BEVERAGE DISPENSING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPERATING A BEVERAGE DISPENSING SYSTEM

Abstract

A beverage dispensing system includes at least one web-enabled beverage dispenser and a web-based entity connectable with the at least one beverage dispenser via a data network, the web-based entity being adapted to perform at least one of the following functions: a status reporting function for providing status information regarding the at least one beverage dispenser to a third party over the data network; a statistics function for providing information regarding use statistics of the at least one beverage dispenser to a third party over the data network; a stock check function for providing current information regarding stock of consumables of the at least one beverage dispenser to a third party over the data network; a consumer profile function for storing consumer preferences and providing the stored consumer preferences to the at least one web-enabled beverage dispenser; a remote diagnostics function providing a video stream and/or an audio stream to a third party over the data network; an access function enabling dispensing a beverage by the at least one beverage dispenser for a pre-determined validity period.

Claims

1. A beverage dispensing system, comprising at least one web-enabled beverage dispenser and a web-based entity connectable with the at least one beverage dispenser via a data network, the system being adapted to perform at least one of the following functions: a status reporting function for providing status information regarding the at least one beverage dispenser to a third party over the data network; a statistics function for providing information regarding use statistics of the at least one beverage dispenser to a third party over the data network; a stock check function for providing current information regarding stock of consumables of the at least one beverage dispenser to a third party over the data network; a consumer profile function for storing consumer preferences and providing the stored consumer preferences to the at least one web-enabled beverage dispenser; a remote diagnostics function providing a video stream and/or an audio stream to a third party over the data network; an access function enabling dispensing a beverage by the at least one beverage dispenser for a pre-determined validity period.

2. The beverage dispensing system according to claim 1 wherein the status reporting function comprises providing one or more information of a group comprising error messages; information about at least one current filling level; temperature information about at least one current temperature; to the third party.

3. The beverage dispensing system according to claim 1 wherein the statistics function comprises providing one or more information of a group comprising type and/or number of dispensed beverages over a given duration; type and/or number of consumables used over a given duration; length of down time over a given duration; to the third party.

4. The beverage dispensing system according to claim 1 wherein the stock check function comprises requesting or sending an order for a consumable if the amount of this consumable has reached a predefined threshold.

5. The beverage dispensing system according to claim 1 wherein the consumer profile function comprises creating an individual consumer account; identifying a consumer during operation of the beverage dispenser; and storing beverage information related to the operation.

6. The beverage dispensing system according to claim 5 wherein the beverage information comprises at least one information of the group type and/or amount of liquids; mixing ratio carbonization; temperature of the dispensed beverage; and amount of alcohol.

7. The beverage dispensing system according to claim 1 wherein providing the video stream and the audio stream to the third party comprises providing the video stream and the audio stream from a mobile device to the third party.

8. The beverage dispensing system according to claim 7 wherein the mobile device is a smart glasses device.

9. The beverage dispensing system according to claim 7 wherein the remote diagnostics function enables the third party to remotely operate the beverage dispenser.

10. The beverage dispensing system according to claim 7 wherein the remote diagnostics function enables the third party to access log files of the beverage dispenser.

11. The beverage dispensing system according to claim 1 wherein the web-based entity is further adapted to perform a firmware update.

12. A method for operating a beverage dispensing system, comprising at least one web-enabled beverage dispenser and a web-based entity connectable with the at least one beverage dispenser via a data network, the method comprising one or more of the following steps: a) providing status information regarding the at least one beverage dispenser to a third party over the data network; b) providing information regarding use statistics of the at least one beverage dispenser to a third party over the data network; c) providing current information regarding stock of consumables of the at least one beverage dispenser to a third party over the data network; d) storing consumer preferences and providing the stored consumer preferences to the at least one web-enabled beverage dispenser; e) providing a video stream and/or an audio stream to a third party over the data network f) dispensing a beverage by the at least one beverage dispenser for a pre-determined validity period.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

[0111] FIG. 1 shows a beverage dispensing system in an embodiment adapted to perform the access function;

[0112] FIG. 2 shows process steps of a method for operating the beverage dispenser using the access function;

[0113] FIG. 3 shows process steps of a method for dispensing a beverage from the beverage dispenser using the access function;

[0114] FIG. 4 shows a beverage dispensing system in an embodiment adapted to perform the remote diagnostics function; and

[0115] FIG. 5 shows process steps of a method for performing the remote diagnostics function.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0116] FIG. 1 shows a beverage dispensing system 1 according to a first embodiment comprising a web-enabled entity requesting entity 2, a web-enabled beverage dispenser 3 and a web-based management entity 4. The requesting entity 2 is connectable to the management entity 4 via a data network DN and the beverage dispenser 3 is connectable to the management entity 4 via the data network DN.

[0117] The requesting entity 2 may be a terminal operated by operator staff OS, e.g. an electronic register, an ordering device, etc. The requesting entity 2 may be specifically authorized to communicate with the management entity 4.

[0118] The beverage dispenser 3 comprises a dispensing unit 5 for dispensing a beverage. To this effect, the dispensing unit 5 is adapted to receive a beverage container BC from a user/consumer C. The beverage dispenser 3 further comprises at least one information receiving unit 6, e.g. a keypad, an optical code scanner and/or a wireless code reader for acquiring second information IN2. The beverage dispenser 3 is adapted to acquire, via the at least one information receiving unit 6, the second information IN2, to check whether this second information IN2 is information enabling dispensing a beverage from the beverage dispenser 3 for a pre-determined validity period, and to check whether the current time is within the pre-determined validity period, and if so, to enable dispensing the beverage. The beverage dispenser 3 further comprises at least one communication module 7 for communication via the data network DN. The communication module 7 may be a wire bound communication module 7, e.g., an Ethernet module, and/or a wireless communication module 7, e.g., a WLAN module, an LTE module, or a Bluetooth module.

[0119] The management entity 4 may be a server or a cloud-based web application. The management entity 4 may comprise one or more modules, in particular, software modules representing respective functions. In particular, the management entity 4 at least comprises a module 4F for performing an access function enabling dispensing a beverage by the beverage dispenser 3 for a pre-determined validity period, as will be described in greater detail below.

[0120] The management entity 4 may further comprise: [0121] a module 4A performing, if executed, a status reporting function for providing status information regarding the at least one beverage dispenser 3 to a third party over the data network DN; [0122] a module 4B performing, if executed, a statistics function for providing information regarding use statistics of the at least one beverage dispenser 3 to a third party over the data network DN; [0123] a module 4C performing, if executed, a stock check function for providing current information regarding stock of consumables of the at least one beverage dispenser 3 to a third party over the data network DN; [0124] a module 4D performing, if executed, a consumer profile function for storing consumer preferences and providing the stored consumer preferences to the at least one web-enabled beverage dispenser 3; and/or [0125] a module 4E performing, if executed, a remote diagnostics function providing a video stream and/or an audio stream to a third party over the data network DN.

[0126] Particularly, the beverage dispenser 3 may be adapted to check whether the current time is within the pre-determined validity period by comparing the second information IN2 acquired via the least one information receiving unit 6 with the first information IN1 stored by the management entity 4.

[0127] The management entity 4 may issue the first information IN1, e.g., by storing it, by generating and storing it, by generating and sending it to the requesting entity 2, and/or by generating and sending it to a mobile terminal MT of the consumer C, e.g. via SMS or other messaging service. If the first information IN1 is sent to the requesting entity 2, the requesting entity 2 may transfer the first information IN1 to the mobile terminal MT of the consumer C, may print it on a slip of paper P, or hand out a transponder card T (e.g. an RFID card) comprising the first information IN1.

[0128] FIG. 2 shows process steps of one possible method for operating the beverage dispenser 3, comprising: [0129] a step S100 of receiving, by the beverage dispenser 3, a request to dispense a beverage; [0130] a step S200 of receiving, by the beverage dispenser 3, (second) information IN2 potentially enabling dispensing the beverage from the beverage dispenser 3 for a pre-determined validity period; and [0131] a step S300 of checking whether the current time is within pre-determined validity period, and if so, dispensing the beverage. Step S300 may be preceded by or comprise a step of checking whether the received information IN2 is of a form and/or content that it potentially enables dispensing the beverage from the beverage dispenser 3 for the pre-determined validity period.

[0132] FIG. 3 shows process steps of one possible method for dispensing a beverage from the beverage dispenser 3, comprising: [0133] a step S400 of sending, by the requesting entity 2: a request for issuing the first information IN1 to the management entity 4; [0134] a step S500 of receiving, by a management entity 4: receiving the request for issuing the first information IN1 and then issuing the first information IN1; [0135] a step S600 of receiving, by the beverage dispenser 3, a request for dispensing a beverage and receiving second information IN2 related to the dispensing request; and [0136] a step S700 of checking whether the second information IN2 matches the first information IN1 and checking whether the current time is within pre-determined validity period associated with the first information IN1, and if so, dispensing the beverage or enabling dispensing the beverage.

[0137] Step S600 may be identical to step S200. Step S300 may comprise step S700, or vice versa.

[0138] Under one aspect, issuing the first information IN1 according to step S500 comprises generating the first information IN1 and providing the first information to the requesting entity 2. In one variant, the requesting entity prints the first information IN1 onto, e.g., the slip of paper P. In particular, the first information IN1 may be printed in encoded form, e.g. in form of a symbol code or an optical machine-readable code like a barcode or a QR code.

[0139] In another variant, the requesting entity 2 stores the first information IN1 on a portable storage medium, e.g., a transponder card T, especially a room card. The portable storage medium may be wirelessly readable by the information receiving unit 6, e.g. via RFID. The portable storage medium may thus comprise an NFC or RFID transponder.

[0140] In yet another variant, the requesting entity 2 stores the first information IN1 on/transfers the first information IN1 to the consumer's mobile terminal MT. consumer's mobile terminal MT may provide the first information IN1 optically (e.g. by displaying the first information IN1 on its display) or by radio transmission (e.g. by transferring the first information IN1 via NFC).

[0141] In even another variant, the first information IN1 is provided directly from the management entity 4 to the user's mobile terminal MT via the data network DN.

[0142] With the first information IN1 at hand, the consumer C may now walk to a beverage dispenser 3 (i.e., a self-serve beverage dispenser), insert the beverage container BC and input the first information IN1 into the information receiving unit 6. The first information IN1 thus corresponds to the second information IN2 received by the beverage dispenser 3.

[0143] In one variant, the first information IN1 comprises the pre-determined validity period. Then, the beverage dispenser 3 may be adapted to perform step S300 itself, i.e., without interaction with management entity 4.

[0144] In another variant, issuing the first information IN1 comprises generating the first information IN1 and storing the first information IN1 by the management entity 4. Upon receiving the second information IN2, it is checked in step S700 whether the second information IN2 matches the first information IN1. If so, it is checked whether the current time is within pre-determined validity period associated with the first information IN1, and if so, dispensing the beverage or enabling dispensing the beverage. If the second information IN2 does not match stored first information IN1, dispensing the beverage is denied. The checking in step S700 may be performed as a push operation (in which, e.g., the second information IN2 is transmitted to the management entity 4 which checks for matching first information IN1 and which checks whether the current time is within pre-determined validity period associated with the first information IN1 and which then sends back the results to the beverage dispenser 3) or as a pull operation (in which, e.g., the beverage dispenser 3 looks up a list of first information IN1 stored by the management entity 4 and checks whether the current time is within pre-determined validity period associated with the first information IN1). Thus, the pre-determined validity period may be stored together with the corresponding first information IN1.

[0145] In yet another variant, issuing the first information IN1 comprises generating the first information IN1 and storing the first information IN1 by the management entity 4 only for the pre-determined validity period. In this variant, checking whether the second information IN2 matches the first information IN1 and checking whether the current time is within pre-determined validity period associated with the first information IN1 is the same operation: if the checking step S700 finds a match of the second information IN2 and a first information IN1 stored by the management entity 4, the current time is de facto within pre-determined validity period. Likewise, if the checking step S700 finds no match between the second information IN2 and first information IN1 stored by the management entity 4, the current time is outside the pre-determined validity period.

[0146] In even another variant, the first information IN1 is or corresponds to an ID associated with the beverage container. In this case, step S400 may simply comprise sending the ID to the management entity 4 to be stored for the pre-determined validity period. In step S500, issuing the first information IN1 may only comprise storing the ID for the pre-determined validity period. The requesting entity 2 does not need to explicitly hand out any first information IN1 to a customer C but only the beverage container BC comprising the ID. In step S600, the receiving the second information IN2 may comprises reading a beverage container's ID. The checking step S700 may then only comprise checking the ID received by the beverage dispenser 3 against ID(s) stored by the management entity 4, e.g., in analogy to the step described above.

[0147] FIG. 4 shows a beverage dispensing system in an embodiment adapted to perform the remote diagnostics function. To this end, the management entity 4 of the beverage dispensing system 1 as described above also comprises the module 4E performing, if executed, the remote diagnostics function providing a video stream and/or an audio stream to a third party (here: a terminal DT operated by service personnel SP) over the data network DN. The terminal DT may be a laptop computer, a desktop computer etc.

[0148] Providing the video stream and the audio stream to the service personnel SP comprises providing the video stream and the audio stream from a mobile device in form of a smart glasses device SG to the terminal DT. The smart glass device SG may be used by the operator staff OS.

[0149] FIG. 5 shows possible process steps of a method for performing the remote diagnostics function.

[0150] In a step S800, the service personnel SP logs into the management entity 4 via terminal DT, selecting module 4E.

[0151] In a step S900, the service personnel SP selects a certain beverage dispenser 3 to be remotely diagnosed. This step may also enable accessing log files of the beverage dispenser 3 via the terminal DT, in particular, if these log files are stored by the management entity 4.

[0152] In a step S1000, the management entity 4 establishes a data connection or data link between the selected beverage dispenser 3 and the terminal DT, potentially but not necessarily via the management entity 4. This step may enable remotely operating the beverage dispenser 3 from the terminal DT. This step may also enable accessing log files of the beverage dispenser 3 via the terminal DT, in particular, if these log files are stored by the beverage dispenser.

[0153] In a step S1100, the operator staff OS logs into the management entity 4 selecting module 4E, selecting the same beverage dispenser 3 as selected in step S900 and registering/coupling the smart glasses device SG. Thus, a data connection or data link is established between the terminal DT and the smart glasses device SG, potentially but not necessarily via the management entity 4. The data connection enables sending a video stream from the smart glasses device SG to the terminal DT. If the smart glasses device SG has a microphone, an audio stream is also sent from the smart glasses device SG to the terminal DT.

[0154] To perform remote diagnostics, service personnel SP may instruct the operator staff OS that wears the smart glasses device SG to position himself or herself at the given location next to the beverage dispenser three and watch the certain area of the beverage dispenser. The instruction may be given over the data connection used for video and potentially audio streaming. Thus, the data connection may be a bidirectional data connection. Alternatively, the instruction may be given over the different data connection.

[0155] The service personnel SP may now remotely operate the beverage dispenser 3 or instruct the operator staff OS to operate the beverage dispenser 3 in a certain way and watch the result via the video stream. If there is an audio stream available, the service personnel SP may also listen to sounds made by the beverage dispenser 3 while being operated. In peril, the service personnel SP may study log files generated based on this operation and/or based on past operations (history data).

[0156] If a certain problem had been identified, the service personnel SP may instruct the operator staff OS to troubleshoot this problem, e.g., while monitoring the troubleshooting via the smart glasses device SG. This monitoring via at least the video stream may also be used to maintain the beverage dispenser 3, e.g., during routine maintenance intervals.

[0157] The remote diagnostics module 4E thus enables troubleshooting and maintaining the beverage dispenser 3 using operator staff OS monitored and instructed remotely via the data network DN by service personnel SP. If the malfunction is not to severe, it may be avoided to request presence of service personnel SP at the beverage dispenser, thus reducing or avoiding call-out fees.

[0158] It will be readily understood that the invention is not restricted to the described embodiments.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0159] 1 beverage dispensing system [0160] 2 requesting entity [0161] 3 beverage dispenser [0162] 4 issuing entity [0163] 4A status report module [0164] 4B statistics module [0165] 4C stock check module [0166] 4D consumer profile module [0167] 4E remote diagnostics module [0168] 4F access module [0169] 5 dispensing unit [0170] 6 information receiving unit [0171] 7 communication module [0172] 8 issuing software module [0173] BC beverage container [0174] C consumer [0175] DN data network [0176] DT terminal [0177] IN1 first information [0178] IN2 second information [0179] MT Mobile terminal [0180] OS operator staff [0181] P paper [0182] S100-S1100 method steps [0183] SG smart glasses device [0184] SP service personnel [0185] T transponder card