lllllllllllllllllllllllllllIllllIllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll _ US005207148A Umted States Patent [191 [11] Patent Number: 5,207,148 Anderson et a1. [45] Date of Patent: May 4, 1993 [54] AUTOMATED MILk INCLUSIVE COFFEE 3,385,569 5/1968 136611661 ..................... .. 222/1294 x APPARATUS 3,390,626 7/1968 Holstein et a1. ............ .. 99/233 3,599,833 8/1971 Reichenberger ZZZ/129.1 X [75] Inventors: Kyle T. Anderson, Issaquah; Duke W. 4,123,800 10/1978 Mazzei ..... ..'. .................. .. 366/165 X Goss, Kirkland; Michael G Lee, 4,242,568 12/1980 Wunderlin et a1. Redmond, all of Wash. 4,406,217 9/1983 Oota .................. .. [73] Assignee: Caffe Acorto, Inc., Bellevue, Wash. 4,484,515 11/1984 Illy .... .. 4,715,274 12/1987 Paoletti ..... .. [21] Appl. No.: 543,157 4,779,519 10/1988 Giuliano 4,815,633 3/ 1989 Kondo et al. 221/96 X [22] Filed: Jun. 25, 1990 4,922,810 5/1990 Siccardi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 99/293 X 4,970,948 11/ 1990 Giannel1i ......................... .. 99/286 X [51] int. c1.5 ...................... .. A47J 31/42; A471 31/44 FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS [52] US. Cl. ...................................... .. 99/281; 99/280; 99/285; 99/286; 99/290; 137/625.4; 137/893; 328704 8/1989 European Pat. Off. ............ .. 99/280 137/897; 221/96; 222/129.1; 222/640; 449097 6/1949 Italy .......................... .. 366/163 261/DIG. 16; 366/165 60-38028 2/1985 Japan 366/165 [58] Field of Search ................ .. 99/279, 280, 281-283, Primary Examiner—-Harvey C. Homsby 99/285, 286, 287, 289 R, 290, 291, 293, 297, , Assistant Examiner—Char1es Cooley 299, 302 R, 302 P, 275; 426/433; 261/76, 121.1, Attorney, Agent, or Finn-Daniel T. Anderson DIG. 16, DIG. 76; 137/6254, 625.48, 889, 893, 896, 897; 366/163, 165, 167, 173, 176, 177, 179, [57] ABSTRACT 182; 221/96; 222/146.1, 145, 146.6, 640, A automated, milk inclusive espresso coffee machine 129.1-129.4 which includes a fully automatic coffee grinding and [56] References Cited brewing apparatus and a steam generator for driving a venturi mixing device which draws ambient air and U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS milk from a refrigerated source for making milk inclu 610,873 9/1898 Collis ............................ .. 137/625.48 sive espresso beverages, all milk contacting surfaces 828,086 8/1906 Bowers .... .. 137/6254 being either refrigerated or steam cleaned with each 2,014,325 9/1935 Grilli 99/286 X beverage made and served. A novel microprocessor controls all operations including brewing, steam gener 22,,668508,,684052 161//11995534 HBarrermise,r Jert. a1. .. ating, water heating, refrigerating, operations parame 2,682,984 7/1954 Melikian et a1. ters, measuring and monitoring, many “house-keeping” 2,827,845 3/ 1958 Richeson . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 99/282 functions and others. 2,907,265 10/1959 Bastian .... .. 99/289 X 2,957,607 10/l960 Smith . . . . . . . . . .. ZZZ/129.4 3,100,585 3/1963 Nail et a1. .................. .. ZZZ/129.1 X 15 Claims, 29 Drawing Sheets '74 /ao ?iféii’éi STEAM VALVE ENEATR GRINDER WATER “a? a! VALVE BREWER ____.________._._> ASSEMBLY WATERHB 22 SUPPLY 46 ‘HIGH PRES. VORTEX MIXER US. Patent May 4, 1993 Sheet 3 of 29 5,207,148 mS@Xommumww mNkwmVollumnm||‘z marulsa,?.“ 9g, US. Patent May 4, 1993 Sheet 5 of 29 5,207,148 .. COMMON L MASTER . 8 ‘0 AwREis/gxlga BUS é-IB 0H§§¥Q>RWER comRoLLERw PI -_{>o-_> =(> ——? LOW KEYBOARD 74 :9 ——2 CURRENT INPUTS g5; —? / RD £5 D /KBRD / 3 CU RENT 4 ‘/ouT1 [>HIGH . +5 8 BW ,L CURRENT IR INNER LATCH IR MIDDLE {>._ IR OUTER {> PACK 3w {>- lol=8 MILK DOOR {>_ [R_D 8-16: §EECL5§§§/ GROUNDS DOOR HNp k; /OUT1 PADDLE WHEEL > ‘_ —— =>— /OUT2 8 2 => I 9- /OUT3 ( A :>—/OUT4 MILK LEvEL MIL-K —> SENSOR :;> LEVEL 4- EXC’TATION/ NPUT #842 (8-13 gifrEw aqglgup _ TEMP MICRO f5" TEMPS. ‘21> /5-14 WATER sTEAM___ LEvEL ‘ ‘ TA K ——DETECTORS .3 g5’ ROM ’8'3 $90-13 ‘t. .LHv RAM {8-5 JJ. ‘ US. Patent 5,207,148 May 4, 1993 Sheet 7 of 29 lOtL-l INITIALIZE DISPLAY PROCESSO INITIALIZE LED DRIVERS WATCH D06 - RE5T R RESET ALL OUT PUTS *‘_ TIMER RESET '0“ 2 ENABLE REFlC-T. HOUSEKEEPING \/0a.-3 /0 0:4 N0 PUT uP MESSAGE _ \\ I, é Do WARMUP MACHINE '15 OFF SEQUENCE WAIT FoR POUR 400,7 1 CAP. PouR SEQUENCE 6M0 SELECT ‘F§w_A_RM1 S—TEARTT ( DRINK ROUTINE DATA FLAG ~100:8 [00:9 1 mm UP ,_ [OM SEQUENCE N=O sHow HOT WATER TEMP v N=1 SHOW STEAM TEMP TURN ON N=2SHow BREWGROUPTEMP HOUSEKEEPING F 10 b-Q N=3 RESET N To ZERO RDUTINES l0 b-a ARE ALL YES NO DISPLAYCURRENT , 0 19-5 HgjggUEggf?lépTg-glPS' TEMPERATURE OFN T’ I i INCREMENT N L_/’ lob-é»: ' 7 DELAY ’ [0 [3-7 EXIT TO 2553mm \—-/ I0 b-4 CALLING LOCATION , LDLSPLAY MES5A6E / I0 19-8 ‘MACHINE WARMING up" 1 $19.’ 10 0o: HOUSEKEEPING ' , _ b . CHECK ROUTINE V '0 b 9 V DELAYISECOND L/RIO b''0 l_____‘ US. Patent May 4, 1993 Sheet 8 of 29 5,207,148 KEY PR ~ Ha: 1v DETEEE'STEFIISM ‘——-' USER OPERATIONS HOT WATER “0 OR MILK ONLY 0 ‘ STEA DOIDQINKSELECT L‘Ha-9 ' + masua STATE OF TALLREQUEST ma Ham’ Ila-l2 MENUS — lna-B Ila-l4 ‘ _ . {la-I26» CAF E DECAF nab-15 11a, S‘ETCAF FLA6=1 SETCAF FLA6=O l H "QT/Mum LEDS/DISPLAY ' + Ila-18x DOIHOUSEKEEPINé > CHECK ROUTINE US. Patent May 4, 1993 Sheet 9 of 29 5,207,148 FROM MAIN MENU ROUTINE OF FI6.HCL CLOSED MILK PUT up MESSAéE : ,_ -2 MILK DOOR OPEN l/b oozHousexsep J CHECK POUTINE CLOS , GROUNDS OPEN Nib-4 PUT UP MESSAGE J“ b_é GROUNDS BIN OPEN Houssxespme _] D0: CHECK ROUTI N E dub-6 PUT UP MESSAGE. EMPTY GROUNDS REMINDER OH LCD 'DISPLAY + bib-12