Code arrangement and container of system for preparing a beverage or foodstuff

1. A method of encoding preparation information, the method comprising:

forming a plurality of separate codes on:

a container for a beverage or foodstuff preparation machine, the container for containing beverage or foodstuff material; or

an attachment for attachment to said container or a beverage of foodstuff preparation machine; and

whereby each code at least partially encodes a distinct phase of a preparation process.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the codes have a peripheral length of 800 - 1500 μm.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the codes have a rectangular shape at a periphery thereof, and are arranged adjacent to each other along at least one edge thereof.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein adjacent codes are rotated by one of 90°, 180°, and 270°.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the codes are arranged as a plurality of columns, the columns being adjacent each other and extending along parallel tracks, whereby adjacent columns are offset with respect to each other in a direction along said tracks.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the codes are arranged in a sequence that is ordered according to an order of use of the phases encoded therein during a preparation process.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the codes are arranged into a plurality of coding regions, whereby each coding region comprises:

a plurality of codes encoding the same phase, whereby the regions have said sequential arrangement; or

a plurality of codes encoding the different phases, whereby said plurality of codes in each region have said sequential arrangement.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the codes encodes as the preparation information a phase identifier to identify an order of the phase used during said preparation process.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the code comprises:

a reference portion comprising an arrangement of at least two reference units for defining a reference line r; and

a data portion comprising at least one data unit, wherein said data unit is arranged on an encoding line D that intersects the reference line r, the data unit occupies a distance d along the encoding line D as a variable to at least partially encode a parameter of the preparation information.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the encoding line D has one of the following arrangements:

the encoding line D is circular and is arranged with a tangent thereto orthogonal to the reference line r at said intersection point; and

the encoding line D is linear and arranged orthogonal to the reference line r.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the container comprises one of the following: a capsule; a packet; a receptacle for consumption of the beverage or foodstuff therefrom; and a collapsible container.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the container comprises a packet comprising a plurality of internal volumes, whereby each internal volume has associated therewith a said arrangement of codes.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing a beverage or foodstuff preparation system comprising:

the container; and

a beverage or foodstuff preparation machine, said preparation machine comprising:

a preparation unit to receive the container and to prepare a beverage or foodstuff therefrom;

a code processing system operable to: obtain one or more digital image(s) of a plurality of codes of the container; process said digital image(s) to decode for each phase of a beverage preparation process the encoded preparation information and to determine an order of said phases; and

a control system operable to control the preparation unit to execute the preparation process using said decoded preparation information in the determined order of phases.