A cup holder assembly includes a plurality of contacts that are configured to contact a cup so that a majority of an opening into the cup is uncovered by the cup holder, and the plurality of contacts are connectable to one or more cup holder guide rods of an assembly that dispenses and mixes or blends beverages.

The present invention describes methods and devices in which concentrated beverage products, each packaged in a pressurized container, can be combined with liquids and/or other ingredients to produce one or more servings of a beverage. These products provide users with a convenient way to prepare both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages (including carbonated beverages) in various serving sizes and quantities by combining the pressurized beverage concentrate with (possibly carbonated) liquids and other ingredients.

A beverage dispenser includes a nozzle to dispense a beverage. The beverage dispenser further includes a camera to capture an image of the beverage as the beverage is dispensed from the nozzle. The camera has a field of view that includes the beverage. The beverage dispenser further includes a light source that illuminates the field of view of the camera. The beverage dispenser further includes a computer. The computer analyzes the image of the beverage and determines a characteristic of the beverage.

A carbonated water dispenser comprises a carbonator with a water inlet and a carbonated water outlet. A backflow preventer module is fluidically coupled to the water inlet and comprises a check valve and a thermal mass flow meter. The thermal mass flow meter is configured to communicate a first signal based on a measured amount of heat transferred from a heater to a temperature sensor by a flow of a fluid through the backflow preventer module. A shut-off valve is fluidically coupled between the carbonated water outlet and a nozzle. The shut-off valve is configured to allow or prevent fluid flow from the carbonated water outlet to the nozzle base on a control signal. A controller is configured to detect a backflow condition based on the first signal and generate the control signal to configure the shut-off valve to prevent dispensing carbonated water upon detection of the backflow condition.

A beverage system including a beverage appliance and beverage containers where the functions required for creating beverages may be activated and controlled through a pre-programmed specific App (an application, especially as downloaded by a user to a mobile device), residing external to and wirelessly communicating with the apparatus.

The present invention discloses a beverage dispenser, having a supply opening adapted for supplying an aqueous liquid from a source of aqueous liquid, wherein the supply opening is couplable to the source of aqueous liquid; a recooling heat exchanger having a heat receiving portion, a recooling inlet and a recooling outlet, wherein the supply opening is coupled with the recooling inlet; a reverse osmosis filter having an inlet for aqueous liquid, a permeate outlet and a concentrate outlet, wherein the recooling outlet of the recooling heat exchanger is connected to the inlet of the reverse osmosis filter; and a cooling device having a cooling portion extracting heat energy from the permeate and a heat dissipation portion dissipating energy to the heat receiving portion of the recooling heat exchanger; wherein the heat dissipation portion of the cooling device is thermally coupled with the heat receiving portion of the recooling heat exchanger; and wherein the cooling portion of the cooling device is thermally coupled with the permeate exiting the permeate outlet of the reverse osmosis filter, wherein the permeate enters the cooling portion by a cooling portion permeate inlet and exits the cooling portion by a cooling portion permeate outlet.

An arrangement for brewing and dispensing fermented drinks, primarily beers, by portions using concentrates in a personalized, tailor-made manner that is fit for self-service. The arrangement is fitted with a primary alcohol unit and a secondary alcohol unit, which are suitable for adjusting the alcohol content for each portion and contain an alcohol and water mixture of a fermented liquid, and the controlling part is connected to at least one alcohol adjusting part that is suitable for setting the alcohol content of each portion of beverage. A fermented base concentrate and alcohol originating from the fermented beverage, left in and/or extracted from the base concentrate, is used as raw material, and the alcohol content of the beverage is adjusted by adding further alcohol, and the flavour of each portion of beverage is adjusted as desired.

Flavor and additive delivery systems and methods for beverage dispensers are disclosed. An example beverage dispenser includes flavor containers configured to contain flavor mixtures, a manifold configured to blend water with flavor mixtures, a flowrate sensor configured to detect a current flowrate of the water flowing to the manifold, memory configured to store instructions related to dispensing the water and the flavor mixtures, and a processor. The processor is configured to receive a request for a selected beverage, identify a ratio between the water and one or more of the flavor mixtures for the selected beverage, transmit a water control signal to cause the water to flow at a requested water flowrate, and transmit one or more first flavor control signals to cause one or more of the flavor mixtures to flow from the flavor containers based on the ratio.

A system and method for creating a mixed consumable item may include displaying a first set of selectable indicia on a touchscreen, where the indicia may be (i) indicative of respective consumable ingredients and (ii) distinctly positioned relative to one another. A swype gesture may be received from a user via the touchscreen that forms a path extending between a first position and a second position that touches or passes close to multiple selectable indicia. From the first set of consumable ingredients, a plurality of combinations of consumable ingredients most likely to have been intended to be selected by the user based on the path of the swype gesture may be predicted. Selectable predicted combinations of consumable ingredients may be displayed on the touchscreen to enable one of the selectable combinations of consumable ingredients to be selected by the user for mixing by a dispenser of consumable items.

A beverage dispenser for dispensing beverages and process may include a fluid container containing a fluid ingredient, a conduit fluidly connected to the fluid container, and an electrical conductivity sensor. The electrical conductivity sensor may be (i) fluidly connected to the conduit, and (ii) configured to sense an electrical conductivity of the fluid ingredient flowing through the conduit. The electrical conductivity sensor may further be configured to output (i) a first electrical signal in response to sensing an air bubble, and (ii) a second electrical signal in response to not sensing an air bubble.