. The base board is upgraded to higher Configuration by connecting expansion card and add-on card hence reduces the design complexity and makes debugging process easy. It provides a common baseboard which is cost effective and includes a simplified, scalable hardware and modular and upgradeable software. It provides a distributed architecture where all the slave modules are intelligent, hence reducing the design complexity and making the debugging easy. The architecture includes a CAN protocol as the backbone for communication between the main board and the slave cards. By using CAN protocol implemented in fuel dispenser, the architecture is now moos robust and modular.
[0050] The architecture provides a single platform to support variants such as sprint MONO/DUO, Z line, Auto LPG, Advance 4GDE, 4GDE, VMP MONO/DUO, EHD MONO/DUO, SPRINT QPD/QUAD, SPRINT 2/3/4 product etc in petrol pumps. The system uses a simple and scalable hardware. The system is modular and upgradeable. The servicing of the fuel dispenser is simplified by providing simplified system layout

and remote software updating. The digital and analog design on the board is completely isolated from each other. For higher configurations i.e. variants with more number of nozzles, an expansion board can be attached to the base board. In case the fuel dispensers need to have features like Ethernet connectivity, USB, Bluetooth, interactive voice support another add-on card called the automation card is connected to the base card.
[0051] Although the invention is described with various specific embodiments, it will be obvious for a person skilled in the art to practice the invention with modifications. However, all such modifications are deemed to be within the scope of the claims.
[0052] It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the present invention described herein and all the statements of the scope of the invention which as a matter of language might be said to fall there between.

CLAIMS
What is claimed is:
1. A platform based architecture for fuel dispensers in a petrol pump comprising: A universal platform;
Main board provided in the universal platform; Pluralities of fuel dispensers connected to the main board;
Pluralities of slave cards provided in a fuel dispenser and connected to the main board;
At least one expansion card connected to the main board; An add-on card connected to the main board;
Wherein the slave cards and the add-on card are connected to the main boards through a controller area network (CAN) bus and the expansion card is connected to the main board to increase the fuel dispensing capacity of a petrol pump.
2. The architecture according to claim 1, wherein the expansion card is connected to the main board through an input-output pin connector.
3. The architecture according to claim 1, wherein the main board includes pluralities of analogue blocks and digital blocks.

The architecture according to claim 1, wherein the analogue blocks and the digital blocks are separated using a plurality of magnetic isolators.
The architecture according to claim 1, wherein the analogue blocks provided in the main board include pluralities of relays and a voltage supply.
The architecture according to claim 1, wherein the digital blocks provided in the main board include pluralities of Microcontroller, CAN transceiver, flash random access memory (FRAM) and real time clock (RTC) and other digital ICs.
The architecture according to claim 1, wherein the pluralities of fuel dispensers correspond to the fuel dispensers of different types.
The architecture according to claim 1, wherein the pluralities of slave cards include a sensor for counting pulses, an EMT card for totalizer, a relay card for switching on and off a motor in the dispensers, a key pad and a display card for human interface.
The architecture according to claim 1, wherein each slave card has a controller.
The architecture according to claim 1, wherein each slave card communicates with the main board on a customized CAN protocol.
The architecture according to claim 1, wherein the expansion card has extra CAN ports, relays and motors.

12. The architecture according to claim 1, wherein the add-on card is connected to the main board to provide Ethernet connectivity, USB, Bluetooth communication, interactive voice support.