A method of making a portion capsule that includes steps of: forming a metal material into a base element that includes: i) a wall extending around a central longitudinal axis to define a cavity, and ii) a rim having a top side and an opposing bottom side; filling the cavity with a beverage material; closing the cavity by attaching a foil cover onto the top side of the rim, the cover being dimensioned and configured to be: i) pierced by the mandrel of the beverage making machine in a piercing region, and ii) sealed by the seal of the beverage making machine in a sealing region; and providing an optically detectable identifier onto the metal material so that the optically detectable identifier results on the bottom side of the rim.

A beverage brewing apparatus including a brewing module, an ingredient providing module, a drink providing module and a control unit is provided. The brewing module is adapted to brew at least one drink and at least one ingredient in a beverage cup. The ingredient providing module is adapted to provide the at least one ingredient into the beverage cup. The drink providing module is adapted to provide the at least one drink into the beverage cup. The control unit is adapted to control the brewing module, the ingredient providing module and the drink providing module according to a brewing procedure corresponding to the at least one drink and the at least one ingredient.

A method for making and/or dispensing a beverage may be provided. For example, a beverage may be selected from a user interface of a beverage dispensing apparatus. A beverage pressure value may be provided. A package containing a beverage preparation ingredient may be inserted into the beverage dispensing apparatus. A type of the inserted package may be detected. A package pressure value for the inserted package may be determined based on the type of the inserted package. If the package pressure value corresponds to the beverage pressure value, the beverage dispensing apparatus may inject a liquid into the inserted package at the beverage pressure value. If the package pressure value does not correspond to the beverage pressure value, the beverage dispensing apparatus may inject the liquid into the inserted package at the package pressure value. The selected beverage and/or the modified beverage may be dispensed into a drinking vessel.

A beverage machine and method in which a pod is positioned relative to a camera as a brew chamber moves to a closed position so the pod can be imaged prior to brew chamber closure. A pod stabilizer may urge a pod to be received by a pod receiver of the brew chamber before the brew chamber is closed and so as to properly position the pod for imaging.

A beverage forming system having a controller arranged to adjust at least one of a set of brew parameters in response to a failure to identify a characteristic of a capsule to be used to form a beverage. An adjusted brew parameter may be a configuration-type parameter that is generally has a fixed value for all or most beverage dispensing operations, or a beverage-specific parameter that may be user-adjusted for each beverage dispensing operation.

Disclosed are a brewing module and its brewing method. The brewing module is combined with a smart brewing machine for use and includes a brewing control module with an inductive identification unit, and a brewing material package unit with a package and an identification member, and the package contains a brewing material, and the identification member is installed onto the package. The inductive identification unit is used for sensing, recognizing and reading the identification member, and the identification member contains information of the brewing material and information and brewing execution information of the brewing material. In this way, the source of brewing material required for the production of a brewed beverage can be ensured, and errors easily caused by human operations can be avoided, so that the quality of the brewed beverage can be consistent.

A barcode, comprising: a code region, comprising at least bright point and a dark point, comprising code information; and a boundary region, formed as a closed shape surrounding the code region. A decoding direction of the code region is not relative to the boundary region. The code information is represented by at least one of: a color sequence, an intensity sequence and a relation between the bright point and the dark point. The present invention also provides a barcode processing system which can process the barcode to generate a control command, and provides a coffee machine using the barcode processing system. The barcode can be easily aligned by a closed boundary region, without using a frame buffer with a large size.

The present invention concerns a capsule (1) for food or beverage preparation having a capsule body defining a compartment for containing a precursor ingredient, the capsule body being a volume with one symmetry plane or one symmetry axis so as to define at least two symmetrical volume segments, the capsule (1) being suitable for coupling any of its body segments to a food or beverage preparation machine (14) for injection of a mixing ingredient from the machine within the capsule, characterized in that the capsule (1) comprises at least two codes (15) each located in one body segment, each code (15) carrying two different alternative values of a same beverage preparation setting.

A barcode, comprising: a code region, comprising at least bright point and a dark point, comprising code information; and a boundary region, formed as a closed shape surrounding the code region. A decoding direction of the code region is not relative to the boundary region. The code information is represented by at least one of: a color sequence, an intensity sequence and a relation between the bright point and the dark point. The present invention also provides a barcode processing system which can process the barcode to generate a control command, and provides a coffee machine using the barcode processing system. The barcode can be easily aligned by a closed boundary region, without using a frame buffer with a large size.

Container for a beverage preparation machine or foodstuff preparation machine, the container for containing beverage or foodstuff material comprises a code encoding preparation information, in particular preparation information for a beverage preparation machine or foodstuff preparation machine to prepare a beverage or a foodstuff with beverage or foodstuff material contained in the container, the code comprising a reference portion and a data portion. The reference portion comprises at least one reference configuration defining a virtual reference line. The data portion comprises a virtual encoding line intersecting the virtual reference line at a virtual intersection point and a sequence of data units comprising at least two data units aligned at a distance from each other along the virtual encoding line for encoding a sequence of operations of the preparation information. Each data unit of the sequence of data units encodes an operation of the sequence of operations, wherein a relative position of each data unit in the sequence of data units encodes a nature of the encoded operation and wherein a distance between the data unit and the virtual intersection point and/or a distance between the data unit and another data unit of the sequence of data units or of another sequence of data units encodes a value of a condition for the performance of the encoded operation.