Method and system for disposing of discarded items
View Patent ↗An electronic trash disposal unit comprises a control unit which scans and identifies disposed items to store them in an appropriate recycling bin. The unit is connectable to a communication network which updates a central database with the contents of each unit. The unit initiates a reorder instruction to suppliers.
1. A system, comprising:
an input device operatively configured to scan information from an item;
a computer coupled to the input device;
a display device; and
program software stored in memory configured to:
receive a code that corresponds to the scanned item from the input device;
retrieve information from a database that identifies the scanned item based at least in part on the code;
display the information retrieved from the database on the display device;
read user specified preference information on when a re-order is to be placed, wherein the user specified preference information specifies a supplier preference;
generate a re-order instruction for the scanned item at least partly in response to the user specified preference information.
2. The system as defined in claim 1 , further comprising a waste receptacle.
3. The system as defined in claim 1 , further comprising a coded liner corresponding to a type of recyclable.
4. The system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the input device is configured to read a magnetically encoded label.
5. The system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the input device is a barcode scanner.
6. The system as defined in claim 1 , further comprising an interface that can be coupled to a personal digital assistant, wherein the system is configured to transfer via the interface information to a personal digital assistant.
7. The system as defined in claim 1 , further comprising a wireless communication link coupled to an antenna and used to communicate with a communications network.
8. A system, comprising:
an input device operatively configured to scan information from an item;
a computer coupled to the input device;
a display device; and
program software stored in memory configured to:
receive a code that corresponds to the scanned item from the input device;
retrieve information from a database that identifies the scanned item based at least in part on the code;
display the information retrieved from the database on the display device;
read user specified preference information on when a re-order is to be placed;
generate a re-order instruction for the scanned item at least partly in response to the user specified preference information,
wherein the user specified preference information specifies that a reorder is to be placed when the value of the reorder reaches at least a first amount.
9. A system, comprising:
an input device operatively configured to scan information from an item;
a computer coupled to the input device;
a display device; and
program software stored in memory configured to:
receive a code that corresponds to the scanned item from the input device;
retrieve information from a database that identifies the scanned item based at least in part on the code;
display the information retrieved from the database on the display device;
read user specified preference information on when a re-order is to be placed;
generate a re-order instruction for the scanned item at least partly in response to the user specified preference information,
wherein the user specified preference information specifies that a reorder is to be placed at specified time intervals.