An apparatus comprises a passive RFID tag designed to provide information identifying at least one fuel compatible with a vehicle.

A outdoor large item vending system for large items such as propane tanks, liquid petroleum gas cylinders of various sizes and other items that must be stored in and dispensed from a hazardous location compliant system (i.e. a Class I, Division 2 compliant system). The vending system can be placed on a store front, parking lot, campsite, or park, and comprises a main housing having compartments to hold large items such as propane container, which are dispensed from the compartments when a payment is made through a credit card reader interface located in the main housing. The large item vending system of the invention is powered by AC current which is turned to DC power by a power supply, or DC batteries charged by AC power and/or solar power, or by other power means.

An improved control system for a fuel dispenser is disclosed that enables fuel dispensers to process prepaid gas cards based upon a discounted wholesale cost or a non-discounted price that is locked in at the time of the purchase without taking delivery. The control system has access to a snap shot of the regional wholesale gasoline costs across an entire region, such as the US, at the time of purchase of the prepaid gas card. This enables the prepaid gas card to provide a discount on the wholesale cost component of a gallon of gas at any location across the entire region. Since the discount only applies to one component of the retail gas price per gallon; namely, the wholesale gas cost per gallon, the control system automatically calculates a discounted retail gas price at the time and location of delivery based upon the discounted or locked in wholesale cost at the time of purchase of the prepaid gas card. The prepaid gas discount card is received in a magnetic card reader at the fuel dispenser in the same manner as conventional credit cards and provides a wholesaler the ability to create an elastic demand for the gas and regain customer loyalty for gas credit cards.

A vending system consisting of a proprietary Programmable Control Board (PCB), which controls an electrically actuated solenoid valve, igniter, timing unit, flame sensor, main burner, and audible alarm. The PCB interfaces with ancillary cash or cashless vending for the system with associated telemetry, as needed, with Customers or users initiating heat and/or flame distribution through user inputs. Upon successful funding, the PCB initiates an ignition sequence, timed flow, audible alert, and user input through a Human-Machine Interface (HMI), and the telemetry of data, followed by a shutdown sequence. Clean burning fuels such as propane, natural gas, butane and other combustible fuels can be utilized to provide flame and or heat for patio heaters, barbecue grills, camp fire pits in public settings such as parks, restaurants, camp grounds, or other areas where patrons may wish to procure propane flame and heat for cooking, ambiance, and warmth.

Disclosed herein are devices, methods, and systems that useful for allowing consumers to purchase a fluid in limited and/or discrete amounts or volumes, for example as-needed, daily, weekly, etc. In various embodiments, the disclosed devices, systems, and methods provide for an innovative fluid distribution system, including a device that can receive and monitor payment for a discrete amount of fluid, measure the fluid as it flows through the device, and stop fluid flow when the discrete amount of fluid has flowed through the device. The disclosed device may be in communication with a central server for receiving payment from the user, and providing information to the central server of the device's status.

Systems and methods are provided to mitigate flaring of natural gas. A natural gas processing system may process raw natural gas into a fuel gas stream that may be used to power any number of on-site power generation modules. In turn, the power generation modules may convert the fuel gas stream into an electrical output, which may be employed to power any number of distributed computing units housed within one or more mobile data centers. In certain embodiments, the distributed computing units may be adapted to mine cryptocurrency or perform other distributed computing tasks to generate revenue.

Systems and methods are provided to mitigate flaring of natural gas. A natural gas processing system may process raw natural gas into a fuel gas stream that may be used to power any number of on-site power generation modules. In turn, the power generation modules may convert the fuel gas stream into an electrical output, which may be employed to power any number of distributed computing units housed within one or more mobile data centers. In certain embodiments, the distributed computing units may be adapted to mine cryptocurrency or perform other distributed computing tasks to generate revenue.

Methods, systems, and devices for secure payment and providing multimedia at fuel dispensers are provided. In general, a fuel dispenser can include a terminal configured to receive secure information and to show multimedia. The terminal can be configured to switch between a first mode and a second mode. The terminal can include a touchscreen. In the first mode, the touchscreen can have a shield enabled thereon that is configured to reduce a field of view of the touchscreen such that the touchscreen is only visible from specific angle(s). In the second mode, the shield can be disabled such that the touchscreen does not have a reduced field of view.

A pre-staged or in-person provided order is received from a customer location. Order details are sent to a fulfillment terminal and items associated with the order are prepared or collected. The items are loaded into an autonomous device. The autonomous device plans a route from its current location to the customer location and the autonomous device navigates from its current location to the customer location using the route. The customer is verified at the autonomous device and a secure bin is unlocked by the autonomous device. The customer removes the items associated with the order from the unlocked secure bin, and the autonomous device navigates back to its original location within an enterprise.

Methods, systems, apparatus, and non-transitory computer readable media are described for using a vehicle as a payment device. Various aspects may include receiving a selection of a stored financial card or financial account at a vehicle head unit. The selected financial card or financial account may be transmitted to a point-of-sale (POS) terminal for making a payment by transmitting a tokenized card number to the POS terminal. The tokenized card number may be transmitted over a very short-range communication link to ensure that the transmission is secure. For example, electronic circuitry may be attached to the exterior of the vehicle, where the electronic circuitry may be within a threshold distance (e.g. one inch, three inches, six inches, one foot, three feet, etc.) of the POS terminal. The tokenized card number may be transmitted from the vehicle head unit to the electronic circuitry and then to the POS terminal.