Machine and methods for dispensing nutritional supplements and multi-serving cartridge therefor

Abstract

A granulated nutritional supplement dispensing machine extracts single-serving doses from a multi-serving supplements cartridge for delivery as a drinkable solution. A lead serving chamber is pierced so that its powered contents drain into a mixing cup together with a metered quantity of water from an integrated water tank. A vibrator unit assists drainage of the granulated materials from the lead serving chamber. The mixing cup is rotated at high speed to blend the water and supplements into a slurry. The supplements cartridge is indexed after (or before) use so that an unopened serving chamber is presented each time for extracting its supplements. This enables partially-used supplements cartridges to be used in the machine, as is conducive in multiple-user households. The supplements cartridge is configured with read-write data capability to indicate whether or not the contents of each serving chamber have been emptied.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A cartridge comprising:
 a frame having a face and defining a series of chambers therein, an opening to each chamber intersecting the face, each chamber sized to receive one or more supplements therein; and   a membrane affixed in surface-to-surface relationship to the face of the frame and aligned therewith, the membrane extending over and sealingly covering the series of chambers, wherein the membrane is puncturable such that the membrane is configured to be ruptured over each chamber in order to extract the one or more supplements therefrom;   wherein the membrane further comprises a series of marker zones, each marker zone associated with a respective one of the series of chambers, and each marker zone configured to be ruptured to indicate that the associated chamber has been opened; and   wherein the membrane further comprises indicia imprinted on an outer surface of the membrane, the indicia indicative of data associated with the one or more supplements contained within the cartridge.   
     
     
         3 . The cartridge of  claim 2  wherein each marker zone of the membrane further comprises ink provided on the membrane. 
     
     
         4 . A supplement cartridge comprising:
 a frame having a face and defining at least one chamber therein, an opening to each chamber intersecting the face, each chamber sized to receive one or more supplements therein; and   a membrane affixed in surface-to-surface relationship to the face of the frame and aligned therewith, the membrane extending over and sealingly covering the at least one chamber, wherein the membrane is puncturable such that the membrane is configured to be ruptured over each chamber in order to extract the one or more supplements therefrom;   wherein the membrane defines at least one marker zone, each marker zone associated with a respective chamber of the at least one chambers and configured to indicate that the associated chamber has been opened.   
     
     
         5 . The supplement cartridge of  claim 4  wherein the marker zone of the membrane further comprises ink provided on the membrane. 
     
     
         6 . The supplement cartridge of  claim 4  wherein the membrane configured to be ruptured in the marker zone to indicate that the associated chamber has been opened. 
     
     
         7 . The supplement cartridge of  claim 4  wherein each marker zone is aligned with an associated serving chamber. 
     
     
         8 . The supplement cartridge of  claim 4  wherein each marker zone is disposed within an annular region of the membrane. 
     
     
         9 . The supplement cartridge of  claim 4  wherein each marker zone is spaced apart from an adjacent marker zone. 
     
     
         10 . The supplement cartridge of  claim 4  further comprising indicia imprinted on an outer surface of the membrane. 
     
     
         11 . The supplement cartridge of  claim 10  wherein the indicia comprises a machine-readable binary code indicia. 
     
     
         12 . The supplement cartridge of  claim 11  wherein the indicia comprises a barcode. 
     
     
         13 . The supplement cartridge of  claim 10  wherein the indicia is indicative of data associated with the one or more supplements contained within the supplements cartridge. 
     
     
         14 . The supplement cartridge of  claim 10  wherein the indicia further comprises a starter queue indicia indicative of a first chamber to be opened from the at least one chamber. 
     
     
         15 . The supplement cartridge of  claim 4  further comprising an adhesive connecting the membrane to the face of the frame and cooperating with the membrane to seal each chamber. 
     
     
         16 . The supplement cartridge of  claim 4  wherein the face of the frame is annular and extends from an interior hole to an outer peripheral edge. 
     
     
         17 . The supplement cartridge of  claim 16  wherein the membrane defines an inner hole extending therethrough, the inner hole sized to align with the interior hole of the frame. 
     
     
         18 . The supplement cartridge of  claim 16  wherein the frame further comprises a spline cup positioned over said interior hole. 
     
     
         19 . The supplement cartridge of  claim 4  wherein at least one layer of the membrane comprises a foil-like material, a plastic material, or a paper-based material. 
     
     
         20 . The supplement cartridge of  claim 4  further comprising a supplement provided within the at least one chamber, the supplement comprising at least one of a vitamin, a mineral, a fiber, a fatty acid, a protein, an amino acid, an herbal medicine, a bodybuilding supplement, a pharmaceutical, a therapeutic, a medicine, a drug, and a treatment. 
     
     
         21 . A membrane for a supplement cartridge, the membrane comprising an outer face and an inner face, wherein the outer face comprises indicia imprinted thereon, wherein the indicia is indicative of data associated with one or more supplements contained within the cartridge, wherein the inner face is configured to be affixed to a face of a frame of the cartridge to seal one or more chambers defined therein, wherein the membrane is puncturable to extract the one or more supplements from within each chamber; and
 wherein the membrane comprises a series of marker zones, each marker zone associated with each chamber and configured to be ruptured to indicate that the associated chamber has been opened.