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US 12,268,346 B2Granted
High speed reusable beverage container washing system with themed lighting
AssigneeMidea Group Co., Ltd.
InventorsJoel Boyer, Robert M. Digman, Dylan Rowe
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A beverage container washing system, e.g., for use in a retail environment to wash and/or sanitize customer-provided beverage containers prior to filling the beverage containers with purchased beverages, may include a lighting system with a plurality of lights disposed on a housing of the beverage container washing system and configured to be illuminated with various types of animations to convey different types of information to a customer and/or retail establishment employee.
Claims20
An apparatus for washing a beverage container, comprising:
- a housing defining a wash chamber configured to receive a beverage container during a washing operation, the housing including an entrance opening configured to provide external access to the wash chamber prior to the washing operation to allow for insertion of the beverage container into the wash chamber, and an exit opening configured to provide external access to the wash chamber after the washing operation to allow for removal of the beverage container from the wash chamber;
- a plurality of lights coupled to the housing;
- and
- a controller coupled to the plurality of lights and configured to selectively illuminate the plurality of lights to represent a plurality of operational states associated with the washing operation;
- wherein a first operational state of the plurality of operational states is associated with the washing operation being active, wherein the controller is configured to illuminate at least a subset of the plurality of lights to indicate that the washing operation is active, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of lights are disposed at different heights, and wherein the controller is configured to illuminate the at least a subset of the plurality of lights to indicate that the washing operation is active by executing a rainfall animation using the portion of the plurality of lights disposed at different heights.
2 more elements
An apparatus for washing a beverage container, comprising:
- a housing defining a wash chamber configured to receive a beverage container during a washing operation, the housing including an entrance opening configured to provide external access to the wash chamber prior to the washing operation to allow for insertion of the beverage container into the wash chamber, and an exit opening configured to provide external access to the wash chamber after the washing operation to allow for removal of the beverage container from the wash chamber;
- a plurality of lights coupled to the housing;
- and
- a controller coupled to the plurality of lights and configured to selectively illuminate the plurality of lights to represent a plurality of operational states associated with the washing operation;
- wherein the housing comprises:
- inner and outer concentric housing members supported on the base, the inner concentric housing member being disposed inwardly from the outer concentric housing member and forming at least a portion of the wash chamber, each of the inner and outer concentric housing members including an opening;
- and
- a drive assembly coupled to at least one of the inner and outer concentric housing members and configured to rotate the at least one of the inner and outer concentric housing members about an axis of rotation between first and second relative positions, wherein when in the first relative position, the respective openings of the inner and outer concentric housing members are aligned to permit external access to the holder in the wash chamber and when in the second relative position, the respective openings of the inner and outer concentric housing members are unaligned to restrict external access to the holder in the wash chamber during the washing operation;
- and
- wherein a first operational state of the plurality of operational states is associated with a start or end of the washing operation, wherein the controller is configured to control the drive assembly proximate the start or end of the washing operation to rotate the at least one of the inner and outer concentric housing members, and to illuminate the at least a subset of the plurality of lights while controlling the drive assembly by executing a chasing lights animation to represent the rotation of the at least one of the inner and outer concentric housing members.
7 more elements
An apparatus for washing a beverage container. comprising:
- a housing defining a wash chamber configured to receive a beverage container during a washing operation, the housing including an entrance opening configured to provide external access to the wash chamber prior to the washing operation to allow for insertion of the beverage container into the wash chamber, and an exit opening configured to provide external access to the wash chamber after the washing operation to allow for removal of the beverage container from the wash chamber;
- a plurality of lights coupled to the housing;
- and
- a controller coupled to the plurality of lights and configured to selectively illuminate the plurality of lights to represent a plurality of operational states associated with the washing operation;
- wherein the controller is configured to determine a predetermined special event based on an identity of a customer and in response to determining the predetermined special event, illuminate at least a subset of the plurality of lights to indicate the predetermined special event.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.