Systems and methods for dispensing and tracking multiple categories of beverages

• US 10,464,800 B2
• Filed: 07/27/2016
• Issued: 11/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DraftServ Technologies, LLC
• Original Assignee: DraftServ Technologies, LLC
• Inventors: Hevia, Jose, Pequignot, Tobi, Nye, Kevin, Patel, Hitesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Long, Donnell A
• Application Number:
  US15/220,850
• Publication Number:
  US 20180029859A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,196 Days
• Field of Search: 222 63, 222 23, 2221291, 222 2
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/0021 the components being mixed at the time of dispensing, i.e. post-mix dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/0075 by sensing gas pressure
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/0855 concerning the used flowmeter flowmeter per se G01F1/00, G01F3/00
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/0877 Advertising means advertising in general G09F
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/0881 Means for counting the doses of dispensed liquid
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/0884 Means for controlling the parameters of the state of the liquid to be dispensed, e.g. temperature, pressure
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/0888 Means comprising electronic circuitry (e.g. control panels, switching or controlling means)
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/1218 modulating the opening of a valve
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/1234 to determine the total amount
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/124 the flow being started or stopped by means actuated by the vessel to be filled, e.g. by switches, weighing
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/1279 regulating the flow
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 2001/0093 Valves
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 2001/0094 Valve mountings in dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 2210/00089 Remote control means, e.g. by electromagnetic signals
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 2210/00091 Bar management means
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 13/065 for drink preparation
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments for dispensing and tracking beverages. An identifier associated with a user can be read by an identification device. Beverage availability information for the user can be determined. The beverage availability information can specify categories of beverages that the user is authorized to dispense. Valves can be selected that correspond to the authorized beverage categories. The valves can be enabled to allow the user to dispense beverages from the authorized beverage categories. The quantity of beverages dispensed can be tracked.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a data store comprising beverage availability information corresponding to an identifier;

a plurality of fluid dispensers configured to dispense a plurality of fluids, individual ones of the plurality of fluid dispensers comprising a valve and individual ones of the plurality of fluids corresponding to one of a plurality of fluid categories;

an identification device configured to read the identifier from an identification item; and

a computing device communicably coupled to the plurality of fluid dispensers and the identification device, the computing device configured to at least;

in response to receiving the identifier from the identification device, identify the beverage availability information based at least in part on the identifier;

select at least one valve of the plurality of fluid dispensers based at least in part on the beverage availability information;

send a command to enable the at least one valve of the plurality of fluid dispensers;

receive an input from a valve switch corresponding to a particular valve of the at least one valve;

in response to the input from the valve switch corresponding to the particular valve being received while the particular valve is enabled, dispense fluid from the particular valve; and

determine a measurement indicating a quantity of fluid dispensed from the particular valve based at least in part on a time that the fluid is dispensed from the particular valve.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising

a plurality of second fluid dispensers;

a second identification device; and

a second computing device communicably coupled to the computing device, the plurality of second fluid dispensers, and the second identification device, wherein the computing device is further configured to at least;

receive a request from the second computing device including the identifier;

select at least one second valve of the plurality of second fluid dispensers based at least in part on the beverage availability information;

send another command to the second computing device to enable the at least one second valve of the plurality of second fluid dispensers; and

receive a second measurement of a second quantity of fluid dispensed from the at least one second valve of the plurality of second fluid dispensers.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to omit a second particular valve corresponding to a particular fluid category among the plurality of fluid categories in response to a current time being outside of a time window defined in the data store.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to at least calculate a cost for the quantity of fluid dispensed based at least in part on at least one of the plurality of fluid categories being dispensed.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to at least:

calculate a dispensing threshold for dispensing based at least in part on a characteristic of one of the plurality of fluid categories;

determine whether the quantity of the fluid dispensed meets the dispensing threshold; and

disable the at least one valve of the plurality of fluid dispensers in response to the quantity of the fluid dispensed meeting the dispensing threshold.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a flow meter, wherein the flow meter comprises at least one of:

an ultrasonic flow meter, a turbine flow meter, or a vortex flow meter.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to stop dispensing the fluid from the particular valve in response to at least one of a discontinuation of the input corresponding to the particular valve or another command to disable the particular valve.

8. A system comprising:

a first fluid dispenser configured to dispense a first fluid from a first fluid category among a plurality of fluid categories, the first fluid dispenser comprising a first valve and a first valve switch;

a second fluid dispenser configured to dispense a second fluid from a second fluid category among the plurality of fluid categories, the second fluid dispenser comprising a second valve and a second flow meter;

an identification device configured to read an identifier from an identification item; and

a computing device configured to at least;

read the identifier from the identification device;

identify beverage availability information corresponding to the identifier, the beverage availability information being stored in a data store;

select at least one of;

the first valve and the second valve based at least in part on the beverage availability information;

send a command to enable the at least one of the first valve and the second valve;

receive an input from the first valve switch corresponding to the first valve;

in response to the input from the first valve switch corresponding to the first valve being received while the first valve is enabled, dispense fluid from the first valve; and

determine a measurement indicating a quantity of fluid dispensed from the first valve based at least in part on a time that the fluid is dispensed from the first valve.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising a display, and wherein the computing device is further configured to at least:

render a notification on the display that a user account associated with the identifier is not authorized for the second fluid category.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the computing device is further configured to at least:

send another command to disable the at least one of the first valve and the second valve; and

send the data comprising the quantity of fluid dispensed from the first valve to an authentication server subsequent to disabling the at least one of the first valve and the second valve.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the computing device is further configured to at least:

receive a measurement from the second flow meter indicating a second quantity of fluid dispensed from the second valve of the second fluid dispenser; and

in response to fluid being dispensed from the second valve, perform at least one of;

send another command to disable the second valve, send an error notification to an administrator, disconnect power to the system, generate a visual warning, or generate an audio warning.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the first valve comprises at least one of:

a dole valve, a direct acting valve, a media isolated valve, a pinch valve, a gate/knife valve, a ball valve, a butterfly valve, or a pneumatic valve.

13. A method comprising:

in response to receiving an identifier from an identification device, identifying, via a computing device communicably coupled to a plurality of fluid dispensers and the identification device, beverage availability information from a data store based at least in part on the identifier, wherein the plurality of fluid dispensers are configured to dispense a plurality of fluids and the identification device is configured to read the identifier from an identification item, individual ones of the plurality of fluid dispensers comprising a valve and individual ones of the plurality of fluids corresponding to one of a plurality of fluid categories;

selecting, via the computing device, at least one valve of the plurality of fluid dispensers based at least in part on the beverage availability information;

sending, via the computing device, a command to enable the at least one valve of the plurality of fluid dispensers;

receiving, via the computing device, an input from a valve switch corresponding to a particular valve of the at least one valve;

in response to the input from the valve switch corresponding to the particular valve being received while the particular valve is enabled, dispensing, via the computing device, fluid from the particular valve; and

determining, via the computing device, a measurement indicating a quantity of fluid dispensed from the particular valve based at least in part on a time that the fluid is dispensed from the particular valve.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving, via the computing device, a request from at least one second computing device including another identifier;

selecting, via the computing device, a subset of a second plurality of valves based at least in part on other beverage availability information corresponding to the other identifier;

sending, via the computing device, another command to the at least one second computing device to enable the subset of the second plurality of valves; and

determining, via computing device, data comprising a second quantity of another fluid dispensed from a valve from the subset of the second plurality of valves.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining, via the computing device, a cost of the fluid dispensed from the particular valve;

calculating, via the computing device, a total cost by multiplying the cost of the fluid by the quantity of the fluid dispensed; and

deducting, via the computing device, the total cost from an amount of available credit associated with a user account.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein individual ones of the plurality of fluid dispensers correspond to respective beverage categories among a plurality of beverage categories.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the command to enable the at least one valve is sent to a controller electrically coupled to the at least one valve.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein receiving data comprising the quantity of the fluid further comprises:

receiving a number of ticks corresponding to an ingredient of the fluid from a flow meter; and

determining the quantity of the fluid based at least in part on the number of ticks and a ratio of the ingredient to at least one other ingredient in the fluid.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

changing, via the computing device, a state of a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) in response to receiving the input from the valve switch corresponding to the particular valve of the at least one valve.

20. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

associating, via the identification device, the identifier with a user account; and

authorizing, via the identification device, the user account to access a subset of a plurality of beverage categories.