DESC:
FORM 2
PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
The Patents Rules, 2003

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See section 10 and rule 13)

“SMART SANITISER WITH REAL TIME FLUID LEVEL SENSOR FOR DEMAND MANAGEMENT AND SUBSCRIPTION BASED SERVICES”

LIFE9 SYSTEMS PRIVATE LIMITED,
#301, Prakruthi Apt, 33, BGS Layout, Jakkur, Bangalore-560064, Karnataka, India

The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a Smart hand sanitizer with monitoring devices and methods for indicating whether a fluid product in a dispensing system requires or will require replacement. liquid-level sensors and, more particularly, to devices comprising sensors for sensing levels of liquids in containers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The importance of cleanliness has long been recognized, particularly in the fields of health-care, food preparation, employee of an organization and laboratories, to name but a few. Although traditional hand washing using soap and water is performed by most people, these same people are often unwittingly exposed to unsanitary conditions after washing their hands. For example, these people are potentially exposed to unsanitary surfaces by touching a handrail of a stairway or escalator, and/or when opening doors, handling currency, touching keyboards, etc.

Thus, sanitizer dispensers are used in a wide variety of settings to provide people with a sanitizing material to rub on their hands prior to undertaking activities where cleanliness is important, such as prior to eating, handling food, or attending to a patient at a health care facility and many public washrooms.

Users of modern public washroom facilities increasingly desire that each of the fixtures in the washroom operate automatically without being touched by the user's hand. This is important in view of increased user awareness of the degree to which germs and bacteria may be transmitted from one person to another in a public washroom environment.

Today, it is not uncommon to find public washrooms with automatic, hands-free operated toilet and urinal units, hand washing faucets, soap dispensers, hand dryers, and door opening mechanisms. This automation allows the user to avoid touching any of the fixtures in the facility, and therefore lessens the opportunity for the transmission of disease-carrying germs or bacteria resulting from manual contact with the fixtures in the washroom.

Washing hands properly with sanitizers can help prevent the spread of the germs (like bacteria and viruses) that cause these diseases. Some sanitisers contain alcohol, Alcohol kills the germs present on the skin. The alcohol works immediately and effectively in order to kill bacteria and most viruses. Alcohol can make the skin dry, so most brands of sanitizers also contain a moisturizer to minimize skin dryness and irritation.

Studies show that adding hand sanitizers to classrooms can reduce student absenteeism due to illness by 20 per cent. The use of hand sanitizers is a habit that can help keep us all exposed to fewer germs, and therefore may decrease our chance of illness. Whether you are on the playground, using someone else's computer or visiting a friend in the hospital, take the time to rub some on your hands
Hand sanitizers are convenient, portable, easy to use and not time consuming. Several studies have concluded that the risk of spreading gastrointestinal (stomach) and respiratory infection is decreased among families who use hand sanitizers. Commercially prepared hand sanitizers contain ingredients that help prevent skin dryness.
Since the beginning of pandemic of covid-19 there has been an increased awareness and concern for preventing contamination and infection of health care and allied personnel by pathogens and virus. Li Wenliang, who tried to warn the world about the coronavirus outbreak of COVID-19, also died due to corona virus. Government of India has indicated that it is taking all necessary steps to ensure that the citizens are prepared well to face the challenge and threat posed by the growing pandemic of COVID-19 the Corona Virus.
The most important factor in preventing the spread of corona virus is by ensuring that all the citizens apply sanitisers/ hand wish and frequent washing of hands to stop spreading of corona virus. The Clean Hands campaign by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) instructs the public to use Alcohol-based hand sanitizer for hand washing. Hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol or contains a "persistent antiseptic" should be used.
Alcohol rubs kill many different kinds of bacteria, including antibiotic resistant bacteria and TB bacteria. They also kill many kinds of viruses, including the flu virus, the common cold virus, coronaviruses, COVID-19, H1N1 Virus, Norovirus and Clostridium difficile and HIV. 90% alcohol rubs are more effective against viruses than most other forms of hand washing. Isopropyl alcohol will kill 99.99 % or more of all non-spore forming bacteria in less than 30 seconds, both in the laboratory and on human skin.
The World Health Organization (WHO) expects them to need 2.9 billion litres of sanitiser per month due to COVID-19. That's about 35 billion litres per year. Before coronavirus, the world produced just under three billion litres per year. The Indian government has expressly asked the alcoholic drinks industry and the sugarcane industry to provide ethanol to hand sanitiser companies. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop and produce sanitisers to meet the local and global demand of sanitisers.

The overall societal, economic and health impacts of hand-borne pathogens is enormous. It is the intent of the present invention to substantially curtail this debilitating circumstance by providing a low-cost, minimally invasive method of self and institutional compliance monitoring of hand hygiene with Real time Fluid level sensor

One difficulty with attempting to provide sanitary conditions is that people do not always wash their hands and/or use a sanitizer material when they should. For example, health care staff and/or patient visitors do not always have clean hands when visiting or attending to a patient. Even when sanitizer dispensers are available, the intended users, such as health care staff or food preparation workers, employees of an organization do not necessarily use the sanitizer dispensers when they should.

In addition when sanitizer dispensers are available, in hospitals, health care premises, restaurants, food processing areas, office buildings, schools, airports and the like sometimes they are not filling the sanitizer dispensers properly once container got empty or reached to the threshold level to overcome this situation we need a Real time sanitizer liquid management with preset alerts mapping to lower thresholds.

To at least partially overcome these disadvantages of previously known devices, the present invention provides sanitizer dispensers including a contaminant sensor and methods of use of such a dispenser to provide Real time sanitizer liquid management with preset alerts mapping to lower thresholds

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The following summary provides an introduction to selected concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Further, while certain disadvantages of other technologies may be noted or discussed herein, the claimed subject matter is not intended to be limited to implementations that may solve or address any or all of the disadvantages of those other technologies. The sole purpose of this summary is to present some concepts of the claimed subject matter in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented below.

An object of the present invention is to provide a Smart hand sanitizer with fluid level sensor for monitoring the level of the sanitiser fluid in the Smart hand sanitizer.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a Smart hand sanitizer with alert means for real time monitoring the level of sanitiser.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method of monitoring the level of sanitiser fluid in the Smart hand sanitiser.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide Smart hand sanitizer with IoT enabled cloud connectivity.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a Smart hand sanitiser with web based front end UX for it’s remote management.

A Smart sanitiser with real time fluid level sensor for demand management and subscription based services is disclosed. The Smart Hand Sanitiser system (100) for monitoring the fluid level of the sanitiser, includes:
a) a sanitiser container (106) with a dispenser for dispensing the sanitiser,
b) a server (110) for storing the data collected by the smart sanitiser system (100),
c) a processor for processing the data collected by the smart sanitiser system (100),
d) a communication means for receiving and transferring the data,
e) a web based front end UX (User Experience) for remote management of the Smart Hand Sanitiser system (100),
f) a radio frequency identification (RFID) means (324) configured to read the information of the individual wearing a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag,
g) a real time fluid level sensor (526, 528, 534, 536) for monitoring the fluid level of the sanitiser in the sanitiser container (106).

According to one aspect of the invention, the real time fluid level sensor is an infra-red IR sensor or a capacitive based sensor. According to one aspect of the invention, the real time fluid level sensor sends an alert signal when the level of contaminant exceeds or drops below the thresholds. Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms for effective monitoring of the sanitiser fluid in the Smart Hand Sanitiser. According to one aspect of the present invention, the sanitizer fluid in the Smart hand sanitiser is refilled without replacing the existing sanitizer container.

According to one aspect of the invention, the radio frequency identification (RFID) means in communication with the radio frequency identification (RFID) tag worn by the user and reads the information stored in the radio frequency identification (RF ID) tag. the user carries or wears an RFID tag (or other automatically detectable identification device) that is unique to the individual. Upon approaching the Smart hand sanitiser, the RFID reader recognizes the user's tag and records/maps the user name, time, date, sanitizer dispenser location/ID, and may also record whether the dispenser cycle has completed or not. The data is stored in the readers’ database until captured via various methods and transferred into a report format for an administrator. The administrator can then review the compliance statistics for the various users.

According to one aspect of the invention, the Smart Hand Sanitiser system is configured dynamically for the lower and upper thresholds limits alerts from the Web UX (User Interface) with Administration privileges.
According to one aspect of the invention, the Smart Hand Sanitiser system is configured dynamically for the lower and upper thresholds limits from the Web UX (User Interface) based on the specific requirements of a dispensing station.

According to one aspect of the invention, the Smart Hand Sanitiser system is configured dynamically for the lower and upper thresholds limits from a Mobile APP based on the specific requirements of a dispensing station.

According to one aspect of the invention, the Smart Hand Sanitiser system is configured dynamically with respect to the different alert types of Audio (Beeps), Visual (LEDs). For example, a security station could only need a visual alerts and not audio alerts.

According to one aspect of the invention, the Smart Hand Sanitiser system (100) is configured dynamically with respect to the duration and frequency (1Sec in every 5 Sec) different alert types of Audio (Beeps), Visual (LEDs). For example, a security station could only need a lower limit alert once and not repeated since it is attended manually.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the Li-ion batteries used in the Smart hand sanitiser are rechargeable batteries. The rechargeable Li-ion batteries unlike the conventional existing replaceable batteries can be recharged using electric power.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the Smart hand sanitizer includes a memory means. The memory means includes a compliance module in communication with the identification apparatus, the compliance module being operable to record data associated with use of the first cleaning station by the user.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the Smart hand sanitiser is connected via an Internet of things (IoT)technology to a cloud server. The IoT includes Edge secure gateway in a process control system, includes receiving, by a gateway, data from a first device using a first protocol.
It should be understood, however, that this summary does not contain all of the aspects and object of the present invention, is not meant to be limiting or restrictive in any manner, and that the invention as disclosed herein is and will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to encompass obvious improvements and modifications thereto.

Additional advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following discussion, particularly when taken together with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Example embodiments of the present invention are illustrated by accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates overview of the smart sanitizer with fluid level sensor for monitoring the fluid level of the sanitiser.

FIG. 2 illustrates dispensing tube of Smart hand sanitizer with fluid level sensor for monitoring the fluid level of the sanitiser.

FIG. 3 illustrates the RFID means present in the Smart hand sanitizer with IoT connectivity according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates the System Architecture of Smart hand sanitizer with in-built RFID means for individual mapping with IoT connectivity according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B illustrate the real time fluid level sensor present in the sanitiser container of the Smart hand sanitizer.

The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention in any way.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following summary provides an introduction to selected concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Further, while certain disadvantages of other technologies may be noted or discussed herein, the claimed subject matter is not intended to be limited to implementations that may solve or address any or all of the disadvantages of those other technologies. The sole purpose of this Summary is to present some concepts of the claimed subject matter in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented below.

On the contrary, it is intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents. Various modifications to the present invention will be readily apparent to a person skilled in the art, and can be made to the present invention within the spirit and scope of the invention.
A smart sanitiser with real time fluid level sensor for demand management and subscription based services is disclosed. The fluid dispensers in accordance with the present invention are more preferably fluid dispensers for dispensing cleaning and disinfecting solutions and, more particularly, those adapted for cleaning a user's hands.
The present invention discloses a system for Smart hand sanitiser. The Smart hand sanitizer dispenses a sanitizer, such as an alcohol gel or alcohol mist, when a person activates the sanitizer dispenser by triggering an infrared sensor to automatically activate ejection of the sanitizer when a person places one or both of their hands adjacent the sanitizer dispenser.

The term “Smart hand sanitiser with real time fluid level sensor” means a device that dispenses a sanitizer, automatically and smartly with real time sanitiser liquid management with preset alerts mapping to lower thresholds respect to the units (e.g., by a rechargeable battery in a touchless sanitizer dispenser).

In addition, as used herein, “sanitiser” is synonymous with “sanitizer” and refers to a fluid, whether a liquid, gas, or pseudo-solid (such as a semi-solid or gel) that includes one or more antimicrobial and/or cleaning agents. The antimicrobial agent can kill organisms such as bacteria, protozoa, and/or viruses. They also kill many kinds of viruses, including the flu virus, the common cold virus, coronaviruses, COVID 19 virus, H1N1 Virus, Norovirus and Clostridium difficile and HIV. 90% alcohol rubs are more effective against viruses than most other forms of hand washing. Isopropyl alcohol will kill 99.99 % or more of all non-spore forming bacteria in less than 30 seconds, both in the laboratory and on human skin.

An exemplary embodiment of the Smart sanitiser with real time fluid level sensor for demand management and subscription based services is depicted in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the Smart Hand sanitizer system 100 includes a top portion 102 with a camera 104, a sanitizer container 106, a bottom portion 108, a cloud server 110, a proximity sensor, web based front end UX, rechargeable battery and an alarm. The fluid level indicator is present inside the sanitizer container 106 (not shown in FIG.1). According to one embodiment of the invention the Smart sanitizer system is a hand sanitizer system and is portable in nature.

FIG. 2 illustrates dispensing tube of Smart hand sanitizer with fluid level monitoring sennsor. As shown in FIG. 2, the smart sanitizer system 200 includes a dispensing tube 214, Signal TX (down) and Signal RX (up) 216, Li-ion batteries 218, power chord 220. The Smart Hand Sanitizer system 200 dispenses a fixed amount of sanitizer through the dispensing tube 214 of the sanitizer container 206 upon detecting the presence of the user’s hand 222. The dispensing tube 214 is present at the bottom side of the sanitizer container 206. The sanitiser container 206 contains the fluid level sensors.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the dispenser typically dispenses antiseptic solution, which can be an alcohol-based solution or can be of any other type of sanitizing gel or solution, and provides an output signal to the system corresponding to dispensing of the antiseptic solution. The smart sanitizer system 200 may also include an alarm to provide an indication when there is a failure to dispense based on input criterion. Signal TX (down) and Signal RX (up) are also indicated in the FIG.2. The smart sanitizer system 200 is powered by rechargeable batteries, preferably Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries 218. The Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries 218 are rechargeable in nature and have durable life. The smart sanitizer system 200 can also run on the electricity. The electric plug of power chord 220 of the Smart sanitizer system 200 has to be plugged into the electric socket available nearby.

FIG. 3 illustrates the location of the RFID means in the Smart hand sanitizer with IoT connectivity according to one embodiment of the invention. As shown in FIG. 3, the RFID means 324 is located at the bottom of the smart sanitizer system 300. The radio frequency identification (RFID) means 324 is in communication with the radio frequency identification (RFID) tag worn by the user and reads the information stored in the radio frequency identification (RFID) tag. According to one embodiment of the invention, the radio frequency identification (RFID) tag is worn on the wrist/other body parts/areas which can be displayed by the user. The radio frequency identification (RFID) tag may also be worn on the front side of the body of the user.

FIG. 4 illustrates the System Architecture of Smart hand sanitizer with real time fluid level monitoring sensor. As shown in FIG. 4, information collected from one or more Smart Hand Sanitizer systems is transferred to a Gateway/ Server by using a wired or wireless network. The information from the Gateway/ Server is transferred to a Cloud server where the information is analysed and the processed information is displayed on a dashboard. For better and efficient processing of the data, Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms are used. Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms help to achieve faster and less expensive COVID-19 testing. Artificial Intelligence (AI) helps to track the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases, by detecting early warning signals such as clusters of symptoms in a new place.

FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B illustrate the real time fluid level sensor present in the sanitiser container of the Smart hand sanitizer. As shown in FIG. 5A, two infra red (IR) sensors 526, 528 are present in sanitiser fluid container. The output from the sensor is provided through the sensor output means 530 and 532. Whenever the fluid level is about to reach the maximum threshold level of 90 %, the top infra red sensor 526 sends the signal through the sensor output means 530. Once the fluid level reaches the maximum threshold of 90 %, the filling of sanitiser fluid in the sanitiser container is stopped.

Further, when the fluid level is about to fall below the minimum threshold level of 10 %, the bottom infra red sensor 528 sends the signal through the sensor output means 532 and the sanitiser fluid is filled into the container. The infra red sensors 526, 528 are screw mounted and work on the infra red principle by analysing the reflection from the sanitiser fluid.

As shown in FIG. 5B, two capacitive sensors 534, 528 are present in sanitiser fluid container. Whenever the fluid level is about to reach the maximum threshold level of 90 %, the top capacitive sensor 534 sends the signal through the sensor output means 538. Once the fluid level reaches the maximum threshold of 90 %, the filling of sanitiser fluid in the sanitiser container is stopped. Further, when the fluid level is about to fall below the minimum threshold level of 10 %, the bottom infra red sensor 536 sends the signal through the sensor output means 540 and the sanitiser fluid is filled into the container. The capacitive sensors 534, 536 measure the change in capacitance based on the fluid in the container. According to one embodiment of the invention, the sensors are in the form of stickers which can be attached onto the container wall of the smart hand sanitiser 100.

According to one embodiment of the invention, real time fluid level sensor (526, 528, 534, 536) with preset alerts sends alert when the sanitizer reaches the threshold level in the container of the Smart hand sanitiser 100.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the Smart Hand Sanitiser system 100 is configured dynamically for the lower and upper thresholds limits from the Web UX (User Interface) based on the specific requirements of a dispensing station.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the Smart Hand Sanitiser system 100 is configured dynamically for the lower and upper thresholds limits from a Mobile APP based on the specific requirements of a dispensing station.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the Smart Hand Sanitiser system 100 is configured dynamically with respect to the different alert types of Audio (Beeps), Visual (LEDs). For example, a security station could only need a visual alerts and not audio alerts.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the Smart Hand Sanitiser system 100 is configured dynamically with respect to the duration and frequency (1Sec in every 5 Sec) different alert types of Audio (Beeps), Visual (LEDs). For example, a security station could only need a lower limit alert once and not repeated since it is attended manually.

According to one embodiment of the invention dynamic demand management of the Smart Hand Sanitiser system 100 is achieved by providing required notifications to relevant teams. The smart hand sanitiser 100 with real time fluid level sensor 526, 528, 534, 536 is connected to a network through cloud connectivity 110.

According to one embodiment of the invention, any contamination in the sanitiser fluid is detected.

It will be recognized that the above described subject matter may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics of the disclosure. Thus, it is understood that, the subject matter is not to be limited by the foregoing illustrative details, but it is rather to be defined by the appended claims.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in detail to illustrate the novel and inventive features of the invention, it is understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.
,CLAIMS:CLAIMS

I/WE CLAIM

1.A Smart Hand Sanitiser system (100) for monitoring the fluid level of the sanitiser, the Smart Hand Sanitiser system (100) comprising:
a) a sanitiser container (106) with a dispenser for dispensing the sanitiser;
b) a server (110) for storing the data collected by the smart sanitiser system (100);
c) a processor for processing the data collected by the smart sanitiser system (100);
d) a communication means for receiving and transferring the data;
e) a web based front end UX (User Experience) for remote management of the Smart Hand Sanitiser system (100);
f) a radio frequency identification (RF ID) means (324) configured to read the information of the individual wearing a radio frequency identification (RF ID) tag;
g) a real time fluid level sensor (526, 528, 534, 536) for monitoring the fluid level of the sanitiser in the sanitiser container (106)

2. The Smart Hand Sanitiser system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the real time fluid level sensor (526, 528, 534, 536) is an infra-red IR sensor or a capacitive based sensor.

3. The Smart Hand Sanitiser system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the real time fluid level sensor (526, 528, 534, 536) monitors the level of the sanitiser with the help of the artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms.

4. The Smart Hand Sanitiser system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the real time fluid level sensor (526, 528, 534, 536) sends an alert signal when the level of contaminant exceeds or drops below the thresholds.

5. The Smart Hand Sanitiser system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the radio frequency identification (RFID) means (324) in communication with the radio frequency identification (RFID) tag worn by the user and reads the information stored in the radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.

6. The Smart Hand Sanitiser system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the Smart Hand Sanitiser system (100) is configured dynamically for the lower and upper thresholds limits alerts from the Web UX (User Interface) with Administration privileges.

7. The Smart Hand Sanitiser system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the Smart Hand Sanitiser system (100) is configured dynamically for the lower and upper thresholds limits from the Web UX (User Interface) based on the specific requirements of a dispensing station.

8. The Smart Hand Sanitiser system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the Smart Hand Sanitiser system (100) is configured dynamically for the lower and upper thresholds limits from a Mobile APP based on the specific requirements of a dispensing station.

9. The Smart Hand Sanitiser system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the Smart Hand Sanitiser system (100) is configured dynamically with respect to the different alert types of Audio (Beeps), Visual (LEDs).

10. The Smart Hand Sanitiser system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the Smart Hand Sanitiser system (100) is configured dynamically with respect to the duration and frequency (1Sec in every 5 Sec) different alert types of Audio (Beeps), Visual (LEDs).

Dated this the 19th May of 2020

Anugu Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy (IN/PA-2420)
Patent Agent for the Applicant