Hot drink preparation machine i.e. coffee machine for preparing coffee, has transmission and receiver units mutually arranged such that light emitted by transmission unit is received as reflectance at upper edge and at top surface of bottom

摘要

The machine i.e. coffee machine (1), has outlets (3, 3') for outputting a prepared drink or drink components, and a detection device detecting characteristic of a drinking vessel i.e. cup (6), which is positioned below the outlets for collecting the drink. The detection device has an optical surface sensor provided as a receiver unit and a lighting unit provided as a transmission unit. The transmission and receiver units are mutually arranged such that light emitted by the transmission unit is received as a reflectance at an upper edge below the outlets and at a top surface of a cup bottom. The lighting unit consist of individual light sources e.g. LEDs such as infrared (IR) LEDs. The surface sensor is designed as a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) sensor. An independent claim is also included for a method for determining filling volume of a hot drink preparation machine.