WO2014076296A1

WO2014076296A1 - Vending apparatus for beverages by the glass provided with remote user interface

Info

Publication number: WO2014076296A1
Application number: PCT/EP2013/074152
Authority: WO
Inventors: Lorenzo Bencista' Falorni
Original assignee: Enomatic S.R.L.
Priority date: 2012-11-19
Filing date: 2013-11-19
Publication date: 2014-05-22
Also published as: ITFI20120249A1; EP2928809A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically dispensing beverages by the glass provided with user interface means of the remote type adapted to assist the user in using said apparatus.

Description

VENDING APPARATUS FOR BEVERAGES BY THE GLASS PROVIDED WITH REMOTE USER INTERFACE

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to the field of automatic drink dispensing devices and apparatuses. In particular, it relates to the field of devices for dispensing beverages provided with remote user interface means.

State of the art

Devices and apparatuses adapted to automatically dispense drinks from containers, such as bottles and the like, are known in the prior art. In some of these devices and apparatuses the bottles or similar vessels are maintained upside-down and a valve is appropriately opened for dispensing the beverages contained therein allowing the beverage to fall by gravity into a container appropriately positioned at the mouth of the vessel itself.

Others contemplate maintaining the bottles or similar containers in vertical position standing on their bottom and the beverage is dispensed by means of two tubes introduced into the bottle through the cap of the bottle itself. An inert gas is blown into the bottle through one of the aforesaid tubes maintaining the drink pressurized. When the dispensing tap associated to a tube is opened, the pressurized gas allows to dispense the drink through the other tube.

In general, the devices and the apparatuses of this type belonging to the prior art comprise a display, a keyboard and a magnetic card reader which allow the user to interact with them, allowing to choose the beverage and the amount of beverage to be dispensed and to carry out the respective payment.

The devices and the apparatuses adapted to automatically dispense beverages by the glass are mainly intended to dispense vintage wines, and are thus installed in wine shops, wine bars or similar venues. The user chooses the wine to be tasted, selects it on the specific interface on the dispensing device, pays for it by means of magnetic card and finally receives a glass of the chosen wine.

Often, the tasting of different wines by the glass is conductive to purchasing one or more bottles of the wine that the user finds particularly agreeable. The user must therefore take note of the tasted wine each time, highlight the wine of which he wants to purchase one or more bottles and finally hand the list over to the checkout to proceed with the purchase.

Sometimes, users may be patrons who periodically taste wine and possibly proceed to purchasing the bottles of the wines they find most agreeable. In this case, the users must keep a sort of ledger of the wines they have tasted and of which they have possibly purchased bottles to avoid confusing previously tasted and possibly purchased wines with those which are still unknown. Once again, users are forced to take and keep note of the tasted and purchased wines.

The above prefigures a technical problem related to the machines for dispensing beverages by the glass of the prior art: how to allow said machines to offer additional assistance services to users adapted to optimise the choice of the beverages to be tasted and to choose possible bottles to be purchased after tasting.

Another problem related to the machines for dispensing wine by the glass belonging to the prior art is related to the fact that said machines require specialised personnel for installation and also for management during operation. Indeed, during normal operation, the users choose the beverages - i.e. wines - to be tasted according to the label on the corresponding bottle contained in the dispensing machine and visible from the outside. In most cases, the users of said machines require further information on the wines available for tasting. For this reason, skilled personnel is required to assist customers in their choices in wine shops and wine bars etc. where said machines are installed. This may evidently limit the possibility of use of said machines for automatically dispensing wine by the glass if the aforesaid personnel is not available or if the management costs of the required personnel are too high.

It would therefore be desirable also in this case to allow said machines to automatically dispense wine by the glass in order to offer additional assistance services to users for optimising the choice of the beverages to be tasted and to optimise the choice of the possible bottles to be purchased after tasting without requiring the presence of specialised support personnel.

Brief description of the figures Fig. 1 shows a functional block chart of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Summary of the invention

Detailed description of the invention

With reference to appended figure 1 , the apparatus for automatically dispensing beverages by the glass comprises:

a container 1 0, adapted to contain the bottles and vessels from which to tap the liquid, said first container being provided with a resting base, preferably placed on the lower side of the container possibly associated to mobile lifting means 17 provided with manual, mechanical, electric or pneumatic actuators; thermal conditioning means 1 1 adapted to maintain the temperature of said container 10 at a controlled value;

dispensing means 16, adapted to allow the tapping of the liquid from said bottles and vessels by blowing inert gas into the container of the beverage to be dispensed and causing the release of the amount required by the user; control and piloting means 12 associated to said possible mobile lifting means 17, to said thermal conditioning means 1 1 , to said dispensing means 16 and to control and management means 13 of the operation of said apparatus and of the dispensing carried out by said apparatus, adapted in particular to: collect all the operating data of the device according to the present invention, to regulate said operation according to the settings received and to communicate to the user information related to the operation and to possible alarm conditions by means of the user interface means 14, associated to said control and management means 13;

feeding means 15 adapted to provide operating electric voltage and current to the various parts of the apparatus according to the present invention.

Said control and management means 1 3 comprise further means for connecting to said local networks and means for connecting in wireless mode to portable communication devices, such as smartphones, tablet computers, laptop personal computers etc. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, said user interface devices 14 comprise: a display and a keyboard, e.g. of the membrane type, arranged on said container 10 in a position which is easily visible and reachable by the user.

The apparatus according to the present invention further comprises a further external control module 19, usually made using a personal computer or a server, adapted to supervise the operation of a single or a plurality of apparatuses according to the present invention monitoring the correction operation thereof, calculating the amount of dispensed beverage and the corresponding price thereof, indicating the need to replace the bottles when the liquid they contain is finished, indicating the need to replace the inert gas containers etc. ; and

a remote control device 18 adapted to communicate in wireless mode with said control and management means 13 by means of said means for connecting to local networks and means adapted to connect to portable communication devices in wireless mode.

Said remote control device 18 may connect to said control and management means 13 and towards said further external control module 19 and by connecting to the local network to which said apparatus belongs, and by connecting to the Internet, where said apparatus is identified by at least one I P address, is by means of a direct connection by means of low-power wireless connections such as for instance Bluetooth, Zigbee, RF4CE (Radio Frequency for Consumer Electronics), ANT, NFC (Near Field Communication) etc.

Said remote control device 18, in turn, preferably comprises connection means to the Internet; means for viewing information ; means adapted to allow to send commands, data and information from the user to said control and management means 13 and means for storing information adapted to allow said user to record said data and information either locally or remotely.

Preferably, said remote control device will comprise a smartphone or tablet computer or laptop personal computer etc. adapted to host an appropriate software program adapted to allow the user to interact with said control and management means 13 and to said further external control module 19 to manage the choice and purchase beverages dispensed by said apparatus.

Said software program will comprise, in turn and in particular, the functions of: viewing on an appropriate graphic interface by means of which the user may perform the following functions:

- creating a user profile identified by a user name and a password; said user profile may be created starting from one or more user cards, already in the user's hands, for purchasing beverages from said automatic dispensing apparatus;

- saving the log of the purchases made with said user card in said user profile;

- viewing the available apparatuses for automatically dispensing beverages by the glass;

- viewing the available functions, services and products for each of the available apparatuses for automatically dispensing beverages by the glass and possible products associated therewith;

- selecting at least one of said available services and products from each of the available apparatuses for automatically dispensing beverages by the glass;

- selecting at least one of said products connected to said available services and products from each of the available apparatuses for automatically dispensing beverages by the glass;

- inserting the selected services and products in a virtual shopping cart;

- sending the content of said virtual shopping cart to said control computer so as to allow to calculate the corresponding total and to package the order;

- receiving confirmation of the availability of the packaged order ready to be picked up by said control computer;

- paying by means of credit card or other electronic payment mode (optional);

- recording notes related to one or more products taken from said available apparatuses for automatically dispensing available beverages by the glass;

- saving said notes in said user profile so as to be able to recall them at each future connection ;

- sharing said online notes:

- saving the log of the received services and of products and services purchased over the past connections. Furthermore, said remote control device 1 8 preferably comprises means for connecting to the Internet by means of which the user may, for example, search for further information on a beverage they are interested in or compare prices etc. by using said software program.

The apparatus according to the present invention is thus adapted to allow the user to autonomously choose the beverage to be tasted from a series of available automatic dispensing machines without needing assistance from expert personnel. The tasting experience of the available beverages is advantageously complemented by the multiple possibilities offered by the user's interaction with the dispensing devices carried out by means of the mediation of said remote control device 18.

Claims

1 . An apparatus for automatically dispensing beverages by the glass comprising a container (10), adapted to contain the bottles and vessels from which to tap the liquid, said first container being provided with a resting base, preferably placed on the lower side of the container; thermal conditioning means (1 1 ), adapted to maintain the temperature of said container (10) at a controlled value; dispensing means (16), adapted to allow the tapping of the liquid from said bottles and vessels by blowing inert gas into the container of the beverage to be dispensed; control and piloting means (12) associated to said thermal conditioning means (1 1 ) and to said dispensing means (1 6); control and management means (13) of the operation of said apparatus, adapted to adjust and monitor the operation of said apparatus according to the received settings, and comprising means for connecting to local networks and means adapted to connect, in wireless mode, to portable communication devices; user interface means (14), associated to said control and management means (1 3) and adapted to provide information to the user related to the state of said apparatus and to receive controls and settings from the user; feeding means (15) adapted to provide operating electric voltage and current to the various parts of the apparatus according to the present invention, characterized in that it comprises a remote control (1 8) adapted to communicate in wireless mode with said control and management means (1 3) by means of said means adapted to connect to portable communication devices in wireless mode and a further external control module (19) provided with wired and/or wireless communication means, adapted to supervise the operation of a single or of a plurality of said apparatuses.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said supervision comprises the actions taken from the group comprising: monitoring the correction operation thereof, calculating the amount of dispensed beverage and the corresponding price thereof, indicating the need for maintenance of said apparatuses.

3. An apparatus according to claims 1 - 2, wherein said remote control device (18) is further adapted to communicate in wireless mode with said external control module (19) and comprises connection means to the Internet; means for viewing information; means adapted to allow to send commands, data and information - in wireless mode - from the user to said control and management means (13) and towards said further external control module and means for storing information adapted to allow said user to record said data and information either locally or remotely.

4. An apparatus according to claims 1 - 3, wherein said remote control device (18) is connected to said control and management means (1 3) and towards said further external control module (1 9) according to the modes chosen from the group comprising: connection to the local network to which said apparatus belongs; connection to the Internet in which said apparatus is identified by at least one I P address; direct connection by means of low-power wireless connections.

5. An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said low-power wireless connection are chosen from the group comprising Bluetooth, Zigbee, RF4CE (Radio Frequency for Consumer Electronics), ANT, NFC (Near Field Communication) etc.

6. An apparatus according to claims 1 - 5, wherein said remote control device (18) is chosen from the group comprising a smartphone or a tablet computer or a portable personal computer, and comprises means adapted to allow the interaction of a user with said control and management devices (13) and toward said further external control module (19) so as to manage the selection and purchasing of beverages dispensed by the glass by said apparatus.

7. An apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said means adapted to allow the interaction of a user with said control and management means (13) and toward said further external control module (1 9) comprise: means for creating a user profile identified by a user name and a password; means for viewing the available apparatuses for automatically dispensing beverages by the glass; means for viewing the available functions, services and products for each of the available apparatuses for automatically dispensing beverages by the glass and possible products associated therewith ; means for selecting at least one of said available services and products from each of the available apparatuses for automatically dispensing beverages by the glass; means for selecting at least one of said products connected to said available services and products from each of the apparatuses for automatically dispensing beverages by the glass; means for inserting the selected services and products in a virtual shopping cart; means for sending the content of said virtual shopping cart to said control computer so as to allow to calculate the corresponding total and to package the order; means for receiving confirmation of the availability of the packaged order ready to be picked up by said control computer; means for recording notes related to one or more products taken from said available apparatuses for automatically dispensing available beverages by the glass; means for saving said notes in said user profile so as to be able to recall them at each future connection; means for sharing said online notes; means for saving the log of the received services and of products and services purchased over the past connections.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said means for creating a user profile identified by a user name and a password are further adapted to create a user profile starting from one or more user cards, already in the user's hands, for purchasing beverages from said automatic dispensing apparatus and saving the log of the purchases made with said user card in said user profile.

9. An apparatus according to claims 6 - 8, wherein said means adapted to allow the interaction of a user with said control and management means (13) and with said further external control module (19) further comprise means for paying by means of credit card or other electronic payment mode.