System and method for tracking dispensed products at participating customer locations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10899595-B2
Application number	US-201716472631-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 28, 2017
Priority date	Dec 30, 2016
Publication date	Jan 26, 2021
Grant date	Jan 26, 2021

Abstract

A system and method a method may include receiving (i) beverage composition data of a requested beverage, and (ii) a user identifier of a user requesting the beverage. Responsive to receiving an instruction to dispense the requested beverage, the requested beverage may be dispensed. The beverage composition data may be stored in a dispensed beverage data record. A verification as to whether or not the dispensed beverage is a qualified beverage pour may be performed. Responsive to determining that the dispensed beverage is a qualified beverage pour, a counter may be increased. Responsive to determining that the counter value crosses a threshold value, a first message may be communicated to a mobile electronic device of the user, otherwise, a second message may be communicated to the mobile electronic device. The first or second message may be displayed on the mobile electronic device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a beverage dispenser including:
a non-transitory memory device;
an input/output (I/O) unit configured to communicate with a communications network; and
a processing unit in communication with said non-transitory memory device and said I/O unit, and configured to:
receive (i) beverage composition data of a beverage composition of a requested beverage, and (ii) a user identifier of a user requesting the beverage;
responsive to receiving an instruction to dispense the requested beverage associated with the user identifier, cause the requested beverage including the beverage composition to be dispensed based on the beverage composition data; and
store the beverage composition data of the dispensed beverage in a dispensed beverage data record; and

a verification server including:
a storage unit configured to store a data repository;
an I/O unit configured to communicate with the beverage dispenser over the communications network; and
a processing unit in communication with said storage unit and I/O unit of said server, and configured to:
receive a data communication from the beverage dispenser inclusive of the user identifier, dispensed beverage composition data record, and dispenser identifier associated with a geographic location of the dispenser;
store the user identifier, dispensed beverage data record, and dispenser identifier in the data repository;
verify whether or not the dispensed beverage is a qualified beverage pour by comparing the dispensed beverage data record to qualified beverage pour criteria; and
responsive to determining that the dispensed beverage is a qualified beverage pour, increasing a counter stored in the data repository in association with the user identifier; and
responsive to determining that the counter value crosses a threshold value, communicate a first message to a mobile electronic device associated with the user via the communications network, otherwise, communicate a second message to the mobile electronic device via the communications network, the first or second message causing a user interface being executed and presented by the mobile electronic device to display information representative of the first or second message to the user of the mobile electronic device.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said processing unit of said verification server is further configured to communicate the counter value and the dispenser location to a third-party server to determine whether the counter value crossed the threshold value.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said processing unit of said beverage dispenser is configured to establish data communications with the mobile electronic device via a local wireless communications link over which the user identifier and beverage composition data is received.

4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said processing unit of said beverage dispenser is further configured to receive an identifier associated with the requested beverage and display the identifier.

5. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the identifier associated with the requested beverage is an order identifier.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said processing unit of said verification server is configured to receive the beverage composition data from the mobile electronic device associated with the user.

7. The system according to claim 6 , wherein said processing unit of said verification server is further configured to communicate the received beverage composition data to said beverage dispenser.

8. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said processing unit of said verification server is configured to receive the data communication from the dispenser.

9. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said processing unit of said verification server is configured to receive the data communication from a point-of-sale (POS).

10. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the geographic location is a food outlet identifier.

11. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the message includes a current count of qualified poured beverages.

12. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the message is indicative of a reward earned by the user.

13. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said processing unit of said verification server is configured to compare data in the dispensed beverage data record with one or more qualifying rules that specify one or more qualifying beverages and one or more qualifying locations.

14. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said processing unit of said beverage dispenser is further configured to store an amount of beverage dispensed of the requested beverage in the dispensed beverage data record, and wherein said processing unit of said verification sensor is further configured to compare the amount of beverage dispensed to the qualified beverage pour criteria.

15. A method, comprising:
receiving (i) beverage composition data of a beverage composition of a requested beverage, and (ii) a user identifier of a user requesting the beverage;
responsive to receiving an instruction to dispense the requested beverage associated with the user identifier, causing the requested beverage to be dispensed based on the beverage composition data;
storing the beverage composition data of the dispensed beverage in a dispensed beverage data record;
verifying whether or not the dispensed beverage is a qualified beverage pour by comparing the dispensed beverage data record to qualified beverage pour criteria;
responsive to determining that the dispensed beverage is a qualified beverage pour, increasing a counter; and
responsive to determining that the counter value crosses a threshold value, communicating a first message to a mobile electronic device associated with the user, otherwise, communicating a second message to the mobile electronic device, the first or second message causing a user interface being executed and presented by the mobile electronic device to display information representative of the first or second message to the user of the mobile electronic device.

16. The method according to claim 15 , further comprising communicating the dispensed beverage data record to a remote computing system.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein communicating the dispensed beverage data record is performed after dispensing the requested beverage.

18. The method according to claim 15 , further comprising communicating a confirmation that the beverage poured is a qualified beverage pour in response to the counter being increased.

19. The method according to claim 15 , wherein verifying is performed remotely from the dispenser.

20. The method according to claim 15 , further comprising performing a wireless handshake with the mobile electronic device from which the beverage request data is received.

21. The method according to claim 15 , further comprising communicating with a remote server from which the beverage composition data is received.

Assignees

• Coca Cola Co

Inventors

• Cuppari Scott

Classifications

• G07F13/065

  for drink preparation · CPC title

• G06Q30/0207 Primary

  Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates · CPC title

• G06Q20/322

  Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices] · CPC title

• B67D1/0881 Primary

  Means for counting the doses of dispensed liquid · CPC title

• B67D1/08

  Details · CPC title