U.S. patent application number 15/863791 was filed with the patent office on 2018-11-15 for operating system for a cooking appliance.
The applicant listed for this patent is Noah Bergel, Joseph Ellena, Benjamin F. Feldman, Martin Fisher, David Hull, Jay Hunt, Pat Lollar, Dan Morgan, Thomas Musman, Aurelio Reyes, Richard Simmers. Invention is credited to Noah Bergel, Joseph Ellena, Benjamin F. Feldman, Martin Fisher, David Hull, Jay Hunt, Pat Lollar, Dan Morgan, Thomas Musman, Aurelio Reyes, Richard Simmers.
Application Number | 20180325311 15/863791 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 62790894 |
Filed Date | 2018-11-15 |
United States Patent
Application |
20180325311 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Feldman; Benjamin F. ; et
al. |
November 15, 2018 |
OPERATING SYSTEM FOR A COOKING APPLIANCE
Abstract
A cooking appliance, system, and method use one or more
split-surface-area radiative heating elements and may also use one
or more additional heating elements, such as microwave and
convection heating elements, to heat or cook food. The radiative
heating elements are used in a cooking chamber having an improved
geometry. A controller includes features to adaptively learn and
adjust cooking recipes based on modifications and user ratings of a
particular cooking recipe or based on learning in response to
analysis of modifications and user ratings of plural cooking
recipes. The controller may learn from ratings of other users of
similar cooking appliances via a network connection.
Inventors: |
Feldman; Benjamin F.;
(Reston, VA) ; Fisher; Martin; (Crownsville,
MD) ; Hunt; Jay; (Beaver Falls, PA) ; Morgan;
Dan; (Gaithersburg, MD) ; Ellena; Joseph;
(Herndon, VA) ; Musman; Thomas; (Woodbridge,
VA) ; Bergel; Noah; (Lovettsville, VA) ;
Reyes; Aurelio; (Mount Dora, FL) ; Simmers;
Richard; (Boxford, MA) ; Lollar; Pat;
(Cookeville, TN) ; Hull; David; (Cookeville,
TN) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Feldman; Benjamin F.
Fisher; Martin
Hunt; Jay
Morgan; Dan
Ellena; Joseph
Musman; Thomas
Bergel; Noah
Reyes; Aurelio
Simmers; Richard
Lollar; Pat
Hull; David |
Reston
Crownsville
Beaver Falls
Gaithersburg
Herndon
Woodbridge
Lovettsville
Mount Dora
Boxford
Cookeville
Cookeville |
VA
MD
PA
MD
VA
VA
VA
FL
MA
TN
TN |
US
US
US
US
US
US
US
US
US
US
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
62790894 |
Appl. No.: |
15/863791 |
Filed: |
January 5, 2018 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
62443548 |
Jan 6, 2017 |
|
|
|
62524583 |
Jun 25, 2017 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H05B 2203/032 20130101;
F24C 7/067 20130101; H05B 2203/035 20130101; H05B 2203/004
20130101; A47J 37/0629 20130101; H05B 2203/013 20130101; H05B
2203/003 20130101; H05B 6/6482 20130101; H05B 2203/007 20130101;
A47J 37/0807 20130101; H05B 3/03 20130101; A47J 36/321 20180801;
H01C 17/28 20130101; A47J 37/08 20130101; F24C 7/043 20130101; H05B
3/06 20130101; H05B 3/24 20130101; F24C 7/04 20130101; H05B 3/12
20130101; H05B 3/26 20130101; H05B 2203/011 20130101; H01C 17/003
20130101; A47J 27/004 20130101 |
International
Class: |
A47J 36/32 20060101
A47J036/32; A47J 27/00 20060101 A47J027/00; A47J 37/06 20060101
A47J037/06 |
Claims
1. A cooking appliance comprising: a housing defining a cooking
cavity; one or more heating elements positioned inside the cooking
cavity; and a controller for controlling the one or more heating
elements, the controller including: a processor and a memory, the
memory adapted to receive and store instructions that when
performed by the processor cause the one or more heating elements
to perform one or more recipes for cooking food inside the cooking
cavity; wherein the one or more recipes include parameters for
selecting one or more heating elements within the cooking cavity, a
sequence of heat intensity and duration, and a total cooking
time.
2. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the cooking appliance
further comprises a user interface for receiving inputs including
food type and brand, and the controller provides a list of
suggested recipes based on the food type and brand.
3. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the parameters of the
one or more recipes include starting time, relative starting time,
intensity and duration of one or more primary heating elements,
intensity and duration of one or more secondary heating elements,
and spacing of the primary or secondary heating elements from the
food.
4. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the one or more
recipes are stored locally within a nonvolatile memory of the
cooking appliance.
5. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the one or more
recipes are received from a server accessible over a network.
6. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the cooking appliance
is adapted to receive a suggested recipe from a portable electronic
device or personal computer.
7. The cooking application of claim 1, wherein the cooking
appliance is adapted to adjust a selected recipe before or after
starting the recipe for cooking food, rating the recipe, and
storing the recipe for later identification.
8. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the cooking appliance
is adapted to receive a rating of a recipe after a cooking
operation has been completed, and the controller is adapted to
suggest another recipe based on the rating.
9. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the controller
includes a learning feature that incorporate iterative optimization
of the one or more recipes.
10. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the controller
adjusts the one or more recipes in response detecting a trend of
adjustments made by the cooking appliance when implementing the one
or more recipes.
11. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the one or more
heating elements include radiative heating elements comprising:
first and second terminals; and one or more heating element
segments extending between the first and second terminals, each
heating element segment having a plurality of cutouts linked
together, each cutout having an elliptical shape; wherein the first
and second terminals and the one or more heating element segments
are a continuous sheet of material, and the one or more heating
element segments generate infrared radiation when a voltage is
applied across the first and second terminals.
12. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the cooking appliance
is a toaster, and the cooking cavity includes one or more bread
slots.
13. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the cooking appliance
is a toaster oven, and further comprises a door for accessing and
closing the cooking cavity.
14. The cooking appliance of claim 13, wherein the cooking cavity
has an optimized width-to-height ratio range of about 1.75:1 to
about 2:1.
15. The cooking appliance of claim 14, further comprising a
microwave or convection heating mechanism.
16. A method of optimizing the performance of a cooking appliance,
the method comprising: receiving an identification of a food item;
generating an ordered list of suggested recipes for cooking the
identified food item, the ordered list of suggested recipes being
based on a weighted score, each suggested recipe including
parameters for selecting one or more heating elements of the
cooking appliance, a sequence of heat intensity and duration, and a
total cooking time; receiving a selected recipe; monitoring
adjustments made to the selected recipe before, during, or after
the implementation of the selected recipe; and updating the
selected recipe based on adjustments made to the selected
recipe.
17. The method of claim 16, further comprising: updating the
selected recipe based on adjustments made before, during, or after
the implementation of the selected recipe by users of other cooking
appliances.
18. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of generating the
ordered list of suggested recipes includes filtering the ordered
list of suggested recipes based on brand, food type, ingredients,
and whether frozen or unfrozen.
19. The method of claim 16, further comprising: determining the
weighted score based on ratings provided by users of other cooking
appliances and a number of users who have rated the suggested
recipe.
20. The method of claim 16, wherein the heat intensity corresponds
to an infrared intensity, a microwave intensity, or a convection
intensity.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent
Application No. 62/443,548 filed Jan. 6, 2017, and U.S. Provisional
Patent Application No. 62/524,583 filed Jun. 25, 2017, the
disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their
entireties.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Various appliances are available for heating and cooking
food. For example, toasters and toaster ovens typically use fixed
heating elements such as metal wires, ribbons, strips, and coils
that convert electricity into heat. Typically, these appliances
rely on a timer that regulates the amount of time that a food item
is to be cooked and/or toasted. These cooking appliances typically
require that a user periodically check food that is being cooked,
or learn from past cooking experiences, to determine when food has
been properly cooked and is ready to be served. For example, there
are a number of variables to be considered when cooking food such
as, for example, the power of the heating elements of the cooking
appliance, the type of food, including the size, thickness,
density, humidity content, and temperature of the food, can all
affect cooking times.
[0003] The difficulty in estimating an appropriate amount of time
for cooking food may result in the food being burnt, or
alternatively, not being sufficiently cooked according to a user's
preference. Thus, there is a need for an improved cooking appliance
that intelligently determines when food has been properly cooked
such that based on the food selected for cooking, the appliance
will have the intelligence to determine how best to cook the food
based on user choices of desired doneness.
SUMMARY
[0004] In general terms, this disclosure is directed to a cooking
appliance, system, and method for cooking food. In some
embodiments, and by non-limiting example, an appliance, system and
method offer a simple, flexible, and intelligent cooking
experience. Advanced control technology allows the appliance to
optimize cooking based on internal and/or external sources of
information, such that internally, the appliance has embedded
recipes (formulas/intelligence) for optimizing the quality cooking
food, and externally, the appliance has the ability to reach out to
cloud based networks having consumer based cooking intelligence for
optimizing the quality cooking food.
[0005] In some aspects, an appliance, system and method may employ
one or more split-surface-area heating elements. The appliance,
system and methods may also implement one or more additional
cooking sources to heat or cook food, such as microwave, free
convection, or forced convection. A controller may be employed that
may include features to adaptively learn and adjust cooking recipes
based on specific modifications and user ratings of a particular
cooking recipe or based on learning in response to analysis of
modifications and user ratings of plural cooking recipes. The
controller may learn from ratings of other users of similar cooking
appliances, such as via a network connection. The split-surface
area heating elements may be used in an appliance with an improved
chamber geometry for more even and higher temperature application
of infrared energy to the food and for uniform microwave energy
density.
[0006] In one aspect, the disclosed technology relates to a cooking
appliance comprising: a housing defining a cooking cavity; one or
more heating elements positioned inside the cooking cavity; and a
controller for controlling the one or more heating elements, the
controller including: a processor and a memory, the memory adapted
to receive and store instructions that when performed by the
processor cause the one or more heating elements to perform one or
more recipes for cooking food inside the cooking cavity. The one or
more recipes include parameters for selecting one or more heating
elements within the cooking cavity, a sequence of heat intensity
and duration, and a total cooking time.
[0007] In some examples, the cooking appliance includes a user
interface for receiving inputs including food type and brand, and
the controller provides a list of suggested recipes based on the
food type and brand. In some examples, the parameters of the one or
more recipes include starting time, relative starting time,
intensity and duration of one or more primary heating elements,
intensity and duration of one or more secondary heating elements,
and spacing of the primary or secondary heating elements from the
food.
[0008] In some examples, the one or more recipes are stored locally
within a nonvolatile memory of the cooking appliance. In some
examples, the one or more recipes are received from a server
accessible over a network. In some examples, the cooking appliance
is adapted to receive a suggested recipe from a portable electronic
device or personal computer. In some examples, the cooking
appliance is adapted to adjust a selected recipe before or after
starting the recipe for cooking food, rating the recipe, and
storing the recipe for later identification. In some examples, the
cooking appliance is adapted to receive a rating of a recipe after
a cooking operation has been completed, and the controller is
adapted to suggest another recipe based on the rating.
[0009] In some examples, the controller includes a learning feature
that incorporate iterative optimization of the one or more recipes.
In some examples, the controller adjusts the one or more recipes in
response detecting a trend of adjustments made by the cooking
appliance when implementing the one or more recipes.
[0010] In one aspect, the one or more heating elements include
radiative heating elements comprising: first and second terminals;
and one or more heating element segments extending between the
first and second terminals, each heating element segment having a
plurality of cutouts linked together, each cutout having an
elliptical shape; wherein the first and second terminals and the
one or more heating element segments are a continuous sheet of
material, and the one or more heating element segments generate
infrared radiation when a voltage is applied across the first and
second terminals.
[0011] In one aspect, the cooking appliance is a toaster, and the
cooking cavity includes one or more bread slots.
[0012] In another aspect, the cooking appliance is a toaster oven,
and further comprises a door for accessing and closing the cooking
cavity. In this aspect, the cooking cavity may have an optimized
width-to-height ratio range of about 1.75:1 to about 2:1. Also, in
some examples, the cooking appliance may have a microwave or
convection heating mechanism.
[0013] In another aspect, the disclosed technology relates to a
method of optimizing the performance of a cooking appliance, the
method comprising: receiving an identification of a food item;
generating an ordered list of suggested recipes for cooking the
identified food item, the ordered list of suggested recipes being
based on a weighted score, each suggested recipe including
parameters for selecting one or more heating elements of the
cooking appliance, a sequence of heat intensity and duration, and a
total cooking time; receiving a selected recipe; monitoring
adjustments made to the selected recipe before, during, or after
the implementation of the selected recipe; and updating the
selected recipe based on adjustments made to the selected
recipe.
[0014] In some aspects, the method may further include: updating
the selected recipe based on adjustments made before, during, or
after the implementation of the selected recipe by users of other
cooking appliances.
[0015] In some examples, the step of generating the ordered list of
suggested recipes includes filtering the ordered list of suggested
recipes based on brand, food type, ingredients, and whether frozen
or unfrozen.
[0016] In some aspects, the method may further include: determining
the weighted score based on ratings provided by users of other
cooking appliances and a number of users who have rated the
suggested recipe.
[0017] In some aspects, the heat intensity corresponds to an
infrared intensity, a microwave intensity, or a convection
intensity.
[0018] A variety of additional aspects will be set forth in the
description that follows. The aspects can relate to individual
features and to combination of features. It is to be understood
that both the foregoing general description and the following
detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not
restrictive of the broad inventive concepts upon which the
embodiments disclosed herein are based.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0019] FIG. 1 is an isometric view of an example cooking appliance
in accordance with certain examples of the present disclosure.
[0020] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing an optimized
cooking cavity.
[0021] FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a cooking
appliance.
[0022] FIG. 4 is a plan view of a radiative heating element.
[0023] FIG. 5 illustrates an example system for optimizing the
performance of a cooking appliance.
[0024] FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of an example system for
optimizing the performance of a cooking appliance.
[0025] FIG. 7 illustrates an example method of optimizing the
performance of a cooking appliance.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0026] Various embodiments will be described in detail with
reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals
represent like parts and assemblies throughout the several views.
Reference to various embodiments does not limit the scope of the
claims attached hereto. Additionally, any examples set forth in
this specification are not intended to be limiting and merely set
forth some of the many possible embodiments for the appended
claims.
[0027] FIG. 1 is an isometric view of an example cooking appliance
100. The cooking appliance 100 includes a housing 102 that defines
a cooking cavity 104. When in use, the cooking appliance 100
operates to supply energy to food arranged within the cooking
cavity 104. The cooking appliance 100 can take a variety of forms,
such as a toaster oven (including, for example, a pizza oven), a
microwave oven, an electric grill, a contact cooker (including a
contact grill or griddle), a slow cooker, or a toaster.
[0028] A heating assembly 106 is positioned inside the cooking
cavity 104 and includes one or more radiative heating elements 108
for cooking food within the cooking cavity 104. A user controls
touchscreen 122 can be used for controlling the operation of the
cooking appliance 100. In the example of FIG. 1, the cooking
appliance includes a door 120 that can be opened and closed for
accessing and closing the cooking cavity 104.
[0029] The cooking appliance 100 may use the one or more radiative
heating elements 108 as its primary heating mechanism. In some
examples, the one or more heating elements 108 are radiative
split-surface-coverage elements. Radiative heating from the one or
more heating elements 108 may be combined with one or more
additional heating mechanisms such as free/forced convection and
microwave.
[0030] Referring now to FIG. 2, a schematic diagram of the cooking
cavity 104 shows that the cooking cavity 104 is sized to increase
the radiated energy transferred to the food and/or allowing
optimized distance between the food and radiative heating elements
108. For example, the cooking cavity 104 includes a width W and a
height H. A typical microwave oven may employ a cavity
width-to-height ratio range of about 1:1 to about 1.5:1 whereas the
width W and height H of the cooking cavity 104 in the cooking
appliance 100 may employ a width-to-height ratio range of about
1.75:1 to about 2:1.
[0031] By reducing the height H of the cooking cavity 104 with
respect to its width W, microwave heating to the food may have a
more even distribution to across the food. In addition, the
distance between the radiative heating elements 108 and the surface
of the food is made smaller to be able to more intensely heat the
food, which helps provide an accelerated cooking process. This
improves heating and improves efficiency.
[0032] Reflective material 124 may line the internal surfaces of
the cooking cavity 104 to reflect infrared radiation for further
maximizing the radiative effectiveness of the cooking cavity 104.
The radiative heating elements 108 may be positioned between the
food to be cooked and the reflective surfaces 124 of the cooking
cavity 104. For examples, a first radiative heating element 108a
can be positioned above a reflective bottom surface of the cooking
cavity 104 and a second radiative heating element 108b can be
positioned below a reflective top surface of the cooking cavity
104.
[0033] The first and second radiative heating elements 108a, 108b
may have a surface area that is substantially planar and arranged
horizontally in the cooking cavity 104. The vertical position of
one or both of the first and second radiative heating elements
108a, 108b may be adjustable to adjust the distances between the
heating elements and the top and bottom surfaces of the food to be
cooked.
[0034] FIG. 3 is schematic block diagram of the example cooking
appliance 100. In addition to the housing 102, cooking cavity 104,
the heating assembly 106, and the one or more radiative heating
elements 108, the cooking appliance 100 includes an electrical
control and coupling 110, and a power cable 112. In some examples,
the electrical coupling and control 110 includes electrical
conductors 114 (including conductors 114A and 114B) and a coupler
116. In some examples, the power cable 112 includes electrical
conductors 112A and 112B and a plug 118. The cooking appliance 100
is powered by a power source such as by connecting the power cable
112 to a mains power source 90.
[0035] The one or more heating elements 108 are electrically
coupled to the power cable 112, such as through an electrical
control and coupling 110, and can be electrically connected to a
power source such as the mains power source 90.
[0036] The cooking appliance 100 can include an electrical control
and coupling 110, including conductors 114 and coupling 116. In
some examples, the coupling 116 includes a switch or other control
device for selectively coupling the heating assembly 106 to the
power source 90, to turn on and off the heating assembly 106. In
some examples, when the electrical control and coupling 110 has
selectively coupled the heating assembly 106 to the power source
90, the heating assembly 106 is directly coupled to the power
source through the conductors 114A and 114B and the conductors 112A
and 112B of the power cable 112. In such examples, the cooking
appliance 100 does not require a separate power supply including a
voltage transformer or other power regulation electronics to supply
the electricity from the mains power source to the heating
assembly, instead electricity can be supplied directly through the
conductors.
[0037] The heating assembly 106 can be selectively coupled to a
power source, such as by a switch. The switch can be manually
controlled by a user (e.g., by pressing a power button), or can be
controlled by an electronic control system such as in a microwave
oven. When coupled to the power source, the heating assembly 106 is
energized. When directly coupled to a mains power source, the
heating assembly 106 is energized by an alternating current signal.
In North America the alternating current signal typically has a
voltage of +/-120 V and a frequency of 60 hertz. In other parts of
the world other signals (such as having different voltages) are
used, and the heating assembly 106 can be designed to work with any
appropriate mains power source, or even a DC power source such as
from a battery or utilizing a power inverter. In the example
discussed herein a voltage of +/-120 V is discussed for
illustrative purposes.
[0038] The heating assembly 106 can have one or more radiative
heating elements 108. One benefit of having multiple radiative
heating elements 108 is that the heating elements may be positioned
in different locations within the cooking appliance 100. For
example, in a toaster there may be one heating element 108
positioned on each side of a cooking cavity so as to heat a slice
of bread on each side. As another example, a toaster oven or
microwave can have heating elements 108 arranged on the top and
bottom of the cooking cavity such that radiative heating may be
combined with one or more additional mechanisms such as free/forced
convection and microwave. Other examples are possible having
various numbers of heating elements arranged in various possible
configurations.
[0039] Referring now to FIG. 4, a radiative heating element 108 for
the cooking appliance 100 may include first and second terminals
130A, 130B that act as electrically conductive contact points. One
or more heating element segments 134A-F extend between the first
and second terminals 130A, 130B, each heating element segment
having a plurality of cutouts 140 linked together. In certain
examples, each cutout 140 has an elliptical shape. The first and
second terminals 130A, 130B and the one or more heating element
segments 134A-F are a continuous single sheet of material. The one
or more heating element segments 134A-F generate infrared radiation
when a voltage is applied across the first and second terminals
130A, 130B.
[0040] In certain examples, the radiative heating element 108 may
further include one or more buses 136A-136E arranged between the
first and second terminals 130A, 130B. The one or more buses
136A-136E may connect the one or more heating element segments
134A-F in a zig-zag configuration. The one or more heating element
segments 134A-F are connected in series and are arranged parallel
to each other. In certain examples, the heating element 108 may
have a total width W1 greater than a sum of the widths W2 of the
one or more heating element segments 134A-134F.
[0041] In certain examples, the radiative heating element 108 may
include a first set of heating element segments having a first
length L1, a second set of heating element segments having a second
length L2, and a third set of heating element segments have a third
length L3. The third set of heating element segments are arranged
between the first and second sets of heating element segments, and
the first length L1 is less than the second length L2, and the
second length L2 is less than the third length L3. The first length
L1, second length L2, and third length L3 define an optimized
heating surface area HS.sub.A that reduces energy waste in the
cooking cavity 104, for example, when the cooking appliance 100 is
a toaster. In other examples, the heating element segments 134A-F
each have the same length, for example, when the cooking appliance
100 is a toaster oven.
[0042] The cutouts 140 form a cutout pattern on each heating
element segments 134A-F. In certain examples, each cutout 140
includes first and second walls that are curved and that flare out
in opposing directions along a vertical axis. Each cutout 140 is
linked to an opposing first or second wall of an adjacent
cutout.
[0043] In certain examples, the heating element 108 is a single
sheet of material such that the terminals 130 (including terminals
130A and 130B), heating element segments 134 (including segments
134A-F), and buses 136 (including buses 136A-E) are all continuous
with one another. Accordingly, separate elements or pieces are not
used for connecting the terminals 130, heating element segments
134, and buses 136 since they are all part of the same continuous
sheet of material. In certain examples, the heating element 150 is
a single sheet of Resistohm 130 alloy or similar alloy material
including, for example, Resistohm 145. In other examples, the
heating element 150 is a single sheet of an alloy of at least
nickel and chromium, known as Nichrome.
[0044] To form the terminals 130, heating element segments 134, and
buses 136 as a single piece of material, a blank sheet is cut from
a roll of material and is then processed. In certain examples, the
blank sheet is processed using photolithography to remove unwanted
portions of the sheet through an etching process, leaving only the
desired features of the heating element 108. In certain examples,
the photolithography process includes the steps of applying a
photoresist material onto a surface of the blank sheet, aligning a
photomask having an inverse pattern to that of the desired heating
element 108 with the sheet and the photoresist, exposing the
photoresist to ultraviolet light through the photomask, and
removing the portions of the photoresist exposed to ultraviolet
light. Etching is then performed to remove those portions of the
sheet of material that are not protected by the remaining
photoresist. The remaining photoresist is then removed leaving the
heating element 108 shown in FIG. 4. In certain examples, the sheet
of conductive material is etched from both sides simultaneously due
to the sheet of material not being attached to a substrate during
the photolithography process.
[0045] The photolithography process optimizes the structure of the
heating element 108 by imparting a continuous and smooth transition
between the terminals 130, heating element segments 134, and buses
136 which are all part of the same continuous sheet of material.
This improves the current flow through the heating element 108, and
accordingly, improves the performance of the heating element 108 so
that the infrared radiation generated by heating element 108
reaches higher temperatures in less time.
[0046] When powered, electricity flows through the heating element
108 generating heat. As the temperature of the heating element
rises, the heating element 108 begins to generate infrared
radiation. The heating element 108 continues to generate infrared
radiation until the heating assembly is disconnected from the power
source. The infrared radiation is directed to the cooking cavity
104 where it operates to heat food.
[0047] FIG. 5 illustrates an example system 200 for optimizing the
performance of a cooking appliance. The example system 200 includes
a cooking appliance 202 and a recipe delivery server 204 that are
connected over a network 206 for delivering an ordered list of
suggested recipes 208 from the recipe delivery server 204 to the
cooking appliance 202.
[0048] A user U may select from a user interface 210 a recipe 220
from the ordered list of suggested recipes 208 for cooking food
using the cooking appliance 202. In certain examples, the user
interface 210 is presented on a touch screen 212 located on the
housing of the cooking appliance 202. In other examples, the user
interface 210 is presented on a touchscreen 212 that is separate
from the cooking appliance 202. For example, a touchscreen that
displays the user interface 210 may be located on a separate device
226 such as a smartphone, tablet P.C., or personal computer. In
certain examples, there is no interface 210 or touchscreen 212, and
the user U may select a recipe using voice control.
[0049] FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of the example system
200. The cooking appliance 202 may include a controller 214 that
includes a processor 216 configured by software stored in a memory
218 of the cooking appliance to control the operation of various
elements of the cooking appliance 202 according to certain cooking
parameters. For example, the controller 214 may control the
operation of the radiative heating elements 108 described above, or
other types of heating mechanisms including microwave and
convection heating mechanisms.
[0050] The cooking appliance 202 may also include a network access
device 219 that operates to communicate with other computing
devices over one or more networks, such as the network 206.
Examples of the network access device 219 include wired network
interfaces and wireless network interfaces. Wireless network
interfaces may include a wireless local area network, Bluetooth
wireless connection, 802.11 WiFi, the Internet, or similar wireless
connections such as a 802.15.4 radio using the Nest weave protocol
for device to device communication.
[0051] The cooking parameters may select a power corresponding to
an infrared intensity (e.g., from the radiative heating elements
108), a power corresponding to a microwave intensity (e.g., from a
microwave heating element), or a power corresponding to a
convection intensity (e.g., from an air circulator or fan). The
cooking parameters may also include a selection of a duration of
the power, a relative time of operation, and a location of the
radiative heating elements with respect to food being cooked within
a cooking cavity of the cooking appliance 202. In certain examples,
the temperature is controlled based on recipe as well as what
heating tech gets used at an instance of time.
[0052] Cooking recipes 220 may be provided as cooking algorithms
(e.g., a sequence of software instructions performed by the
processor 216 of the controller 214). In certain examples, the
cooking recipes 220 may be fully performed by the cooking appliance
202 such that the recipe 220 is limited to operation of the
appliance as instructed by the cooking algorithm on food placed in
the appliance by the user. In other examples, the cooking recipes
220 may also include additional steps for the user such as mixing
ingredients, stirring, etc. The cooking recipes 220 may set forth
the various cooking parameters of the cooking appliance 202 for the
controller 214 to implement by controlling the corresponding
element of the appliance in a particular sequence, duration and/or
combination.
[0053] The controller 214 may provide an ordered list of suggested
recipes 208 (e.g., recipes for certain types of food and/or brands
of food). The ordered list of suggested recipes 208 may be stored
locally within the controller 214 (e.g., stored within a
nonvolatile memory of the appliance and accessible by the processor
216) or may be accessible and received from the recipe delivery
server 204 over the network 206 (e.g., the Internet or wireless
local network).
[0054] The controller 214 may receive inputs from the user
interface 210 for selection of a recipe 220 from the ordered list
of suggested recipes 208. For example, the touch screen 212 may
operate to display the user interface 210 and to detect an input
213 from a selector (e.g., a finger) controlled by the user U for
selecting a recipe 220 from the ordered list of recipes 208. In
this example, the touch screen 212 displays the user interface 210
for interacting with the cooking appliance 202 such that the touch
screen 212 operates as both a display device and a user input
device. In some examples, the touch screen 212 detects inputs based
on one or both of touches and near-touches. Some examples may
include a display device and one or more separate user interface
devices. In some examples, the cooking appliance 202 may not
include a touch screen 212. In some examples, the touchscreen 212
may be included on a separate device 226 (e.g., smartphone, tablet
P.C., or personal computer). Further, some examples may not include
a display device.
[0055] The recipe delivery server 204 is accessible to the
controller 214 over the network 206 and may be a source of the
cooking recipes 220 as well as updated cooking recipes 222. In some
examples, the recipe delivery server 204 may include a processing
device 234, a memory device 236, and a network access device 238.
The processing device 234, memory device 236, and network access
device 238 may be similar to the processor 216, memory 218, and
network access device 219 respectively, described above. The
original cooking recipes 220 and the updated cooking recipes 222
may be stored in the memory device 236 of the recipe delivery
server 204 and may be communicated to the network 206 via the
network access device 238.
[0056] The updated cooking recipes 222 may be based on original
cooking recipes 220 whose parameters have been adjusted by other
users of similar cooking appliances. For example, parameters such
as duration, starting time, relative starting time, intensity of
heating elements, use of and/or intensity of secondary heating
sources (e.g., microwave heating elements, convection heating
elements, etc.), and spacing of heating elements from the food
inside a cooking cavity of the cooking appliance may be adjusted by
users of similar cooking appliances. A trend of adjustments by the
users of similar cooking appliances may be detected by the recipe
delivery server 204, and an updated or new cooking recipe 222 can
be created in response to the detected trend of adjustments.
[0057] Both original or updated cooking recipes 220, 222 may be
provided from the recipe delivery server 204 to the controller 214
of the appliance via the network 206. In certain examples, the
recipes are provided in an ordered list of suggested recipes 208
based on ratings (e.g., one to five stars) of the cooking recipes
from other users of similar appliances. For example, the ordered
list of suggested recipes 208 may have an order based on an overall
weighting score determined by the strength of the rating (e.g., a
higher rating acting to increase the overall weighting of the
cooking recipe to move the cooking recipe towards the top of the
list) and/or the number of users who have ranked the cooking recipe
(e.g., a higher number of user ratings acting to increase the
overall weighting of the cooking recipe to move the cooking recipe
upwards to the top of the list).
[0058] Additionally, the ordered list of suggested recipes 208 may
be filtered, such as based upon an input by a user of the appliance
202 of an ingredient (e.g., broccoli, chicken, etc.), a type of
food (e.g., pizza, hamburger, quiche), a particular food brand,
and/or a bar code on a package or other identification of a
particular food purchase.
[0059] In certain examples, the cooking appliance 202 may be
equipped with a bar code reader 224 such as, for example, a
scanner, camera, or other similar device to recognize a bar code on
a food packaging. Once the bar code has been recognized, the
controller 214 can access the recipe delivery server 204 via the
network 206 to obtain suggested cooking recipes 220 in an ordered
list of suggested recipes 208.
[0060] In some examples, the device 226 (e.g., smartphone, tablet
P.C., or personal computer) may be configured with an application
228 for reading bar codes on food packaging by scanning the bar
code with a camera built into the device 226. In some examples, the
application 228 is downloadable from the Internet.
[0061] In some examples, the controller 214 may receive an input
such as a bar code decimal number for identifying a particular food
item via user operation of the user interface 210 presented on the
touchscreen 212 of the cooking appliance 202, or user operation of
the device 226 operable to communicate with the cooking appliance
202.
[0062] In certain examples, the device 226 may include a processing
device, a memory device, and a network access device similar to the
processor 216, memory 218, and network access device 219
respectively, described above. The application 228 may be stored in
the memory device of the device 226, and the device 226 may
communicate to the network 206 via the network access device.
[0063] In certain examples, the application 228 configures the
device 226 to access the recipe delivery server 204 via the network
206 to receive a list of suggested cooking recipes 220. In certain
examples, the device 226 may receive an ordered list of suggested
recipes 208 that has an order based on an overall weighting score
as described above. In other examples, the device 226 may receive a
list of suggested recipes 220 that is filtered or unfiltered,
ranked or unranked. Once a cooking recipe 220 is selected by a user
of the device 226, the application 228 configures the devices 226
to communicate the selected cooking recipe 220 to the cooking
appliance 202 via the network 206 so that the cooking recipe 220
can be performed to cook food within the cooking appliance 202.
[0064] The application 228 may also configure the device 226 to
allow the user to adjust the cooking recipe 220 before or after
implementing the cooking recipe 220 to cook the food using the
cooking appliance 202. The application 228 may also allow the user
of the device 226 to rank the cooking recipe 220, and to store the
cooking recipe 220 such as by flagging the cooking recipe 220 as a
favorite for later identification.
[0065] Ratings of a particular user of the cooking appliance 202
may be used to suggest cooking recipes 220 based on the preferences
of that particular user, such as by identifying and increasing
overall weighting scores of cooking recipes associated with similar
ingredients as those cooking recipes which the particular user
rates highly, and decreasing overall weighting scores of cooking
recipes associated with similar ingredients to those cooking
recipes which the user provides a lower rating.
[0066] The parameters of the cooking recipes 220 may be adjusted
based on a user input to the controller 214 via the user interface
210 presented on the touchscreen 212 of the cooking appliance 202,
or the device 226, or voice control.
[0067] The controller 214 may also include a learning feature that
incorporate iterative optimization of cooking performance. For
example, the controller 214 may automatically adjust cooking
recipes 220 in response to detection of a trend of adjustments of
cooking recipes 220 made by the user of the cooking appliance
202.
[0068] FIG. 7 illustrates an example method 700 of optimizing the
performance of a cooking appliance, such as the cooking appliance
depicted in FIG. 1. The method 700 includes step 702 of receiving
an identification of a food item. In some examples, a food item may
be identified based upon an input received from a user of the
appliance that identifies one or more ingredients (e.g., broccoli,
chicken, etc.), a type of food (e.g., pizza, hamburger, quiche), or
a particular food brand. In some examples, a food item may be
identified based upon a bar code or other type identification such
as a bar code decimal number, a product number, or a QR code
displayed on the packaging of the food item.
[0069] Next, the method 700 includes a step 704 of generating an
ordered list of suggested recipes for cooking the identified food
item. The ordered list of suggested recipes may be based on a
weighted score for each suggested recipe. Each suggested recipe may
include parameters for selecting one or more heating elements of
the cooking appliance, a sequence of heat intensity and duration,
and a total cooking time.
[0070] In some examples, each suggested recipe may include
parameters that include a power corresponding to an infrared
intensity (e.g., from adiative heating elements), a power
corresponding to a microwave intensity (e.g., from a microwave
heating element), or a power corresponding to a convection
intensity (e.g., from an air circulator or fan). In some examples,
the cooking parameters may further include a selection of a
duration of the power, a relative time of operation, and a location
of the radiative heating elements with respect to food being cooked
within a cooking cavity of the cooking appliance.
[0071] Next, the method 700 includes a step 706 of receiving a
selected a recipe. In some examples, user U may select from a user
interface a recipe from the ordered list of suggested recipes for
cooking food using the cooking appliance. In some examples, the
user interface is presented on a touch screen located on the
housing of the cooking appliance. In other examples, the user
interface is presented on a touchscreen that is separate from the
cooking appliance. For example, a touchscreen that displays a user
interface may be located on a separate device such as a smartphone,
tablet P.C., or personal computer. In some examples, the touch
screen may operate to display the user interface and to detect an
input from a selector (e.g., a finger) controlled by the user U for
selecting a recipe from the ordered list of recipes such that the
touch screen operates as both a display device and a user input
device. Other examples may include a display device and one or more
separate user interface devices. Some examples may not include a
touch screen.
[0072] Next, the method 700 includes a step 708 of monitoring
adjustments made to the selected recipe before, during, and/or
after the implementation of the selected recipe. For example,
adjustments such as duration, starting time, relative starting
time, intensity of heating elements, use of and/or intensity of
secondary heating sources (e.g., microwave heating elements,
convection heating elements, etc.), and spacing of heating elements
from the food inside a cooking cavity of the cooking appliance may
be monitored. In some examples, a trend of adjustments to the
selected recipe may be monitored.
[0073] Next, the method 700 includes a step 710 of updating the
selected recipe based on adjustments made to the selected recipe
before, during, and/or after the implementation of the selected
recipe. In some examples, a user of the cooking appliance may be
prompted as to whether he or she would like to update the cooking
recipe based on the adjustments made to the selected recipe. In
some examples, the selected recipe is updated upon receiving a user
input confirming such an update is appropriate.
[0074] In some examples, the method 700 may further include a step
712 of updating the selected recipe based on adjustments made
before, during, and/or after the implementation of the selected
recipe by users of other cooking appliances. In some examples,
adjustments by users of other cooking appliances to the duration,
starting time, relative starting time, intensity of the heating
elements, use of and/or intensity of secondary heating sources
(e.g., microwave, convection heating elements, etc.), and spacing
of the heating elements from food inside a cooking cavity of the
cooking appliance may be monitored for updating the selected
recipe. In some examples, an early termination or an extension of
the selected recipe by users of the other cooking appliances may be
monitored for updating the selected recipe. In some examples, a
trend of adjustments by users of other cooking appliances may be
monitored for updating the selected cooking recipe.
[0075] In some examples, step 704 of generating an ordered list of
suggested recipes may include filtering the ordered list of
suggested recipes based on brand, food type, ingredients, and
whether frozen or unfrozen. In some examples, step 704 may use a
weighted score based on ratings provided by users of other cooking
appliances and a number of users who have rated the suggested
recipe. In some examples, the heat intensity of a suggested recipe
in the ordered list of suggested recipes generated in step 704
corresponds to an infrared intensity, a microwave intensity, or a
convection intensity.
[0076] The various embodiments described above are provided by way
of illustration only and should not be construed to limit the
claims attached hereto. Those skilled in the art will readily
recognize various modifications and changes that may be made
without following the example embodiments and applications
illustrated and described herein, and without departing from the
true spirit and scope of the following claims.
* * * * *