Feature disablement controlled brewer

• US 6,931,984 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2003
• Issued: 08/23/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Food Equipment Technologies Company
• Original Assignee: Food Equipment Technologies Company
• Inventors: Lassota, Michael W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Alexander, Reginald L.
• Application Number:
  US10/607,320
• Publication Number:
  US 20040261624A1
• Time in Patent Office: 789 Days
• Field of Search: 992/80, 992/81, 992/82, 992/83
• US Class Current: 99/280
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 31/52 Alarm-clock-controlled mechanisms for coffee- or tea-making apparatus ; Timers for coffee- or tea-making apparatus; Electronic control devices for coffee- or tea-making apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 31/521 the electronic control being performed over a network, e.g. by means of a computer or a handheld device
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 31/525 the electronic control being based on monitoring of specific process parameters
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 31/5253 of temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 31/54 Water boiling vessels in beverage making machines
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 13/025 wherein the volume is determined during delivery
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty

Abstract

A beverage brewer (10) with a controller (14) that automatically disables selected brewer functions unless enabled by an enablement code that enables use that is only sufficient to brew a preselected quantity of brew by mixing the brew ingredient (18) with water has a reader (54,56,58,56,59,62) for communicating with and reading the enablement code (86) from a smart card, card with magnetic strip or other data carrying medium (FIGS. 4 and 5). The enablement card when used by a delivery employee has codes for multiple customers, etc. that is used by the delivery employee to enable the brewers to brew the brew ingredient that is being delivered but no more to avoid brewing of ingredient not provided by the distributor of the brew ingredient. Alternatively, one card (52) is used for each location or each brewer and may only be used with the location or brewer that is indicated. The controller (14) is capable of disabling the brewer function, the hot water function, or both, the bypass function, the brewing function or all in response to overuse or in response to the passage of time without required maintenance. The individual enablement code medium may be attached to the container of the brew ingredient permanently or detachably, mailed to the customer with billing, etc. or the enablement code may be entered manually or via a communication modem associated with the brewer (10). When a smart card or magnetic stripe card is used, then the brewer may write to the card the amount of brewer usage or hot water usage which information can later be downloaded to a billing computer at the home office of the distributor in addition to, or in lieu of, automatic disablement of the brewer functions when they exceed preselected maximum amounts.

Claims

1. In a beverage brewer that is fully functional and capable of performing all brewer operations and having a water tank for holding water that is to be passed through beverage ingredient, the improvement being a controller, comprising:

means for automatically disabling at least one fully functional brewer operation in response to occurrence of a preselected condition including at least one of the conditions of (a) performance of a preselected plural number of brew cycles, (b) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water dispensed into contact with the ingredient during a plurality of brew cycles, (c) passage of a preselected quantity of mixing liquid through a by-pass to a beverage container during a plurality of brew cycles, (d) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water passed through a hot water faucet, (e) passage of a preselected continuous period of time in excess of time needed for a plurality of brew cycles, and (f) performance of a preselected amount of use in excess of a plurality of brew cycles since the last scheduled maintenance procedure;

means for receiving an enablement code from an external source; and

means responsive to receipt of the enablement code for controlling the automatically disabling means.

2. The brewer of claim 1 in which the receiving means includes a smart card interface for interfacing a smart card with the controller for receiving the enablement code from a smart card.

3. The brewer of claim 1 in which the receiving means includes a bar code reader for receiving the enablement code in the form of a bar code.

4. The brewer of claim 1 in which

the brewer has a permanently affixed keypad for receipt of manual inputs, and

the receiving means includes the keypad for receipt of the enablement code through manual actuation of the keypad.

5. The brewer of claim 1 in which

the receiving means includes a modem for data communication with the controller, and

the enablement code is received through the modem.

6. The brewer of claim 1 in which the at least one brewer operation is disabled unless a code relating to condition (a) is received.

7. The beverage brewer of claim 1 in which the at least one brewer operation is disabled a code relating to condition (b) is received.

8. The beverage brewer of claim 1 including a brew valve for passing hot water from the hot water tank to the brew basket and the disabling means includes means for preventing the brew valve from opening to pass water to the brew basket.

9. The beverage brewer of claim 1 including

a hot water heater for heating the hot water in the hot water tank, and in which

the disabling means includes means for preventing energization of the hot water heating element.

10. The beverage brewer of claim 1 in which the at least one brewer operation is disabled unless a code relating to condition (c) is received.

11. The beverage brewer of claim 1 in which the at least one brewer operation is disabled unless a code relating to condition (e) is received.

12. The beverage brewer of claim 1 in which the at least one brewer operation is disabled unless a code relating to condition (f) is received.

13. The beverage brewer of claim 1 in which the automatically disabling means only disables the at least one fully functional brewer operation in response to only one of the preselected conditions (a) through (f).

14. The beverage brewer of claim 13 in which the fully functional brewer operation is operation of a brew valve for dispensing hot water to a brew basket.

15. The beverage brewer of claim 7 in which the brewer operation that is disabled is selective solenoid controlled passage of water from the water tank to ingredient within the brew basket to perform a brew cycle.

16. The beverage brewer of claim 8 in which the brewer operation that is disabled is selective solenoid controlled passage of water from the water tank to ingredient within the brew basket to perform a brew cycle.

17. The beverage brewer of claim 10 in which the brewer operation that is disabled is selective opening of a by-pass solenoid controlled valve to pass hot water trough a brew basket at a location that bypasses contact with the ingredient.

18. The beverage brewer of claim 11 in which the brewer operation that is disabled is performance of a brew cycle.

19. The beverage brewer of claim 12 in which the brewer operation that is disabled is performance of a brew cycle.

50. The beverage brewer of claims 1, 20, 21, 22, 26, 30, 31, 32, 35, 36, 37 and 39 in which the controlling means is responsive to the enablement code for enabling the brewer operation for a preselected amount of performance over a plurality of brew cycles.

20. In a beverage brewer having a water tank for holding water that is to be passed through beverage ingredient, the improvement being a controller, comprising:

means for automatically disabling at least one brewer operation in response to occurrence of a preselected condition including at least one of the conditions of (a) performance of a preselected number of brew cycles, (b) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water dispensed into contact with the ingredient, (c) passage of a preselected quantity of mixing liquid through a by-pass to a beverage container, (d) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water passed through a hot water faucet, (e) passage of a preselected continuous period of time, and (f) performance of a preselected amount of use since the last scheduled maintenance procedure;

means for receiving an enablement code from an external source; and

means responsive to receipt of the enablement code for controlling the automatically disabling means, and in which

the receiving means includes a microphone, and

the enablement code is received in the form of audible tones received by the microphone.

48. The beverage brewer of claims 20, 21, 22, 26, 30, 31, 32, 35, 36, 37 and 39 in which the brewer is fully functional and capable of performing all brewer operations including the at least one brewer function that is automatically disabled.

49. The beverage brewer of claim 48 in which all of the conditions occur only over a plurality of brew cycles.

51. The beverage brewer of claims 20, 21, 22, 26, 30, 31, 32, 35, 36, 37 and 39 in which all of the conditions occur only over a plurality of brew cycles.

21. In a beverage brewer having a water tank for holding water that is to be passed through beverage ingredient, the improvement being a controller, comprising:

means for automatically disabling at least one brewer operation in response to occurrence of a preselected condition including at least one of the conditions of (a) performance of a preselected number of brew cycles, (b) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water dispensed into contact with the ingredient, (c) passage of a preselected quantity of mixing liquid through a by-pass to a beverage container, (d) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water passed through a hot water faucet, (e) passage of a preselected continuous period of time, and (f) performance of a preselected amount of use since the last scheduled maintenance procedure;

means for receiving an enablement code from an external source; and

means responsive to receipt of the enablement code for controlling the automatically disabling means, and in which

the receiving means includes a light sensor, and

the enablement code is received in the form of light signals detected by the light sensor.

22. In a beverage brewer having a water tank for holding water that is to be passed through beverage ingredient, the improvement being a controller, comprising:

means for automatically disabling at least one brewer operation in response to occurrence of a preselected condition including at least one of the conditions of (a) performance of a preselected number of brew cycles, (b) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water dispensed into contact with the ingredient, (c) passage of a preselected quantity of mixing liquid through a by-pass to a beverage container, (d) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water passed through a hot water faucet, (e) passage of a preselected continuous period of time, and (f) performance of a preselected amount of use since the last scheduled maintenance procedure;

means for receiving an enablement code from an external source; and

means responsive to receipt of the enablement code for controlling the automatically disabling means,

a brew valve for passing hot brew water through the brew basket; and

means for measuring how much hot brew water has been dispensed through the brew valve, and the controlling means including means responsive to the measuring means for controlling the disabling means.

23. The brewer of claim 22 in which the controlling means includes

means responsive to the enablement code for storing a preselected permitted quantity of brew water use that is to be permitted,

means responsive to the measuring means for storing the actual quantity of brew water that has actually passed through the brew valve, and

means for comparing the permitted quantity with the actual quantity.

24. The brewer of claim 22 in which

the measuring means includes means for measuring the time that the brew valve is open, and

the controlling means includes means responsive to the measuring means for storing the time that the brew valve is open.

25. The brewer of claim 22 in which

the measuring means includes a flow meter for measuring the quantity of flow through the brew valve, and

the controlling means includes means for storing the quantity of flow.

26. In a beverage brewer having a water tank for holding water that is to be passed through beverage ingredient, the improvement being a controller, comprising:

means for automatically disabling at least one brewer operation in response to occurrence of a preselected condition including at least one of the conditions of (a) performance of a preselected number of brew cycles, (b) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water dispensed into contact with the ingredient, (c) passage of a preselected quantity of mixing liquid through a by-pass to a beverage container, (d) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water passed through a hot water faucet, (e) passage of a preselected continuous period of time, and (f) performance of a preselected amount of the since the last scheduled maintenance procedure;

means for receiving an enablement code from an external source; and

means responsive to receipt of the enablement code for controlling the automatically disabling means,

a hot water valve for passing hot water directly from the hot water tank without passing through the ingredient; and

means for measuring how much hot water has been dispensed through the hot water valve, the controlling means including means responsive to the means for measuring how much hot water is dispensed through the hot water valve.

27. The beverage brewer of claim 26 in which the controlling means includes

means responsive to the enablement code for storing a preselected permitted quantity of hot water use that is to be permitted,

means responsive to the measuring means for storing the actual quantity of hot water that has actually passed through the hot water valve, and

means for comparing the permitted quantity of hot water with the actual quantity of hot water.

28. The beverage brewer of claim 26 in which

the hot water measuring means includes a flow meter for measuring the quantity of water that pass through the brew valve, and

the controlling means includes means for storing the quantity of flow of hot water.

29. The beverage brewer of claim 26 in which

the measuring means includes means for measuring the time that the hot water valve is open, and

the controlling means includes means for storing the time that the brew valve is open.

30. In a beverage brewer having a water tank for holding water that is to be passed through beverage ingredient, the improvement being a controller, comprising:

means for automatically disabling at least one brewer operation in response to occurrence of a preselected condition including at least one of the conditions of (a) performance of a preselected number of brew cycles, (b) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water dispensed into contact with the ingredient, (c) passage of preselected quantity of mixing liquid through a by-pass to a beverage container, (d) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water passed through a hot water faucet, (e) passage of a preselected continuous period of time, and (f) performance of a preselected amount of use since the last scheduled maintenance procedure;

means for receiving an enablement code from an external source; and

means responsive to receipt of the enablement code for controlling the automatically disabling means, and in which the controlling means includes

a scheduled maintenance clock for measuring the time passed since the last maintenance period,

means for storing a preselected maintenance time interval, and

means for comparing the scheduled maintenance clock with the preselected maintenance time interval.

31. In a beverage brewer having a water tank for holding water that is to be passed through beverage ingredient, the improvement being a controller, comprising:

means for automatically disabling at least one brewer operation in response to occurrence of a preselected condition including at least one of the conditions of (a) performance of a preselected number of brew cycles, (b) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water dispensed into contact with the ingredient, (c) passage of a preselected quantity of mixing liquid through a by-pass to a beverage container, (d) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water passed through a hot water faucet, (e) passage of a preselected continuous period of time, and (f) performance of a preselected amount of use since the last scheduled maintenance procedure;

means for receiving an enablement code from an external source; and

means responsive to receipt of the enablement code for controlling the automatically disabling means, and in which the controlling means includes

means for storing the amount of actual use,

means for storing a preselected amount of use between scheduled maintenance call, and

means or comparing the stored amount of actual use with the preselected amount use between scheduled maintenance calls.

32. In a beverage brewer having a water tank for holding water that is to be passed through beverage ingredient, the improvement being a controller, comprising:

means for automatically disabling at least one brewer operation in response to occurrence of a preselected condition including at least one of the conditions of (a) performance of a preselected number of brew cycles, (b) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water dispensed into contact with the ingredient, (c) passage of a preselected quantity of mixing liquid through a by-pass to a beverage container, (d) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water passed through a hot water faucet, (e) passage of a preselected continuous period of time, and (f) performance of a preselected amount of use since the last scheduled maintenance procedure;

means for receiving an enablement code from an external source; and

means responsive to receipt of the enablement code for controlling the automatically disabling means, and in which the controlling means includes

a resettable clock for measuring the amount of time passed since the resettable clock was reset,

means for storing a preselected time period, and

means for comparing the preselected time period with the resettable clock.

33. The beverage brewer of claim 32 including means for automatically resetting the resettable clock when routine maintenance is done.

34. The beverage brewer of claim 32 including means for automatically resetting the resettable clock in response to timely payments by a customer.

35. In a beverage brewer having a water tank for holding water that is to be passed through beverage ingredient, the improvement being a controller, comprising:

means for automatically disabling at least one brewer operation in response to occurrence of a preselected condition including at least one of the conditions of (a) performance or a preselected number of brew cycles, (b) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water dispensed into contact with the ingredient, (c) passage of a preselected quantity of mixing liquid through a by-pass to a beverage container, (d) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water passed through a hot water faucet, (e) passage of a preselected continuous period of time, and (f) performance of a preselected amount of use since the last scheduled maintenance procedure;

means for receiving an enablement code from an external source; and

means responsive to receipt of the enablement code for controlling the automatically disabling means;

a brew valve for passing hot water from the hot water tank to the brew basket, said disabling means includes means for preventing the brew valve from opening to pass water to the brew basket; and

a hot water valve for dispensing hot water from the hot water tank and outside of the brew basket, said disabling means including means for preventing the hot water valve from opening to dispense hot water.

36. In a beverage brewer having a water tank for holding water that is to be passed through beverage ingredient, the improvement being a controller, comprising:

means for automatically disabling at least one brewer operation in response to occurrence of a preselected condition including at least one of the conditions or (a) performance of a preselected number of brew cycles, (b) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water dispensed into contact with the ingredient, (c) passage of a preselected quantity of mixing liquid through a by-pass to a beverage container, (d) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water passed through a hot water faucet, (e) passage of a preselected continuous period of time, and (f) performance or a preselected amount of use since the last scheduled maintenance procedure;

means for receiving an enablement code from an external source; and

means responsive to receipt of the enablement code for controlling the automatically disabling means;

at least one of a hot water valve for dispensing hot water from the hot water tank and a by-pass valve; and

in which

the disabling means includes means for preventing the at least one of the hot water valve and the bypass valve from opening to dispense hot water.

37. In a beverage brewer having a water tank for holding water that is to be passed through beverage ingredient, the improvement being a controller, comprising:

means for automatically disabling at least one brewer operation in response to occurrence of a preselected condition including at least one of the conditions of (a) performance of a preselected number of brew cycles, (b) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water dispensed into contact with the ingredient, (c) passage of a preselected quantity of mixing liquid through a by-pass to a beverage container, (d) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water passed through a hot water faucet, (e) passage of a preselected continuous period of time, and (f) performance of a preselected amount of use since the last scheduled maintenance procedure;

means for receiving an enablement code from an external source; and

means responsive to receipt of the enablement code for controlling the automatically disabling means, and in which

the at least one brewer operation is disabled unless a code relating to condition (d) is received.

38. The beverage brewer of claim 37 in which the brewer operation that is disabled is opening of a solenoid controlled valve to pass hot water from the water tank to the hot water faucet.

39. In a beverage brewer having a water tank for holding water that is to be passed through beverage ingredient, the improvement being a controller, comprising:

means for automatically disabling at least one brewer operation in response to occurrence of a preselected condition including at least one of the conditions of (a) performance of a preselected number of brew cycles, (b) passage of a preselected quantity hot water dispensed into contact with the ingredient, (c) passage of a preselected quantity of mixing liquid through a by-pass to a beverage container, (d) passage of a preselected quantity of hot water passed through a hot water faucet, (e) passage of preselected continuous period of time, and (f) performance of a preselected amount of use since the last scheduled maintenance procedure;

means for receiving an enablement code from an external source, the external source being an enablement code carrying member having an enablement code relating to at least one of (a) the preselected number of brew cycles, (b) the preselected quantity of hot water dispensed into contact with the ingredient, (c) the preselected quantity of mixing liquid passed through the by-pass, (d) the preselected continuous period of time, and (e) the preselected amount of use allowed after the scheduled maintenance procedure; and

means responsive to receipt of the enablement code for controlling the automatically disabling means.

40. The beverage brewer of claim 39 in which

the enablement code carrying member also carries an identification code that identifies a brewer which the enablement code is to enable, and

the controller includes

means for storing an identification code unique to the brewer,

means for reading the identification code,

means for comparing the identification code carried by the enablement code carrying member with the stored identification code to determine if there is a match, and

means for preventing receipt of the enablement code by the enablement code receiving means if there is not a match.

41. The beverage brewer of claim 40 in which the enablement code carrying member is attached to a beverage ingredient container.

42. The beverage brewer of claim 40 in combination with the enablement code carrying member.

43. The beverage brewer of claim 40 in which the enablement code carrying member is at least one of (a) beverage ingredient container with an exterior on which the code is printed (b) a beverage ingredient container with an exterior to which a strip carrying the code is one of (1) releasably, or (2) fixedly attached, and (c) a member protectively contained within an interior of the ingredient package.

44. The beverage brewer of claim 39 in which the enablement code is one of (a) an electronic code, (b) a bar code, (c) a magnetic code, (d) a light code, and (e) a sound code.

45. The beverage brewer of claim 39 in which the identification code is one of (a) an electronic code, (b) a bar code, (c) a magnetic code, (d) a light code, and (e) a sound code.

46. The beverage brewer of claim 39 in which the receiving means includes an automatic enablement code reading device and the enablement code carrying member has the enablement code in a form that can be automatically read by the enablement code reading device.

47. The beverage brewer of claim 39 in which the receiving means includes a manual operable enablement code input device and the enablement code is in a form that can be read by a person.