Appliance with dispenser

摘要

An appliance having a housing including a body defining a compartment and a door attached to the body, a water supplier including a first valve actuator configured to cause water to be dispensed by the water supplier, a supply container holder configured to hold a supply container for a liquid supply, at least one user input device including a touch screen configured to enable a user to make an input to request dispensing of the liquid supply from the supply container, a supply dispenser including a second valve actuator and configured to cause the liquid supply in the supply container to be selectively dispensed from the supply container based on the input made by the user using the touch screen, and a dispensing computer configured to receive a dispense signal from the touch screen, in response to receipt of the dispense signal, cause the second valve actuator to cause the liquid supply in the supply container to be dispensed from the supply container for a first period of time to dispense an appropriate amount of liquid supply, and store data representative of the amounts of the liquid supply dispensed by the supply dispenser.

主权项

1. An appliance comprising:
a housing; a user interface panel supported by the housing and including a touch screen; a dispensing mechanism at least partially coupled to the user interface panel; and a computer configured to operate with the user interface panel and the dispensing mechanism to: (a) control operation of: (i) the dispensing mechanism, (ii) a water supply mechanism in fluid communication with the dispensing mechanism, and (iii) a drink supply mechanism in fluid communication with the dispensing mechanism, said drink supply mechanism configured to obtain drink supply from each of a plurality of drink supply containers; (b) cause the touch screen to display a plurality of different beverage related images, each different beverage related image associated with at least one of the drink supply containers; (c) receive, via the touch screen, at least one input corresponding to at least one of the different displayed beverage related images; and (d) for said at least one received input, cause the dispensing mechanism to dispense a beverage associated with the beverage related image corresponding to said at least one received input, said beverage dispensed via causing operation of one of a plurality of valves, said valve associated with the drink supply container associated with said beverage related image corresponding to said at least one received input, wherein when said valve is actuated, drink supply from said drink supply container associated with said beverage related image corresponding to said at least one received input is directed to a dispensing point at a position of a user beverage container.