CN116867729A - Multiple ingredient cartridges for beverage mixture dispensing systems - Google Patents

Abstract

A cartridge (105, 300) and associated beverage mix dispensing system are disclosed. The cartridge is removable from the associated beverage mixture dispensing system. The cartridge includes a housing (302) and at least 20 ingredient reservoirs located within the housing and storing at least 20 respective ingredients. The cartridge further comprises a dispensing interface for dispensing at least 20 ingredients into the beverage mixture dispensing system. The at least 20 ingredient reservoirs include a first reservoir storing a concentrated salt and a second reservoir storing a concentrated food-grade acid. The remaining ingredient reservoir includes additional concentrated ingredients. The beverage mixture dispensing system includes a solvent reservoir (108 a, 108 b) and a receiving interface for receiving at least 20 ingredients from the cartridge. The beverage mixture dispensing system further includes a mixing region in fluid connection with the solvent reservoir and the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs.

Description

Multiple ingredient cartridges for beverage mixture dispensing systems

Cross Reference to Related Applications

The present application claims priority from U.S. provisional patent application No.63/146,461, filed on 5 at 2 months of 2021, and U.S. patent application No.17/545,699, filed on 8 at 12 months of 2021, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties for all purposes.

Background

Typical beverage dispensing systems combine a diluent (e.g., water) with a base beverage component (e.g., concentrate or syrup) that is composed of a plurality of ingredients. However, these basic beverage components often require a large storage space and may require refrigeration to prevent spoilage. Thus, these basic beverage components are not even likely to be stored in the same room as the beverage dispensing system, let alone in the beverage dispensing system itself. Furthermore, each beverage may require its own unique base beverage component, further increasing the storage space and total footprint of the beverage dispensing system. Furthermore, typical beverage dispensing systems cannot allow for significant customization of beverages because the beverage dispensing system treats individual ingredients of each component as a group.

Disclosure of Invention

The present disclosure relates to a beverage mix dispensing system. According to various embodiments, a beverage mix dispensing system includes a single removable cartridge that includes a set of concentrated ingredients. Based on a set of one or more base solvents and the set of concentrated ingredients, the system is capable of preparing and dispensing a variety of beverage mixes. The system may rely on predetermined chemical components of the beverage mixture to prepare the beverage mixture. For example, chemical analysis of a particular wine may produce a list of chemical components that make up the wine, and the system disclosed herein utilizes such a predetermined list of chemical components to mix and dispense the particular wine (e.g., chandon Egypt wine). Some of the chemical components may be dispensed in a relatively large percentage by volume in the final mixture (e.g., a glass of wine may have approximately 10-15% ethanol), while other components may be dispensed in a volume of less than 0.1 mL. Thus, a selected number of common high volume chemical components may be stored as solvents in separate solvent reservoirs, while a number of low volume chemical components may be stored in removable cartridges. The cartridge may be configured to operate with a portion of the beverage mixture dispensing system that is adapted to dispense a small volume, while the solvent reservoir may be configured to hold a large amount of liquid and dispense with less precision. The ingredients from the cartridge and the solvent from the reservoir may be combined in a mixing zone of the beverage mixture dispensing system.

In certain embodiments of the present invention, the beverage mix is not formed solely from concentrate or syrup, and the systems disclosed herein form the beverage mix based on a predetermined amount of individual chemical components that make up the fluid mix to achieve custom and selection levels not present in current beverage mix dispensing systems. In some embodiments, because small amounts (e.g., less than 0.1 mL) of a single chemical component may have a significant impact on the organoleptic properties (e.g., taste, smell, appearance, etc.) of the beverage mixture, the overall storage or footprint of the system is significantly less than those dispensing systems that rely on syrups and/or concentrates, while the system also provides a greater variety of potential beverages that can be made by the system and/or a greater number of beverages that can be made before replacement of components of the system is required. Furthermore, in accordance with particular embodiments of the invention disclosed herein, a single removable cartridge includes a set of concentrated ingredients that allow for a large fluid mixture reservoir (i.e., a wide variety of potential beverages) to be formed, thereby providing a high degree of convenience and versatility to the user. Furthermore, the use of a single cartridge provides a way to achieve this high degree of diversity with minimal waste and maximum reusability.

In certain embodiments of the present invention, careful selection of ingredients of the removable cartridge enables the system disclosed herein to produce a large library of beverages on a per ingredient basis (i.e., a carefully selected set of 10 ingredients can produce a wider variety of beverages than a coarse selection of 20 ingredients). In the case of beverage mix dispensing systems, the inventors have found that cartridges containing as few as twenty selected ingredients can still provide a large library of over 500 different beverages and can be subjected to an almost infinite degree of perceived customization based on these different beverages. The process of selecting ingredients may include chemically analyzing a set of beverages in a set of potential beverage categories to identify a set of ingredients, evaluating the sensory similarity of the ingredients from the identified ingredients (or potential alternatives), and selecting a sensory indistinguishable ingredient common to a maximum number of desired beverages. In particular embodiments, the process may be performed using a framework for a particular beverage category.

In a particular embodiment of the present invention, a beverage mix dispensing system is provided. The beverage mixture dispensing system includes a solvent reservoir and a removable cartridge having: (i) a housing; and (ii) at least 20 ingredient reservoirs are located within the housing and store at least 20 corresponding ingredients. The beverage mix dispensing system further includes a mixing region in fluid connection with the solvent reservoir and the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs. The at least 20 ingredient reservoirs include a first reservoir and a second reservoir. The first reservoir stores concentrated salt as a respective ingredient of the first reservoir. The second reservoir stores a concentrated food-grade acid as a corresponding ingredient of the second reservoir.

In a particular embodiment of the present invention, a removable ingredient cartridge for a beverage mix dispensing system is provided. The cartridge includes a housing, at least 20 ingredient reservoirs, and a dispense interface. The at least 20 ingredient reservoirs are located within the housing and store at least 20 individual corresponding ingredients. The dispensing interface is for dispensing at least 20 individual respective ingredients into the beverage mix dispensing system. The at least 20 ingredient reservoirs include a first reservoir storing a concentrated salt and a second reservoir storing a concentrated food-grade acid.

In a particular embodiment of the present invention, a dispensing cartridge is provided. The ingredient cartridge includes at least 20 ingredient reservoirs storing at least 20 individual ingredients. The plurality of ingredient reservoirs includes a first reservoir storing a concentrated salt and a second reservoir storing a concentrated food-grade acid.

In certain embodiments of the present invention, a particular one of the systems disclosed herein comprises a plurality of ingredient reservoirs containing respective ingredients, and zero or more combinations of the following: a cartridge body (also referred to as an ingredient cartridge) optionally and/or selectively pressurizable to house a plurality of ingredient reservoirs; a solvent reservoir containing a corresponding solvent (e.g., diluent); a solvent inlet, for example a water inlet connected to an external water source; a mixing channel; a dissolution chamber; a mixing chamber; a dispenser (e.g., a nozzle); a drip tray (e.g., a waste reservoir); a carbonator; a heat exchanger; a pneumatic system; pumps, such as motor-operated pumps or pressure-operated pumps; a microfluidic pump; a fluid mixture container sensor (monitoring whether a container for a fluid mixture is present); a drip tray sensor (monitoring whether the drip tray is present and/or monitoring the amount of fluid in the drip tray); a dispense sensor (monitoring the dispense distribution of the fluid mixture); valves, such as electromechanical valves; interconnecting hardware, such as pipes and/or conduits; a temperature sensor; a pressure sensor; a flow sensor; a user interface, such as a control panel; a controller, such as a microprocessor; and any other device, sensor or apparatus for a fluid dispensing system.

In a particular embodiment of the invention, the ingredient reservoir contains an ingredient, such as a solid (including crystals, powder or other forms of solid), liquid or gas, for preparing a beverage. The ingredient reservoirs may be stored in one or more ingredient cartridges. Examples of ingredients include chemicals such as citric acid (in solid form or in solution form). In a particular embodiment, the ingredient reservoir contains a concentrated ingredient, such as a concentrated liquid containing pure ingredient suspended in a solvent. In certain embodiments of the invention, the ingredients are stored in the ingredient reservoir as molecular entities that are separately suspended in a solvent (e.g., liquid water). In a particular embodiment of the invention, the ingredients are stored in liquid form as molecular entities in the ingredient reservoir. As used herein, the term "molecular entity" refers to any atom, molecule, ion pair, radical ion, complex, conformational isomer, etc., that is different in nature or isotopically, that can be identified as an individually distinguishable entity, and that can be used to concisely identify a chemical species in a chemical process or reaction.

In some embodiments, the ingredients in the ingredient reservoir include at least one selected from the group consisting of: glycerol (glycerol), fructose, glucose, lactic acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, tripotassium phosphate, sucrose, potassium sulfate, succinic acid, acetic acid, citric acid, tricalcium phosphate, magnesium hydroxide, 3-methylbutan-1-ol, disodium hydrogen phosphate, propanol, 9x of the initial distillate, ethyl acetate, 2-methylbutan-1-ol, 2-methylpropan-1-ol, 2-phenethyl alcohol, oxacyclopenten-2-one, iron sulfate heptahydrate, caprylic acid, caproic acid, 3-methylbutyl acetate, capric acid, hex-1-ol, ethyl octanoate, furan-2-yl methanol, ethyl hexanoate, 2-methylpropanoic acid, furan-2-carbaldehyde, ethyl butyrate, 2, 6-dimethoxyphenol, ethyl decanoate, hexyl acetate, 2-phenylethyl acetate, 3-methylthiopropan-1-ol, ethyl propionate, butan-1-ol, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde, 5-methylfuran-2-ol, isobutyl acetate, 5-pentoxy-2-one, 2-methylpropan ethyl 5-butyl-4-methoxy-2-one, 2-methoxy-methyl-2-phenol, and phenol/or a coloring agent.

In a particular embodiment of the invention, the solvent reservoir contains a solvent, such as a liquid or a gas, for preparing the fluid mixture. Typically, but not in all embodiments and/or use cases, the ingredient reservoir has a lower volume than the solvent reservoir and/or the ingredient is used in a lower amount than the solvent in the fluid mixture. Examples of the solvent include alcohols (e.g., ethanol or isopropanol), water, ethyl lactate, and propylene glycol. The solvent reservoir may be stored in one or more solvent cartridges.

In an embodiment of the invention, there are at least 20 ingredient reservoirs in the cartridge. In a further embodiment, there are up to 1000 ingredient reservoirs in the cartridge. In a specific embodiment, there are more than two solvent reservoirs, but some systems have only one solvent reservoir, while others may not have any solvent reservoir. For example, a non-alcoholic low-calorie beverage dispensing system with a carbonator would require only one water reservoir, or only one water inlet (no water reservoir). In particular embodiments, at least some of the solvent reservoirs are replaceable and/or refillable (e.g., when the amount of solvent in the solvent reservoir is below a threshold).

According to various embodiments, the amount of a particular ingredient dispensed into the fluid mixture varies from a fraction of a milliliter (e.g., 0.01mL or less) to a few liters (e.g., three liters). The same applies to the range of dispensing amounts for solid or gaseous ingredients. The amount of the particular solvent used in the fluid mixture may vary similarly. For example, a cup of wine has an alcohol content of 10% and a Manhattan cocktail has an alcohol content of 34%.

In some embodiments, a plurality of ingredient reservoirs are contained in the cartridge. In further embodiments, there are a plurality of such cartridges, for example, having different sets of ingredient reservoirs as back-up/back-up cartridges, and/or having a plurality of dispensers in the system. According to various embodiments, each ingredient reservoir is of one or more types, such as: a pouch; a syringe; a gravity dispensing chamber; a particle dispenser; a pierceable volume (pierceable volume); and any other container for solids (including crystals, powders or other forms of solids), liquids or gases. In various embodiments, all ingredient reservoirs in the cartridge are of the same type. In other embodiments, the cartridge contains more than two types of ingredient reservoirs. According to various embodiments, each ingredient reservoir has one or more dimensions, such as: small size (e.g., one ounce or less, or two ounces or less); medium size (e.g., four ounces or less, or eight ounces or less); large size (e.g., 16 ounces or less, or 32 ounces or less); and each ingredient reservoir has other dimensions or grades for use in different usage scenarios. In various embodiments, all of the ingredient reservoirs in the cartridge have the same dimensions. In other embodiments, the cartridge contains more than two sizes of ingredient reservoirs. In various embodiments, the cartridge (and the ingredient reservoir it contains) is a replaceable unit.

It should be understood that any variations, embodiments, features, and options described in view of the systems disclosed herein are equally applicable to the methods disclosed herein, and vice versa. It is also apparent that any one or more of the above variations, embodiments, features, and options may be combined.

Other advantages will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description. The present embodiments and descriptions are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive.

All publications (including patent documents, scientific articles, and databases) mentioned in this application are incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes as if each individual publication was individually incorporated by reference. If a definition set forth herein is contrary to or inconsistent with a definition set forth in the patents, applications, published applications and other publications that are incorporated by reference, the definition set forth herein takes precedence over the definition set forth herein by reference.

Drawings

Fig. 1A illustrates an example of a beverage mix dispensing system according to certain embodiments disclosed here.

FIG. 1B illustrates the beverage mix dispensing system of FIG. 1A without a housing in accordance with certain embodiments disclosed herein.

FIG. 1C illustrates an alternative view of the beverage mix dispensing system of FIG. 1A without a housing, according to certain embodiments disclosed herein.

Fig. 2A illustrates an example of a removable cartridge of a beverage mix dispensing system according to certain embodiments disclosed herein.

Fig. 2B illustrates an example of a removable cartridge interior of a beverage mix dispensing system according to certain embodiments disclosed herein.

Fig. 3 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the interior of a removable ingredient cartridge for a beverage mixture dispensing system in accordance with certain embodiments disclosed herein.

Fig. 4 illustrates a set of concentrated ingredients in an ingredient cartridge for a beverage mix dispensing system and a word index (confusing) for a set of beverages that the beverage mix dispensing system is enabled to make in accordance with certain embodiments disclosed herein.

Fig. 5 illustrates a cartridge load (cartridge loadout) for a beverage mix dispensing system configured to produce white wine in accordance with certain embodiments disclosed herein.

Fig. 6 illustrates a cartridge loading for a beverage mix dispensing system configured to produce red wine in accordance with certain embodiments disclosed herein.

In the drawings, like reference numerals correspond to like components unless otherwise indicated.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to implementations and examples of various aspects and variations of the systems and methods described herein. Although a few exemplary variations of the systems and methods are described herein, other variations of the systems and methods may include aspects of the systems and methods described herein in any suitable manner, in combination with all or some of the aspects described.

Various components and methods for a beverage mix dispensing system (e.g., the apparatus 100 shown in fig. 1A), as well as a kit (e.g., one or more of the cartridges 105 shown in fig. 1A) will be described in detail in this disclosure. The methods and systems disclosed in this section are non-limiting examples of the invention and are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the full scope of the invention. It should be understood that the disclosed embodiments may or may not overlap each other. Thus, a portion of one embodiment or a particular embodiment thereof may or may not fall within the scope of another or particular embodiment thereof, and vice versa. The different embodiments from the different aspects may be implemented in combination or separately. Many different combinations and sub-combinations of the representative embodiments shown within the broad framework of the invention may be apparent to those skilled in the art, but are not explicitly shown or described, and should not be construed as being excluded from the scope of the invention.

Fig. 1A shows an example of a beverage mix dispensing system in the form of an apparatus 100, according to a specific embodiment of the invention. Fig. 1A shows an example of the appearance of a device 100, and fig. 1B and 1C show examples of some internal components that may be part of the device 100. In some embodiments, the apparatus 100 may be used for beverage dispensing as well as for a variety of other fluid mixture dispensing. The beverage mix dispensing apparatus 100 can be a counter top apparatus, consumer electronic apparatus, or larger apparatus that is installed at a restaurant or other business.

A beverage mix dispensing system (e.g., device 100) according to the present disclosure may include various internal components within a housing (e.g., housing 102). The housing may be a protective housing that houses various internal components of the system, such as the components shown in fig. 1B and 1C. These internal components may include one or more solvent reservoirs (e.g., one or more water reservoirs and/or one or more alcohol reservoirs), such as solvent reservoirs 108a and 108b shown in fig. 1C; an ingredient reservoir, such as one or more ingredient reservoirs 106; a cartridge for an ingredient reservoir, such as one or more cartridges 105; mixing regions (e.g., mixing channels); a mixing chamber; a heat exchanger (e.g., heater/cooler); and/or one or more dissolution chambers; and various fluid movement mechanisms (e.g., valves, actuators, pumps, etc.). One or more cartridges (e.g., cartridge 105) may be removable from the apparatus so that many ingredient reservoirs may be updated with a single cartridge. The cartridges may also include a dispense interface configured to mate with a receive interface of a beverage mixture dispensing system. The beverage mixture dispensing system may include a mixing region fluidly connected to one or more solvent reservoirs and the ingredients in the cartridge through the dispensing interface. As shown in fig. 1C, where the cartridges 105 are partially transparent, each cartridge may include more than 20 ingredient reservoirs. The fluid mixture dispensing system 100 may also include a user interface 103 so that a user may control the device. For example, a user may select a beverage to be made by the device 100 through the user interface 103 (e.g., display, keyboard, touchpad, and/or touch screen). The fluid mixture dispensing system 100 may also include one or more controllers configured to execute instructions to control the various components of the apparatus and cause the apparatus to perform the functions described in this disclosure.

Mixing of the beverage may begin with the system (e.g., a controller of the system) receiving a beverage request from a user. In some embodiments, the beverage request is received through a user interface. In some embodiments, the user interface comprises a graphical user interface, such as a touch screen. In some embodiments, the user interface can display the request and/or any modifications made to the request (e.g., by the user via the user interface), e.g., if the user requests soda, the user interface optionally and/or selectively displays options to modify the soda, e.g., the amount of sugar to be added, the carbonation level, the total volume, and/or the temperature, etc. In some embodiments, the requested beverage is prepared according to a predefined beverage mix selected from a library of predefined beverage mixes. In some embodiments, the library of predefined beverage mixes (e.g., the name of the predefined beverage mix, and/or the recipe of the predefined beverage mix) can be displayed on a user interface for selection by a user. In some embodiments, the predefined library of beverage mixes is stored remotely from the beverage mix dispensing system and subsequently sent or uploaded to the beverage mix dispensing system. In some embodiments, a library of predefined fluid mixtures is sent to the controller and stored in a memory of the controller. In some embodiments, the requested beverage mixture includes an ingredient modification to the selected predetermined beverage mixture. In some embodiments, the user uses the user interface to make ingredient modifications.

In some embodiments, the library of predefined beverage mixes is a library containing a list of ingredients (e.g., chemical compounds, such as ingredients and/or solvents) and a corresponding amount of each ingredient of each predefined beverage mix in the library. The list of ingredients and the corresponding amounts of each ingredient of each predetermined beverage mixture may be obtained from a prior chemical analysis of the predetermined beverage mixture. For example, a cup of Chandon wine having a particular identifiable style or variety may be defined by a list of ingredients of a quantity of chemical ingredients (e.g., acid, sugar solution, etc.) that are mixed into a larger mixture of water and ethanol to form a cup of Chandon wine. Thus, any particular fluid mixture (e.g., wine, soda, perfume, etc.) may be combined from a defined list of ingredients and corresponding amounts of each ingredient, for example, from chemical analysis of the particular fluid mixture. In some embodiments, the systems disclosed herein accept digitizing predetermined fluid mixture information (i.e., formulation of each predetermined fluid mixture) and then converting that information into a control process (e.g., control of a mechanical/electromechanical valve or pump) that dispenses a list of ingredients in the corresponding amounts to form the desired fluid mixture. In various embodiments, the formulation of the predetermined fluid mixture includes additional control information, such as the order of operation, description of one or more flow paths to be used, temperature requirements, and/or control of other portions of the fluid dispensing system required to prepare the predetermined fluid mixture.

A beverage mix dispensing system according to certain embodiments of the present disclosure may perform various actions to mix a beverage in response to receiving a request for a beverage mix. Such a beverage mixing and dispensing system may perform various actions to mix and dispense a beverage into a container (e.g., wineglass 104 shown in fig. 1) that includes one or more solvents from solvent reservoirs (e.g., solvent reservoirs 108a and 108 b) and ingredients from an ingredient reservoir (e.g., ingredient reservoir 106). The system may be configured to optionally and/or selectively control one or more of the following actions: (1) Flowing a predetermined amount of at least one solvent from at least one solvent reservoir (e.g., a predetermined amount of water from a water reservoir and/or a predetermined amount of alcohol from an alcohol reservoir), and at least one ingredient from at least one ingredient reservoir, to at least one mixing region (e.g., a mixing channel) to form an intermediate fluid mixture; (2) Flowing a predetermined amount of at least one solvent from at least one solvent reservoir (e.g., water from a water reservoir and/or alcohol from an alcohol mixture) to a final mixing chamber; (3) Flowing the intermediate fluid mixture (if any) to the final mixing chamber; and (4) dispensing the mixed beverage in the final mixing chamber into a container for consumption. Referring to apparatus 100, the mixing area may be a set of mixing channels (described below) under plate 140, the final mixing chamber may be mixing chamber 107, and the container may be wine glass 104.

In some embodiments, the system includes at least one solvent reservoir containing at least one solvent. In some embodiments, the at least one solvent comprises water, an alcohol, ethyl lactate, and/or propylene glycol. In some embodiments, the at least one solvent comprises a sweetener (e.g., glucose, sucrose, or fructose), or an artificial sweetener (e.g., acesulfame k in water). The at least one solvent reservoir supplies the at least one solvent to the fluid mixture to be dispensed, such as solvent reservoirs 108a and 108b in fig. 1C. In some embodiments, the system includes multiple solvent reservoirs (e.g., one or more water reservoirs, one or more alcohol reservoirs, one or more propylene glycol reservoirs, one or more ethyl lactate reservoirs, and/or combinations of the foregoing reservoirs, as well as other variations and/or solvent types). In various embodiments, any of the at least one solvent in the at least one solvent reservoir is optionally and/or selectively diluted, e.g., the alcohol reservoir contains 95% alcohol instead of 100% alcohol.

In some embodiments, the at least one solvent reservoir supplies solvent (e.g., any one or more of the at least one solvent) to the fluid mixture to be dispensed. For example, the water reservoir can supply water to the fluid mixture to be dispensed. In some embodiments, the solvent reservoir includes a solvent container contained within the fluid mixture dispensing system to provide one or more solvents to the system. The one or more solvents can be used to dissolve or carry various other ingredients to form the desired fluid mixture. For example, the solvent may be mixed with ingredients dispensed from a ingredient reservoir in the cartridge in a mixing zone to form a desired fluid mixture. In some embodiments, in response to receiving a request for a fluid mixture, the system flows a predetermined amount of at least one solvent from at least one solvent reservoir to at least one mixing channel (e.g., by a system controller controlling a pump and/or valve) to form an intermediate fluid mixture.

In some embodiments, ingredients stored in the ingredient reservoirs are delivered to respective valves below the ingredient reservoirs. For example, the ingredients from the cartridge 105 as shown in fig. 2A may be delivered to a valve controlled by the actuator 120 such that the ingredients are dispensed through the plate 140. In some embodiments, the valve and ingredient reservoir assembly is coupled to an actuator (e.g., solenoid valve), such as actuator 120 shown in fig. 2A and 2B, the actuator 120 being coupled to a substrate, such as substrate 125 shown in fig. 2A and 2B. The base plate 125 and plate 140 may serve as part of the dispensing interface of the cartridge and the receiving interface of the device and may be removed when the ingredient reservoir of the cartridge is exhausted. The valve and interface may be as described in U.S. provisional patent application No.63/146,461, filed on 5, 2, 2021, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

In some embodiments, the ingredient reservoirs (and corresponding valves) may be open to a mixing region (e.g., mixing channel). In some embodiments, multiple ingredient reservoirs are fluidly connected to a single mixing channel. In various embodiments, one mixing channel is fluidly connected to one or more other mixing channels. In some embodiments, the first mixing channel is fluidly connected to the first plurality of ingredient reservoirs and the second mixing channel is fluidly connected to the second plurality of ingredient reservoirs. For example, a first mixing channel is fluidly connected to 5-20 ingredient reservoirs and a second mixing channel is fluidly connected to 5-20 identical or different ingredient reservoirs. In various embodiments, at least one solvent (e.g., water and/or ethanol) flows through the mixing channel and collects any ingredients dispensed into the mixing channel. In some embodiments, the at least one solvent is dispensed into the mixing channel to remove any remaining ingredients (e.g., to clean or rinse the mixing channel). In various embodiments, the at least one solvent is dispensed into the mixing channel before any ingredients are dispensed into the mixing channel to "wet" the mixing channel (e.g., to facilitate the flow of subsequently dispensed ingredients through the mixing channel). In some embodiments, one or more mixing channels are formed in the bottom of a plate (e.g., plate 140 shown in fig. 2A). All of the one or more mixing channels are optionally and/or selectively in fluid connection with one or more solvent reservoirs and mixing chambers, e.g., in some embodiments, solvent enters at least one mixing channel and at least one ingredient from at least one ingredient reservoir flows into the at least one mixing channel to form an intermediate fluid mixture with the solvent.

In some embodiments, the mixing region (e.g., mixing channel) and/or mixing chamber is fluidly connected to the valve output of the ingredient reservoir such that opening of the valve results in the ingredient flowing to the mixing region (e.g., mixing channel) and/or mixing chamber. In some embodiments, the controller is configured to open a particular valve of a particular ingredient reservoir based on one or more of a pressure in the pressurized chamber, a physical flow characteristic (e.g., a viscosity that may depend on temperature) of the ingredient in the particular ingredient reservoir, and/or an opening diameter of the particular valve for a period of time to control a flow of a predetermined amount of the ingredient in the particular ingredient reservoir to be dispensed. In a further embodiment, the system is calibrated for a particular ingredient in a particular ingredient reservoir to dispense/flow a predetermined amount of the particular ingredient to a mixing region (e.g., mixing channel) and/or mixing chamber based on the pressure in the pressurized chamber, physical flow characteristics of the particular ingredient, and/or the opening diameter of a valve of the particular ingredient reservoir (or orifice diameter of the particular ingredient reservoir as described below). In various embodiments, the time interval at which the valve is open corresponds proportionally to the amount/concentration of at least one ingredient in the list of ingredients of the desired fluid mixture (e.g., obtained from chemical analysis of the ingredients required to produce the desired fluid mixture).

In some embodiments, at least one ingredient reservoir is enclosed in an ingredient cartridge, such as ingredient cartridge 300 in fig. 3. In some embodiments, the system includes at least one ingredient cartridge. In a further embodiment, the system comprises more than two ingredient cartridges, for example, two ingredient cartridges are shown in fig. 2A. In some embodiments, the ingredient cartridge includes a plurality of ingredient reservoirs. In some embodiments, the at least one ingredient cartridge is configured to dispense a predetermined amount of the at least one ingredient from the at least one ingredient reservoir to a mixing region (e.g., mixing channel) or mixing chamber. In some embodiments, the at least one ingredient cartridge is removably connected to the fluid mixture dispensing system such that the at least one ingredient cartridge is refillable, replaceable, maintainable and/or recyclable. In some embodiments, the fluid mixture dispensing system can operate in the absence (e.g., uninstalled) of a ingredient cartridge, partially empty (e.g., only some of the ingredient reservoirs empty), and/or (fully) empty.

In some embodiments, at least one ingredient cartridge is pressurizable and/or includes a corresponding pressurization chamber (e.g., a corresponding inner chamber) within the at least one ingredient cartridge. For example, the ingredient cartridge 300 includes a pressurization chamber 301, the pressurization chamber 301 being exposed when the housing 302 of the ingredient cartridge 300 is partially removed in fig. 3. The pressurized chamber referred to herein refers to the pressurized chamber of the ingredient cartridge, which in some embodiments is the ingredient cartridge itself, or in other embodiments is an interior chamber of the ingredient cartridge. The pressurization chamber accommodates a plurality of ingredient reservoirs such that pressure (e.g., gas pressure in the pressurization chamber) is applied to the ingredient reservoirs. In some embodiments, the system (e.g., a controller) is configured to monitor (e.g., with a pressure sensor) and/or control the pressure in the pressurization chamber. In various embodiments, the pressurization chamber is pressurized such that when a valve of one of the ingredient reservoirs is opened, the ingredient stored in that ingredient reservoir flows out of the ingredient reservoir (at least partially in response to pressure) and into the mixing region (e.g., mixing channel) and/or mixing chamber. In a further embodiment, the pressurization chamber is raised above a specified minimum pressure before any valve of the ingredient reservoir is opened. In some embodiments, an inert gas (e.g., argon) is added to the chamber to protect the ingredients from oxidation/degradation.

In some embodiments, the ingredients are stored in a respective one of a plurality of ingredient reservoirs in the cartridge. According to various embodiments, each ingredient reservoir is of one or more types, such as: a pouch; a syringe; a gravity dispensing chamber; a particle dispenser; a pierceable volume; and any other reservoir for solids (including crystals, powders, or other forms of solids), liquids, or gases. In some embodiments, all ingredient reservoirs are of the same type. In other embodiments, the ingredient reservoirs are of more than two types. In a further embodiment, the ingredient cartridge contains more than two types of ingredient reservoirs. In some embodiments, the system includes a plurality of ingredient reservoirs. In other embodiments, the system includes only a single ingredient reservoir. According to various embodiments, the ingredient reservoir has one or more dimensions, such as (for liquid volume measurement) 1 ounce, 2 ounces, 4 ounces, 8 ounces, 16 ounces, 32 ounces, or any other dimension. In some embodiments, all of the ingredient reservoirs in the ingredient cartridge are the same size; in other embodiments, the ingredient cartridge contains ingredient reservoirs of two or more sizes, such as a small size (e.g., 1 or 2 ounces), a medium size (e.g., 4 or 8 ounces), and a large size (e.g., 16 or 32 ounces). For example, the size of a particular ingredient reservoir may be selected based on the anticipated requirements of the ingredient to be stored in that ingredient reservoir. In various embodiments, more than two ingredient reservoirs in an ingredient cartridge contain the same ingredient.

Fig. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of the interior of a removable ingredient cartridge 300 for a beverage mix dispensing system. The cartridge 300 includes at least 6 large ingredient reservoirs, 35 medium reservoirs and 42 small reservoirs. The size of the reservoirs varies as certain chemicals are often used more or less when making a range of desired beverages. For example, fatty acid ingredients may be consumed on a microliter scale on a per beverage basis, while concentrated sweetener or fruit extract ingredients may be consumed on a milliliter scale on a per beverage basis. The ingredients in the ingredient store can be stored in various forms. For example, in the example of fig. 3, the ingredients are stored in a concentrated liquid form. The ingredient reservoirs in the cartridge (e.g., cartridge 300) are fluidly isolated within the housing 302 so that the ingredients can be stored in liquid form and do not mix.

In some embodiments, chemical analysis of the fluid mixture provides a detailed list of ingredients that make up the fluid mixture, and the cartridge may be designed to include all ingredients from a plurality of such detailed lists. Thus, the cartridge may include various ingredients to match these detailed lists, such as salts, sweeteners, food-grade acids, fragrances, food-grade bases, alcohols, aldehydes, terpenes, sulfides, esters, fatty acids, ketones, lactones, and phenols. The cartridge may also include extracts, concentrates and oils that combine to produce fruit and other flavors. The cartridge may also include additives such as chemicals, vitamins, stimulants, and other additives for changing the color of the beverage.

As mentioned above, the cartridge may be designed to include all of the chemicals in a large number of desired beverages that have been chemically analyzed. The chemicals may be stored in separate ingredient reservoirs. The cartridge may store up to 1000 individual ingredients to make a wide variety of beverages. However, in various embodiments, some ingredients are used as suitable sensory substitutes for secret (esoteric) ingredients in a particular beverage. Thus, careful identification of suitable sensory substitutes can provide more beverage diversity for cartridges having a fixed number of ingredient reservoirs. Through extensive experimentation, the inventors have found that a system comprising at least 20 ingredient reservoirs produces a library of more than 500 beverages.

In general, an increase in the number of ingredients individually stored in an ingredient reservoir and a given cartridge will help to increase the variety of beverages that can be made by the device using the cartridge, either in combination, or before the cartridge is exhausted. However, as the number of ingredient reservoirs increases, the mechanical complexity of the cartridge (particularly the dispense interface) begins to increase dramatically. Furthermore, to some extent, the marginal benefit of the additional ingredients added to the cartridge begins to drop drastically in increasing the variety of beverages made based on the additional ingredients. Thus, the inventors have determined an upper limit of about 1000 individual ingredient reservoirs for a cartridge before the disadvantage of increased mechanical complexity exceeds the benefit of additional individual ingredients.

In various embodiments, the ingredients may be in liquid, crystalline form, solid, gas, and/or combinations thereof. For example, the ingredients include an amount of acid in liquid form, an amount of sugar in powder/granular form, and/or an amount of compressed nitrogen or CO in gaseous form ₂ . In the example of fig. 3, all ingredients are stored as concentrated liquids. The ingredient store, for example in the cartridge of fig. 3, may store ingredients in the form of at least 20 individual ingredients, the at least 20 individual ingredients being stored as at least 20 concentrated liquids in the at least 20 ingredient stores.

The ingredients may be stored in the ingredient reservoir as various components. These ingredients may be pure ingredients or a mixture of ingredients. The term "ingredients" as used herein includes "ingredient mixtures". The ingredient mixture may include at least one primary/functional ingredient, which may be at least one of a solid, a liquid, or a gas, examples of which may be chemical compounds. In a specific embodiment, the ingredients may be stored in the form of at least 20 molecular entities suspended independently in liquid water in at least 20 ingredient reservoirs. In particular embodiments, the liquid formulation may be stored as at least one molecular entity separately suspended in a solvent, wherein the solvent is solvent from one or more reservoirs of the device. In particular embodiments, the liquid formulation may be stored as a pure molecular entity in liquid form.

In some embodiments, the ingredient mixture may include various concentrations of chemical compounds. In some embodiments, the ingredient mixture may include at least one solvent. The at least one solvent may be any combination of solvents disclosed herein. For example, the ingredient mixture in the ingredient reservoir may be a mixture of citric acid (primary/functional ingredient) and water at a specific concentration. Another ingredient mixture may be a mixture of potassium sulfate (primary/functional ingredient), water and ethanol. As described herein, these ingredients/ingredient mixtures may be dispensed into a fluid stream (which may itself be a mixture of solvents (e.g., water and/or ethanol)) and combined together to form an intermediate fluid mixture. In some embodiments, the ingredient mixture may further include at least one of a solvent (e.g., water and/or alcohol) and an additive ingredient, which may be at least one of a surfactant, preservative, or emulsifier/stabilizer. Examples of the surfactant include anionic surfactants (e.g., sodium lauryl sulfate and/or sodium lauryl ether sulfate, etc.) and nonionic surfactants (e.g., cocamide monoethanolamine and/or cocamide diethanolamine, etc.). Examples of preservatives include sodium benzoate and/or citric acid and the like. Examples of emulsifiers/stabilizers include gellan gum and/or guar gum, and the like.

In some embodiments, because the amount of one or more ingredients required to produce a particular fluid mixture is small (e.g., less than 0.1mL, less than 0.01mL, less than 0.001mL, or as little as 50 uL), a high level of repeatability and accuracy is required when dispensing ingredients to be combined with one or more solvents to form a particular fluid mixture. In some embodiments, the predetermined amount of at least one ingredient required to form a particular fluid mixture is at most 3L, at most 2L, at most 1L, at most 500mL, at most 250mL, at most 100mL, at most 50mL, at most 25mL, at most 10mL, at most 5mL, at most 1mL, at most 0.5mL, at most 0.1mL, at most 0.01mL, at most 0.001mL, or at most 50uL. In certain embodiments of the present invention, a high level of repeatability may be referred to as the minimum controllable dispense volume of the device. In a particular embodiment of the invention, the smallest controllable dispensing volume from the ingredient reservoir to the mixing zone is less than 100uL. In the practice of the invention, the minimum controllable dispense volume of the device is 50uL.

In certain embodiments of the invention, the ingredient is a concentrated liquid stored in a particular volume and concentration to maximize the variety and number of beverages that can be made from a given cartridge. Furthermore, the entire beverage mixture dispensing system may be designed such that a large volume of ingredients is stored in a solvent reservoir having a volume that is even larger than the volume of the largest ingredient reservoir in the cartridge. The concentration and volume of the liquid may be selected based on a variety of factors including the solubility limit of the ingredient, the minimum controllable dispensed volume of the particular ingredient from the cartridge to the device, the minimum and maximum concentrations of the ingredient in the various beverages, and the size of the average beverage made using the device.

In general, it may be desirable to increase the concentration of ingredients in the ingredient reservoir, as the user will be able to make a larger number of beverages from a set amount of liquid ingredients in the cartridge. For example, if the concentration of ingredients in a 100mL size ingredient reservoir is 10g/mL and if the beverage requires 1g of ingredients per beverage, the beverage mix dispensing system may provide 1000 beverage portions before cartridge replacement is required, however, 10000 beverage portions may be obtained if the ingredients can be concentrated to 100g/mL in a 100mL cartridge.

However, in certain embodiments, the concentration of ingredients in the ingredient reservoir is limited. For example, the concentration of a concentrated liquid formulation suspended in a solvent cannot be increased beyond the solubility limit of the formulation in the solvent (e.g., sugar may be stored in water at a concentration of 4g/mL, while salt may be stored in water at a concentration of 0.15 g/mL). In addition, buffers of absolute limits may be used to prevent crystallization of the ingredients over time. In a specific embodiment, the buffer may be 20-50% of the limit. As another example, the minimum controllable dispensing amount of the beverage mixture dispensing system may set an upper limit for the allowable concentration. For example, if the minimum controllable dispensing amount from the beverage mix dispensing system is 50uL and the final beverage made from the beverage mix dispensing system is 100mL, the minimum concentration of ingredients in the final beverage will set a limit on the maximum allowable concentration, i.e. a concentration of x 100mL/15uL above the minimum concentration (in the beverage).

For the reasons described above, in certain embodiments of the present invention, ingredients are stored in different concentration ranges based on the chemical class to which the ingredients belong. For example, the concentrated salt may be stored as a first concentrated liquid having a concentration of less than 0.15g/mL, and the concentrated food grade acid may be stored as a second concentrated liquid having a concentration of less than 1.3 g/mL. In a particular embodiment, the concentration of a particular ingredient is also determined by the minimum concentration of the ingredient in a given beverage and the minimum controllable dispensing volume of the device as described above.

In a particular embodiment of the invention, the volume of each liquid ingredient stored in the cartridge is set within a range. In a particular embodiment of the invention, each ingredient reservoir of the cartridge stores at least 50mL and less than 500mL of concentrated liquid. These limitations are important because they balance the overall weight of the cartridge and the number of beverages that can be made using the high-volume ingredients.

In certain embodiments of the present invention, careful selection of the ingredients of the cartridge may produce a wide variety of beverages from a small group of ingredients. The cartridge may include a set of chemicals that are prioritized based on how often the ingredient is in various beverages and how close it is to the substitute for the particular ingredient. A typical ingredient box includes at least one food-grade acid (e.g., acetic acid, citric acid, and/or tartaric acid) and at least one salt (e.g., sodium chloride). The kit may also include a sweetener (e.g., glucose, sucrose, fructose) or a zero-calorie high-intensity sweetener (e.g., erythritol, acesulfame k, etc.). The cartridge contents may also be selected based on the solvents available for a given beverage mix dispensing system in which the cartridge is used. For example, if a diluted glucose solvent reservoir is used in combination with a cartridge, the cartridge may not need to store sweetener, or at least may avoid the need for a dedicated ingredient reservoir for glucose. The cartridge may also include a fragrance, such as an ester for fruit flavor or a terpene for citrus flavor. For example, the cartridge may include ethyl acetate, isobutyl acetate, and/or a terpene (e.g., limonene). The cartridge may also include a food-grade base to adjust the pH of the beverage. Typically, the cartridge comprises a base, as they are substantially interchangeable from a sensory point of view. For example, the cartridge may comprise a single base selected from disodium hydrogen phosphate or tripotassium phosphate. The cartridge may also include additives such as irritants, vitamin supplements, protein supplements, and other additive ingredients. The additive formulation may be at least one of a surfactant, preservative or emulsifier/stabilizer. Examples of the surfactant include anionic surfactants (e.g., sodium lauryl sulfate and/or sodium lauryl ether sulfate, etc.) and nonionic surfactants (e.g., cocamide monoethanolamine and/or cocamide diethanolamine, etc.). Examples of preservatives include sodium benzoate and/or citric acid and the like. Examples of emulsifiers/stabilizers include gellan gum and/or guar gum, and the like.

Fig. 4 shows a cartridge loading 400 for cartridges having twenty ingredients, and word indexing with beverages that may be made from those ingredients. The loading comprises a solvent of a specific device with a label (solvent) and carbon dioxide (CO alone) with a label ₂ Can) to indicate that the ingredients are not in the ingredient box, but it is necessary to maintain the listed word index for the ingredients. The ingredients are listed according to their priority order to provide a word index (i.e., ingredients common to most beverages are listed at the top). For example, solvent ethanol appears lower in the word index because it is used for smaller classes of beverages, and because in some embodiments ingredients associated with alcoholic beverages may be completely removed from the cartridge. The word index lists in the second column that only uses from the first columnA beverage made from a selected subset of ingredients from the list of ingredients above the beverage in (a).

As shown, the cartridge loading 400 is consistent with the specific embodiments disclosed herein. The cartridge load 400 includes concentrated salt in the form of sodium chloride and concentrated food grade acid in the form of citric acid, which ingredients are listed at the top of the word index as they are required for the maximum number of beverages in the word index. Although the word index stops after 25 ingredients, these ingredients are required for many beverages that will appear on the list when additional ingredients are added. Although the loading index 400 is provided with reference to a device having a sweetener (e.g., sucrose) in a solvent reservoir, the cartridge still includes additional sweetener in the form of a grape juice concentrate, erythritol, or acesulfame k that is not as often used as sucrose. In an alternative embodiment, sucrose is stored in a more concentrated form on the cartridge and there is no separate sweetener solvent reservoir.

Various cartridge loadings may be selected based on various factors, including the solvents available in the apparatus, which beverages the associated apparatus is designed to produce, which ingredients are sensory substitutes, what volumes the ingredients are used in, and which ingredients most rapidly expand the word index (i.e., which ingredients produce the greatest potential beverage diversity). The degree of permissible variation for a particular substitute may be relaxed based on the number of beverages in which the substitute is used or the amount of ingredients used in each beverage. For example, in particular embodiments of the present invention, when the cartridge is selected for loading, particular fatty acids of the two fatty acids used in very small concentrations may have a relaxed degree of sensory replaceability because they are used in small amounts compared to the two sweeteners used in high concentrations in many beverages.

Although different cartridges may have different loadings for different target classes of beverages, there are some classes of chemicals that are common in almost all classes of beverages that the device may be expected to produce. In a particular embodiment of the invention, the ingredient cartridge will comprise a first reservoir storing a concentrated food grade acid and a second reservoir having a concentrated salt. These ingredients and condensed sweeteners are the main components that expand the word index. However, the amount of sweetener used is so large that a dedicated solvent reservoir having a sweetener concentration that is the average concentration of the sugar flavored beverage may be used instead of a dedicated sweetener cartridge. The concentrated food grade acid may be citric acid or tartaric acid. Typically, a cartridge having at least 20 ingredient reservoirs will include both citric acid and tartaric acid, as both ingredients are present in various beverages, and as they are not sensory substitutes. Cartridges having at least 20 ingredients may also include a third reservoir of concentrated fragrance, a fourth reservoir of concentrated ester, a fifth reservoir of concentrated terpene and/or a sixth reservoir of concentrated food grade base, as the particular chemicals selected from these groups have a significant impact on expanding the variety of beverages made by a given beverage mix dispensing system, and as the chemicals from these groups are generally not sensory substitutes.

Some types of beverages have different requirements for expanding the variety of beverages of this type. Thus, in cartridges designed to include such beverages, more ingredient reservoirs than average may be dedicated to making such beverages. For example, if the cartridge is intended to facilitate brewing, the cartridge may include a first reservoir storing concentrated food grade acid in acetic acid form, a second reservoir having concentrated salt, and a third reservoir storing concentrated ethyl acetate. Numerous experiments have found that these requirements are either a common ingredient for all wines or a sufficient sensory substitute for all wine ingredients.

Fig. 5 includes a sample cartridge loading 500 for a cartridge capable of dispensing ingredients for making various white wines. Numerous experiments have found that the provided ingredient list is sufficient to produce a large variety of white wine varieties including Chardonnay, chang Si, moscat, learn, etc. The cartridge loading assumes that all ingredients from cartridge loading 400 are available. The ingredients listed in the load 500 may all be stored in separate ingredient reservoirs. However, in certain embodiments of the present invention, ingredients listed generally in a row of a table may be combined into a single ingredient store and stored as an ingredient mixture in the single ingredient store. Furthermore, in particular embodiments of the present invention, if the ingredients listed below the first aldehyde are listed in order and from the same category, the ingredients may all be combined and stored as an ingredient mixture in a single ingredient reservoir. In the use of the apparatus with the cartridge loaded 500, it was found experimentally that the loss of flexibility when using these ingredients alone to match a particular chemical composition does not tend to provide a distinguishable sensory experience for the average user as compared to combining the ingredients into a ingredient mixture.

Fig. 6 includes a sample cartridge loading 600 for cartridges capable of dispensing ingredients for making various red wines. Numerous experiments have found that the provided ingredient list is sufficient to produce a large variety of white wine varieties including Cabernet Sauvignon, heideno, sila, meilow, etc. The cartridge loading assumes that all ingredients from cartridge loading 500 are available. The ingredients listed in the load 600 may all be stored in separate ingredient reservoirs. However, in certain embodiments of the present invention, ingredients listed generally in a row of a table may be combined into a single ingredient store and stored as an ingredient mixture. Furthermore, in certain embodiments of the present invention, if the listed ingredients are listed in order and from the same category, the ingredients may all be combined and stored as an ingredient mixture in a single ingredient store. It has been found experimentally that the loss of flexibility does not tend to provide a distinguishable sensory experience for the average user when these ingredients are used alone, rather than in combination, to match a particular chemical composition.

In particular embodiments of the invention, ingredients for a single reservoir and overall region of the cartridge are selected based on a set of desired "frames" for a particular type of beverage (e.g., wine, hard soda, flavored water, flavored sparkling water, rehydrated beverages, electrolyte substitutes, immune beverages, energy beverages, cold tea, cold coffee, carbonated soft drinks, and cocktails). In general, less than 100 compounds were found to be common in all beverages within this frame. For example, a wine frame includes 50 ingredients that are common in all wines. The frame may then be combined and/or modified in a given cartridge to make a particular beverage within the frame in order to formulate the cartridge load. It has been found experimentally that 100-125 different compounds can be selected and dispensed into less than 90 wells to form various beverages from each of the frames listed above.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical, symbolic and other terms used herein and scientific or technical terms are intended to have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which claimed subject matter pertains. In some cases, terms with commonly understood meanings are defined herein for clarity and/or ease of reference, and such definitions contained herein should not be construed as materially different from the commonly understood meanings in the art.

Reference herein to a value or parameter of "about" includes (and describes) a variation on that value or parameter itself. For example, a description relating to "about X" includes a description of "X". Further, the phrase "less than," "greater than," "up to," "at least," "less than or equal to," "greater than or equal to," or other similar phrases followed by a string of values or parameters means that the phrase is applied to each value or parameter in the string of values or parameters.

As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein means and includes any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes" and/or "including," when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or units, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, units, and/or groups thereof.

Some aspects of the disclosure include process steps and instructions described herein in algorithmic form. It should be noted that the process steps and instructions of the present disclosure may be implemented in software, firmware, or hardware, and when implemented in software, the process steps and instructions may be downloaded to reside and be run on different platforms used by a variety of operating systems. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms such as "processing," "computing," "calculating," "determining," "displaying," "generating," or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure also relates to an apparatus for performing the operations described herein. The apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, such as, but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, USB flash drives, external hard drives, optical disks, CD-ROMs, magneto-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random Access Memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, and each coupled to a computer system bus. Furthermore, the computing systems referred to in the specification may comprise a single processor and may be architectures employing multi-processor designs, for example, for performing different functions or for increasing computing capability. Suitable processors include Central Processing Units (CPUs), graphics Processing Units (GPUs), field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), and ASICs.

The methods, devices, and systems described herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general-purpose systems may also be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform the required method steps. The structure of a variety of these systems is apparent from the description above. In addition, the present disclosure is not described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the application as described herein.

The present application discloses several numerical ranges in the text and figures, even if no exact range limitations are stated verbatim in the specification, the disclosed numerical ranges inherently support any range or value within the disclosed numerical ranges, including the endpoints, as the present disclosure may be practiced throughout the disclosed numerical ranges.

The previous description is presented to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the disclosure, and is provided in the context of a particular application and its requirements. Various modifications to the preferred embodiment will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.

Claims (30)

1. A beverage mix dispensing system comprising:

a solvent reservoir;

a removable cartridge having: (i) a housing; and (ii) at least 20 ingredient reservoirs located within the housing and storing at least 20 corresponding ingredients; and

a mixing region in fluid connection with the solvent reservoir and the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs;

wherein the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs comprise:

a first reservoir storing a concentrated salt as a respective ingredient of the first reservoir; and

a second reservoir storing a concentrated food-grade acid as a respective ingredient of said second reservoir.

2. The beverage mix dispensing system of claim 1 wherein:

the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs are fluidly isolated within the housing.

3. The beverage mix dispensing system of claim 2 wherein:

the at least 20 respective ingredients are stored as at least 20 concentrated liquids in the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs.

4. The beverage mix dispensing system of claim 3, wherein:

the at least 20 respective ingredients are stored as at least 20 molecular entities, separately suspended in liquid water in the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs.

5. The beverage mix dispensing system of claim 3, wherein:

the solvent reservoir stores a solvent; and

the at least 20 respective ingredients include at least one molecular entity independently suspended in a solvent of one of the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs.

6. The beverage mix dispensing system of claim 1 wherein:

the at least 20 corresponding ingredients are stored as at least 20 concentrated liquids in the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs; and

the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs each store at least 50mL and less than 500mL of concentrated liquid.

7. The beverage mix dispensing system of claim 6, wherein:

the concentrated salt is stored as a first concentrated liquid having a concentration of less than 0.15 g/mL; and

the concentrated food grade acid is stored as a second concentrated liquid having a concentration of less than 1.3 g/mL.

8. The beverage mix dispensing system of claim 7, wherein:

the minimum controllable dispensing volume from each of the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs to the mixing zone is less than 100uL.

9. The beverage mix dispensing system of claim 1 further comprising at least one of:

a sweetener in the solvent reservoir; and

A third reservoir for storing a concentrated sweetener.

10. The beverage mix dispensing system of claim 1 wherein:

the concentrated food grade acid is one of citric acid and tartaric acid.

11. The beverage mix dispensing system of claim 1 wherein the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs comprise:

a third reservoir for storing concentrated fragrance.

12. The beverage mix dispensing system of claim 11 wherein the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs comprise:

a fourth reservoir for storing the concentrated ester.

13. The beverage mix dispensing system of claim 12 wherein said at least 20 ingredient reservoirs comprise:

a fifth reservoir for storing a concentrated terpene; and

a sixth reservoir for storing a concentrated food grade base.

14. The beverage mix dispensing system of claim 1 wherein:

the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs comprise a third reservoir storing concentrated ethyl acetate; and

the concentrated food grade acid is acetic acid.

15. A removable ingredient cartridge for a beverage mix dispensing system, the removable ingredient cartridge comprising:

a housing;

at least 20 ingredient reservoirs located within the housing and individually storing at least 20 respective ingredients; and

A dispensing interface for dispensing the at least 20 individual respective ingredients into the beverage mixture dispensing system;

wherein the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs comprise:

a first reservoir for storing a concentrated salt; and

a second reservoir for storing a concentrated food-grade acid.

16. The removable ingredient cartridge of claim 15 wherein:

the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs are fluidly isolated within the housing.

17. The removable ingredient cartridge of claim 16 wherein:

the at least 20 respective ingredients are stored as at least 20 concentrated liquids in the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs.

18. The removable ingredient cartridge of claim 17 wherein:

the at least 20 respective ingredients are stored as at least 20 molecular entities, separately suspended in liquid water in the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs.

19. The removable ingredient cartridge of claim 15 wherein:

the at least 20 respective ingredients are stored as at least 20 concentrated liquids in the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs; and

the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs each store at least 50mL and less than 500mL of concentrated liquid.

20. The removable ingredient cartridge of claim 19 wherein:

The concentrated salt is stored as a first concentrated liquid having a concentration of less than 0.15 g/mL; and

the concentrated food grade acid is stored as a second concentrated liquid having a concentration of less than 1.3 g/mL.

21. The removable ingredient cartridge of claim 20 wherein:

the minimum controllable dispense volume from each of the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs is less than 100uL.

22. The removable ingredient cartridge of claim 15 further comprising:

a third reservoir for storing a concentrated sweetener.

23. The removable ingredient cartridge of claim 15 wherein:

the concentrated food grade acid is one of citric acid and tartaric acid.

24. The removable ingredient cartridge of claim 15 wherein the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs comprise:

a third reservoir for storing concentrated fragrance.

25. The removable ingredient cartridge of claim 24 wherein the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs comprise:

a fourth reservoir for storing the concentrated ester.

26. The removable ingredient cartridge of claim 25 wherein the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs comprise:

a fifth reservoir for storing a concentrated terpene; and

a sixth reservoir for storing a concentrated food grade base.

27. The removable ingredient cartridge of claim 15 wherein:

the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs comprise a third reservoir storing concentrated ethyl acetate; and

the concentrated food grade acid is acetic acid.

28. A ingredient cartridge comprising:

at least 20 ingredient reservoirs, individually storing at least 20 ingredients;

wherein the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs comprise:

a first reservoir for storing a concentrated salt; and

a second reservoir storing a concentrated food-grade acid.

29. The ingredient cartridge of claim 28, wherein:

the at least 20 respective ingredients are stored as at least 20 molecular entities, separately suspended in liquid water in the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs.

30. The ingredient cartridge of claim 28, wherein:

the at least 20 ingredient reservoirs comprise a third reservoir storing concentrated ethyl acetate; and

the concentrated food grade acid is acetic acid.