Granted Patent B2

US 12,270,190 · App. 18/087,307 · Granted Apr 8, 2025

Inventor: Charles Dylan Grody (Potomac, MD)

Assignee: Hydraze, Inc.

E03D5/12G05B19/416G05B2219/37371

Abstract

Claims (55)

1. A method for controlling actuations of an automatic toilet flushing mechanism, the method comprising:

acquiring and storing a manual flush timestamp in association with each occurrence of a manual flush of a toilet in a toilet stall;

acquiring and storing a latch open timestamp in association with each unlatching of the door latch configured on a door of the toilet stall;

acquiring and storing a latch close timestamp in association with each latching of the door latch;

comparing the manual flush timestamp, the latch open timestamp, and the latch close timestamp to generate a stall use profile;

determining whether to actuate an Automatic Flushing of the toilet based on the stall use profile.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

triggering an Automatic Flush of the toilet at the determined time to flush; and

recording an Automatic Flush timestamp in association with the triggering.

3. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

determining a beginning time and an end time of a stall usage of the toilet stall based on the stall latch open timestamp and the latch close timestamp.

4. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

computing whether to forgo an Automatic Flush based on a comparison of the most recent manual flush timestamp with the latch open timestamp and/or the latch closed timestamp; and

negating an Automatic Flush actuation in response to computing that the Automatic Flush should be forgone.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

recording a number of stall uses during which a manual flush did not negate an Automatic Flush in response to the computing whether to forgo the Automatic Flush.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

determining whether a water volume per flush of the toilet should be adjusted based on the number of stall uses during which the manual flush did not negate an Automatic Flush of the toilet.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

adjusting water volume per flush automatically via a pre-programmed set of instructions in response to determining that the water volume per flush of the toilet should be adjusted.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

recording an amount of each water volume per flush adjustment.

9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

generating a notification to a facilities manager in response to determining that the water volume per flush of the toilet should be adjusted.

10. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

comparing a plurality of the latch open timestamps and/or the latch close timestamps with each other to determine a duration of a usage cycle of the toilet stall.

11. The method of claim 10 , comprising:

determining whether the duration of the usage cycle is within a predetermined range; and

triggering an Automatic Flush of the toilet at the determined time to flush only if the usage cycle is within the predetermined range.

12. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

comparing a plurality of the latch open timestamps and/or the latch close timestamps with each other to determine if an accidental latching or unlatching event has occurred, wherein the accidental latching or unlatching event is not associated with an intended latching or unlatching of the toilet stall door; and

negating a redundant Automatic Flush actuation in response to determining that an accidental latching or unlatching event has occurred.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the stall use profile comprises a start time and an end time of each stall use.

14. The method of claim 13 , comprising:

computing an average number of flushes per stall usage cycle based on the stall use profile.

15. The method of claim 14 , comprising:

comparing the average number of flushes per stall for a plurality of toilet stalls.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of toilet stalls are configured with different types of Automatic Flushing mechanisms.

17. The method of claim 15 , comprising:

performing a machine learning process to determine when to flush and how much water to use per flush based on the stall use profile and the average number of flushes per stall.

18. An apparatus for controlling actuations of an automatic toilet flushing mechanism, the apparatus comprising:

a processor;

memory in communication with the processor;

a toilet stall latch in communication with the processor, the toilet stall latch configured to communicate latch open event data and latch close event data to the processor for storage in the memory;

a toilet flush actuator in communication with the processor, the toilet flush actuator configured to automatically flush a toilet in response to an actuation signal from the processor;

a toilet flush sensor in communication with the processor, the toilet flush sensor configured to communicate toilet flush event data to the processor for storage in the memory;

wherein the processor is configured to implement a method for controlling actuations of an automatic toilet flushing mechanism, the method comprising:

acquiring and storing a manual flush timestamp in association with each occurrence of a manual flush of a toilet in a toilet stall;

acquiring and storing a latch open timestamp in association with each unlatching of the door latch configured on a door of the toilet stall;

acquiring and storing a latch close timestamp in association with each latching of the door latch;

comparing the manual flush timestamp, the latch open timestamp, and the latch close timestamp to generate a stall use profile;

determining whether to actuate an Automatic Flushing of the toilet based on the stall use profile.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the processor is configured to implement the method for controlling actuations of an automatic toilet flushing mechanism, and wherein the method further comprises:

triggering an Automatic Flush of the toilet at the determined time to flush; and

recording an Automatic Flush timestamp in association with the triggering.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (5)

References Cited (58)