Beverage maker with brew water control system
AssigneeBunn-O-Matic Corporation
InventorsJohn D. Bishop, Scott A. Mazzini, Randy D. Pope
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system, method and apparatus for controllably adjusting characteristics of a beverage produced by a beverage system. The characteristics of the beverage may include the strength, flavor, concentration of various flavor components as well as other characteristics. A control is provided for access by a user to adjust the characteristics to a desired level. The user may increment or decrement the level of the characteristics in response to personal preferences. The control provides an interface to control the beverage system.
Claims13
A beverage brewing system for combining heated water with a beverage substance to produce and control the strength of a beverage, the brewing system including
- a heated water reservoir,
- a controllable water delivery system coupled to the heated water reservoir and to a preprogrammed controller to facilitate controlled movement of water from the heated water reservoir to a beverage substance container positioned in communication with the water delivery system for receiving water and infusing a beverage substance contained in the beverage substance container, the preprogrammed controller having preprogrammed settings for the volume of water which is dispensed during each brew cycle, the length of time during which water is not dispensed between neighboring pulse brew periods, the length of time for an initial on-time, and the total period of time for dispensing a given volume of water,
- a brew water control system coupled to the preprogrammed controller and operable to provide adjustable, approximate, non-incremental, non-discrete user control of defined beverage characteristics to control a volume of water provided by the water delivery system, the preprogrammed controller receiving and interpreting the user adjusted, approximate, non-discrete control information and being operable to adjust the timing control of the volume of water dispensed by the controllable water delivery system to the beverage substance container in a discrete manner so as to affect the strength of the beverage being brewed.
A method for brewing a beverage using a beverage brewing system including a heated water reservoir, a controllable water delivery system coupled to the heated water reservoir and to a preprogrammed controller, a beverage substance container in communication with the water delivery system, and a brew water control system coupled to the preprogrammed controller for providing adjustable, approximate, non-discrete user control of the water delivery system, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing the preprogrammed controller having preprogrammed settings for the volume of water which is dispensed during each brew cycle, the length of time during which water is not dispensed between neighboring pulse brew periods, the length of time for an initial on-time, and the total period of time for dispensing a given volume of water,
- operating the brew water control system to a selected, approximate, non-incremental, non-discrete level of characteristic to be controlled;
- transmitting the selected characteristic to the preprogrammed controller;
- interpreting the selected characteristic by adjusting the non-discrete selection into a discrete control selection whereby a volume of water to be dispensed to a brewing substance is fixed;
- and
- operating the preprogrammed controller to control the water delivery system in response to a user selection of a stronger or weaker brew whereby the timing of dispensing of the volume of water is selected by the user and whereby the timing during which no water is dispensed to the brewing substance is controlled.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.