Back to results
US 9,803,914 B2Granted
Beverage dispensing system with machine vision
AssigneeWhirlpool Corporation
InventorsPhilip A. Anselmino, Kevin M. Chase
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A refrigerator is provided which includes a cabinet. A first compartment and second compartment are disposed within the cabinet. A first door provides access to the first compartment and a second door provides access to the second compartment. A beverage dispensing system is operatively connected to the cabinet. A machine vision system associated with the beverage dispensing system. The machine vision system has an imaging device.
Claims19
A beverage dispensing system comprising:
- a refrigerator having a refrigerator cabinet with a fresh food compartment disposed within the refrigerator cabinet;
- a beverage dispenser operatively connected to the refrigerator cabinet and configured to dispense beverages;
- an image acquiring device that captures an image of a user and captures a beverage container image;
- an intelligent control chosen from the group consisting of a microcontroller and a microprocessor;
- a memory device that stores the image of the user and the beverage container image in communication with the intelligent control;
- and
- wherein the intelligent control is operatively connected to the beverage dispenser and the image acquiring device and wherein the intelligent control;
- associates the image of the user, the beverage container image, and user preferences with the user;
- requests a user parameter;
- and receives the user parameter in response to the request;
- and wherein the user parameter is used for recommendation of modifying beverage dispensing or modification of dispensed beverages based on the acquired image of the user.
8 more elements
A beverage dispensing system comprising:
- a refrigerator having a refrigerator cabinet with a fresh food compartment disposed within the refrigerator cabinet;
- a beverage dispenser operatively connected to the refrigerator cabinet and configured to dispense beverages;
- an image acquiring device that captures an image of a user and captures an image of a beverage container;
- an intelligent control configured to control the operations of the beverage dispensing system;
- a memory device that stores the image of the user and the image of the beverage container in communication with the intelligent control, and stores user information input regarding the user and provided by the user in response to user prompts by the intelligent control;
- and
- wherein the intelligent control is operatively connected to the beverage dispenser and the image acquiring device and wherein the intelligent control associates the image of the user, the beverage container image, and user preferences with the user, and requests user input directly from the user and receives user input in response to the requests, wherein user input, as well as other user parameters not input by the user, is used for modifying or recommendations for modifying beverage dispensing.
4 more elements
A beverage dispensing system comprising:
- a refrigerator having a refrigerator cabinet with a fresh food compartment disposed within the refrigerator cabinet;
- a beverage dispenser operatively connected to the refrigerator cabinet and configured to dispense beverages;
- an image acquiring device that captures an image of a user and captures an image of a beverage container;
- an intelligent control configured to control the operations of the beverage dispensing system;
- a memory device that stores the image of the user and the image of the beverage container in communication with the intelligent control, and stores user information input regarding the user and provided by the user in response to user prompts by the intelligent control;
- and
- wherein the intelligent control is operatively connected to the beverage dispenser and the image acquiring device and wherein the intelligent control;
- associates the image of the user, the beverage container image, and user preferences with the user;
- requests a user parameter;
- and receives the user parameter in response to the requests;
- wherein the user parameter is used for modifying beverage dispensing or for recommendations for modifying beverage dispensing;
- and
- wherein the intelligent control advises the user of total volume consumed for each beverage over a specified period of time with a recommendation to adjust their consumption rates.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.