# US 11,029,667 B2 · Method for operating an assembly for processing liquid food products > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,029,667 B2 - Document ID: US11029667B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/464,216 - Filed: 2017-07-13 - Published: 2019-12-19 - Granted: 2021-06-08 - Earliest claimed: 2016-11-25 - Assignees: Krones AG - Applicants: Krones AG - Inventors: Felix Wildsfeuer - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11029667B2 ## CPC - G05B 19/4155: characterised by program execution, i.e. part program or machine function execution, e.g. selection of a program - G06Q 10/06: Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling - G06K 7/1413: {1D bar codes} - G06K 7/1417: {2D bar codes} - G06Q 10/20: Administration of product repair or maintenance - G05B 2219/45111: Meal, food assistance - 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 - G06K: GRAPHICAL DATA READING (image or video recognition or understanding G06V); PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS ## Abstract Provided is a method for operating an assembly for processing liquid food products, where the operation of the assembly comprises automatically executable steps and steps to be executed manually for various elements of the assembly, where machine readable pieces of information are applied to at least one of the various elements the machine-readable pieces of information identifying the respective element, where the steps to be executed manually are in a processing unit each associated with an execution status which is set to “executed” under the condition that the machine-readable pieces of information are read out at at least one predetermined element by way of a mobile terminal, and where a control device controls the automatically executable steps taking into account the execution status. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for operating an assembly for processing liquid food products, comprising: reading, via a mobile terminal, machine-readable pieces of information attached to various elements forming the assembly for processing liquid food products, the machine-readable pieces of information identifying at least one of the various elements, confirming that predetermined manual steps for assembling or adjusting the various elements have been executed by reading out the machine-readable pieces of information on at least one predetermined element of the various elements by way of the mobile terminal, updating a display on the mobile terminal to indicate an execution status of the at least one predetermined element of the various elements, transmitting the execution status of the at least one predetermined element of the various elements to a control device, and automatically executing, via the control device, the automatically executable steps, where the automatic execution takes into account an execution status of the steps to be manually executed, where if the execution status of the steps to be manually executed is set to “not executed” or “executed incorrectly”, the control device prevents the automatically executable steps from starting. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, where a processing unit determines whether two pieces of machine-readable information read out in immediate succession using the mobile terminal identify a connection of two predetermined elements of the various elements, and where the two pieces of machine-readable information have been read out within a predetermined time window. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method according to claim 2, where the execution status for the step of connecting the two predetermined elements is set to “executed”, on the condition that the machine-readable pieces of information read out in immediate succession identify the two predetermined elements of the various elements, and the information was read out in the predetermined time window, and where the execution status is otherwise set to “not executed” or “executed incorrectly”. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method according to claim 3, where the mobile terminal outputs a warning if the condition is not satisfied. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, where the machine-readable pieces of information comprise optically readable pieces of information and/or electronically readable pieces of information. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The method according to claim 5, where an RFID tag or an NFC antenna containing the machine-readable pieces of information is applied to at least one of the various elements, and where the machine-readable pieces of information are read out by way of a respective antenna of the mobile terminal. ### Claim 7 (depends on 5) The method according to claim 5, where a QR Code© or a barcode is applied to at least one of the various elements and the machine-readable pieces of information are read out by way of a camera of the mobile terminal. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, where a representation of at least some of the steps to be executed manually and a current execution status of the steps to be executed manually are shown on a display section of the mobile terminal. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, where determining, changing, and/or storing the execution status of the steps to be executed manually is done by use of the mobile terminal and a current execution status of one or more of the steps to be executed manually is then transmitted from the mobile terminal to the control device via a data connection. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, where the mobile terminal reads out the machine-readable pieces of information and transmits them by way of a data connection to the control device and the control device determines, changes, and/or stores said execution status. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, where the various elements of the assembly comprise a locking element to which identifying machine-readable information is applied, where the steps to be executed manually comprise locking two predetermined elements of the various elements, by way of the locking element, and where a relative position of the machine-readable information identifying the locking element indicates whether the two predetermined elements of the various elements are locked. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, where the various elements comprise a locking element, where the steps to be executed manually comprise locking two predetermined elements of the various elements, by way of the locking element, where a photo of the locking element is created by way of a camera or a camera of the mobile terminal, where a user terminal or the processing unit, by way of an image processing method, compares the created photo to a stored photo showing a target state after the two predetermined elements to be locked have been locked, and where, determined by the comparison of the two photos whether the step of locking has been executed correctly, the execution status is set to “executed” if the step of locking has been executed correctly. ### Claim 13 A system with an assembly for processing liquid food products, where machine-readable pieces of information are applied to various elements of the assembly, the machine-readable pieces of information identifying each respective element of the various elements of the assembly, the system comprising: a control device for controlling automatically executable process steps, and a mobile terminal, where the control device is adapted to control the automatically executable steps taking into account an execution status of one or more of the steps to be executed manually, where the execution status reflects whether the machine-readable pieces of information on at least one predetermined element have been read out by way of the mobile terminal. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The system according to claim 13, where the control device is adapted to receive read out machine-readable pieces of information from the mobile terminal and determines from the received machine-readable pieces of information whether the execution status of one or more of the steps to be executed manually must be changed and, changes the execution status accordingly. ### Claim 15 (depends on 13) The system according to claim 13, where the control device is adapted to receive information identifying a step to be executed manually and an execution status of the step to be manually executed, and where the mobile terminal or an external processing unit is adapted to determine, change, and store the execution status of the step to be manually executed.