Disclosed are embodiments of a beverage dispensing system that controls the flow of beverage based on information acquisitioned from a marker associated with a vessel for the beverage. The system utilizes a switching apparatus located in the tap of the dispensing unit that can selectively enable mechanical connection between the hand lever of the tap and the stem based on the information acquisitioned. Some embodiments include a hand tilt device for automatically controlling the flow of beverage, and a vessel tilt device to adjusting the tilt of the vessel so as to achieve a preferred pour.

A drink vending apparatus comprises a housing, one or more ingredient cartridges removably coupled to the housing, a mixing container, a dispensing nozzle, and a control unit. A user provides user commands from a smart device to the control unit that comprises drink requests from the user. In response thereto, ingredients are dispensed from one or more of the ingredient cartridges into the mixing container, and the mixed ingredients are dispensed from the mixing container into a receptacle.

The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for parallel and scalable processing of messages containing telemetry data at an administrator system. The administrator system can receive a large number of messages containing telemetry data from many dispenser machines in a short amount of time. To receive and process those messages, the systems and methods of the present disclosure provide a message queuer to queue the messages (or at least the telemetry data in the messages) in a plurality of queues and a different thread or process for each of the plurality of queues. Each thread or process can pull messages out of its assigned queue in order and process the telemetry data of the messages. The threads or processes can run on one or more central processing unit cores at the administrator system. This setup allows for horizontal scaling in terms of message processing throughput.

A controlled pourer that may include a locking mechanism for locking the controlled pourer to a bottle; a communication module; a flow control mechanism that is configured to control an output of fluid, during a liquid consumption iteration, from the bottle under a control of one or more commands received by the communication module; and a flow meter for monitoring an amount of fluid outputted by the flow control mechanism during the fluid consumption iteration. The communication module is configured to output information regarding the amount of fluid consumed during the fluid consumption operation. Once locked to the bottle the controller pourer prevents a bypass of the fluid control mechanism.

A system, method and device for monitoring fluid dispensing are described. The method includes coupling a plurality of sensors to a valve of a fluid dispensing assembly, wherein the valve is configured to operate in either a first state or a second state to control fluid flow from the inlet to the outlet. A change of a state of the valve is detected from the first state to the second state from the second state back to the first state. The detected data from the detected sequence of triggering events, a time duration and a predetermined flow rate may be transmitted through a wireless transceiver, to one or both of an external user device and a remote central monitoring unit for a determination of a volume V of fluid being dispensed.

A drink vending apparatus comprises a housing, one or more ingredient cartridges removably coupled to the housing, a mixing container, a dispensing nozzle, and a control unit. A user provides user commands from a smart device to the control unit that comprises drink requests from the user. In response thereto, ingredients are dispensed from one or more of the ingredient cartridges into the mixing container, and the mixed ingredients are dispensed from the mixing container into a receptacle.

Beverage shrinkage monitoring technology is disclosed and is used to reduce beverage shrinkage at bars, clubs, restaurants, and other establishments that dispense beverages. Bottles are topped with wireless (RFID/Bluetooth/WiFi) enabled liquor/wine nozzles that only pour when handled by appropriate staff members who wear RFID wristbands or bracelets. The wireless (RFID/Bluetooth/WiFi) enabled liquor/wine nozzles also report sales to a point of sales (POS) system. Beer taps include proprietary wireless (RFID/Bluetooth/WiFi) enabled beer tap adapters that are mounted to or embedded in the beer taps.

A drink vending apparatus comprises a housing, one or more ingredient cartridges removably coupled to the housing, a mixing container, a dispensing nozzle, and a control unit. A user provides user commands from a smart device to the control unit that comprises drink requests from the user. In response thereto, ingredients are dispensed from one or more of the ingredient cartridges into the mixing container, and the mixed ingredients are dispensed from the mixing container into a receptacle.

The adapter of the present disclosure includes a circuit board with a processor and a switch thereon and a reader or transceiver connected to the board. With the adapter, a technician can retrofit an existing beverage machine to upgrade the dispensing and payment systems associated therewith. Existing beverage machines include a locking circuit that is key-enabled. This circuit allows an owner or technician to selectively allow and prevent beverage and/or ice from being dispensed. A technician can install the adapter of the present disclosure into the existing locking circuit. The board and transceiver of the adapter will detect when a user is authorized to obtain beverages, and close the circuit to enable this. To dispense beverage and/or ice, a user will present a valid credential to the board and transceiver. When no authorized user provides a valid credential, no beverage can be dispensed. The adapter can use a number of communication technologies to determine authorization. The adapter of the present disclosure can also include or work in conjunction with a mobile app on a user's device, that can check with a server to ensure that the user has paid for the beverage. A method of operating a beverage dispensing machine and retrofitting a beverage dispensing machine is also provided.

A drink vending apparatus is disclosed. A user provides user commands from a smart device to a control unit that comprises drink requests from the user. In response thereto, ingredients are dispensed from ingredient cartridges into a mixing container, and the mixed ingredients are dispensed from the mixing container into a receptacle.