Patent ID: 7677412

Claim:
A liquid dispensing apparatus for beverages, the apparatus comprising: a) a liquid reservoir for storing a liquid flavoring; b) a diaphragm pump, the diaphragm pump having: i. a housing with inner walls that define a pump chamber; ii. the housing having a fluid inlet in communication with the liquid reservoir and the pump chamber, and a fluid outlet in communication with the pump chamber and a dispensing outlet for dispensing the liquid flavoring; and iii. a flexible diaphragm movable within the pump chamber between a first position and a second position, wherein a predetermined volume of liquid flavoring is drawn into the pump chamber via the fluid inlet when the diaphragm moves from the first position to the second position, and the predetermined volume of liquid flavoring is expelled from the pump chamber via the fluid outlet when the diaphragm moves from the second position to the first position; c) a pulse generator configured for generating discrete pulses, each discrete pulse causing the diaphragm pump to move through one discrete cycle; and d) a controller operatively coupled to the pulse generator for controlling the diaphragm pump, the controller being configured to: i. receive a user request for a particular beverage; ii. determine a number of discrete pulses to be generated based on at least one of: a signal relating to a volume of the liquid flavoring to be dispensed, at least one variable associated with the liquid flavoring, a preset parameter associated with the liquid flavoring, and an input associated with the user request; and iii. activate the pulse generator to generate the number of discrete pulses, each pulse of the pulse generator causing the flexible diaphragm pump to move through one discrete cycle and the predetermined volume of liquid flavoring to be drawn into the pump chamber and expelled from the pump chamber via the dispensing outlet.