Portable device for controlling an alcoholic beverage through a container, a system and a method associated thereto

Inventors

Brunerie, Pascal • Gouret, Katia • Fil, Benoit • Verger, Stephane • Bruneel, Jean-Luc • Guillaume, Francois • Bruneel Delhaye, Caroline

Assignees

Martell and Co SA • Universite de Bordeaux • Institut Polytechnique de Bordeaux • Direction de lInnovation et des Relations avec les Entreprises DIRE of CNRS

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a portable device and method for controlling an alcoholic beverage through an at least partially transparent container. The method includes acquiring a fluorescence spectrum of the beverage through a wall of the container, normalizing a profile of a measured spectrum according to the maximum intensity of a reference spectrum, calculating a resemblance factor between the measured spectrum and the reference spectrum, and determining if the beverage is genuine according to the obtained value of the resemblance factor.

Core Innovation

The disclosed invention relates to controlling an alcoholic beverage through an at least partially transparent container by fluorescence spectroscopy acquired through the wall of the container. A monochromatic excitation light beam is emitted, reflected toward a focus lens by a beam splitter, and the emitted light is focused inside the container so that the fluorescence spectrum of the beverage is acquired through the container wall.

The fluorescence spectrum profile of the measured spectrum is normalized according to the maximum intensity of a reference spectrum. A resemblance factor is calculated between the measured spectrum and the reference spectrum over a predetermined wavelength range between 550 nanometers and 650 nanometers, and authenticity is determined based on the obtained resemblance factor.

The resemblance factor can be computed using a least squares method or a Hausdorff algorithm. The reference spectrum can be obtained by measuring a fluorescence spectrum on a sample of a plurality of genuine bottles or by downloading a reference spectrum from a remote database, and the method determines genuine versus non-genuine based on the obtained resemblance factor.

Claims Coverage

The document contains one independent method claim that defines authenticity control of an alcoholic beverage using fluorescence spectroscopy through an at least partially transparent container. The claim includes 3 inventive features: fluorescence acquisition through the container wall with monochromatic excitation and beam-splitter/focus-lens arrangement, normalization to a reference spectrum maximum intensity with resemblance-factor computation, and authenticity determination based on the resemblance factor over 550–650 nm.

Overall claim coverage centers on fluorescence spectroscopy acquired through an at least partially transparent container wall, normalization of the measured fluorescence spectrum to a reference spectrum maximum intensity, and authenticity determination by computing a resemblance factor between measured and reference spectra over 550–650 nm.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications