Pepsico, Inc.

Sam Karol

Anthony Romano

Robert William Balstad

Robert Crawford

Alessandro Roncato

Alberto Pravato

Robert W Balstad

Unattended beverage dispensers configured to dispense one or more beverages after authenticating a customer and associating the customer with a customer account. An unattended beverage dispenser may include a user interface with a biometric sensor configured to identify a biometric characteristic of a customer. A controller associated with the unattended beverage dispenser may authenticate a customer based on a biometric characteristic and associate the authenticated customer with a customer account. After authenticating a customer, the controller may allow beverage dispensing from the unattended beverage dispenser in accordance with a beverage dispensing rule associated with the customer's account.

Unattended beverage dispensing systems and methods

A method of determining a sold-out state of a beverage dispenser is provided. The method includes providing a beverage dispenser including a pump having a gas exhaust port, a dispensing valve, and a sensor disposed on the pump gas exhaust port. The method may include activating the beverage dispenser to dispense a beverage through the dispensing valve and during the activating, sensing a gas exhaust pattern of the pump. The method may also include generating a signal based on the sensed gas exhaust pattern and determining whether the beverage dispenser is in a normal-pour state or a sold-out state. The method may also include providing feedback about the sold-out state to a user interface of the beverage dispenser.

Beverage dispensing system

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Hawthorne, NY, United States of America

Sam Karol