Abstract:
Device and methods for dispensing flavored ice drinks, the device including one or more containers for holding a concentrated drink, water supply, a mixing unit for mixing the concentrated drink with the water into a substantially homogeneous liquid mixture, an ice making unit assembly for freezing freshly produced liquid mixture into ice cubes containing substantially identical ice quantity, a crushing and blending unit for crushing a pre measured amount of the ice cubes into small, drinkable ice particles, and blending the ice particles with a pre measured amount of freshly produced liquid mixture. The device also includes a vessel dispensing unit for dispensing a vessel to hold the ice drink, and a computerized control unit for controlling aspects of the process of producing the ice drink.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit under 35 USC 119(e) from U.S. provisional application 60/864,980 filed Nov. 9 th , 2006, the disclosure of which is included herein by reference. 
     
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to the field of producing a drink-mixture and more particularly, the present invention relates to a novel method and device for producing a flavored ice-drink from a liquid drink and crushed ice cubes, the ice cubes being prepared ahead of time, and the liquid portion of the ice-drink and the ice portion of the ice-drink having preferably the same content and the same flavor. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART 
       [0003]    A common prior art method for producing ice-drinks, which can be continuously and instantaneously supplied, uses device having a liquid mixture which is chilled to a partial frozen state, while being continuously mixed. The disadvantage of the method is the short shelf-life of the mixture. Moreover, the process of preparing the ice-drink may involve manual control which has to be done by trained personal The device may not operate automatically and may need continuous supervision when an ice-drink is requested. Furthermore, the process of cooling the liquid into a ready to serve ice drink, typically takes between 20-60 minutes, during which time the ice-drink cannot be served. 
         [0004]    Other prior art devices for dispensing ice-drinks, such as vending machines, do not have the capacity needed to ensure a non-stop supply of a large numbers of servings by a single machine. Existing vending machines suffer from a short shelf life, due to the method operation. Moreover, the vending machines offer relatively small quantities of iced drinks, thereby limiting the amount of the ice-drink servings. 
         [0005]    Prior art devices for dispensing flavored ice-drinks do produce the flavored ice portion of the drink and the liquid portion of the drink with the same process, thereby the two portions of the drink cannot be controlled to repeatably contain the same content and thereby producing an ice drink which has substantially the same content and the same flavor. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    The term “ice cube” as used herein refers to a frozen piece, the frozen piece including ice and possibly other ingredients and is substantially in solid form. 
         [0007]    The term ‘crashed ice’ as used herein refers to an ice cube being crashed into slush or small particles or granule etc. 
         [0008]    The term “ice drink” as used herein refers to a drink containing both liquid and crashed ice. 
         [0009]    According to the teachings of the present invention, there is provided a device and methods for dispensing flavored ice drinks, the device including one or more containers for holding a concentrated materials, water supply, a mixing unit for mixing the concentrated drink with the water into a substantially homogeneous liquid mixture, an ice making unit assembly for freezing freshly produced liquid mixture into ice cubes containing substantially identical ice quantity, a crushing and blending unit for crushing a pre measured amount of the ice cubes into small, drinkable ice panicles, and blending the ice particles with a pre measured amount of freshly produced liquid mixture. The device further includes a vessel dispensing unit for dispensing a vessel to hold the ice drink, and a computerized control unit for controlling aspects of the process of producing the ice drink. 
     
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]    The present invention will become fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings, which are given by way of illustration and example only and thus not limitative of the present invention. 
           [0011]      FIG. 1  is a schematic block diagram of the sub-system for making the frozen part of a flavored iced drink, according to embodiments of the present invention; 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  is a schematic block diagram of the system for making a flavored iced drink, according to embodiments of the present invention; and 
           [0013]      FIG. 3  is a schematic block diagram flow chart that outlines the successive steps of the process from purchasing till the delivery of a flavored ice drink, according to embodiments of the present invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view illustration of an ice cube making unit assembly, according to embodiments of the present invention. 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  is a back perspective view illustration of the ice cube maker of the ice cube making unit assembly shown in  FIG. 4 . 
           [0016]      FIG. 6  is a front perspective view illustration of an ice cube maker of the ice cube making unit assembly shown in  FIG. 4 . 
           [0017]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view illustration of an ice cube conveyor of the ice cube maker shown in  FIG. 5 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0018]    The present invention is a device for making a flavored iced drink having the liquid portion of the flavored iced drink and frozen portion of the flavored iced drink with preferably the same content and the same flavor. The device makes the liquid portion of the flavored iced drink and frozen portion of the flavored iced drink is controlled by a computerized control unit, thereby the resulting ice drink is substantially repeatable. 
         [0019]    Before explaining embodiments of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of design and the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments or of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. 
         [0020]    Referring now to the drawings,  FIG. 1  is a schematic block diagram of the sub-system  105  for making the frozen part of a flavored iced drink, according to embodiments of the present invention. Containers  110  contain flavored concentrated materials for making flavored drinks, such as juices, coffee, chocolate and other flavored drinks. The concentrated materials can be of liquid form or preferably powder of form, which is characterized by a longer shelf life. 
         [0021]    Selected concentrated materials are transferred to mixer  120  along with water from water supply unit  130 , whereas the ratio between the transferred concentrated materials and the water is controlled by a computerized control unit  180 . Mixer  120  mixes the mixture of concentrated materials and water which, when ready, the mixture is transferred to ice cube making unit assembly  140 . Reference is also made to  FIG. 4 , which a perspective view illustration of an ice cube making unit assembly  140 , according to embodiments of the present invention. Iced cube unit assembly  140  makes the frozen portion of a flavored iced drink. Control unit  180  identifies deficiency of ice cubes in ice cube storage  146  and initiates a process of making more ice cubes for the flavored ice drink to fill up ice cube storage  146 . Keeping ice cube storage  146  filled, ensures that when device  100  is requested to provide a flavored ice drink, device  100  will have enough ice cubes to fulfill the request. 
         [0022]    In some embodiments of the present invention, containers  110  may contain readily mixed flavored concentrated materials. For example: a concentrated mixture of coffee, sugar and milk. In other embodiments of the present invention, various containers  110  may contain one or more ingredients of the final flavored drink. For example: container  110 A contains coffee, container  110 B contains sugar and container  110 C contains milk. Any other ingredient combination is also possible and is in the scope of the present invention. 
         [0023]    Reference is now made to  FIG. 2 , which is a schematic block diagram of the device  100  for making a flavored iced drink, according to embodiments of the present invention. When device  100  is requested to provide a flavored ice drink, selected concentrated materials are transferred to mixer  120  along with water from water supply unit  130 , whereas the ratio between the transferred concentrated materials and the water is controlled by a computerized control unit  180 . Control unit  180  also ensures that the ratio between the transferred concentrated materials and the water in the final ice drink is substantially repeatable. Mixer  120  mixes the concentrated materials and water into a substantially homogeneous mixture which, when ready, the mixture is transferred to crushing and blending unit  150  along with a pre measured quantity of ice cubes from ice cube maker  140 . In blending unit  150 , the pre measured quantity of ice cubes are crushed to a predetermined size crushed ice and the freshly prepared liquid portion of the flavored iced drink are mixed and served into a vessel, such as a cup  170 , dispensed from cup dispensing unit  160 . 
         [0024]    In embodiments of the present invention, control unit  180  includes a drink quality assessment unit  182 , which analyzes quality parameters such as the viscosity, temperature, texture, etc. of the flavored iced drink being prepared and adjust the controls, as needed, to comply with the quality required from the selected flavored iced drink. 
         [0025]    Reference is now made to  FIG. 3 , which is a schematic block diagram flow chart that outlines an example process  200  of preparing a flavored iced drink, from selection till delivery of the flavored ice drink, using device  100 , according to embodiments of the present invention. Process  200  starts by the user making a drink selection, in step  210 . It should be noted that device  100  may include just one optional ice drink, in which case step  210  is skipped. If device  100  is a vending machine, the user makes a payment, in step  220 , to commence the automatic process of preparing the selected flavored ice drink. A cup  170  is dropped at a predetermined location in step  230 . In step  240  the selected drink concentrate and possibly other ingredients are transferred to mixer  120 , and possibly in parallel water are also transferred to mixer  120 , in step  250 . The selected drink concentrate and water are blended to a substantially uniform mixture, in step  255 . In step  260  the freshly prepared uniform liquid mixture is transferred to crushing and blending unit  150  and, possibly in parallel, ice cubes prepared in advance and stored in ice cube maker  140 , are also transferred to crushing and blending unit  150 , in step  270 . The liquid mixture and the ice cube are prepared in a controlled process and thereby the resulting ice drink has substantially the same content and the same flavor. The ice cubes are crashes and blended into a substantially uniform mixture, in step  280 . Optionally, mixer  120  and or blending unit  150  are cleaned in step  285 . The ready to serve flavored ice drink is delivered to cup  170  and to the user in step  290 . 
         [0026]    It should be noted the some steps of process  200  can be activated in a different order, for example, steps  210  and  220  can be interchanged and step  230  can be at anytime before delivering the ready to serve flavored ice drink. 
         [0027]    In embodiments of the present invention, ice cube making unit assembly  140  has a mechanism for accurate counting of the ice cubes being transferred to crushing and blending unit  150 . Referring back to  FIG. 4  an example ice cube making unit assembly  140  is shown. Reference is also made to  FIG. 5 , which is a back perspective view illustration of the ice cube maker of the ice cube making unit assembly shown in  FIG. 4 , and to  FIG. 6 , which is a front perspective view illustration of the ice cube maker of the ice cube making unit assembly shown in  FIG. 4 . In the example, ice cube making unit assembly  140  includes, ice cube maker  142  which includes a storage unit  146 , an ice cube moving mechanism  143 , a motor  141  for power rotating mechanism  143  and a conveyor  144 .  FIG. 7  is a perspective view illustration of an ice cube conveyor  144  of the ice cube maker  142  shown in  FIG. 5 . When conveyor  144  moves in direction  145 , individual flavored ice cubes are picked be cleats  148 , pushing them up and individually allowing the to proceed in direction  147  towards crushing and blending unit  150 . Flavored ice cubes, moving individually, can be accurately counted as the ice cubes are moved by conveyor  144  or as the ice cubes exit from conveyor  144 . The counting mechanism can be an optical sensor, a contact sensor or any sensor known in the art. 
         [0028]    In embodiments of the present invention, the water supplied by water supply unit  130 , are sparkling water. 
         [0029]    In embodiments of the present invention, the water supplied by water supply unit  130 , are other liquids such as juice, fruit juice, milk, yogurt, alcoholic beverage or any other drinkable liquid. 
         [0030]    In embodiments of the present invention, the selected concentrated materials and other ingredients, which are transferred to mixer  120  along with water from water supply unit  130 , when preparing the ice cube differ from the mixture transferred to mixer  120 , when preparing the liquid portion of the iced drink being prepared. In such case computerized control unit  180  balance the final mixture of the ingredients being transferred to blending unit  150 . For example, in a certain iced coffee which contains milk, the milk portion of the mixture being transferred to ice cube making unit assembly  140  contains no milk. A proper portion of the milk ingredient will be transferred to the mixture being prepared mixer  120 , when the liquid portion of the iced coffee is prepared and transferred to blending unit  150 . In embodiments of the present invention, the frozen portion of the iced drink being prepared contains substantially only water. 
         [0031]    The invention being thus described in terms of embodiments and examples, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.