JPH11235273A - Rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a rice cooker, which stores a large amount of information and easily analyzes a fault by information from a nonvolatile memory even if cooking information stored in RAM of a microcomputer should disappear by storing cooking information in the nonvolatile memory. SOLUTION: The cooker is provided with an inner pot 4 housing foods to be cooked, a temperature detector 5 detecting the temperature of the pot 4, a heater 3 heating the inner pot 4, a timer means measuring the time progress of rice cooking, controller controlling heating in each process of water absorption, boiling, cooking and steaming from the starting of the rice cooking to the finish of it and an external storing means (nonvolatile memory) storing cooking information in each process. Then a temperature in each process, a time of detecting a temperature, the result of the judgement of a condition fixed by a rice cooking menu and the heating output quantity are stored in this nonvolatile memory.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rice cooker having a microcomputer for controlling rice cooking and a memory for storing cooking information during rice cooking.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a rice cooker has a temperature detecting means provided in contact with a pot provided inside a rice cooker body for detecting the temperature of the cooked food, and a heating device for heating and cooking the cooked food. It has means and control means for controlling these, and performs operations of cooking rice and keeping heat. Cooking rice means water absorption, boiling, cooking,
Each of these steps is performed by controlling heating based on temperature, time, and the like.

[0003] When rice cooking is not performed normally, it is necessary to know what rice cooking operation was actually performed in order to identify the cause of the failure. Therefore,
Conventionally, a separate measuring device was used to measure temperature, time, and the like to perform inspections and analyze actual operating conditions.

However, in this method, the operating state itself at the time of failure is not completely reproduced and analyzed.
It is not always possible to determine the failure state accurately. That is, the state at the time of failure occurrence is not always reproduced due to the difference in conditions between the time of failure occurrence and the time of failure analysis.

Therefore, recently, by utilizing the fact that the rice cooker is controlled by the microcomputer, during the actual rice cooking operation, the type of the selected rice cooking operation and the steps of the rice cooking from the start to the end of the rice cooking. Cooking information such as detected temperature, measurement time, result of condition determination, heating output amount,
The storage means in the microcomputer, that is, stored in the RAM, and by operating a switch on the operation panel of the rice cooker, the storage of the cooking information is read out and displayed on the display of the cooker. Some do.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-219939 discloses a backup power supply which retains the contents of the RAM (volatile memory) even when power is not supplied from an external power supply. Have been. At the time of failure analysis in a rice cooker having such a backup by the RAM, the switch is specifically operated as described above, and the display device displays cooking information such as a detected temperature and a measurement time in the past rice cooking operation, and based on the information, Analysis was being performed.

[0007]

However, in the above prior art, there is a disadvantage that the storage capacity of the RAM of the microcomputer is limited and a large amount of information cannot be stored. When the backup power supply is cut off, R
RAM when AM is destroyed or system reset
Is erased. Further, if the microcomputer is destroyed or runaway due to the failure,
It becomes impossible to read the contents stored in the RAM. Therefore, accurate cooking information at the time of occurrence of a failure cannot be obtained, and it has been difficult to pursue a true cause of the failure.

[0008] The present invention has been made in view of the above,
By storing the cooking information in the nonvolatile memory, a large amount of information can be stored, and even if the cooking information stored in the RAM of the microcomputer disappears,
An object of the present invention is to provide a rice cooker in which a failure analysis can be easily performed using information from a nonvolatile memory.

[0009]

Means for Solving the Problems To achieve the above object, a rice cooker according to the present invention has the following arrangement. The invention according to claim 1 is a pot for storing foods, a temperature detection unit for detecting the temperature of the pan, a heating unit for heating the pan,
Clock means for measuring the elapsed time of rice cooking, control means for controlling the heating of each step of water absorption, boiling, cooking and steaming from the start to the end of rice cooking, and a nonvolatile memory for storing cooking information in each of the steps In the rice cooker comprising: at least one of the temperature in each step, the time at which the temperature is detected, the result of the condition determination determined by the rice cooking menu, and the heating output amount of the heating means, in the non-volatile memory. .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the first aspect, there is provided a reading means for reading the contents stored in the nonvolatile memory, and a display means for displaying the cooking information read from the reading means.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the second aspect, the contents stored in the nonvolatile memory are read by an input signal from a predetermined switch provided in the rice cooker.
Control means for outputting to the display means is provided.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to any one of the first to third aspects, the erasing means for erasing the storage contents of the nonvolatile memory by an input signal from a predetermined switch provided in the rice cooker. Is provided.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of a rice cooker according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments, and it goes without saying that many modifications and changes can be made to the embodiments within the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a rice cooker showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the rice cooker showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the rice cooker control device, FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the rice cooker showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a rice cooker process diagram of the rice cooker showing an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a rice cooker main body, 2 is an outer pan 2 housed in the rice cooker main body 1, 3 is a hot plate type heater provided at the inner bottom of the outer pan 2, 4 is an inner pan 2 The inner pot 5 is detachably attached to the inner pot for storing the food (rice), 5 is a temperature detector comprising a thermistor which is in contact with the center of the outer bottom of the inner pot 4 and detects a temperature change of the food, 6 is the detection of the temperature detector 5 This is a control device that controls the heater 3 based on the temperature.

Further, the control device 6 comprises a microcomputer programmed to perform rice cooking control, its peripheral circuits, operation switches, a display, and a non-volatile memory. 6, a plurality of push button switches are provided on the outer surface of the rice cooker main body 1 side;
An operation panel including a plurality of display units such as LEDs and LCDs is provided.

In FIG. 2, a temperature detector 5 and a heater 3 are connected to a control device 6, and a microcomputer 60 is provided inside the control device. A temperature detecting means 65 is connected to the input to the microcomputer 60, and measures the temperature detected by the temperature detector 5. Also, a switch means 66 is connected to detect an input state of the push button switch. On the other hand, a heating means 63 is connected to an output from the microcomputer 60 to control power supply from the commercial power supply 7 to the heater 3 as a heat source, and a display means 64 is connected to the output of the rice cooker. Displays the operating status.

The microcomputer 60 has a built-in RAM as a clock means 61 for measuring time and an internal storage means 62. The power supplied to the microcomputer 60 is supplied to the commercial power supply 7 after being converted to an operable voltage through the power supply means 68 when the commercial power supply 7 is supplied, and the memory in the RAM is required to be retained even when the power is cut off. Power is supplied by a backup power supply 67 composed of a battery. In addition, a non-volatile memory is connected to the microcomputer 60 as the external storage means 69, and controls reading and writing to and from the non-volatile memory, and data is transferred between the RAM and the non-volatile memory.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First, the outline of the rice cooking operation will be described. After the inner pot 4 containing the food is stored in the rice cooker body 1, the switch means 66
The user selects a type of rice cooking operation, a so-called menu, and performs an operation of starting rice cooking. Rice cooking control is based on a program setting according to the selected menu, and the temperature of the bottom of the inner pot 4 detected by the temperature detector 5 from the temperature detector 5;
In accordance with the lapse of time measured by the clock means 61, the heating means 63 interrupts the energization of the heater 3 to cook rice.

FIG. 4 illustrates a process of cooking white rice, and the graph shows an example of a temperature change of the bottom of the inner pot 4 captured by the temperature detector 5. When you start cooking rice, first let the rice absorb enough water in the water absorption process,
Next, bring it to the boil in the boiling process, then heat it until there is no water in the cooking process, further evaporate the water in the steaming process, and finally, the rice is hard to deteriorate in the warming process We keep it at the optimal temperature.

Next, the outline of the memory control will be described. The cooking information such as the type of the selected rice cooking operation, the detected temperature in each rice cooking process from the start to the end of the rice cooking, the measurement time, the result of the condition determination, and the heating output is temporarily stored in the internal storage means 62, and at any time, The cooking information is transferred to the external storage means 69 composed of a nonvolatile memory and stored in the external storage means 69. Further, the stored cooking information is read out from the storage of the cooking information in the non-volatile memory 69 by operating a switch of a switch means 66 provided in the rice cooker, and is displayed on a display means 64 in the rice cooker. Also, the switch means 66
The storage of the nonvolatile memory 69 can be erased by another switch operation.

Next, the details of the memory control performed between the microcomputer 60 and the nonvolatile memory 69 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, the switch means 6 on the operation panel
The menu switch in 6 is operated to select the type of rice cooking operation, a so-called menu (porridge, fast-cooking, regular rice cooking, etc.). Next, until the rice cooking switch in the switch means 66 is completely operated and the start of rice cooking is signaled, until the end, the microcomputer operates the menu at the start,
Then, at a predetermined writing time, such as at the start or end of each rice cooking process described above, the temperature of the bottom of the inner pot 4 detected by the temperature detector 65 from the temperature detector 5 and the clock 61 are measured. Cooking information such as the amount of heating output to the heater 3 as a result of the condition determination determined by the menu and the determined time is stored in the nonvolatile memory 69 by the writing unit.

It should be noted that the cooking information stores a plurality of past rice cooking operations. However, the number of storable times is limited by the capacity of the non-volatile memory 69 with respect to the data amount of one cooked rice, and the stored contents are updated by overwriting the latest data with the oldest data. Although not shown, a dedicated nonvolatile memory reading device may be provided outside to read the stored cooking information and display the content.

The contents stored in the nonvolatile memory 69 are read by the reading means of the microcomputer.
This data is converted into a display signal and output to the display means 64 on the operation panel.

Further, switch means 66 on the operation panel
In this case, every time the operation is performed with a display changeover switch or a switch that also has a function with another switch, the contents stored in the nonvolatile memory 69 are sequentially read out, this data is converted into a display signal, and the 64 for display.

When the switch means 66 on the operation panel is operated by a memory clear switch or a switch which also has a function as another switch, the contents stored in the nonvolatile memory 69 are erased by the clear means of the microcomputer. Can also.

When the function of the switch is also used as described above, it is necessary to perform a specific operation of the switch on the operation panel of the rice cooker in advance to invalidate the function of the original switch.

In the development of a rice cooker, a cooking experiment has been conventionally repeated by emulating (simulating) the operation of a microcomputer of the rice cooker using a dedicated analyzer connected to a personal computer. However, in emulation mode, temperature detection,
Since the heating control and the like cannot be made exactly the same as the microcomputer of the actual rice cooker, much time has been spent by repeatedly obtaining data by trial and error.
According to the rice cooker of the present invention, since the actual cooking information can be obtained as it is, accurate data analysis can be performed, and the efficiency of product development is greatly improved.

[0030]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a large amount of information can be stored by storing cooking information in a nonvolatile memory. Therefore, the accuracy of failure analysis is improved by obtaining a large amount of information. Further, even if the cooking information stored in the RAM of the microcomputer is lost, the failure analysis can be easily performed by the information stored in the nonvolatile memory.

If a reading device for a nonvolatile memory is provided outside, a microcomputer program is not required for reading and displaying related to the reading device, thereby reducing the burden on the microcomputer.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, by reading the cooking information from the non-volatile memory and displaying it on the display means, the failure analysis can be easily performed without connecting an external reading device or the like.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the cooking information in the nonvolatile memory is read out by operating the switch provided in the rice cooker and displayed on the display means.
Since the storage contents of the non-volatile memory can be displayed easily and whenever necessary, the convenience of failure analysis can be improved.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the stored contents of the non-volatile memory can be easily erased by operating the switch provided in the rice cooker, so that the convenience of failure analysis can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a rice cooker showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a rice cooker illustrating an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the rice cooker according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a rice cooking process diagram of the rice cooker according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Rice cooker main body 2 Outer pan 3 Heater 4 Inner pan 5 Temperature detector 6 Control device 7 Commercial power supply 60 Microcomputer 61 Clock means 62 Internal storage means (RAM) 63 Heating means 64 Display means 65 Temperature detection means 66 Switch means 67 Backup Power supply means 68 Power supply means 69 External storage means (non-volatile memory)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A pot for storing cooked food, a temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the pot, a heating means for heating the pot, a clock means for measuring the elapsed time of rice cooking, and from the start to the end of rice cooking A rice cooker comprising: control means for controlling heating in each of the steps of water absorption, boiling, cooking, and steaming; and a non-volatile memory for storing cooking information in each of the steps. A rice cooker characterized by storing at least one of a temperature, a time at which the temperature is detected, a result of a condition determination determined by a rice cooking menu, and a heating output amount of the heating means. 2. The rice cooker according to claim 1, further comprising: reading means for reading the contents stored in said nonvolatile memory; and display means for displaying the cooking information read from said reading means. 3. The control device according to claim 2, further comprising control means for reading out the contents stored in said non-volatile memory in response to an input signal from a predetermined switch provided in said rice cooker and outputting it to said display means. Rice cooker. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an erasing means for erasing the contents stored in said nonvolatile memory in response to an input signal from a predetermined switch provided in said rice cooker. Rice cooker.