Patent ID: 8606395

Claim:
An appliance comprising: a housing; a dispenser supported by the housing; a water supply mechanism supported by the housing and connected to the dispenser; a drink supply mechanism supported by the housing and connected to the dispenser, said drink supply mechanism configured to removably hold a plurality of drink supply containers; a user interface panel supported by the housing, said user interface panel including a touch screen; and a computer supported by the housing and connected to the user interface panel and at least one of: the dispenser, the water supply mechanism, and the drink supply mechanism, said computer configured to: (a) cause the user interface panel to display a plurality of different images, each image associated with a different one of a plurality of different drink supplies in the plurality of drink supply containers removably held by the drink supply mechanism, wherein the drink supply in each of the drink supply containers is a concentrate, (b) receive, via the touch screen of the user interface panel, an input of a selection of one of said plurality of different displayed images, (c) after receiving the input of the selected one of said plurality of different displayed images, cause the dispenser to dispense a first beverage corresponding to the selected one of said plurality of different displayed images, (d) receive a drink supply code for another drink supply container to be held in the drink supply mechanism, (e) determine if said received drink supply code is valid by comparing said received drink supply code to one or more drink supply authorization codes associated with one or more authorized drink supply containers for the appliance, and (f) if the received drink supply code is valid, enable the dispenser to dispense a second beverage using a drink supply in said other drink supply container.