IP Library Granted Patent US 12,568,141
Granted Patent B2
US 12,568,141 · App. 18/451,570 · Granted Mar 3, 2026

Battery powered end point device for IoT applications

Inventors: Arindam Chakraborty (Milwaukee, WI); Richard Ryer (Milwaukee, WI); Brandon Feil (Milwaukee, WI)
Assignee: Zurn Water, LLC
H04L67/12H02J7/0063H04L67/10
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,568,141
App. No.
18/451,570
Granted
Mar 3, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Methods and systems of monitoring and managing a facility including a plurality of end point devices. One system includes an end point device including an electronic processor, the electronic processor powered by an energy source local to the end point device. The electronic processor is configured to receive data from at least one electro-mechanical element of a fixture associated with the facility, the data related to an operation of the fixture. The electronic processor is also configured to convert the data pursuant to a networking protocol. The electronic processor is also configured to enable, over a network associated with the networking protocol, transmission of the converted data for virtual processing.

Claims (37)

1 . An end point device associated with a facility, the end point device comprising:

a first energy source connected to the end point device; and

an electronic processor powered by the first energy source, the electronic processor configured to:

receive fixture data related to an operation of a fixture associated with the end point device from at least one electro-mechanical element of the fixture;

convert the fixture data; and

enable-transmission of the converted fixture data for processing to determine fixture usage information.

2 . The end point device of claim 1 , wherein data conversion and transmission are pursuant to and over a LoRa networking protocol.

3 . The end point device of claim 1 , wherein the fixture is a faucet, a flushometer, a flush valve, a soap dispenser, a handwashing system, a water service line monitor, a backflow preventer, a floor drain, a hand dryer, a pressure sensor, a water use sensor, a flow sensor, a valve sensor, a lavatory, a toilet, a urinal, a water closet, a bottle and glass filler, a drain, a drinking water fountain, an air or room quality sensor, a backflow preventer, a leak detection sensor, an occupancy detection sensor, or a resource dispenser.

4 . The end point device of claim 1 , wherein the electronic processor is configured to transmit the data for processing via a gateway device of the facility.

5 . The end point device of claim 1 , usage information includes usage patterns.

6 . The end point device of claim 1 , wherein the end point device includes an energy source holder for receiving the first energy source, and wherein the energy source holder and the first energy source are positioned within a housing having a lid portion.

7 . The end point device of claim 6 , wherein the lid portion is configured to enable access to the energy source holder and the first energy source.

8 . The end point device of claim 1 , wherein the first energy source is at least one of a replaceable battery, a rechargeable battery, and a lithium-ion battery.

9 . The end point device of claim 1 , wherein the converted fixture data is transmitted through an adaptable data rate.

10 . The end point device of claim 1 , wherein the end point device is configured to transmit the converted fixture data in a minimum power consumption mode.

11 . A system for monitoring and managing a facility comprising:

a plurality of fixtures;

a plurality of electro-mechanical elements, wherein at least one electro-mechanical element is associated with at least one fixture of the plurality of fixtures; and

a plurality of end point devices, each end point device associated with at least one electro-mechanical element of the plurality of electro-mechanical elements and at least one fixture of the plurality of fixtures, wherein each end point device includes an electronic processor powered by an energy source, and wherein the electronic processor is configured to:

receive fixture data from the at least one electro-mechanical element of the fixture associated with the end point device, the fixture data related to an operation of the fixture;

convert the fixture data; and

enable-transmission of the converted data for processing to determine usage information.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the electronic processor is configured to transmit the converted fixture data to a facility device, the facility device configured to forward the converted data to a remote device for processing.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the remote device is a central cloud-based database.

14 . The system of claim 11 , wherein data conversion and transmission are pursuant to and over a LoRa networking protocol.

15 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the electronic processor is further configured to monitor an energy level of the energy source local to the end point device and, in response to detecting a predetermined energy level, generate a low energy level alert.

16 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the electronic processor is further configured to monitor an energy level of the energy source local to the end point device and generate a graphical indicator of the energy level.

17 . A method for monitoring and managing a facility, the method comprising:

communicatively coupling an end point device to a fixture that is associated with a facility;

powering, with an energy source, one or more components of the end point device;

receiving, with an electronic processor of the end point device, fixture data from at least one electro-mechanical element of a fixture associated with the facility, wherein the fixture data is associated with an operation of the fixture;

converting, with the electronic processor, the fixture data;

transmitting the converted fixture data for processing; and

analyzing the fixture data to determine usage information of the fixture and the associated facility, wherein the analyzing includes determining an occurrence of an event.

18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising mounting the end point device to the fixture.

19 . The method of claim 17 , wherein transmitting the converted fixture data for processing includes transmitting the converted fixture data to a facility device, the facility device configured to collect data associated with a facility and forward the fixture data associated with the facility to a remote device for processing.

20 . The method of claim 17 further comprising, in response to determining the occurrence of an event, generating an alert.

Assignments (6)
NOTICE OF SUCCESSION OF AGENCY OF REEL/FRAME 066293/0879 Recorded Feb 20, 2026
From: UBS AG, STAMFORD BRANCH, AS PRIOR AGENT (F/K/A CREDIT SUISSE AG, CAYMAN ISLANDS BRANCH)
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS SUCCESSOR AGENT
Reel/Frame 074947/0479 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 21, 2025
From: ZURN INDUSTRIES, LLC
To: ZURN WATER, LLC
Reel/Frame 069942/0723 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 12, 2024
From: CHAKRABORTY, ARINDAM; RYER, RICHARD; FEIL, BRANDON
To: ZURN INDUSTRIES, LLC
Reel/Frame 066442/0415 →
CONVERSION Recorded Jan 16, 2024
From: ZURN INDUSTRIES, LLC
To: ZURN INDUSTRIES, LLC
Reel/Frame 066336/0603 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 16, 2024
From: ZURN INDUSTRIES, LLC
To: ZURN WATER, LLC
Reel/Frame 066337/0918 →
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Dec 18, 2023
From: ZURN WATER, LLC
To: CREDIT SUISSE AG, CAYMAN ISLANDS BRANCH, AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT AND COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 066293/0879 →
Continuity (4)
Continuation 17446557 · Aug 31, 2021
Continuation 16953101 · Nov 19, 2020
Provisional Application 63057116 · Jul 27, 2020
Related Publication 20240048618A1 · Feb 8, 2024
References Cited (133)
US 4563780A · Pollack · 1986 [cited by applicant]
US 4805247A · Laverty, Jr. · 1989 [cited by applicant]
US 5175892A · Shaw · 1993 [cited by applicant]
US 5217035A · Van Marcke · 1993 [cited by applicant]
US 5438714A · Shaw · 1995 [cited by applicant]
US 5612890A · Strasser et al. · 1997 [cited by applicant]
US 5655961A · Acres et al. · 1997 [cited by applicant]
US 5838258A · Saar · 1998 [cited by applicant]
US 5844808A · Konsmo et al. · 1998 [cited by applicant]
US 6018827A · Shaw et al. · 2000 [cited by applicant]
US 6038519A · Gauthier et al. · 2000 [cited by applicant]
US 6189163B1 · Van Marcke · 2001 [cited by applicant]
US 6236953B1 · Segal · 2001 [cited by applicant]
US 6337635B1 · Ericksen et al. · 2002 [cited by applicant]
US 6347414B2 · Contadini et al. · 2002 [cited by applicant]
US 6411920B1 · Mcconnell et al. · 2002 [cited by applicant]
US 6583720B1 · Quigley · 2003 [cited by applicant]
US 6691724B2 · Ford · 2004 [cited by applicant]
US 6694177B2 · Eggers et al. · 2004 [cited by applicant]
US 6701194B2 · Gauthier et al. · 2004 [cited by applicant]
US 6749122B1 · Koenck et al. · 2004 [cited by applicant]
US 6766221B1 · Christiansen · 2004 [cited by applicant]
US 6769443B2 · Bush · 2004 [cited by applicant]
US 6802084B2 · Ghertner et al. · 2004 [cited by applicant]
US 6853958B1 · Turin et al. · 2005 [cited by applicant]
US 6854053B2 · Burkhardt et al. · 2005 [cited by applicant]
US 6892746B2 · Ford · 2005 [cited by applicant]
US 6956498B1 · Gauthier et al. · 2005 [cited by applicant]
US 6967565B2 · Lingemann · 2005 [cited by applicant]
US 7023341B2 · Stilp · 2006 [cited by applicant]
US 7053767B2 · Petite et al. · 2006 [cited by applicant]
US 7058457B2 · Kuwahara et al. · 2006 [cited by applicant]
US 7119658B2 · Stilp · 2006 [cited by applicant]
US 7143007B2 · Long et al. · 2006 [cited by applicant]
US 7177725B2 · Nortier et al. · 2007 [cited by applicant]
US 7222111B1 · Budike, Jr. · 2007 [cited by applicant]
US 7304569B2 · Marcichow · 2007 [cited by applicant]
US 7360413B2 · Jeffries et al. · 2008 [cited by applicant]
US 7814582B2 · Reddy et al. · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 8028355B2 · Reeder et al. · 2011 [cited by applicant]
US 8364546B2 · Yenni et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 9169625B2 · Chiu et al. · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 9266136B2 · Klicpera · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 9429453B1 · O'Keeffe et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 9582581B2 · Ferrara et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 9817383B1 · Sinha · 2017 [cited by examiner]
US 9939299B2 · Patel et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 9963863B2 · Allard, III · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 10264588B2 · Wegelin et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 10329744B2 · Abdel-Fattah et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 10361802B1 · Hoffberg-Borghesani et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 10430737B2 · Yenni et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 10504355B2 · Wegelin et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 10514110B2 · Allard, III · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 10527191B2 · Bush et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 10529167B2 · Khamphilapanyo et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 10529219B2 · Herdt et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 10532920B2 · Slater et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 10655967B2 · Wegelin et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 10687340B2 · Wegelin et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 10921381B2 · Karner · 2021 [cited by examiner]
US 11108865B1 · Chakraborty et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 20020099454A1 · Gerrity · 2002 [cited by applicant]
US 20020190868A1 · Dearborn et al. · 2002 [cited by applicant]
US 20060208862A1 · Lahr et al. · 2006 [cited by applicant]
US 20070038333A1 · Dadebo et al. · 2007 [cited by applicant]
US 20080177411A1 · Marsh et al. · 2008 [cited by applicant]
US 20080228904A1 · Crespo-Dubie et al. · 2008 [cited by applicant]
US 20080245738A1 · Coulter · 2008 [cited by applicant]
US 20100114383A1 · Rosca et al. · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 20100121613A1 · Rosca et al. · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 20100164736A1 · Byers et al. · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 20110113360A1 · Johnson et al. · 2011 [cited by applicant]
US 20110210077A1 · Coulter · 2011 [cited by applicant]
US 20120044350A1 · Verfuerth · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 20140236358A1 · Sasaki et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 20150229488A1 · Averitt · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 20150308856A1 · Srinivasan et al. · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 20150373482A1 · Barnard et al. · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 20160216706A1 · Christensen et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20160258144A1 · Tayenaka et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20160261425A1 · Horton et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20160291841A1 · Mudireddy et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20170005982A1 · Gould et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170006051A1 · Gould et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170038224A1 · O'Keeffe et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170126489A1 · Schiff et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170129383A1 · Bika et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170223807A1 · Recker · 2017 [cited by examiner]
US 20170264731A1 · Breton et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20180198639A1 · Ishizaka · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20180232422A1 · Park · 2018 [cited by examiner]
US 20180234519A1 · Boyapalle · 2018 [cited by examiner]
US 20180262573A1 · Przybylski et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20180354777A1 · Slater et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20190001863A1 · Taylor · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20190045033A1 · Agerstam · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 20190351442A1 · Mcnulty et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20190353278A1 · Bush et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20190354535A1 · Amin et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20190359477A1 · Wegelin et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20190360184A1 · Lawinger · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20190362617A1 · Bonner et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20200097030A1 · Carlson · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 20200098199A1 · Bullock · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 20200099679A1 · Carlson · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 20200124494A1 · Solomon et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 20200140254A1 · Slater et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 20200141773A1 · Burke et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 20200145257A1 · Samudrala et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 20200232832A1 · Burke · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 20200314866A1 · Wegelin et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 20200358852A1 · Burke et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 20200404357A1 · Kulkarni et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 20210144210A1 · Kolhapure et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 20210225159A1 · Grobelny et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 20210324828A1 · Williams · 2021 [cited by examiner]
US 20210376587A1 · Martin et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
CN 208922102U · 2019 [cited by applicant]
EP 3930291B1 · 2024 [cited by examiner]
JP 2002021149A · 2002 [cited by applicant]
WO 9641058A1 · 1996 [cited by applicant]
WO 02056540A2 · 2002 [cited by applicant]
Lutron, “What is Lighting Control System”, Product Literature 366-396h, Publicly available prior to Nov. 19, 2020, (19 Pages). [cited by applicant]
Claude A Wiatrowski “Microprocessor Restroom Robot,” Computer Design The Magazine of Digital Electronics, Apr. 1977, pp. 98-100, (3 pages). [cited by applicant]
Lighting Answers, “Controlling Lighting with Building Automation Systems,” vol. 4, No. 1, May 1997, <https://www.lightingassociates.orii/u/2127806/f/tech _sheets/Lighting_ Control.pelf>, (8 pages). [cited by applicant]
Yui-May L. Chang and James Y. Shih, “Microprocessor Applications and Building Control Systems to Achieve Energy Conservation,” U.S. Department of Commerce and National Bureau of Standards, Jul. 1980, <https://www.govinf… [cited by applicant]
Johnson Controls, “Metasys® for Validated Environments (MVE),” Product Bulletin, Dec. 15, 2001, (13 pages). [cited by applicant]
GE, “Lightsweep Lighing Control System,” Product Literature, Dec. 8, 2015, (12 Pages). [cited by applicant]
Trane, “Tracer™ SC System Controller for Tracer Building Automated Systems,” Product Catalog, PIN BAS-PRC031-EH, Jun. 10, 2013, (27 Pages). [cited by applicant]
Lutron, “Quantum Unlimited Capability for High-Performance Buildings,” Product Literature, PIN 367-1321, Apr. 2018, (20 Pages). [cited by applicant]
Acuitycontrols, “SensorView Manual,” Nov. 3, 2015, (123 Pages). [cited by applicant]
Acuitycontrols, “nLIGHT Network Lighting Control,” Copyright 2014, (78 Pages). [cited by applicant]