Nestec S.a.

Societe Des Produits Nestle S.a.

Roland Lehmann

Yann Epars

Nihan Dogan

Heinz Wyss

Raphael Bernhardsgruetter

Vincent Martin

Ines Magniet

Michael Ayoub

Reto Markus Zurcher

Alexander Heinrich

Martin Gadient

Manuel Widmer

Reto Markus ZÜRCHER

Inès Magniet

The present invention concerns a brewing unit () for a beverage preparation machine (), having several automated functionalities actuated by one single motor (). The invention also concerns a beverage preparation machine comprising such an automated brewing unit.

Beverage preparation machine with single motor actuation

A capsule has an inlet face C formed by a circular section and a bulge section extending from the circular section so that the inlet face C is not symmetric in rotation. The capsule further has an optically readable code on a side wall of a cup-shaped body of the capsule opposite the bulge section. A beverage production machine has a capsule holder for holding the capsule in the beverage production machine so that the optically readable code can be read by a code reader. Liquid can be supplied to the capsule to produce a nutritional product. The optically readable code and the code reader can be prevented from being contaminated with liquid, vapor, dirt or the like. The beverage production machine can perform an automatic detection of the capsule type and a corresponding automatic setting of preparation parameters.

Capsule, beverage production machine and system for the preparation of a nutritional product

The present invention presents a capsulehaving an inlet face C, which is formed by a circular sectionand a bulge sectionextending from the circular sectiongiving the inlet face C a not symmetric in rotation. The capsulefurther has an optically readable codeon a side wallof a cup-shaped body of the capsuleopposite the bulge section. The present invention further presents a beverage production machine with a capsule holderfor holding a capsulein such a way in the beverage production machine, that the optically readable code can be read by a code reader. Liquid can be supplied to the capsule to produce a nutritional product. The present invention provides means to prevent the optically readable codeand the code reader, respectively, from being contaminated with liquid, vapor, dirt or the like. An automatic detection of the capsule type, and a corresponding automatic setting of preparation parameters by the beverage production machinebecomes possible, and is more reliable than state of the art solutions.

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Gossau, Switzerland

Roland Lehmann