Beverage dispenser with beverage-level indicator
AssigneePepsiCo, Inc.
InventorSteven Philip Moskowitz
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A beverage dispenser having a beverage-level indicating system. The beverage dispenser includes a housing and a dispensing head arranged on the housing for dispensing a beverage into a beverage container. The beverage dispenser further includes a beverage-level sensor arranged on the housing and which determines a beverage level within the beverage container without contacting the beverage within the beverage container, a beverage-level indicator that provides a visual indication of the beverage level within the beverage container, and a control unit that causes the beverage-level indicator to indicate the beverage level within the beverage container based on the beverage level as determined by the beverage-level sensor.
Claims20
A method of indicating a level of a beverage within a beverage container, the method comprising:
- detecting an upper end of the beverage container;
- dispensing a beverage into a beverage container by a dispensing head of a beverage dispenser;
- determining, based on the detected upper end of the beverage container, a beverage level of the beverage within the beverage container by a beverage-level sensor of the beverage dispenser;
- and
- indicating visually to a consumer the beverage level of the beverage within the beverage container via a beverage-level indicator.
A method of indicating a level of a beverage within a beverage container, the method comprising:
- detecting an upper end of the beverage container;
- dispensing a beverage into a beverage container by a dispensing head of a beverage dispenser;
- determining, based on the detected upper end of the beverage container, a beverage level of the beverage within the beverage container by a beverage-level sensor of the beverage dispenser;
- transmitting a signal representative of the beverage level as determined by the beverage-level sensor to a mobile electronic device in communication with the beverage dispenser;
- and
- providing, by the mobile electronic device, an indication of the beverage level of the beverage within the beverage container based on the signal representative of the beverage level.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.