Beverage dispenser
AssigneeSanyo Electric Co., Ltd.
InventorsHiroshi Watanabe, Hiroshi Kosaka
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a beverage dispenser, a beverage material-supplying tube extending from BIB is squeezed by a pump to draw the beverage material from BIB and then to extrude the beverage material to a nozzle. The beverage dispenser has a sensor provided adjacent to the beverage material-supplying tube and a processor into which the output of the sensor is input. The sensor calculates a moving average value using, as a data source, highest signal values among sampled signals obtained by multipoint sampling of analog signals output from the sensor, and, based on the magnitude of a change in the moving average value, a decision is made on whether or not the beverage material has been sold out. By virtue of the above construction, the sold-out of the beverage material in BIB can be accurately detected.
Claims4
A beverage dispenser, comprising:
- a pump for squeezing a beverage material-supplying tube to extrude a beverage material supplied from a BIB (Bag In Box) via said beverage material-supplying tube to a nozzle;
- a sensor provided outside said beverage material-supplying tube for generating an analog signal dependent on a condition of said beverage material inside said beverage material-supplying tube;
- means for sampling said analog signal at subsequent groups of sampling timings to generate said subsequent groups of sampled signals, and selecting group-highest values from said subsequent groups of sampled signals;
- a memory for subsequently storing said group-highest values;
- and
- a processor for calculating a moving average of said group-highest values, and determining a state of sold-out of said beverage material in said BIB in accordance with a change rate of said moving average.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.