Patents by Inventor Randall O. Watkins

Randall O. Watkins has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 6523744
    Abstract: A fuel dispenser having a server is disclosed. The fuel dispenser server is adapted to dynamically or periodically create electronic documents reflecting fuel dispenser data for viewing remote to the fuel dispenser. A network connection provides connectivity of the server to remote clients. The fuel dispenser with a server is relatively inexpensive to produce and is ideally suited for remote troubleshooting and for interaction with a dispenser customer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2003
    Assignee: Gilbarco Inc.
    Inventors: William C. Royal, Jr., Randall O. Watkins
  • Patent number: 6360137
    Abstract: The present invention provides communication servers at each device in a fueling environment and connecting the servers to a common network. The network may be a local network or a largely remote network, such as the Internet. Preferably, in either embodiment, primary communications between these devices and any devices accessible via the Internet use the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) and hypertext markup language (HTML). In particular, each device server is adapted to facilitate real-time access between the device server and the remote device upon access of a particular page, script or function. In particular, the present invention relates to embedding executable content onto an HTML page so that when the page is loaded into an HTML browser after being accessed, the executable content starts running automatically.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2002
    Assignee: Marconi Commerce Systems Inc.
    Inventors: William C. Royal, Jr., Randall O. Watkins
  • Patent number: 6296148
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for detecting tampering with a fuel dispenser digital pulse stream during dispensing of a fuel. The method includes generating a digital pulse stream indicative of the volume and flow rate of fuel dispensed wherein the pulse stream includes an identifying pulse anomaly; storing a digital pulse stream signature in a memory device wherein the stored signature includes the identifying pulse anomaly; comparing the incoming digital pulse stream with the stored digital pulse stream; and allowing fuel delivery to continue if the incoming digital pulse stream generated by the pulse generator is substantially similar to the stored digital pulse stream signature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2001
    Assignee: Marconi Commerce Systems Inc.
    Inventors: Howard M. Myers, John J. Ronchetti, Sr., Randall O. Watkins
  • Publication number: 20010000614
    Abstract: A fuel dispenser having a server is disclosed. The fuel dispenser server is adapted to dynamically or periodically create electronic documents reflecting fuel dispenser data for viewing remote to the fuel dispenser. A network connection provides connectivity of the server to remote clients. The fuel dispenser with a server is relatively inexpensive to produce and is ideally suited for remote troubleshooting and for interaction with a dispenser customer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2000
    Publication date: May 3, 2001
    Inventors: William C. Royal, Randall O. Watkins
  • Patent number: 6176421
    Abstract: A fuel dispenser having a server is disclosed. The fuel dispenser server is adapted to dynamically or periodically create electronic documents reflecting fuel dispenser data for viewing remote to the fuel dispenser. A network connection provides connectivity of the server to remote clients. The fuel dispenser with a server is relatively inexpensive to produce and is ideally suited for remote troubleshooting and for interaction with a dispenser customer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2001
    Assignee: Marconi Commerce Systems Inc.
    Inventors: William C. Royal, Jr., Randall O. Watkins
  • Patent number: 6109477
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for detecting tampering with a fuel dispenser digital pulse stream during dispensing of a fuel. The method includes generating a digital pulse stream indicative of the volume and flow rate of fuel dispensed wherein the pulse stream includes an identifying pulse anomaly; storing a digital pulse stream signature in a memory device wherein the stored signature includes the identifying pulse anomaly; comparing the incoming digital pulse stream with the stored digital pulse stream; and allowing fuel delivery to continue if the incoming digital pulse stream generated by the pulse generator is substantially similar to the stored digital pulse stream signature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2000
    Assignee: Marconi Commerce Systems Inc.
    Inventors: Howard M. Myers, John J. Ronchetti, Sr., Randall O. Watkins
  • Patent number: 5980090
    Abstract: The present invention provides communication servers at each device in a fueling environment and connecting the servers to a common network. The network may be a local network or a largely remote network, such as the Internet. Preferably, in either embodiment, primary communications between these devices and any devices accessible via the Internet use the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) and hypertext markup language (HTML). In particular, each device server is adapted to facilitate real-time access between the device server and the remote device upon access of a particular page, script or function. In particular, the present invention relates to embedding executable content onto an HTML page so that when the page is loaded into an HTML browser after being accessed, the executable content starts running automatically.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 9, 1999
    Assignee: Gilbarco., Inc.
    Inventors: William C. Royal, Jr., Randall O. Watkins