Patent ID: 7234389

Claim:
In a brewing system having a brewer with a brew cycle start switch to start a brew cycle and a brew cycle status light associated with the start switch, the improvement being a brew cycle status light controller, comprising: means for causing the light to operate in a first mode of operation if the brew cycle start switch has not been activated to start a brew cycle; means for causing the brew cycle status light to operate in a second mode different from said first mode in response to actuation of the brew cycle start switch before the brewing system is ready and enabled to properly perform a brew cycle; and means for causing the brew cycle status light to operate in a third mode different from both said first and second modes during performance of a brew cycle; said causing means including a microprocessor controller and a controller interface circuit for interfacing at least one sensor of the sensing means with the microprocessor controller for conveying information to the microprocessor controller indicative of whether the brewer is ready to properly perform a brew cycle, said controller responding to the actuation of the start switch to control the modes of operation in accordance with ready indicative information being provided by the at least one sensor; and in which the brewing system includes another brewer with another start switch and another brew cycle status light and the controller is responsive to one of the one and the other brewers performing a brew cycle to cause the brew cycle status switch of the other one of the brewers to enter into the second mode in response to actuation of the start switch of the one and the other brewers.