Patent ID: 7611052

Claim:
A beverage dispensing system comprising: a kiosk including: a plurality of serving spouts in fluid connection with respective inlet pipes, the inlet pipes locatable within respective beverage receptacles, the serving spouts having respective receptacle identifiers and associated with respective prices/price groups or points/points groups; and a card reading device configured to read a stored value device shaped as a portable card with a portable memory storing a stored monetary or points value associated with a beverage, and to calculate a current monetary or points value at least partly from the stored monetary or points value associated with the beverage in the portable memory on the stored value device, the stored value device having a stored value device identifier; a plurality of product data sets maintained in computer memory, the product data sets including a product identifier and having associated respective receptacle identifiers and price(s) or points; a plurality of stored value device data sets maintained in computer memory, the stored value device data sets including respective stored value device identifiers and respective stored values, including at least the monetary or points value associated with at least the beverage obtained from the portable memory of the portable card; a user selection component configured to obtain from a user a serving spout selection and to dispense a volume of beverage from the selected serving spout based on a comparison between the price(s) or points associated with the selected serving spout and the stored value; a plurality of user data sets maintained in computer memory, the user data sets including respective user identifiers corresponding to at least one portable card and stored value device identifiers associated with the at least one monetary or points value of the at least one beverage; and a plurality of transaction data sets maintained in computer memory, the transaction data sets including respective stored value device identifiers and receptacle identifiers.