WO2007006309A2

WO2007006309A2 - Bottle weighing for an inventory control system

Info

Publication number: WO2007006309A2
Application number: PCT/DK2006/000404
Authority: WO
Inventors: Palle Aagaard
Original assignee: Liqmatech Aps
Priority date: 2005-07-08
Filing date: 2006-07-10
Publication date: 2007-01-18
Also published as: WO2007006309A3

Abstract

Volume measurement system for bottles comprising: a scale for measuring the mass of a bottle and its contents, and a control unit connected to said scale comprising means for identifying the bottle, and a database. A method of using the system is also provided. Using this system and method a very simple way of calculating the volume of liquid present in a bottle is disclosed.

Description

Volume measurement system

The current invention relates to a volume measurement system.

In order to provide for a concrete example of the use of a volume measurement system according to the invention, the example of a system used in a liquor serving establishment is used. However, the scope of protection should not be limited to systems used in liquor serving establishments.

Taking an inventory of the liquor present in liquor serving establishments is currently a tedious, wasteful and unhygienic process. When the inventory is to be taken, the staff counts up the number of full bottles in stock and then measures the amount of liquor in each of the opened bottles. This last step is typically performed by pouring the contents of an opened bottle into a meas- uring beaker, measuring the level in the beaker, pouring the contents back to the bottle and then washing the beaker. As can be imagined this method is very tedious. In addition, much liquor is wasted due to the small amounts left in the beaker after the liquor is poured back to the bottle and due to a partial evaporation of the liquor. The method is also not very hygienic since there is a chance that bacteria and/or other impurities enter the bottles during the emptying and re-filling stages.

Furthermore, the results of the inventory are typically recorded by having the person taking the inventory manually take notes on a hardcopy print out of a stock list. This step is also very tedious since each bottle must be found on the list and the volume of the contents remaining must be manually updated. There is also a large chance for inaccuracies entering the inventory list in this procedure.

Other systems are available which control the amount of liquor poured out of a bottle. These systems typically make use of a valve connected to the bottle in use which allow a certain amount of fluid, for example 2cl, to leave the bottle each time it is activated. These systems however, are time consuming to use for the bar tender. Furthermore, these systems are typically placed in fixed positions, for example mounted on a wall, which puts the bar tender in awkward positions when filling a glass. In addition, the systems do not permit "freehand" bar tending. "Freehand" bar tending allows the bar tender to custom make a drink for a customer, without being limited to standard sizes or measures.

Other systems are based on electronic means, whereby an electronic valve is connected to the end of a bottle when a drink is to be poured. The electronic valve is connected to a control unit which allows a standard measure of alcohol to be poured out the bottle. Each time the standard measure is poured out, the valve shuts off. This is time consuming for the bar tender, since the valve needs to be reset after each standard measure.

A first aspect of the current invention is therefore to provide a volume measurement system for bottles as mentioned in the opening paragraph which allows a more effective, more hygienic and less wasteful method of measur- ing the volume of liquid in a bottle.

A second aspect of the current invention is to provide a volume measurement system for bottles as mentioned in the opening paragraph which permits "freehand" bar tending.

A third aspect of the current invention is to provide a volume measurement system for bottles as mentioned in the opening paragraph which eliminates the need for taking inventory at regular intervals. A fourth aspect of the current invention is provide a volume measurement system for bottles as mentioned in the opening paragraph which gives a real time inventory status of a collection of open and/or closed bottles.

The above mentioned aspects are in part solved by a volume measurement system for bottles as mentioned in the opening paragraph which comprises a scale for measuring the mass of a bottle and its contents, and a control unit connected to said scale comprising means for identifying the bottle and a database. This allows the volume of a liquid in a bottle to be easily calculated from a simple weight measurement.

The method of measuring the volume of liquid in a bottle could comprise the steps of placing the bottle on a scale, identifying the bottle and the liquid, retrieving the mass of the empty bottle and the density of the liquid from a da- tabase, measuring the mass of the bottle filled with the liquid via the scale, subtracting the mass of the empty bottle from the measurement to find the mass of the liquid, and using the density of the liquid and the measured mass of the liquid to calculate the volume of the liquid.

In a preferred embodiment the means for identifying the bottle could be a bar code scanner which reads a bar code located on the bottle. In another embodiment the means for identifying the bottle could be a vision system which recognizes the shape and/or the label of a bottle. These embodiments free the user of the system from having to manually identify the bottles.

In order to further improve the functionality of the system the control unit could further comprise an internal memory, a first button and a second button, whereby when the first button is pressed the volume of liquid remaining in a bottle placed on the scale is calculated and stored together with its id in the internal memory and when the second button is pressed, the volume of liquid remaining in a bottle placed on the scale is calculated and subtracted from the calculated volume for the same bottle stored in the internal memory. A system similar to the above could be used to measure the volume change of a liquid in a bottle.

A method of measuring the volume change of a liquid in a bottle could comprise the steps of: placing the bottle on a scale, calculating the volume of liquid in the bottle, pouring some liquid out of the bottle, placing the bottle back on the scale, calculating the volume of liquid in the bottle and subtracting the newly calculated volume from the previously calculated volume.

In a more advanced version of the system the control unit can further comprise means to open and close a stopper located in a bottle, said stopper being opened when a third button is pressed and closed when a fourth button is pressed. In this way, the system can have control over the state of the bottle. This means that the system knows when the bottle is open and closed and can therefore more accurately keep track of the volume of liquid in the bottle.

In another embodiment of the system according to the invention, the control unit can further comprise an internal memory, a first button, a second button and means to open and close a stopper located in a bottle, whereby when the first button is pressed the stopper is opened and when the second button is pressed, the volume of liquid remaining in a bottle placed on the scale is calculated, subtracted from the volume for the same bottle stored in the internal memory in a previous step, and the current calculated volume stored in the internal memory together with the bottle's id. In this way, a system is provided whereby only one volume measurement needs to be performed each time the bottle is used.

Another embodiment of a method of measuring the volume change of a liquid in a bottle could comprise the steps of: opening a stopper located on the bottle, pouring some liquid from the bottle, placing the bottle on a scale, closing the stopper, identifying the bottle and the liquid, getting the previous volume of liquid in the bottle from a database, calculating the current volume of the liquid in the bottle according to the method of claim 12, subtracting the current volume from the previous volume, and storing the newly calculated vol- ume in the database.

In order to increase the effectiveness of the system the system can further comprise interface means for interfacing the system to an accounts management system and/or an inventory control system.

The system could also comprise updating means for updating the data in the database. In this way, the data in the database can be updated to reflect changes in the geometry or contents of the bottles.

For use with some of the embodiments described above, a stopper is disclosed comprising valve means and valve actuating means, said valve actuating means being able to open and/or close the valve means upon a command from the volume measurement system.

The stopper could furthermore be formed such that once it is inserted into a bottle it can't be removed. In this way, it is very difficult for a user of the system to cheat the system and remove liquid from a bottle without being detected.

Using the above stopper, the methods described above can be improved in that when the bottle is opened and closed, the opened/closed status of the bottle can be changed in a database.

Furthermore, the stopper could be opened and closed automatically in re- sponse to the bottle being placed on the scale and/or in a stopper opening device. Example embodiments according to the invention will be described in more detail below to give a better understanding of the invention. However, the description below comprises examples only and should therefore not limit the scope of protection in any way.

Detailed Description:

A first embodiment of a volume measurement system for bottles according to the current invention, is a system used for measuring the volume of liquor remaining in opened liquor bottles. It is comprised in the main part of a scale which can measure the mass of a bottle and its contents. In this embodiment, the scale is a standard scale which interfaces with a control unit via a standard RS-232 serial interface cable. It should however, be obvious to the per- son skilled in the art that many other types of interfaces could also be used instead of a serial cable interface, for example, a parallel interface, a WIFI interface, a Bluetooth interface, to name just a few. Furthermore, it should be obvious to the person skilled in the art that the control unit and a custom scale could be integrated into a single unit.

However, in this embodiment, the control unit is connected to the scale via a cable. This allows the scale to be placed on the bar counter, and the control unit to be placed in a location which is easily accessible and viewable by the bar staff. The control unit comprises a computer processing unit, a display and a keypad. In a preferable embodiment, the display is a touch sensitive screen, thereby combining the keypad and the display into a single unit.

The computer processing unit furthermore has access to a database. In the current embodiment, the database is located in the control unit in an internal memory, but it should be obvious to the person skilled in the art, that the da- tabase could also be located on a central server to which the control unit is connected via a network cable or other form of communication line.

The database contains information about the types of bottles and their con- tents that are to be measured. In a very simple embodiment, the database has a table which comprises three fields: bottle id, mass of the empty bottle and density of the contents of the bottle.

When the user wishes to know the volume of liquid remaining in a bottle, the user places the bottle on the scale and types the bottle's id into the control unit via the keypad. The control unit then gets the empty mass of the bottle corresponding to the entered bottle id as well as the density of the liquid in the bottle from the database, reads the measured mass of the bottle and its contents from the scale, subtracts the bottle's empty mass from the meas- ured mass to get the mass of the liquid remaining in the bottle, and then uses the density of the fluid to convert from mass to volume. The calculated volume is then output on the display.

This system allows the bar staff to measure the volume remaining in a bottle without having to pour the contents of the bottle out of the bottle. This system is therefore much more effective, much more hygienic and much less wasteful.

In the above described system, the means for identifying the bottle to the system involved the user entering the bottle id manually to the system. One problem with this solution is that the user is forced to remember a large number of bottle id's. This increases the workload of the user as well as increasing the chance of mistakes. One way of circumventing this problem is to integrate means for identifying the bottle into the scale. One solution is to mark all bottles with a bar code and then integrate a bar code scanner with the scale. The bar code scanner automatically scans the bottle for a bar code, looks the bar code up in a database, and in this way identifies the bottle without the user having to manually type the bottle's id into the keypad. In this system, the database would furthermore comprise a field for the bar code or the bar code would be identical to the bottle id in the database.

Another way in which the bottle and its contents could be automatically de- tected is to use a vision system. Most bottles have a unique shape which identifies the contents, therefore a simple outline test could identify most bottles and their contents. For the bottles which share a common bottle shape, the vision system could identify the label. In this embodiment, the database would contain a characterizing image of the bottle which could be compared to an image taken with the image system.

It could furthermore be imagined that other types of vision systems could be used. For example, the bottles could be marked with a code which is only visible under ultra violet light. This would be advantageous in darker estab- lishments where a traditional vision system might not be useable due to lack of illumination.

In a further development of the system, the control unit could be interfaced with an inventory control system. In this way, the volume calculated by the control unit as described above could automatically be transferred to a database which contains information with regards to the inventory of the establishment in question. In this way, the entire stock taking procedure is automated and it is not necessary for the user of the system to manually update any records, or manually input any data. The bottle is automatically recog- nized by the system and the volume remaining in the bottle is automatically updated in an inventory database. In certain cases, it is desirable to include a temperature sensor in the scale which can be used to compensate for the density changes of the liquids in the bottle due to temperature changes.

Furthermore, it is observed that many types of liquor have a similar density and the densities could therefore be categorized into groups. Therefore, instead of storing the actual density of all the different liquids in the database, a certain number of density groups could be established, and the database could associate each liquid with a certain density group.

Of special importance to the current system, is that the data in the bottle database is complete and updated. If for example a bottle changes shape, a new bottle is introduced, etc... it should be easy to update the database.

This could be achieved via manual entry of the changed data via the keypad on the control unit. Other methods are to connect the control unit to the internet, thereby allowing the control unit to automatically download an updated list from a website which provides this data. Another method is to provide a data port, for example a diskette drive or a USB port which allows an external media device containing the updated data to be connected to the system.

In the above description a single scale was connected to a single control unit. However, it should be obvious to the person skilled in the art, that a number of scales can be connected together to a central control unit with a central database. In this way, a larger establishment with a number of staff members could quickly take stock at the end of the evening.

Furthermore, in the above example, a standard scale was used which was interfaced with a control unit via a serial cable. In order to prevent an establishment from copying the software and control unit and purchasing a stan- dard scale, the scale has a security chip embedded in it. This is similar to the hardware dongles used with software protection schemes in the past. During use, the control unit and the software in the control unit queries the security chip at regular intervals in order to establish that the scale is the correct scale. If the control unit and/or the software can't establish communication with the security chip, the control unit and/or the software will disable itself.

In the previously presented systems the scale used comprised a single load cell or a single measuring device. This setup works fine for normal liquor serving establishments. However, this setup has been shown not to work in liquor serving establishments which are located on moving structures. For example, a liquor serving establishment located on a cruise ship or a ferry making use of a device with a single load cell will experience large measurement errors. For inexpensive drinks, these errors can in some cases be tolerated, but for more expensive liquors these errors are not accepted either by the customer or by the liquor serving establishment.

Therefore a new scale is proposed which comprises means for compensating the measurement of the mass for movement of the scale. In this way, the measurement can be made very precise even if there are large movements of the scale. In a first embodiment, the measurement can be compensated by using a numerical filtering arrangement. For example a moving average of the signal could be taken. However, in a situation where the movement is characterized by a low time constant, for example in big waves, the meas- urement would need to be filtered over a long period of time in order to fully compensate for the motion. This is not acceptable in a busy bar, for example.

In a second embodiment, the scale comprises at least two measuring devices, for example two load cells. A first measuring device is connected to a mass of a predetermined size and the second measuring device is used to measure the mass of the liquor container. When the scale moves, for exam- pie due to the motion of the ship on which it is located, the first and second measuring device will experience the same accelerations and therefore the correct mass of the liquor container can be determined using the two measurements. The two readings can be used in many different ways to get an approximation of the correct mass.

In one example, the two readings can be subtracted directly from each other. This is not completely correct, but will compensate for the motion to a certain degree. When combined with a filter, the results are acceptable. The prede- termined mass present on the first measuring device could furthermore be chosen to be around the weight of an empty bottle. In this way, the variations in the measurements on the two scales due to the changing acceleration will be similar. By calibrating the first measuring device to read zero when the scale is at rest, the output of the first measuring device will be the component due to the acceleration of the scale. A direct subtraction will therefore result in quite an accurate approximation. This method has the advantage that the calculation is a simple subtraction. There are no problems with complex routines which require a computer or other processing device. Furthermore, a simple subtraction will always give a simple result.

In a second example, the reading from the first measuring device can be used to find the acceleration of the scale since the actual mass and the measured mass are known. The calculated acceleration can then be used to compensate the actual measurement of the liquor container to get the real mass of the liquor container. This method will give a very precise result, but will in many cases require the use of numerical division. Numerical division requires a more powerful processor than a simple subtraction. Division also has the disadvantage that there is a risk of a divide by zero situation which will cause the calculation to fail. In a third embodiment, the scale can comprise at leas tone load cell and at least one accelerometer. The accelerometer can measure the actual acceleration of the platform and be used to directly compensate for the motion of the platform. This is a similar method to the second embodiment, and has similar advantages and disadvantages. An accelerometer based solution will however in most cases be more economical and lighter weight. A scale with two measuring devices will usually be heavier and more expensive, but will also have the advantage that in case of the failure of one of the measuring devices, the other measuring device could be used as a backup.

The system described above has been described in the context of a method for taking stock levels of liquor bottles. However, the same system can also be used to encourage freehand bar tending. The system could be slightly modified in order to permit it to measure a volume change instead of just a single volume. One method of doing this is to place an "open" button and a "closed" button on the control unit. Before the bartender starts using a bottle, the bartender places the bottle on the scale and presses the "open" button. The control unit then registers the volume remaining in the bottle and stores it along with the bottle's id in its internal memory. The bar tender then pours a drink for the customer. When the bar tender is finished, the bartender places the bottle back on the scale and presses the "close" button. The control unit then registers the volume remaining in the bottle and subtracts it from the previous volume stored for the particular bottle. The display then outputs the volume change. The customer is then charged for the actual volume change. This allows the bar tender to be more creative when mixing drinks without being limited to certain standard measures.

One problem with the above system is that it is still required to do an inventory check at regular intervals. In addition, the bar management does not know what it's stock levels are until the end of the inventory check. In order to solve these problems, a further development of the system is now described. In this system, each bottle is equipped with a stopper which is opened when the bar tender presses the "open" button on the control terminal and which is closed when the bar tender presses the "close" button on the control unit. In this way, the system can keep track of the state of the bottle. The system therefore always knows if the bottle is open or closed.

Since the system knows each time that the bottle is opened and closed, the system can keep track of the volume change of each bottle in real time. Each time there is a change in the volume of a bottle, the inventory database is updated with the volume change. In this way, the inventory database is always updated. This allows the system to provide a real time overview of the inventory levels.

This system is therefore very advantageous for larger establishments since it gives management the possibility of keeping track of inventory levels at any time point. It is not necessary to perform an actual inventory check to get the status of the inventory.

A further benefit of this system, is that the scale does not need to measure the volume when the bar tender presses the open button, since the previously stored value for the volume can be retrieved from the stock database. This means that only one measurement needs to be taken during a typical drinks pouring procedure.

Furthermore, by making it impossible for the bartender to bypass the system and open the stopper manually, the system can prevent cheating, since the bar tender is prevented from pouring drinks without the system registering it.

It should be obvious to the person skilled in the art, that the way in which the bar tender interacts with the system could be modified in many ways without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the above described embodiment has an open button and a close button. But it could also be imagined that instead of having a special "open" button, that the bottle is automatically opened and marked as open in the database when it is placed on the scale for the first time. Likewise, when the bottle is placed on the scale for the second time, the bottle is automatically closed, marked as closed in the database, the volume measured and the new volume updated in the database. This makes the job of the bar tender even easier.

The way that the stopper and the control unit interact can take many different forms. In one embodiment, the mouth of the bottle with the stopper is placed in a stopper opening device. The stopper opening device could for example be in the form of a coil placed around the stopper which exerts a magnetic force on the stopper. In another embodiment, the interaction is via a wireless connection, for example Bluetooth, where the control unit sends a command to the stopper to open or to close. In this embodiment, there is no need for a stopper opening device.

The stopper can furthermore be equipped with a unique code. When the stopper is inserted in a bottle of a certain type, the database can be pro- grammed such that the system can identify the bottle and its contents via the code of the stopper.

The stopper according to the invention can be formed in many different ways. For example, one stopper according to the invention has a cylindrical shape which allows it to be inserted into the mouth of a bottle. The stopper has a channel through its centre which is blockable by a flap. The flap is arranged to be stable in two positions. In a first position it blocks the channel and in a second position it blocks the channel. When the state of the flap is to be changed, an external magnetic field in a certain direction is applied to the flap which causes it to change states. When an external magnetic field of opposite direction is applied to the flap, it again changes states. In this way, the stopper is a very inexpensive and simple device. The stopper can therefore be made disposable a separate stopper used for each bottle. Furthermore, the stopper has no batteries which need to be charged or exchanged.

Another example of a stopper which could be used is where electrical energy is transferred to the stopper by an inductive energy source. This type of energy transfer is well known from, for example electric tooth brushes.

A further embodiment of a stopper is where a ball is slideably arranged in a passageway. When the bottle is in an upright position, the ball falls down against a seat due to gravity, thereby closing the passageway. When the bottle is tipped into a pouring position, the ball slides down the passageway due to gravity, and opens the passageway thereby allowing liquid to be poured out of the bottle. This type of stopper is well known in the industry. The stop- per is however modified for use in the current invention in that a locking mechanism is incorporated in the stopper which can lock the ball in the closed position. The advantage of this system, is that the locking mechanism can be made quite simply since the force needed to lock the ball in position is quite low.

In a further embodiment of the stopper, the stopper is formed in such a way, that once it is inserted in the mouth of a bottle it cannot be removed. In one embodiment, this is achieved in that the lower part of the stopper expands once it is inserted into the bottle, thereby preventing it from being removed from the bottle. This would prevent a bartender from cheating the system by removing the stopper for short periods and pouring non-registered drinks.

It should be mentioned, that the embodiments described above describe a system for use in a liquor establishment. However, a similar system could also be used in other establishment. For example, a similar system could be used in hospitals or care institutions for controlling the correct dosing of pills and/or medications. In the case of pills, instead of measuring the volume of a liquid, the number of pills is measured instead. However, the basic concept is exactly the same. The scope of protection of the current invention should therefore not be limited to liquor volume measurement systems.

Claims

Claims:

1. Volume measurement system for bottles comprising:

- a scale for measuring the mass of a bottle and its contents, and - a control unit connected to said scale comprising

- means for identifying the bottle, and

- a database.

2. Volume measurement system for bottles according to claim 1 , charac- terized in that said database comprises a first table comprising at least three fields: bottle id, density of the contents and empty mass of the bottle, for each of the bottles which are to be measured.

3. Volume measurement system for bottles according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said means for identifying the bottle is a bar code scanner which reads a bar code located on the bottle.

4. Volume measurement system for bottle according to claims 1 or 2, characterized in that said means for identifying the bottle is a vision system which recognizes the shape and/or the label of a bottle.

5. Volume measurement system for bottles according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that said volume measurement system comprises means for compensating for the motion of the scale.

6. Volume measurement system for bottles according to claim 5, characterized in that the means for compensating for the motion of the scale comprises means for measuring the acceleration of the scale.

7. A volume measurement system for bottles according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that said control unit further comprises an internal memory, a first button and a second button, whereby when the first button is pressed the volume of liquid remaining in a bottle placed on the scale is calculated and stored together with its id in the internal memory and when the second button is pressed, the volume of liquid remaining in a bottle placed on the scale is calculated and subtracted from the calculated volume for the same bottle stored in the internal memory.

8. A volume measurement system for bottles according to claim 7, char- acterized in that said control unit further comprises means to open and close a stopper located in a bottle, said stopper being opened when a third button is pressed and closed when a fourth button is pressed.

9. A volume measurement system for bottles according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that said control unit further comprises an internal memory, a first button, a second button and means to open and close a stopper located in a bottle, whereby when the first button is pressed the stopper is opened and when the second button is pressed, the volume of liquid remaining in a bottle placed on the scale is calculated, subtracted from the volume for the same bottle stored in the internal memory in a previous step, and the current calculated volume stored in the internal memory together with the bottle's id.

10. A volume measurement system for bottles according to any one of claims 1-9, characterized in that said system further comprises interface means for interfacing the system to an accounts management system and/or an inventory control system.

11. A volume measurement system for bottles according to any one of claims 1-10, characterized in that said system further comprises updating means for updating the data in the database.

12. A stopper to be used together with a volume measurement system for bottles according to claims 8 or 9, comprising valve means and valve actuating means, said valve actuating means being able to open and/or close the valve means upon a command from the volume measurement system.

13. A stopper according to claim 12, characterized in that said stopper is formed such that once it is inserted into a bottle it can't be removed.

14. A method of measuring the volume of liquid in a bottle comprising the steps of:

- placing the bottle on a scale,

- identifying the bottle and the liquid,

- retrieving the mass of the empty bottle and the density of the liquid from a database, - measuring the mass of the bottle filled with the liquid via the scale,

- subtracting the mass of the empty bottle from the measurement to find the mass of the liquid, and

- using the density of the liquid and the measured mass of the liquid to calculate the volume of the liquid.

15.A method of measuring the volume change of a liquid in a bottle comprising the steps of:

- placing the bottle on a scale, - calculating the volume of liquid in the bottle according to the method of claim 14, - pouring some liquid out of the bottle,

- placing the bottle back on the scale,

- calculating the volume of liquid in the bottle according to the method of claim 14 and subtracting the newly calculated vol- ume from the previously calculated volume.

16. A method of measuring the volume change of a liquid in a bottle comprising the steps of:

- opening a stopper located on the bottle, - pouring some liquid from the bottle,

- placing the bottle on a scale,

- closing the stopper,

- identifying the bottle and the liquid,

- getting the previous volume of liquid in the bottle from a data- base,

- calculating the current volume of the liquid in the bottle according to the method of claim 14,

- subtracting the current volume from the previous volume, and

- storing the newly calculated volume in the database.

17.A method of measuring the volume change of a liquid in a bottle according to claim 16, characterized in that when the bottle is opened and closed, the opened/closed status of the bottle is changed in a database.

18.A method of measuring the volume change of a liquid in a bottle according to claim 17, characterized in that the stopper is opened and closed automatically in response to the bottle being placed on the scale and/or in a stopper opening device.