Patent ID: 7077290

Claim:
A beverage dispensing system comprising: a base including diluent and concentrate supply lines; and a flow control assembly mountable on said bass and being formed as an integral unit: connections for connecting with said diluent and concentrate supply lines a first valve for controlling the flow rate of the diluent, a second valve for controlling the flow rate of the concentrate selected from among a plurality of concentrates, an identification unit for identifying the selected concentrate, a first sensor used to determine an actual flow rate of the diluent from said first valve, a second sensor used to determine an actual flow rate of the concentrate from said second valve, and a controller for controlling said first and second valves based on information received from said identification unit and said first and second sensors, said first and second valves being shaped and configured to provide a continuous flow rate that can be varied to achieve the target flow rate of one or more of the concentrate or diluent, wherein based on information received from said identification unit, said controller determines a concentrate target flow rate of the selected concentrate and a target ratio of the flow rates of the diluent and concentrate, thereby determining a diluent target flow rate of the diluent, said controller controlling said first valve to dispense the diluent at the diluent target flow rate and controlling said second valve to dispense the concentrate at the concentrate target flow rate.