Patent ID: 8751037

Claim:
A beverage dispenser, comprising: an ingredient matrix comprising carbonated water supply and configured to receive a plurality of beverage forming ingredient packages comprising respective beverage ingredients, wherein the plurality of beverage forming ingredient packages is configured to formulate a beverage via a combination of at least two of the respective beverage ingredients in predetermined ratios, and wherein at least a portion of the plurality of beverage forming ingredient packages contains one or more beverage ingredients limiting placement within the ingredient matrix; and a controller in communication with the ingredient matrix and configured to execute a set of instructions that, in response to execution, cause the controller to: generate a virtual ingredient matrix based at least in part on the plurality of beverage forming ingredient packages within the ingredient matrix, the virtual ingredient matrix comprises data representative of the ingredient matrix; generate a beverage composition data record comprising data indicative of quantity of each beverage ingredient and carbonated water that are dispensed in a beverage that is formulated via the ingredient matrix and dispensed at the beverage dispenser; receive beverage data associated with the respective beverage ingredients in the plurality of beverage forming ingredient packages and comprising previously generated beverage composition data records; track usage of the respective beverage ingredients in the plurality of beverage forming ingredient packages in the virtual ingredient matrix based at least in part on one or more of the beverage composition data record or the previously generated beverage composition data records; and update the virtual ingredient matrix with one or more quantities of the respective beverage ingredients in the plurality of beverage forming ingredient packages in response to formulating and dispensing of the beverage and based at least in part on the beverage data.