System and method for brewing and dispensing coffee using customer profiling

Abstract

A system and method for brewing and dispensing beverages may use customer profiling to select beverages to be produced and presented to a given customer and/or messages to be displayed to the customer, based on customer-specific information stored on a loyalty card, in a local system, or remotely. A user interface mechanism may receive input identifying the given customer. A controller may select a base drink recipe dependent on the customer's identity, and may initiate production of a beverage using the selected drink recipe. Each drink recipe may specify an amount of water, coffee, flavorings, dairy, and/or other ingredients, and may be further customizable to add or remove ingredients and/or to change an amount thereof, based on received user input. The stored customer-specific information may include a customer identifier, account information, a purchase history, a message history, drink recipes, and/or an email address for each of a plurality of customers.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system comprising:
 a user interface mechanism comprising a fingerprint sensor configured to capture a customer's fingerprint;   a fingerprint identification mechanism that during operation receives input from the fingerprint sensor and identifies a customer from the received captured fingerprint using fingerprint identification; and   a controller that during operation and in response to said identifying:
 selects one of a plurality of standard or custom drink recipes dependent on the identity of the customer, wherein each drink recipe specifies an amount of two or more ingredients in a respective brewed beverage; and 
 initiates production of a brewed beverage using the selected drink recipe. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein to select the one of a plurality of standard or custom drink recipes the controller accesses information indicating one or more drink preferences of the identified customer from a data structure that stores customer-specific information. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the data structure is stored on a loyalty card, debit card, or gift card and is accessed using the user interface mechanism. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein:
 the system further comprises an interface that during operation communicates with a remote system;   the data structure comprises a database located on the remote system; and   the database stores customer-specific information for a plurality of customers.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the customer-specific information further comprises one or more of: a customer identifier, account information, a purchase history, one or more custom drink recipes, one or more preferred standard drink recipes, one or more drink recipe names, a history of received messages, or an email address. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein, during operation, the user interface mechanism displays at least a portion of the customer-specific information. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein during operation:
 the controller selects one or more messages to be displayed to the identified customer dependent on the identity of the identified customer; and   the user interface mechanism displays the one or more selected messages to the identified customer.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 :
 wherein during operation, the user interface mechanism receives additional input indicating a selection of one or more of:
 a standard drink recipe previously ordered by the identified customer; 
 a custom drink recipe previously ordered by the identified customer; or 
 a customization of a standard or custom drink recipe previously ordered by the identified customer, wherein the customization comprises one or more of: an ingredient to be added to the standard or custom drink recipe, an ingredient to be removed from the standard or custom drink recipe, or a change in an amount of an ingredient of the standard or custom drink recipe; and 
   wherein to select the one of a plurality of standard or custom drink recipes the controller selects a drink recipe dependent on the additional input.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein during operation, the controller:
 determines a message to be displayed on a cup in which the brewed beverage is to be delivered dependent on one or more of: the identity of the customer or the selected drink recipe.   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a sensor that during operation:
 detects retrieval of a cup containing the brewed beverage; and   communicates to the controller that the brewed beverage was retrieved.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein during operation:
 the user interface mechanism
 receives input specifying that a recommendation for one of the plurality of standard or custom drink recipes should be sent to another customer, or 
 receives input specifying that one of the plurality of standard or custom drink recipes should be sent to another customer. 
   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein during operation the controller tracks reuse of the recommended or sent drink recipe. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 :
 wherein during operation, the controller sends the recommendation for the one of the plurality of standard or custom drink recipes or the one of the plurality of standard or custom drink recipes to one or more customers, wherein the one or more customers comprises the other customer; and   wherein to send the recommendation or the drink recipe, the controller sends the recommendation or the drink recipe to the one or more customers by email, sends the recommendation or the drink recipe to one or more phones, or shares the recommendation or the drink recipe with the one or more customers through a social networking site.   
     
     
         14 . A method, comprising:
 using a computer to perform:   receiving input from a fingerprint sensor configured to capture a customer's fingerprint;   identifying a customer from the received input using fingerprint identification;
 in response to said identifying:
 selecting one of a plurality of standard or custom drink recipes dependent on the identity of the customer, wherein each drink recipe specifies an amount of two or more ingredients in a respective brewed beverage; and 
 initiating production of a brewed beverage using the selected drink recipe. 
 
   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 :
 wherein said selecting one of a plurality of standard or custom drink recipes comprises accessing information indicating one or more drink preferences of the identified customer from a data structure that stores customer-specific information for a plurality of customers; and   wherein the customer-specific information further comprises, for each of the plurality of customers, one or more of: a customer identifier, account information, a purchase history, one or more custom drink recipes, one or more preferred standard drink recipes, one or more drink recipe names, a history of received messages, or an email address.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 using the computer to perform:   receiving additional user input indicating a selection of one or more of:
 a standard drink recipe previously ordered by the identified customer; 
 a custom drink recipe previously ordered by the identified customer; or 
 a customization of a standard or custom drink recipe previously ordered by the identified customer, wherein the customization comprises one or more of: an ingredient to be added to the standard or custom drink recipe, an ingredient to be removed from the standard or custom drink recipe, or a change in an amount of an ingredient of the standard or custom drink recipe; and 
   wherein said selecting one of a plurality of standard or custom drink recipes comprises selecting a drink recipe dependent on the additional user input.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 receiving input specifying that a recommendation for one of the plurality of standard or custom drink recipes should be sent to another customer or input specifying that one of the plurality of standard or custom drink recipes should be sent to another customer; and   tracking reuse of the recommended or sent drink recipe.   
     
     
         18 . A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions that when executed on one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform:
 receiving input from a fingerprint sensor configured to capture a customer's fingerprint;   identifying a customer from the received input using fingerprint identification;
 in response to said identifying:
 selecting one of a plurality of standard or custom drink recipes dependent on the identity of the customer, wherein each drink recipe specifies an amount of two or more ingredients in a respective brewed beverage; and 
 initiating production of a brewed beverage using the selected drink recipe. 
 
   
     
     
         19 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 18 :
 wherein said selecting one of a plurality of standard or custom drink recipes comprises accessing customer-specific information from a data structure that stores customer-specific information for a plurality of customers; and   wherein the customer-specific information comprises, for each of the plurality of customers, one or more of: a customer identifier, account information, a purchase history, one or more custom drink recipes, one or more preferred standard drink recipes, a history of received messages, an email address, or one or more drink preferences.   
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 18 , wherein when executed by the one or more computers, the program instructions further cause the one or more computers to perform:
 receiving additional user input indicating a selection of one or more of:
 a standard drink recipe previously ordered by the identified customer; 
 a custom drink recipe previously ordered by the identified customer; or 
 a customization of a standard or custom drink recipe previously ordered by the identified customer, wherein the customization comprises one or more of: an ingredient to be added to the standard or custom drink recipe, an ingredient to be removed from the standard or custom drink recipe, or a change in an amount of an ingredient of the standard or custom drink recipe; and 
   wherein said selecting one of a plurality of standard or custom drink recipes comprises selecting a drink recipe dependent on the additional user input.