Patent ID: 7494028

Claim:
A liquid dispensing apparatus comprising: a liquid reservoir for storing liquid flavoring; a dispensing outlet for dispensing the liquid flavoring; a discrete volume pump in fluid communication with the liquid reservoir and the dispensing outlet to pump liquid flavoring from the liquid flavoring reservoir to said dispensing outlet; a pulse generator for generating a predetermined number of discrete pulses, the pulse generator coupled to said discrete volume pump so that each discrete pulse drives said discrete volume pump to dispense a predetermined amount of liquid flavoring; and a controller coupled with said pulse generator and controlling said pulse generator such that the predetermined amount of liquid flavoring is dispensed during an operation of the fluid dispensing apparatus in response to a beverage request; further comprising at least one sensor operably coupled to said controller for detecting a sound produced by said discrete volume pump during operation and said controller operable to compare said detected sound to a predetermined sound and, based on said comparison, activate an alarm to indicate to a user that said fluid reservoir may be empty.