Patent ID: 9538879
Date: 2017-01-10
CPC Classifications: A47J

Claim:
1. A heating-energy saving system for use with a heating-system of a beverage machine, the heating-energy saving system comprising: a timer; a plurality of data registers, each data register is active within a predetermined range of time, wherein each of the plurality of data registers is adapted to hold at least one integer value from 0 to 3, and wherein the integer value is not limited to 0 or 1; a detection unit for detecting a usage of the beverage machine; a memory for storing detection results of the detection unit; and a control unit adapted to (i) determine the values of the plurality of data registers, (ii) increase the value of the active data register by one increment upon a detection of usage of the beverage machine by the detection unit during the predetermined range of time, and decrease the value of the active data register by one increment if no usage of the beverage machine is detected by the detection unit for the predetermined range of time, wherein increased values for the active data register indicate an increased probability of usage in the predetermined range of time, (iii) turn off the heating-system of the beverage machine, if it determines that the at least one integer value of the active data register is equal to 0, (iv) turn on the heating-system of the beverage machine, if it determines that the at least one integer value of the active data register is greater than 0, (v) generate, update and store in the memory patterns regarding the usage of the beverage machine based on the detection results stored in the memory, and to change the predetermined range of time in which a data register is active based on the usage patterns, and (vi) delay turning off the heating system of the beverage machine, even if it determines that the active data register holds a value equal to 0, if a usage pattern stored in the memory indicates a current usage probability greater than a predetermined threshold probability.