Beverage cartridge for beverage making machines
AssigneeKeurig Green Mountain, Inc.
InventorsWilliam Philip McHugh, Aaron Size, Heather Fisher, Thomas Fedorka
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A beverage cartridge and method for forming a beverage includes dispensing beverage material from a container into an attached mixing funnel. The container and mixing funnel may be moved toward each other to open the container and release beverage material. A cover of the container may have a movable portion that moves with contact with a part of the mixing funnel to open the container. The cartridge may be vibrated to dispense beverage material from the container, and liquid provided to the mixing funnel to mix with dispensed beverage material to form a beverage.
Claims15
A beverage dispensing system, comprising:
- a beverage cartridge including
- a beverage material container having a beverage material in an internal space, the beverage material container including a pierceable cover, and
- a mixing funnel attached below the beverage material container to receive the beverage material released from the beverage material container and to receive a liquid that is mixed with the beverage material in the mixing funnel, the mixing funnel including a funnel body having a pusher element and a bowl portion having a sidewall and a bottom, the bottom including an outlet opening, and the sidewall having a rim at an upper end of the sidewall and a gap at a portion of the sidewall, the mixing funnel including an inlet channel extending radially from the gap to receive the liquid into the inlet channel in an axial direction and to direct the liquid into the bowl portion such that the liquid enters the bowl portion and follows an arcuate pathway around the bowl portion,
- wherein the beverage material container and the mixing funnel are movable towards each other along the axial direction while remaining attached together to cause the pusher element to open the cover of the beverage material container and release the beverage material into the mixing funnel;
- and
- a beverage making machine having a cartridge holder to receive the beverage cartridge, the cartridge holder including a vibration mechanism to vibrate the beverage cartridge and cause the beverage material to be dispensed from the beverage cartridge into the mixing funnel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.