GB2097975A - Monitoring the dispensing of beverages - Google Patents

Abstract

The dispensing of beverages, for example in bars in licensed premises, is monitored from a central point (U) using a light weight cable (C), for example only two-core or four-core, by using a multiplexed signal, preferably time-division multiplexed, which interrogates the dispensers in turn. Each dispenser has a decoder (D) to respond only to signals intended for that dispenser. The cable can also be used to send signals controlling the display of prices, for example on LED displays, at the individual dispensers. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Monitoring the dispensing of beverages This invention reiates to a way of monitoring the dispensing of beverages, for example of alcoholic and other drinks in public houses and other places where drinks are sold.

Various proposals have been made from time to time on these lines, including the provision of counters, mechanical or electric, which record every time a beer tap is operated, or every time a measure is taken from an inverted bottle of spirits.

In recent times such proposals have included means for recording the data electronically and transmitting it to a central processor where it is stored and analysed. In at least one such proposal the price per measure is taken into account in the analysis and is used to produce a figure showing what should have been the total cash receipts for the sales from the various bottles, so that this can be compared with the actual receipts.

Where the installation is relatively complex, for example involving two or more bars at separate parts of a building, each bar having several beer pumps and a row of spirit bottles, each with its own measuring dispenser, the wiring involved in transmitting all the information to a central point becomes very substantial, and the necessary multi-core cables and harnesses running along the dispensers can be both unsightly and inconvenient. Moreover, faults arising through mechanical damage to the bulky wiring can be difficult to trace.

The primary aim of the present invention is to provide a monitoring system which is flexible and unobtrusive and which can be readily modified or extended to cater for different or extended layouts. According to the invention we propose that there should be a thin two-wire cable (or at any rate one with a minimum number of wires) running around all the dispensers to be monitored, and carrying a multiplexed signal which is able to interrogate sensors at each of the dispensers, each sensor providing a signal that indicates the condition of the associated dispenser, as well as identifying the dispenser, and arranged to respond only to signals intended for that dispenser.In that way all the required information can be fed to the central processing unit, identifying each dispenser and the number of times it is used, yet using only a light cable that can easily be concealed and can be taken along unobtrusive and roundabout paths that minimise the risk of damage to it.

The multiplexing of the signal can be in accordance with known principles, for example time-division or frequency-division multiplex.

According to a further feature of the invention there is an illuminated electronically generated display alongside each dispenser, or at least alongside each of a number of the dispensers in a group, and that display normally shows the price per unit of the drink being dispensed (for example the price per tot in the case of spirits) but every time the dispenser is actuated it displays for a brief period the total number of units dispensed since an arbitary instant, for example since the start of the day, or week, or since the bottle attached to that dispenser was last replaced.

Preferably the price displayed is out of the control of the user, i.e. the bartender, but can be set from the central microprocessor by feeding into the cable an appropriate signal sequence, and can be altered in the same way when desired. It will be understood that, in the central processor, the information stored can be retrieved, and if necessary printed out, to show the total use of each dispenser over a given period, and the total receipts that should have been taken. The processor may be linked to the cash tills at the different bars, so that the taking of each till can be compared with what they should be, as shown by the information obtained from the dispensers associated with that till.

An added advantage of the system according to the invention is the high degree of security. It can be arranged that any tampering with the cable or with the individual dispensers results in an alarm signal to the microprocessor, and every time a bottle is removed and replaced the fact is recorded, so that it is an easy matter to detect unauthorised removal of bottles. As the price per tot is displayed and cannot be altered from the bar the customer can be assured that he is being correctly charged. the dispensers are arranged so that a tot is only recorded when a full stroke of the measuring system is performed, so that short measures are eliminated.It is indeed possible to arrange that the information from all the dispensers associated with a given till is fed through the multiplexed system direct to that till, so that the total sum due from the customer is displayed instantly on completion of an order.

At each dispenser a decoder is required, identifying the interrogating signals unique to that dispenser and feeding the information received from the sensors, preferably without moving parts that detect operation of the dispenser and replacement of the bottle, as well as any signs of unauthorised tampering.

Taps, e.g beer tapes can be included in the monitoring system, with sensors detecting operation of the tap, or travel of a metering piston, depending on whether the feed is from a pressurised or unpressurised system. It will also be understood that sales of other goods and services capable of being recorded can also be fed to the central processor through the same multiplexed system.

The invention will now be further described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a simplified diagrammatic circuit layout illustrating the principle of the invention; Figure 2 indicates diagrammatically the mounting of the display on an individual drink dispensing unit; Figure 3 is a circuit diagram of the master multiplexing unit; and Figure 4 is a circuit diagram of the decoding unit and associated equipment at the dispensing unit.

Referring first to Figures 1 and 2, an installation in a typical public house comprises rows of drink dispensers of the well-known kind in which a bottle 1 of spirits is inverted over a glass measuring device 2 and when the bartender pushes a glass up underneath the device it automatically dispenses a measured tot from the bottle. The mechanical details by which this is achieved are not shown but in the arrangement according to the invention each dispensing device 2 incorporates a pair of microswitches or their equivalent, indicated diagrammatically at 3 and 4 in Figure 2. The switch 3 is normally open but is arranged to close for brief moment every time a tot is dispensed. Likewise the switch 4 is normally open but closes briefly every time a bottle is removed from the device and replaced by a fresh one.Again, the mechanical details are not important, or at least they do not form the subject of the present invention, but security precautions are taken to prevent the switches being defeated by being put out of action or by being operated without a tot being fully dispensed, or the bottle replaced.

There may be two or more rows 5 (Figure 1) of such dispensing devices at different points in the same bar, and also rows 6 of beer dispensers, likewise equipped with switches 3. These, and the rows of dispensers in other bars of the same establishment, are all inter-connected by a single cable C which passes around between them, being connected to a decoder D in each dispenser in a manner described below with reference to Figure 4. The cable C emerges from a master unit M which itself interchanges information with a central processor unit U through the usual interfaces (not shown).

The cable C is, in the example shown, a four core cable, two of the leads being used for the power supplies to the decoders and displays in the dispensers, and the other two for sending and receiving information. In an alternative arrangement, with suitable known techniques for separating the signals from the supply currents, it would be possible to use only a two-core cable.In either case the cable is very light and flexible, and can be routed inconspicuously around the bars and the dispensers, in contrast to the thick multicore cable that would be needed if wires were to be run separately from each dispensing unit back to the processor At the master unit M, shown in more detail in Figure 3, a series of interconnected integrated circuits of a known kind generate the necessary time-division multiplexed signals to send round the cable to interrogate each of the dispenser units in turn, receive the incoming responses, and feed them to the main processor unit U.

A clock signal is derived from a 4M Hz oscillator 7, the output of which is frequencydivided in counters 8 to bring it down to 1200 Hz, which is the selected basic clock frequency, implying that the dispensers are interrogated at a rate of 1200 bauds, in 8-bit bytes. The main program of codes identifying the different dispensers and the sequencing of the interrogation is contained in a pair of programmable read-only memories 9 connected together in parallel, and the signal is multiplexed in an integrated-circuit multiplexing unit 10. Ports A and B communicate with the central processor U. There are various latches, gates and signal generators, as indicated, the purposes of which will be readily understood by those skilled in the art, and the output to the cable C is through a pair of operational amplifiers 11, which separate the outgoing and incoming signals.

Figure 4 shows the circuit of the decoding and assbciated equipment present at each dispensing unit. The incoming and outgoing signals are separated by operational amplifiers 12 and are fed to and from the main decoder D. Also feeding this decoder are the switch 3 which closes every time a tot is dispensed and the switch 4 (in spirit dispensers but not beer dispensers) which closes every time the bottle is changed. Three eight-pin in connectors indicated at 13 allow the unit to be programmed to have its own unique identifying code in the form of an eight-digit binary number.

Also in the dispenser unit is an LED driver 14 feeding the three-digit LED display 1 5 on the front of the dispenser (also visible in Figure 2).

As well as the two connections for the signals, the unit at the dispenser also has two connections 1 6 for the power supply from the other two leads of the four-core cable.

In a given installation each dispenser unit will be given its own unique code. The interrogation signal sent round the single cable reaches every unit but each unit only responds to the signal that is accompanied by that unit's code. The unit responds by sending back to the master unit M a signal indicating whether its switches 3 and 4 are open or closed and also, if desired, the reading on its display unit. The return signal also, of course, includes a code identifying the dispenser from which it comes. This information is processed and sent by the master unit M to the central processor U. It will be understood that, with a transmission rate of 1 200 baud each unit is interrogated many times a second.

Via the master unit and the light two-core or four-core cable the central processor is also able to send signals to the different units to alter their displays, and by suitable coding it is possible to send a signal that will, for example, be responded to by all the gin dispensers but not the whisky dispensers. In this way it is an easy matter to alter the price of the particular item throughout the establishment of one go, and the price displayed is out of the control of the bartender.

This display remains static normally, but the unit at the dispenser can be arranged, by suitable programming, to display, instead of the price, the number of tots dispensed since a given datum, for a brief moment after each dispensing operation.

The datum could be the start of the day, or the last bottle change, and in the latter case the resetting of the datum would be automatic on closing of switch 4, whereas in the former case it could be done by a master signal sent to all units at the start of each day.

It will be appreciated that, despite using a light and easily concealed cable, the system described allows an almost unlimited interchange of information between the individual dispensers and the central control and provides the necessary data for a complete analysis of the daily use of every dispenser. Although not shown, the system can incorporate suitable safeguards to respond in the event of any unauthorised attempt to disconnect or bypass any of the units, since frequent interrogation of all units will rapidly detect any abnormal behaviour in any of them.

The system may also be linked to the cash registers in the different bars, to allow the central processor to correlate the amount of drinks dispensed at each point with the cash received.

Claims (8)

Claims

1. An installation for monitoring the dispensing of beverages at a number of different dispensing units placed at spaced points comprising an interrogation unit feeding a lightweight cable that passes around all the units to be monitored and carries a multiplexed signal able to interrogate sensor units at each of the dispensers each sensor unit providing a signal that indicates the condition of the associated dispenser as well as identifying the dispenser, and arranged only to respond to signals intended for that dispenser.

2. An installation according to claim 1 in which each sensor unit incorporates an integrated circuit decoder programmed to respond only to the required signals.

3. An installation according to claim 2 in which the decoder includes external means for inserting a code unique to that sensor unit.

4. An installation according to any one of claims 1 to 3 in which at least some of the sensor units include a digital display of information concerning that dispenser, and that display is remotely alterable by a signal through the cable.

5. An installation according to any one of claims 1 to 4, in which the display is arranged to show, for a period following each dispensing operation, the number of dispensing operations performed by the associated dispenser since a pre-set datum.

6. An installation according to claim 5 in which the datum is re-settable remotely, via the cable, from the interrogation unit.

7. An installation according to any one of claims 1 to 6 in which the signal in the cable is time-division multiplexed.

8. An installation for monitoring the dispensing of beverages substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.