Beverage dispensing apparatus with smartcup tag identification and verification
AssigneeAutomatic Bar Controls, Inc.
InventorsWilliam Russell Martindale, Nicola La Gloria
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In many aspects, a system for a beverage dispenser can include smartcups and smartcup application management systems configured to validate and identify smartcups for dispensing a beverage. Identifying and validating the authenticity of smartcups as well as identifying registered consumers associated with smartcups may provide more secure beverage dispensers that may be placed in public with minimal oversight. Additionally, by identifying registered users associated with a registered smartcup and providing an individualized and streamlined consumer experience, consumer interactions can be improved with a beverage dispenser/provider and may lead to increased usage by consumers.
Claims14
A method of dispensing a beverage at a beverage dispenser, the method comprising:
- receiving, by the beverage dispenser, a smartcup identifier and a dynamic token from a smartcup reader, the smartcup identifier and the dynamic token being read from a smartcup tag;
- sending, by the beverage dispenser, a smartcup authentication request including the smartcup identifier and the dynamic token to a smartcup server computer, wherein the smartcup server computer validates the authenticity of the smartcup identifier and the dynamic token and determines a dispense decision associated with the smartcup identifier;
- receiving, by the beverage dispenser, a smartcup authentication response including the dispense decision, wherein the dispense decision indicates whether the beverage dispenser is authorized to dispense the beverage;
- determining, by the beverage dispenser, that the dispense decision is affirmative;
- determining, by the beverage dispenser, an updated dynamic token for the smartcup tag;
- updating, by the beverage dispenser, the dynamic token of the smartcup tag with the updated dynamic token;
- and
- dispensing, by the beverage dispenser, the beverage in a cup.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.