Capsule, beverage production machine and system for the preparation of a nutritional product
First Claim
1. A beverage production machine for preparing a nutritional product, the beverage production machine comprising:
- a housing;
a reservoir for holding a liquid,a capsule holder removably insertable in the housing for holding a capsule containing nutritional ingredients;
a liquid injection assembly provided in the housing for supplying the liquid held in the reservoir to the capsule held in the capsule holder; and
an optical code reading assembly for reading an optically readable code, wherein the capsule holder is interposed, when inserted in the housing, between the liquid injection assembly and the optical code reading assembly,the capsule holder comprises a seat for receiving the capsule, the seat having a frontal sidewall, the seat comprises a first capsule support section and a second capsule support section extending from the first capsule support section and opposite the frontal sidewall, the second capsule support section is configured to receive a section of the capsule dedicated to forming a fluid area of the capsule in the beverage production machine, and the optically readable code is provided on the frontal sidewall of the seat of the capsule holder at a position which, when viewing the capsule holder from above, is located opposite the second capsule support section.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A capsule has an inlet face C formed by a circular section and a bulge section extending from the circular section so that the inlet face C is not symmetric in rotation. The capsule further has an optically readable code on a side wall of a cup-shaped body of the capsule opposite the bulge section. A beverage production machine has a capsule holder for holding the capsule in the beverage production machine so that the optically readable code can be read by a code reader. Liquid can be supplied to the capsule to produce a nutritional product. The optically readable code and the code reader can be prevented from being contaminated with liquid, vapor, dirt or the like. The beverage production machine can perform an automatic detection of the capsule type and a corresponding automatic setting of preparation parameters.
313 Citations
8 Claims
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1. A beverage production machine for preparing a nutritional product, the beverage production machine comprising:
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a housing; a reservoir for holding a liquid, a capsule holder removably insertable in the housing for holding a capsule containing nutritional ingredients; a liquid injection assembly provided in the housing for supplying the liquid held in the reservoir to the capsule held in the capsule holder; and an optical code reading assembly for reading an optically readable code, wherein the capsule holder is interposed, when inserted in the housing, between the liquid injection assembly and the optical code reading assembly, the capsule holder comprises a seat for receiving the capsule, the seat having a frontal sidewall, the seat comprises a first capsule support section and a second capsule support section extending from the first capsule support section and opposite the frontal sidewall, the second capsule support section is configured to receive a section of the capsule dedicated to forming a fluid area of the capsule in the beverage production machine, and the optically readable code is provided on the frontal sidewall of the seat of the capsule holder at a position which, when viewing the capsule holder from above, is located opposite the second capsule support section. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A beverage production machine for preparing a nutritional product from a capsule containing nutritional ingredients, the beverage production machine comprising:
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a housing; a reservoir for holding a liquid; a capsule holder removably insertable in the housing for holding a capsule containing the nutritional ingredients; a liquid injection assembly provided in the housing for supplying the liquid held in the reservoir to the capsule held in the capsule holder; and an optical code reading assembly comprising; a code reader for reading an optically readable code on the capsule placed in the capsule holder when the capsule holder is inserted in the housing, and a control unit including a memory for memorizing the optically readable code read by the code reader, the control unit is adapted to deactivate the beverage production machine and/or to provide a warning signal to a user of the beverage production machine when the optically readable code read by the code reader corresponds to one of last memorized optically readable codes, and the control unit is adapted to set at least one preparation parameter, for the nutritional product, according to the optically readable code of the capsule read by the code reader when the optically readable code does not correspond to the one of the last memorized optically readable codes, the capsule holder comprises a seat for receiving the capsule, the seat having a frontal sidewall, the seat comprises a first capsule support section and a second capsule support section extending from the first capsule support section and opposite the frontal sidewall, the second capsule support section is configured to receive a section of the capsule dedicated to forming a fluid area of the capsule in the beverage production machine, and the optically readable code is provided on the frontal sidewall of the seat of the capsule holder at a position which, when viewing the capsule holder from above, is located opposite the second capsule support section.
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Specification