Patent ID: 8565917

Claim:
An appliance comprising: a housing having a first compartment and a second compartment; a dispensing mechanism supported by the first compartment of the housing; a water supply mechanism supported by the housing and connected to the dispensing mechanism; a drink supply mechanism supported by the housing and connected to the dispensing mechanism, said drink supply mechanism configured to removably hold a plurality of drink supply cartridges which each contain drink supply, said drink supply mechanism including a plurality of independently operable valves, each of said valves associated with a different one of the drink supply cartridges; a user interface panel supported by the first compartment of the housing, said user interface panel including a touch screen; and a computer supported by the housing and connected to the dispensing mechanism and the user interface panel, said computer configured to: (a) cause the user interface panel to display a plurality of different beverage related images, each different beverage related image associated with at least one of the drink supply cartridges held by the drink supply mechanism, (b) cause the user interface panel, via the touch screen, to receive a plurality of inputs corresponding to said plurality of different displayed beverage related images, and (c) for each received input, cause the dispensing mechanism to dispense a beverage associated with the beverage related image corresponding to said received input, said beverage dispensed via causing operation of the valve associated with the drink supply cartridge associated with said beverage related image corresponding to said received input.