Encoded coffee packet

Abstract

A brewing packet is provided for use in the preparation of hot or cold beverages. The brewing packet envelops a brewing ingredient chosen according to the tastes of a beverage drinker. The packet includes a machine interpretable feature that contains encoded data capable of being read by a beverage producing device. Furthermore, the data on the packet is capable of directing the beverage producing device to employ a specific brewing operation suited for the particular brewing packet. This allows for producing the optimal beverage from the brewing ingredient. The packet may be utilized with a variety of brewing ingredients to produce a variety of beverages. Similarly, the packet may be configured to produce single or multiple servings of a beverage.

We claim:  
     
         1 . A brewing packet comprising: 
 a filter defining a cavity;    a brewing ingredient within the cavity; and    a machine-interpretable feature associated with the filter, wherein the feature includes encoded data regarding the brewing packet.    
     
     
         2 . The packet of  claim 1 , wherein the machine-interpretable feature is located on the filter.  
     
     
         3 . The packet of  claim 1 , wherein the filter defines an annular flange, the machine-interpretable feature being located on the annular flange.  
     
     
         4 . The packet of  claim 1 , wherein the filter includes a first filter portion, a second filter portion, and a gasket which seals the first filter portion to the second filter portion.  
     
     
         5 . The packet of  claim 1 , wherein the machine-interpretable feature is optically detectable.  
     
     
         6 . The packet of  claim 5 , wherein the machine-interpretable feature includes one or more of a color, a shape, a glyph, a text string, a barcode, and a digital watermark.  
     
     
         7 . The packet of  claim 1 , wherein the machine-interpretable feature is electromagnetically detectable.  
     
     
         8 . The packet of  claim 7 , wherein the machine-interpretable feature includes a magnetic data storage medium.  
     
     
         9 . The packet of  claim 1 , wherein the machine-interpretable feature is mechanically detectable.  
     
     
         10 . The packet of  claim 9 , wherein the machine-interpretable feature includes one or more of notches, grooves, holes, bumps, and textures.  
     
     
         11 . The packet of  claim 1 , wherein the encoded data includes at least one predefined brewing directive.  
     
     
         12 . The packet of  claim 11 , wherein the predefined brewing directive is one or more of contact time, contact pattern, fluid quantity, fluid temperature, fluid pressure, or fluid pass-through rate.  
     
     
         13 . The packet of  claim 1 , wherein the encoded data defines at least one characteristic of the brewing ingredient.  
     
     
         14 . The packet of  claim 13 , wherein the characteristic is one or more of grind, blend, roast, quantity, bed depth, freshness, and expiration date.  
     
     
         15 . A beverage producing device comprising: 
 a fluid path configured to direct fluid through an ingredient enveloping beverage packet into a beverage receptacle;    a sensor configured to detect encoded data stored on the beverage packet; and    a processor configured to interpret the encoded data and to direct production of a beverage according to the encoded data.    
     
     
         16 . A method of automatically directing beverage-brewing comprising: 
 placing a brewing packet encoded with packet-characteristic data into a beverage-brewing device;    reading the packet-characteristic data;    interpreting the packet-characteristic data; and    directing beverage-brewing in accordance with interpreted packet-characteristic data.    
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein reading the packet-characteristic data includes detecting an optically recognizable feature containing the data.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein reading the packet-characteristic data includes detecting an electromagnetically recognizable feature containing the data.  
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein reading the packet-characteristic data includes detecting a mechanically recognizable feature containing the data.  
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein directing beverage-brewing includes setting at least one predefined brewing directive.  
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein directing beverage-brewing selectively includes aborting the brewing process.  
     
     
         22 . A multiple beverage coffee-brewing packet comprising: 
 a first substantially rounded filter portion;    a second substantially rounded filter portion operatively connected to the first substantially rounded filter portion by an orbicular gasket to collectively define a cavity, the first and second substantially rounded filter portions being at least partially constructed of water-permeable material; and    a coffee-brewing ingredient within the cavity, wherein the coffee-brewing ingredient is proportioned to produce multiple servings of drip coffee.    
     
     
         23 . The coffee-brewing packet of  claim 22 , wherein a coffee-brewing operation is directed by a machine interpretable feature associated with the coffee-brewing packet.  
     
     
         24 . The coffee-brewing packet of  claim 23 , wherein the machine interpretable feature is the dimension of the orbicular gasket.  
     
     
         25 . The coffee-brewing packet of  claim 23 , wherein the machine interpretable feature is a barcode located on the coffee-brewing packet.