BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] A Smart Self-Cleaning toilet seat and sanitising system having manifold housing assembly, an electrical system, a liquid matter system, an assembly of UV lights, an assembly comprising nozzles, valves, pumps and control mechanism and a toilet seat and cover mounting assembly. Extending from this toilet seat and cover mounting assembly is a liquid matter assembly. When the liquid matter system is activated, liquid matter is delivered through nozzle pipes and nozzles with a predetermined pressure onto the toilet seat assembly to clean and disinfect. When the UV light assembly is activated, UV light source is directed through the cover assembly to sanitise the toilet seat assembly.

The present invention is in the technical field of Automation and Internet of Things (IOT).

[0002] The present invention relates to smart toilet systems, and more particularly, to a semi automatic toilet seat cleaning and sanitising system with a computerised maintenance management system.

[0003] Difficulties to employ or lack of cleaners to maintain a clean toilet has been a problem for many properties maintenance managers. To address this problem, cleaning automation and increase efficiency in toilet maintenance is necessary.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] The present invention is a Smart Self-Cleaning toilet seat cleaning and sanitising system having a housing assembly, an electrical system, a liquid matter system, an assembly of UV lights, an assembly comprising nozzles, valves, pumps and control mechanism and a manifold mounting frame assembly.

[0005] After every usage, the toilet seat cover will be closed automatically, and the toilet seat will be programmed to be sanitized with UV light ray. UV light ray has the property to breakdown bacteria DNA and thereby eliminating it.

[0006] Before a user use the toilet seat, the liquid matter system is manually activated, liquid matter is delivered through connecting pipes and nozzles with a predetermined pressure onto the toilet seat assembly to clean and disinfect.

[0007] Cleaning supervisors are automatically alerted by the inbuilt IOT and cloud-based diagnostic, scheduling, job tracking and stock control management services.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

With the above and other related objects in view, the invention consists in the details of construction and combination of parts as will be more fully understood from the following description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

[0008] FIG. 1 is an isometric view of the invention with its cover and seat assembly in a closed position and installed onto a standard toilet. FIG 1.1 is an isometric view of the same invention installed in a standard urinal.

[0009] FIG 2 is a side plan view of the invention with its cover and seat assembly in an open position and installed onto the standard toilet.

[0010] FIG 3 is an underneath view of the cover assembly exposing the connecting secondary liquid matter well, connecting pipes and nozzles.

[0011] FIG 4 is partial cross section isometric view of the toilet seat assembly exposing the secondary liquid matter well assembly.

[0012] FIG 5 is a operation flow chart illustrating the cleaning and sanitization process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The technology disclosed herein, in accordance with one or more various embodiments, is described in detail with reference to the accompanying figures. The drawings are provided for purposes of illustration only and merely depict typical or example embodiments of the disclosed technology. These drawings are provided to facilitate the reader’s understanding of the disclosed technology and shall not be considered limiting of the breadth, scope, or applicability thereof. It should be noted that for clarity and ease of illustration these drawings are not necessarily made to scale.

[0013] Referring to the invention in more detail, Fig. 1 show the invention installed on a standard toilet bowl. The invention consists of a cover and seat assembly. On the top of the cover assembly is a manual sanitizing activator. When activated manually, a controlled amount of sanitizing liquid matter is drawn from a secondary well and dispensed to the seat assembly via an array of connecting pipes and nozzles. In another embodiment, the activator can also be programed to activate automatically when the electrical circuitry sense that the cover is in a close position and/or when a user is within a predetermined range from the toilet seat.

The cover assembly and/or consist of a display LED to alert users of the cleaning process.

The cover assembly is connected to a liquid matter dispenser. The liquid matter dispenser senses the volume of liquid in the secondary well and dispense liquid to fill up the well. When the liquid matter dispenser is near a predetermine volume, it activates the electronic circuitry. The electronic circuitry will then process the input and sent alerts to the central server system. The liquid may contain self-drying and sanitation agents so that when dispensed, it will auto cleanse and disinfect the seat assembly.

The cover assembly may also include a handle for user to lift the cover.

In another embodiment, sensors may be included to detect user presences and the cover can be lifted automatically when the sanitizing process is completed.

The cover and seat assembly invention are not restricted to a standard toilet bowl. In another embodiment as illustrated in Fig 1.1, it is installed on a urinal, thereby turning the urinal into a Smart Self-Cleaning urinal. The various embodiments disclosed herein are described in terms of the parties and the example depicted in Fig 1. However, the applicability of the disclosed invention is not limited to a standard toilet bowl. In the example illustrated in figure 1, the invention is illustrated as a smart self-cleaning toilet seat. However, as one of ordinary skill will appreciate after reading this document, the invention can be extended to urinals or other systems. The described herein are not limited to toilet bowl or other like devices.

[0012] The hardware setup show in Fig 2 shows in detail how a solenoid is deployed to close the cover assembly. When the proximity sensors have detected that the user has left the toilet, the circuitry will activate a solenoid. This solenoid will push the toilet cover assembly down and thereby closing the cover.

In another embodiment, the solenoid is replaced by an electrically controlled hinge where the closing of the cover assembly is triggered by an input from the electrical circuit.

[0013] Fig 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the cover assembly with which embodiments of the inventions and methods described herein may be implemented. In one embodiment, the cover assembly consists a secondary liquid matter well, multiple nozzles and an array of connecting pipes to carry the liquid matter from the well to the nozzles. When the manual sanitizing activator is triggered, the liquid matter will be dispersed from the secondary well to the nozzles via the connecting pipes.

In other embodiments, the secondary well may be replaced by a self-dispensing liquid matter mechanism that triggers the nozzles to dispense liquid when it is activated manually or electrically.

Nonetheless, to provide context and for clarity of description, the embodiments described in this document are described in terms of a method to dispense liquid to the nozzles via an array of connecting tubes when triggered.

In the same cover assembly, Ultraviolet-C (UV-C) lamps are installed to sanitize the seat assembly when the cover is in a close position. UV-C lights have sanitization and ozonation properties that are able to kill or inactivate micro-organisms by destroying and disrupting their DNA, leaving them unable to perform vital cellular functions. In one embodiment, when the cover assembly is a close position, the UV -C lamps are automatically activated. The lights duration may be controlled by a pre-programmed process. A safety‘kill switch’ may also be installed to disable the UV-C lamps when the cover is opened manually or when the process has been completed.

[0014] Fig 4 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a secondary liquid matter well assembly. The secondary well holds the liquid matter before being dispersed to the nozzles when being triggered either manually or electrically.

In other embodiments, the secondary well is replaced by other mechanism that draws the liquid matter directly from the liquid matter dispenser and disperse to the nozzles. Manual activation or electrical circuitry may be installed to for this process.

[0015] Fig 5 is a flow chart to show how the invention can be operated. At operation 501, when user is near the invention, sensors will sense the proximity of the user. The toilet cover is in a close position. A welcome message is displayed visually or played back to provide instructions to user. In other embodiments, this sensing input may trigger another mechanism to release refreshing scents.

With the cover assembly closed at Operation 502, user activates the liquid matter activator to dispense cleansing liquid to the seat assembly. The cover assembly is then manually or electrically lifted up and ready for use.

When user has finished using the toilet at Operation 503, the sensors detect it and close the cover by triggering the solenoid. Once the cover assembly has been closed, the UV-C lamps are activated to sanitize the seat assembly and the entire toilet. The UV-C sanitization and ozonation process will continue process until the next user use the toilet. In other embodiments, the UV-C sanitization and ozonation operation is electronically controlled to optimize the process.

Operation 504 illustrates that usage data can be logged and collected by the electrical circuit. These data can then be transmitted to a central server to be processed.

[0015] As used herein, a circuit might be implemented utilizing any form of hardware, software, or a combination thereof. For example, one or more processors, controllers, ASICs, PLAs, PALs, CPLDs, FPGAs, logical components, software routines or other mechanisms might be implemented to make up a circuit. In implementation, the various circuits described herein might be implemented as discrete circuits or the functions and features described can be shared in part or in total among one or more circuits. In other words, as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after reading this description, the various features and functionality described herein may be implemented in any given application and can be implemented in one or more separate or shared circuits in various combinations and permutations. Even though various features or elements of functionality may be individually described or claimed as separate circuits, one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that these features and functionality can be shared among one or more common circuits, and such description shall not require or imply that separate circuits are required to implement such features or functionality.

[0016] Where circuits are implemented in whole or in part using software, in one embodiment, these software elements can be implemented to operate with a computing or processing system capable of carrying out the functionality described with respect thereto.

[0017] Referring now to Fig 5, central server may represent, for example, computing or processing capabilities found within desktop, laptop and notebook computers; hand-held computing devices (smart phones, cell phones, palmtops, tablets, etc.); mainframes, supercomputers, workstations or servers; or any other type of special-purpose or general- purpose computing devices as may be desirable or appropriate for a given application or environment. Central sever might also represent computing capabilities embedded within or otherwise available to a given device. For example, a computing system might be found in other electronic devices such as, for example, cellular telephones, portable computing devices, modems, routers, WAPs, terminals and other electronic devices that might include some form of processing capability.

[0017] In alternative embodiments, electrical circuitry found in the invention might include other similar instrumentalities for allowing computer programs or other instructions or data to be loaded into computing system. Such instrumentalities might include, for example, a fixed or removable storage unit and an interface. Examples of such storage units and interfaces can include a program cartridge and cartridge interface, a removable memory (for example, a flash memory or other removable memory module) and memory slot, a flash drive and associated slot (for example, a USB drive), a PCMCIA slot and card, and other fixed or removable storage units and interfaces that allow software and data to be transferred from the storage unit to computing system.

Computing system 1600 might also include a communications interface. Communications interface might be used to allow software and data to be transferred between computing system and external devices. Examples of communications interface might include a modem or softmodem, a network interface (such as an Ethernet, network interface card, WiMedia, IEEE 802.XX, Bluetooth® or other interface), a communications port (such as for example, a USB port, IR port, RS232 port, or other port), or other communications interface. Software and data transferred via communications interface might typically be carried on signals, which can be electronic, electromagnetic (which includes optical) or other signals capable of being exchanged by a given communications interface. These signals might be provided to communications interface via a channel. This channel might carry signals and might be implemented using a wired or wireless communication medium. Some examples of a channel might include a phone line, a cellular link, an RF link, an optical link, a network interface, a local or wide area network, and other wired or wireless communications channels.

[0017] While various embodiments of the disclosed technology have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not of limitation. Likewise, the various diagrams may depict an example architectural or other configuration for the disclosed technology, which is done to aid in understanding the features and functionality that can be included in the disclosed technology. The disclosed technology is not restricted to the illustrated example architectures or configurations, but the desired features can be implemented using a variety of alternative architectures and configurations. Indeed, it will be apparent to one of skill in the art how alternative functional, logical or physical partitioning and configurations can be implemented to implement the desired features of the technology disclosed herein. Also, a multitude of different constituent module names other than those depicted herein can be applied to the various partitions. Additionally, with regard to flow diagrams, operational descriptions and method claims, the order in which the steps are presented herein shall not mandate that various embodiments be implemented to perform the recited functionality in the same order unless the context dictates otherwise. [0018] Although the disclosed invention is described above in terms of various exemplary embodiments and implementations, it should be understood that the various features, aspects and functionality described in one or more of the individual embodiments are not limited in their applicability to the particular embodiment with which they are described, but instead can be applied, alone or in various combinations, to one or more of the other embodiments of the disclosed invention, whether or not such embodiments are described and whether or not such features are presented as being a part of a described embodiment. Thus, the breadth and scope of the technology disclosed herein should not be limited by any of the above -described exemplary embodiments.

[0019] Terms and phrases used in this document, and variations thereof, unless otherwise expressly stated, should be construed as open ended as opposed to limiting. As examples of the foregoing: the term“including” should be read as meaning“including, without limitation” or the like; the term“example” is used to provide exemplary instances of the item in discussion, not an exhaustive or limiting list thereof; the terms“a” or“an” should be read as meaning“at least one,”“one or more” or the like; and adjectives such as“conventional,” “traditional,”“normal,”“standard,”“known” and terms of similar meaning should not be construed as limiting the item described to a given time period or to an item available as of a given time, but instead should be read to encompass conventional, traditional, normal, or standard technologies that may be available or known now or at any time in the future. Likewise, where this document refers to inventions that would be apparent or known to one of ordinary skill in the art, such inventions encompass those apparent or known to the skilled artisan now or at any time in the future. Additionally, the various embodiments set forth herein are described in terms of exemplary block diagrams, flow charts and other illustrations. As will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after reading this document, the illustrated embodiments and their various alternatives can be implemented without confinement to the illustrated examples. For example, block diagrams and their accompanying description should not be construed as mandating a particular architecture or configuration.