# US 10,945,447 B2 · Machine for making liquid or semi-liquid food products and production system comprising the machine

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- Number: US 10,945,447 B2
- Document ID: US10945447B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/294,465
- Filed: 2019-03-06
- Published: 2019-09-19
- Granted: 2021-03-16
- Earliest claimed: 2018-03-13
- Assignees: Ali Group S.R.L.—Carpigiani
- Applicants: ALI GROUP S.r.l.—CARPIGIANI
- Inventors: Andrea Cocchi; Roberto Lazzarini
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10945447B2

## CPC

- A23G 9/16: the products being within a cooled chamber, e.g. drum
- A23G 9/04: Production of frozen sweets, e.g. ice-cream
- A23G 9/08: Batch production {(A23G9/06 takes precedence)}
- A23G 9/224: {Agitators or scrapers}
- A23G 9/228: {Arrangement and mounting of control or safety devices}
- A23G 9/281: {at the discharge end of freezing chambers}
- A23G 9/288: {for finishing or filling ice-cream cones or other edible containers; Manipulating methods therefor}
- A23G 9/52: Liquid products; Solid products in the form of powders, flakes or granules for making liquid products {; Finished or semi-finished solid products, frozen granules}
- G05B 15/02: electric
- G06Q 10/08: Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
- A23G: COCOA; COCOA PRODUCTS, e.g. CHOCOLATE; SUBSTITUTES FOR COCOA OR COCOA PRODUCTS; CONFECTIONERY; CHEWING GUM; ICE-CREAM; PREPARATION THEREOF
- G05B: CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS (systems for controlling or regulating non-electric variables G05D; systems for regulating electric or magnetic variables G05F; control devices or systems insofar as characterised by mechanical features only G05G)
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR

## Abstract

A machine for making liquid or semi-liquid food products, including: a first processing container for processing a liquid or semi-liquid base product and defining a processing chamber; a stirrer mounted inside the first processing container; a thermal system including a heat exchanger, associated with the first processing container; a processing and control unit, including a module for receiving and transmitting data, a processing module and a memory containing processing software instructions which can be carried out by the processing module, the processing and control unit defining a storage node of a distributed architecture database.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A machine for making liquid or semi-liquid food products, comprising:
a first processing container for processing a liquid or semi-liquid base product and defining a processing chamber;
a stirrer for mixing the base product in the first processing container;
a processing and control unit, comprising a processing module and a memory containing processing software instructions for instructing the processing module, the processing and control unit defining a storage node of a distributed architecture database;
wherein the distributed architecture database is a distributed ledger distributed architecture database;
wherein the processing and control unit defines a storage node of the distributed ledger distributed architecture database.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The machine according to claim 1, comprising a thermal system including a heat exchanger, associated with the first processing container.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The machine according to claim 1, wherein the distributed ledger distributed architecture database is a distributed blockchain distributed architecture database and the processing and control unit defines a storage node of the distributed blockchain distributed architecture database and the distributed blockchain distributed architecture database comprises information grouped in a plurality of interconnected information blocks.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The machine according to claim 3, and further comprising ECDSA-512 cryptographic algorithms interconnecting the information blocks.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The machine according to claim 1, wherein the processing and control unit is configured to define a node of the distributed architecture database operating with a proof-of-work protocol.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The machine according to claim 1, wherein the processing and control unit is configured to define a node of the distributed architecture database operating with a proof-of-stake protocol.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The machine according to claim 1, and further comprising a sensor adapted to capture a quantity or an operating parameter and connected to the processing and control unit, and wherein the processing and control unit is configured to generate a request to write information captured by the sensor to the distributed architecture database.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The machine according to claim 1, and further comprising a user interface including at least one user-activable command and connected to the processing and control unit, and wherein the processing and control unit is configured to generate a request to write information associated with activation of the command to the distributed architecture database.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The machine according to claim 1, and further comprising a dispenser which is connected to the first processing container for processing the base product and which allows the base product to be extracted from the dispenser.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

A production system for making liquid or semi-liquid food products, comprising:
at least one of the machine according to claim 1;
wherein the distributed architecture database is stored in storage nodes, at least one portion of the distributed architecture database being stored in the processing and control unit of the at least one of the machine defining one of the storage nodes.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The production system according to claim 10, wherein the distributed ledger distributed architecture database is a distributed blockchain distributed architecture database and comprises information grouped in a plurality of interconnected information blocks.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The production system according to claim 11, wherein the distributed architecture database comprises information associated with a presence of tokens to specific electronic addresses.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The production system according to claim 12, wherein the at least one of the machine comprises a plurality of machines including a plurality of processing and control units, respectively, and the plurality of processing and control units are configured to generate further tokens and to assign the further tokens to a selected electronic address as a result of adding a new block to the distributed blockchain distributed architecture database.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The production system according to claim 13, wherein the selected electronic address corresponds to an electronic address associated with one of the plurality of machines that was a first to verify and grant an enable to add the new block to the distributed architecture database.

### Claim 15 (depends on 10)

The production system according to claim 10, wherein the distributed architecture database is built on an Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, or Iota, or Eos, or NEO, or Waves, or Qtum, or NEM or Multiversum or R3 Corda or Ripple or Stellar platform.

### Claim 16 (depends on 10)

The production system according to claim 10, comprising a plurality of processors which are configured to keep a complete copy of the distributed architecture database and which are connected in a network with the storage nodes.

### Claim 17 (depends on 10)

The production system according to claim 10, wherein the processing and control units of the plurality of machines are connected to each other through the Internet.

### Claim 18 (depends on 10)

The production system according to claim 10, wherein the distributed ledger distributed architecture database is a distributed blockchain distributed architecture database and comprises information grouped in a plurality of interconnected information blocks, each block of the plurality of blocks having a time-marking associated therewith.