SMART BOTTLE

Abstract

Method for monitoring the use of a drinking bottle and a system for carrying out the method. A drinking bottle is designed to detect, on the basis of sensor data of at least one sensor, whether the dispensing of liquid from the drinking bottle is caused by drinking and to distinguish this from dispensing processes which do not represent drinking processes. An evaluation system collects sensor data of the at least one sensor. The evaluation system evaluates this sensor data, and if the dispensing was caused by a drinking process, stores the number of drinking processes and/or the volume of the liquid dispensing caused by drinking.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring use of a drinking bottle comprising: providing an evaluation system with at least one sensor attached to a drinking bottle with a dispensing opening; detecting, with the evaluation system on the basis of sensor data of the at least one sensor, whether the dispensing of liquid from the drinking bottle was caused by drinking and distinguishing this from dispensing processes not caused by drinking processes; collecting, with the evaluation system, sensor data of the at least one sensor; and evaluation, with the evaluation system, the sensor data for detecting whether the dispensing has been caused by drinking and storing the number of drinking processes and/or the volume of the liquid dispensing caused by drinking.

2. The method according to claim 1, further including: detecting at least one property of the liquid on the basis of the sensor data and assigning the liquid to one of at least two groups of liquids on the basis of this property.

3. The method according to claim 1, further including: providing the evaluation system with at least one volume detection sensor attached to the drinking bottle; and using the volume detection sensor to repeatedly measure a liquid volume in the bottle, and calculating, with the evaluation system, the dispensing from the drinking bottle on the basis of a difference between the sensor data, or data derived from the sensor data, before and after the dispensing.

4. The method according to claim 3, further including: providing a level sensor as the volume detector sensor, and sensing the fluid level in the bottle with the level sensor.

5. The method according to claim 1, further including: providing the evaluation system with at least one inclination sensor attached to the drinking bottle; and detecting, with the evaluation system, an inclination of the bottle that allows liquid to flow out through the dispensing opening.

6. The method according to claim 1, further including: storing, with the evaluation system, the detected dispensing from the drinking bottle only as dispensing caused by drinking if a volume flow rate during dispensing is a reasonable drinking flow rate.

7. The method according to claim 1, further including: detecting, with the at least one sensor, whether a user's face is in the vicinity of the dispensing opening; and storing, with the evaluation system, the detected dispensing from the drinking bottle only as dispensing caused by drinking if the user's face was near the dispensing opening during the dispensing.

8. The method according to claim 7, further including: providing a distance sensor as the at least one sensor and using the distance sensor as a liquid level sensor for detecting the liquid level in the drinking bottle.

9. The method according to claim 7, further including: detecting whether the drinking bottle has been opened; and thereafter evaluating the sensor data to determine whether the user's face is in the vicinity of the dispensing opening.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein: the at least one sensor is configured to detect the user swallowing liquid; and the method further includes storing, with the evaluation system, the detected dispensing from the drinking bottle only as dispensing caused by drinking if swallowing has been detected.

11. A system for monitoring the use of a drinking bottle, the system comprising: a drinking bottle; and an evaluation system comprising a bottle evaluation unit attached to the drinking bottle, the bottle evaluation unit comprising at least one sensor configured to provide sensor data, the at least one sensor comprising a face detection sensor or an inclination sensor, the evaluation system being configured to detect, on the basis of the sensor data, whether a dispensing of liquid from the drinking bottle was caused by drinking or whether a dispensing of liquid from the drinking bottle was not caused by drinking, and further being configured to evaluate the sensor data and to store a number of drinking processes and/or a volume of liquid dispensing caused by drinking.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein: the drinking bottle has a bottle body and a closure unit configured for opening and closing; and the bottle evaluation unit is at least partially provided in the closure unit.

13. The system according to claim 11, wherein the system comprises an external evaluation unit as part of the evaluation system, said external evaluation unit being connected wirelessly to the bottle evaluation unit.

14. The method according to claim 2, wherein: the evaluation system has at least one temperature sensor attached to the drinking bottle, and the method includes detecting, with the evaluation system, whether the liquid in the drinking bottle is a cold drink or a hot drink on the basis of sensor data from the temperature sensor.

15. The method according to claim 4, including providing a time-of-flight sensor as the level sensor.

16. The method according to claim 6, further including only storing the dispensing from the drinking bottle as dispensing caused by drinking when an average volume flow rate is below a threshold value.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the threshold value is below 80 ml/sec.

18. The method according to claim 7, wherein the at least one sensor is a temperature sensor.

19. The method according to claim 8, wherein the distance sensor is located on a pivotable lid of the drinking bottle.

20. The method according to claim 10, further including providing an inclination sensor or an acceleration sensor attached to the drinking bottle as the at least one sensor configured to detect the user swallowing liquid.

21. The system according to claim 12, wherein the closure unit includes a pivotable lid and the bottle evaluation unit is at least partially located in the pivotable lid.

22. The system according to claim 13, wherein the external evaluation unit comprises a mobile device including an application for connecting with the bottle evaluation unit via Bluetooth or WiFi and with an external server via the Internet.

23. The system according to claim 11, wherein the at least one sensor comprises a face detection sensor and the face detection sensor comprises a distance sensor or a temperature sensor.

24. The method according to claim 14, further including storing, with the evaluation system, the detected dispensing from the drinking bottle only as dispensing caused by drinking if the dispensed liquid has been identified by the temperature sensor as belonging to one of the at least two groups of liquids.

Description

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0045] Further advantages and aspects of the invention result from the claims and from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, which is explained below using the figures.

[0046] FIG. 1 shows a drinking bottle system according to the invention including a drinking bottle with an internal bottle evaluation unit and a smart phone as external evaluation unit as well as a server the smart phone communicates with.

[0047] FIG. 2 shows the closure unit of the drinking bottle according to claim 1 with its internal components belonging to the bottle evaluation unit.

[0048] FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C show the general intention of the method according to the invention and the consequences of the identification of a drinking process and a non-drinking dispensing process as well as the corresponding usage of the sensors of the bottle evaluation unit.

[0049] FIG. 4 shows a method diagram showing the procedure provided to distinguish drinking processes from non-drinking dispensing process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXAMPLES

[0050] FIG. 1 shows a smart bottle system with its main components.

[0051] The system comprises a smart bottle 100 with a bottle body 110 which can be filled with a liquid. On the upper end of the bottle body a closure unit 120 is provided comprising a base 122 with a spout 124 for dispensing liquid. The closure unit 120 comprises a pivotable lid 130 which is connected to the base 122 via a hinge 126. Said lid 130 covers the spout 124 in a closed state and allows a user to dispense and drink liquid from the spout in an open state as shown in FIG. 1.

[0052] As shown by a dashed rectangle in FIG. 1 the lid 130 comprises an electronic bottle evaluation unit 160. The specific components being part of this electronic bottle evaluation unit 160 are shown in FIG. 2. The bottle evaluation unit 160 has various sensors 166, 168, 170 for detecting values regarding the liquid and the usage of the bottle. If furthermore comprises a wireless interface line a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) interface to establish data communication 6 with a mobile phone 180 and an application on this mobile phone acting as external evaluation unit 180.

[0053] The application on the mobile phone acting as external evaluation unit 180 is able to show relevant data regarding the dispensing history of the bottle 100 on the mobile phone's display. In this example information 182, 184 is shown on how many times the bottle content of 500 ml has been drunk and how many waste bottles have been collected as benefit.

[0054] Furthermore, the screen of the external evaluation unit 180 can show a warning message 186, which is displayed if liquid has been dispensed from the bottle, but most likely not by direct drinking. In such a case, the external evaluation unit 180 will indicate that the volume of liquid dispensed without directly drinking it will not lead to the collection of waste bottles.

[0055] The external evaluation unit 180 and the mobile phone on which the application is running is connected to the internet and in this example to a central server 200 in order to establish communication 8. The personal external evaluation unit 180 transmits information concerning the drunk liquid volume to the server 200 where this information is being stored. Based on the stored data on the server 200, service providers are commissioned to collect the corresponding number of bottles and send them to a recycling process.

[0056] FIG. 2 shows the closure unit 120 of the drinking bottle 100 with its internal components belonging to the bottle evaluation unit 160. The closure unit 120 comprises a base 122 which is connected to the bottle body 110, said base 122 providing a drinking spout 124 and a hinge 126 by which a pivotable lid 130 is being attached to the base 122.

[0057] This pivotable lid 130 comprises an inner shell part 134 and an outer shell part 132 which are being snapped together during assembly. Together this shell parts 132, 134 define a hollow space in which most components of the bottle evaluation unit 160 are located.

[0058] The bottle evaluation unit 160 comprises a printed circuit board assembly 162 (PCBA) having a CPU. On the upper side of the PCBA 162 a battery is located and connected to the PCBA 164. Below the PCBA 164 multiple sensors 166, 168, 170 are provided which are connected to the PCBA 162.

[0059] These sensors comprise a time-of-flight level sensor unit 166 which is located above an aperture 136 of the inner shell part 132. This level sensor unit 166 can send an electromagnetic radiation beam through the aperture 136. When the bottle is closed by the lid 130 and in an upright position, this electromagnetic radiation beam enters the bottle body and is being reflected by the surface of the liquid in the bottle body 110 and afterwards received by a receiver of the level sensor unit 166. The time the radiation beam needed for its way is being measured such that the liquid level in the bottle can be estimated.

[0060] A further sensor 168 is a temperature sensor. Although it is not in direct contact with liquid it is capable to detect the temperature in the bottle if the lid 130 is closed. In a preferred embodiment an aperture is provided in the inner shell 134 having a transmission element of high thermal conductivity which is in contact with the temperature sensor 168. With such an embodiment it has been found out that after only few seconds after closing the lid 130 the temperature sensor detects the correct temperature of the liquid inside the bottle body 110.

[0061] A third sensor 170 is an acceleration sensor or an inertial measurement unit (IMU) able to detect the acceleration applied on the sensor 170 in all three dimensions.

[0062] These sensors 166, 168, 170 are also being used for distinguishing a non-drinking dispensing process from a drinking dispensing process. This is shown in FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C.

[0063] As shown in FIG. 3A a person is drinking from the drinking bottle 100 while the lid 130 is pivoted to an open position in which the spout 124 is accessible. The distance sensor unit 166 which detects the liquid level of the liquid in closed state of the bottle is now able to measure the distance to the user's head. During drinking this distance is usually below 10 cm. Furthermore, the temperature sensor 168 is located near the user's face and therefore detects a temperature of approximately 35° C.

[0064] The third sensor mentioned above, the acceleration sensor or inertial measurement unit (IMU) measures the acceleration in three dimensions X, Y and Z. FIG. 3C shows exemplary acceleration curves. As it can be easily seen from FIG. 3C and as also easily evaluated by the mentioned CPU the acceleration caused by swallowing shows periodic acceleration peaks. Such curves are typical for swallowing. Due to the characteristic curve a CPU with low performance is sufficient for detection of swallowing acceleration.

[0065] Therefore, when a person dispenses water from the bottle 100 by drinking, the sensors 166, 168, 170 return respective values typical for a drinking process. As consequence the volume dispensed from the bottle and measured by detecting the liquid level prior and after the dispensing process is being regarded a drunk water (step 10A). No warning is shown on the screen of the external evaluation unit 180 and instead data on the drunk liquid volume is stored in the external evaluation unit (step 12). As soon as a full bottle volume like for example 500 ml has been drunk, the external evaluation unit sends a message to the server 200 according to which one additional bottle has been emptied by the user (step 14). This causes the server to add one bottle to a counter for a subsequent order to collect waste bottles from the environment. Accordingly, the drinking of the bottle causes a waste bottle to be collected (step 16).

[0066] Contrary thereto when the liquid is simply poured to the ground as shown in FIG. 3B, the sensors 166, 168, 170 do not return sensor values typical for a drinking process. The distance sensor 166 measures more than 20 cm. The temperature sensor 168 measures the ambient air temperature of for example 20° C. The acceleration sensor 170 returns acceleration curves not showing the periodicity as shown in FIG. 3C. Therefore, it can easily be detected that most likely not drinking process took place but instead the water has been spilled. The dispensing process is therefore identified as non-drinking process and accordingly the steps 12, 14, 16 described above do not take place.

[0067] An example of method steps for distinguishing drinking processes from other dispensing processes is shown in FIG. 4.

[0068] After the procedure has been started (step 300) a measurement takes place using the time-of-flight distance sensor (step 310). In case the temperature of the liquid is below 40° C. and the sensors are thus able to work as expected (step 320) and the lid (130) has been opened which can be detected using the IMU (step 330) it is waited until a drinking position of the bottle has been reached (step 340).

[0069] As soon as the drinking position has been reached, it is checked (step 350) whether a strict drinking detection mode or a softer detection mode shall be used. Such an embodiment with at least two possible modes of detection can for example select the mode to be used based on the credibility of the user or on basis of his drinking history.

[0070] In soft mode (left branch) it is only checked at the beginning whether the user's face can be detected using the time-of-flight sensor.

[0071] In case the time-of-flight sensor does not show an obstacle, namely the user's face, within a distance of 20 cm, it is assumed that this is no real drinking process (step 370). Therefore, the method returns to a new measurement of the liquid level and to the detection of the beginning of a dispensing process (steps 320, 330).

[0072] In case the user's face has been detected in step 360 it is assumed that the user is now drinking (step 380). If the sensors return sensor data according to which the drinking process has ended (steps 390, 400, 410) a further measurement of the liquid level takes place and data regarding the evaluated drunk volume is sent to the external evaluation unit 180 for further processing and for aggregated transmittal to the server 200.

[0073] In strict mode (right branch) it is also checked at the beginning whether the user's face can be detected using the time-of-flight sensor 166 (step 460). If the user's face is not detected within a distance of 20 cm, it is assumed that this is no real drinking process (step 560). This assumption is also made in case that no plausible face temperature is being detected (step 470) or no swallowing is being detected (step 480).

[0074] If all requirements according to steps 460, 470, 480 are fulfilled it is assumed preliminarily that the user is drinking liquid (step 490). During his drinking process the total time is measured during which the bottle 110 is in a sufficiently inclined position to dispense water. If according to steps 500, 510, 520 the drinking process has ended, the remaining liquid in the bottle is being measured (530) and afterwards the mean flow rate is calculated (step 540).

[0075] Only if the volume flow rate is being regarded as plausible (step 540) the evaluated drunk volume is sent to the external evaluation unit 180 for further processing and for later aggregated transmittal to the server 200. If the mean volume flow rate is above a plausible threshold value, for example above 40 ml/sec, the dispensing process is not regarded as drinking process (step 560).