CN111374562B

CN111374562B - Cooking method and cooking appliance

Info

Publication number: CN111374562B
Application number: CN201811628268.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 樊杜平; 杨路路
Original assignee: Zhejiang Supor Electrical Appliances Manufacturing Co Ltd
Current assignee: Zhejiang Supor Electrical Appliances Manufacturing Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-12-28
Filing date: 2018-12-28
Publication date: 2021-09-21
Anticipated expiration: 2038-12-28
Also published as: CN111374562A

Abstract

The invention provides a cooking method and a cooking appliance, wherein the cooking method comprises the following steps: receiving a meal time T0 set by a user; calculating the time length T2 from the eating time set by the user to the eating time set by the user according to the eating time T0 set by the user and the current time T1; selecting a proper cooking mode according to a time length T2 from the eating time set by the user; a cooking start time T3 is determined according to the selected cooking mode, and cooking is started when the time reaches the cooking start time T3. The cooking method and the cooking appliance can enable a user to calculate the time length from the eating time according to the current time as long as the user sets the eating time, select the optimal cooking mode according to the time length and push the optimal cooking starting time backwards within the eating time specified by the user, and then start cooking after the cooking starting time is reached, so that the optimal cooking effect is achieved, the cooking is finished when the eating time of the user is reached, and great convenience is brought to the user.

Description

Cooking method and cooking appliance

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of household appliances, in particular to a cooking method and a cooking appliance.

Background

With the improvement of living standards, cooking appliances such as electric cookers are increasingly used, and the degree of automation and intelligence of the cooking appliances is also increasing. At present, the electric rice cooker on the market is still mainly selected by a user to cook. However, since most users do not know the cooking time and effect of each cooking mode very well, the user may not achieve the desired eating time and taste of the user by selecting the cooking mode by himself or herself, which affects the user experience. In addition, current cooking utensil does not generally have the function of cooking in advance, can't realize having cooked the food when the user prepares to eat, and the user need not to wait the effect that can directly eat, and this is not accorded with cooking utensil's intelligent trend.

Therefore, there is a need for a cooking method and a cooking appliance that at least partially solve the problems of the prior art.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the problems, the invention provides a cooking method and a cooking appliance, which can enable a user to calculate the time length from the eating time according to the current time as long as the user sets the eating time, select an optimal cooking mode according to the time length and push back the optimal cooking starting time within the eating time specified by the user, and then start cooking after reaching the cooking starting time so as to achieve the optimal cooking effect and enable the cooking to be finished when reaching the eating time of the user, thereby being greatly convenient for the user.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cooking method comprising:

receiving a meal time T0 set by a user;

calculating the time length T2 from the eating time set by the user to the eating time set by the user according to the eating time T0 set by the user and the current time T1;

selecting a proper cooking mode according to a time length T2 from the eating time set by the user;

a cooking start time T3 is determined according to the selected cooking mode, and cooking is started when the time reaches the cooking start time T3.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the cooking mode includes a plurality of modes having different cooking time periods Δ Tn.

In one embodiment of the invention, the specific step of selecting a proper cooking mode according to the time length T2 from the eating time set by the user comprises the following steps:

when the time length T2 from the time when the user sets a meal is greater than or equal to the maximum value delta Tnmax of the cooking time length, selecting a mode with the cooking time length being the maximum value delta Tnmax as a proper cooking mode;

when the time length T2 from the time when the user sets a meal is less than the maximum value delta Tnmax of the cooking time length but greater than the minimum value delta Tnmin of the cooking time length, selecting the cooking mode corresponding to the cooking time length which is less than or equal to T2 and has the smallest absolute value of the difference with T2 as a proper cooking mode;

if the time period T2 from the user-set eating time is less than or equal to the minimum value Δ Tnmin of the cooking time period, a cooking mode having the minimum value Δ Tnmin of the cooking time period is selected as a suitable cooking mode.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises:

determining the required water amount according to the food material information set by the user and the selected cooking mode;

a corresponding amount of food material and water is added to the cooking cavity,

wherein the food material information comprises the amount and the type of food material. In one embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises:

acquiring food material information, and determining the freshness of food materials according to the food material information;

an appropriate cooking mode is selected according to the freshness of the food material and the time period T2 from the eating time set by the user.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cooking appliance comprising:

the information receiving module is used for receiving the eating time T0 and the current time set by the user;

and the control module is used for calculating the current time length T2 from the eating time set by the user according to the eating time T0 and the current time T1, selecting a proper cooking mode according to the time length T2 from the eating time set by the user, determining the cooking starting time T3 according to the selected cooking mode, and starting cooking when the time reaches the cooking starting time T3.

In one embodiment of the invention, the control module is configured to:

In an embodiment of the invention, the information receiving module is further configured to receive information of food materials set by a user, where the information of food materials includes the amount and the type of food materials;

the control module is further configured to determine a required amount of water according to the information of the food material set by the user and the selected cooking mode, and control the cooking appliance to add a corresponding amount of food material and water to the cooking cavity.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises:

the food material information acquisition module is used for acquiring food material information;

the control module is used for selecting a proper cooking mode according to the freshness of the food materials and the time length T2 from the eating time set by the user.

According to the cooking method and the cooking utensil, as long as the user sets the eating time, the time length from the eating time can be calculated according to the current time, the optimal cooking mode is selected according to the time length and the optimal cooking starting time is pushed backwards within the eating time specified by the user, then the cooking is started after the cooking starting time is reached, so that the optimal cooking effect is achieved, the cooking is finished when the eating time of the user is reached, and great convenience is brought to the user.

Drawings

The following drawings of the invention are included to provide a further understanding of the invention. There are shown in the drawings, embodiments and descriptions thereof, which are used to explain the principles and apparatus of the invention. In the drawings, there is shown in the drawings,

fig. 1 is a schematic view of a state in which a cooking appliance is used according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural block diagram of a cooking appliance according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural view of a food material storage and barcode scanning module of the cooking appliance shown in fig. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic flow diagram of a cooking method according to an embodiment of the invention; and

fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of a cooking method according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that the present invention may be practiced without one or more of these specific details. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in order to avoid obscuring the invention.

In the following description, for purposes of explanation, specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It is apparent that the practice of the invention is not limited to the specific details set forth herein as are known to those of skill in the art. The following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, however, the invention is capable of other embodiments in addition to the detailed description and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein.

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a state in which a cooking appliance is used according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The embodiment of the invention provides a cooking appliance 100, and the cooking appliance 100 can be an electric cooker, an electric pressure cooker or other electric heating appliances. In addition, the cooking appliance 100 may have other functions such as cooking porridge and cooking soup in addition to the function of cooking rice.

The cooking appliance 100 according to the present embodiment may adopt various structures, and as shown in fig. 1, the cooking appliance 100 according to the present embodiment generally includes a pot body 110 and a lid 120, and the pot body 110 and the lid 120 together define a cooking space for accommodating cooking food materials. Cooking appliance 100 is connected to terminal 140 via communication connection 130. Cooking appliance 100 and terminal 140 may communicate directly via communication link 130 or indirectly via communication link 130. The wedding terminal 140 may transmit information to the cooking appliance 100 or receive information from the cooking appliance 100 through the communication connection 130. For example, the terminal 140 may set the cooking appliance 100 through the communication connection 130, for example, set cooking modes, cooking times, and the like, cooking information such as food types and food quantities, and may receive information transmitted by the cooking appliance 100 through the communication connection 130, for example, the cooking information including the cooking modes, the cooking times, and the like. The terminal 140 is, for example, a smart phone, a tablet computer, or the like.

The pot body 110 may have a generally rounded rectangular parallelepiped shape, a generally cylindrical shape, or any other suitable shape. The pot body 110 has a substantially cylindrical shape or any other suitable shape of an inner pot disposed therein. The inner pot can be freely put into the inner pot containing part of the cooker body or taken out of the inner pot containing part, so that the inner pot is convenient to clean. The inner pot is used for storing food to be cooked, such as rice, soup, etc. The top of the inner pot is provided with a top opening. The user can store food to be cooked in the inner pot through the top opening or take cooked food out of the inner pot through the top opening.

The pot body 110 is provided with a cover 120. The shape of the cover 120 substantially corresponds to the shape of the pot body 110. For example, the cover 120 may have a rounded rectangular parallelepiped shape. The lid 120 is provided to the pot body in an openable and closable manner, and is used to cover the entire top of the pot body 110 or at least the inner pot of the pot body. Specifically, in the present embodiment, the lid body 120 may be pivotably provided above the pot body 110 between the maximum open position and the closed position by, for example, a hinge. When the cover 120 is covered on the pot body 110, a cooking cavity is formed between the cover 120 and the pot body 110 (specifically, the inner pot of the pot body).

A steam passage (not shown) is further provided in the cooking appliance 100 to allow gas in the cooking cavity to flow to the outside of the cooking appliance 100. Wherein, the one end of steam channel is provided with the steam inlet with the culinary art space intercommunication, and the other end of steam channel is provided with the steam outlet with external intercommunication.

A controller (not shown) is also provided in the cooking appliance 100. The controller can be arranged in the cover body and can also be arranged in the cooker body. The controller implements various functions by controlling various modules in the cooking appliance 100.

The cooking appliance 100 may have various functional modules, and the cooking appliance 100 provided in the present embodiment is described below with reference to fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural block diagram of a cooking appliance according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 2, the cooking appliance 100 provided in this embodiment includes a food material storage module 10, a food material information acquisition module 11, a heating module 12, a water adding module 13, a setting module 14, an indication module 15, a cooking cycle recording module 16, a communication interface 17, and a control module 18.

The food material storage module 10 is used for storing food materials with identification codes. The identification code carries food material information, and the food material information comprises information of food material types, such as rice types, food material production date t0, shelf life duration t1 and the like. The identification code may be a two-dimensional code, a bar code, or the like. Exemplarily, in the present embodiment, the identification code is a barcode. The food storage module 10 may have various structures, for example, as shown in fig. 3, the food storage module 10 includes a plurality of food storage bins 19, the food is stored in the food storage bins 19, the identification code is attached to the food storage bins 19, and the information of the food stored in the food storage bins 19 can be obtained by scanning and analyzing the information of the identification code. Also, the food stored therein may be entered into the inner pot of the cooking appliance 100, for example, by piercing a seal at the bottom of the food storage bin 19. The food material storage module 10 further includes an indicator light 20 and a motor (not shown), and the motor can drive the food material storage bins 19 to rotate under the control of the control module 18, so that each food material storage bin 19 can be shifted to the position of the food material information acquiring module 11. The indicator light 20 is used to indicate information, such as indicating the location of the food material storage bin 19 or storing information, under the control of the control module 18. For example, when the food material storage bin 19 is rotated to the position of the food material information acquiring module 11, the indicator light 20 is turned on to indicate that the food material information acquiring module 11 scans the food material storage bin 19 corresponding to the currently turned-on indicator light 20. Alternatively, the indicator light 20 may indicate the number of the ingredients in the ingredient storage compartment 19 by different colors, for example, when the indicator light 20 is green, it indicates that the corresponding ingredient storage compartment 19 stores the ingredients, and when the indicator light 20 is red, it indicates that the corresponding ingredient storage compartment 19 does not store the ingredients. The food storage module 10 may be disposed at any suitable position of the cooking appliance 100, and in the present embodiment, the food storage module 10 is disposed in a cover of the cooking appliance 100.

In addition, in this embodiment, a food material adding module (not shown) may be further included to add the food material in the food material storage module to the cooking cavity. Exemplarily, the food material adding module comprises a food material conveying channel communicated with the cooking cavity and a motor, the motor is used for controlling the opening and closing of the food material conveying channel, when a sealing member at the bottom of the food material storage bin 19 is punctured by the puncturing device, the food material in the food material storage bin falls into the food material conveying channel, and then the motor opens the conveying channel to convey the food material into the cooking cavity, so that the automatic adding of the food material is realized.

The food material information acquiring module 11 is disposed in a circumferential direction of the food material storage module 10, and is configured to acquire information of the food material stored in the food material storage module 10. The food material information obtaining module 11 may adopt a scanning gun or a scanning module corresponding to the identification code. Exemplarily, in the present embodiment, the food material information acquiring module 11 employs a barcode scanning gun, which acquires the food material information by scanning a barcode on the food material storage bin 19. Exemplarily, in the present embodiment, it is also provided in the cover of the cooking appliance 100.

The heating module 12 is used for heating food material in the cooking space of the cooking appliance 100. The heating module 12 may be provided in the pot body, which may heat the inner pot at the bottom and/or sides thereof. The heating module 12 may be an electric heating tube or an induction heating device such as a solenoid coil. In the structure in which the cooking appliance 100 includes a detachable base, the heating module 12 may also be provided in the base of the cooking appliance 100.

The water adding module 13 is used to add water into the cooking space of the cooking appliance 100. The water adding module 13 comprises a water pump and a water path communicated with the cooking cavity. The water pump is used for pumping water from the water source into the cooking cavity through the waterway. The water route includes the delivery port with culinary art cavity intercommunication, the water inlet with external water pipe or water tank intercommunication to and connect the pipeline of water inlet and delivery port. The water adding module 13 may further include a water tank provided on the cooking appliance 100, and a valve and a flow rate detecting unit provided on the water tank or the pipe connecting the water inlet and the water outlet. The water tank is used for storing cooking water, and the water pump can pump the water in the water tank into the cooking cavity through the waterway. The valve is used for controlling the opening and closing of the water path. The flow rate detecting unit is used for detecting the amount of water flowing through the water path, and may be various flow meters, such as an optical flow meter, an electromagnetic flow meter, or the like, or may be other flow rate detecting circuits/components. The water adding module 13 adds a predetermined amount of water into the cooking cavity under the control of the control module 18, and a better cooking effect can be achieved by accurately controlling the amount of added water. The water adding module 13 may be disposed on the cover or the pot body of the cooker 100, or a part of the structure may be disposed on the cover and a part of the structure may be disposed on the pot body.

The setting module 14 is used for providing various cooking settings for the user, such as setting rice type, taste, timing time, appointment time, cooking mode, and the like. The setup module 14 may be various keys, a touch pad, or a touch screen. The setting module 14 may be disposed on a lid, a pot, or a base of the cooking appliance 100.

The indication module 15 is used for indicating cooking information or other related information or status, such as total cooking time, remaining time to the user. The indication module 15 may include an LED lamp, a four-position eight-segment nixie tube, a buzzer/speaker or other devices, and is used to display the cooking time and status set by the user or during the cooking process, and to sound or voice prompt the cooking status of the user through the buzzer. The indication module 15 may be disposed on the lid, the pot body, or the base of the cooking appliance 100.

The cooking cycle recording module 16 is configured to record information such as a number of cooking cycles experienced by the food material stored in the food material storage module 10. The cooking cycle recording module 16 may be various memory modules that do not lose information when power is lost, such as an EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read only memory). Specifically, the control module 18 may record the number of cooking cycles experienced by the food material in each food material storage bin 19 of the food material storage module 10, and store the number of cooking cycles into the cooking cycle recording module 16, for example, after the cooking appliance 100 is powered on to cook each time, the control module 18 adds 1 to the number of cooking cycles experienced by the food material not used in the food material storage module 10, and stores the number of cooking cycles into the cooking cycle recording module 16, and when the number of cooking cycles experienced by the currently used food material needs to be known, the number of cooking cycles may be read from the cooking cycle recording module 16.

The communication interface 17 is used to implement a networking function of the cooking appliance 100, and a function of synchronizing the current date and time and the like and a communication function with an external device can be implemented through the communication interface 17, for example, communication with the terminal 140 shown in fig. 1 can be implemented through the communication interface 17. The communication interface 17 can comprise one or more wired or wireless communication interfaces. Such as a communications interface network interface card, wireless modem, or wired modem. In one application, the communication interface 17 can be a WiFi modem. In other applications, the communication interface 17 can be a 3G modem, a 4G modem, an LTE modem, a bluetooth component, a radio frequency receiver, an antenna, or a combination thereof. Exemplarily, in the present embodiment, the communication interface 17 is an NB-IoT communication module.

The communication interface 17 constitutes an information receiving and transmitting module of the cooking appliance 100, and in the present embodiment, information such as eating time, food material type, food material quantity, cooking mode, etc. transmitted by the user through the terminal 140 such as a mobile phone can be accepted through the communication interface 17.

The control module 18 is used to control the above modules and other modules of the cooking appliance 100, so as to control various functions of the cooking appliance 100 and various cooking modes or programs. The control module 18 may be implemented as the above-described controller, which may be various types of controllers, such as an MCU or the like.

Illustratively, in the present embodiment, the control module 18 is configured to determine a current time period T2 from the user-set eating time T0 and the current time T1, select an appropriate cooking mode according to the time period T2 from the user-set eating time, determine a cooking start time T3 according to the selected cooking mode, and start cooking when the time reaches the cooking start time T3.

Wherein the cooking modes include a plurality of modes having different cooking time durations Δ Tn, and the control module 18 is configured to select the mode having the maximum cooking time duration Δ Tnmax as the appropriate cooking mode when the time duration T2 from the user-set eating time is greater than or equal to the maximum value Δ Tnmax of the cooking time duration; when the time length T2 from the time when the user sets a meal is less than the maximum value delta Tnmax of the cooking time length but greater than the minimum value delta Tnmin of the cooking time length, selecting the cooking mode corresponding to the cooking time length which is less than or equal to T2 and has the smallest absolute value of the difference with T2 as a proper cooking mode; if the time period T2 from the user-set eating time is less than or equal to the minimum value Δ Tnmin of the cooking time period, a cooking mode having the minimum value Δ Tnmin of the cooking time period is selected as a suitable cooking mode.

Further, the control module 18 is further configured to determine the required amount of water according to the information of the food materials set by the user and the selected cooking mode, and control the cooking appliance to add the corresponding amount of food materials and water to the cooking cavity. The food material information includes the amount of food material and the kind of food material.

Further, the control module 18 is also configured to determine the freshness of the food material according to the food material information and select an appropriate cooking mode according to the freshness of the food material and the time period T2 from the eating time set by the user.

A cooking method applied to the cooking appliance 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention is described in detail with reference to fig. 4.

Fig. 4 is a schematic flow diagram of a cooking method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 4, the cooking method provided by the present embodiment includes:

in step S101, a meal time T0 set by the user is received.

The user may make cooking settings, such as setting a meal time, etc., for the cooking appliance 100 through a terminal such as a mobile phone. The cooking appliance 100 can know the eating time T0 of the user after receiving the user setting.

In step S102, the time length T2 from the eating time set by the user to the eating time set by the user is calculated according to the eating time T0 set by the user and the current time T1.

The cooking appliance 100 may communicate with the network through the communication interface to perform time-date synchronization so as to obtain the current time, thereby calculating a time duration T2 from the current time T1 and a time T0 set by the user, where T2 is T0-T1.

In step S103, a suitable cooking mode is selected according to a time period T2 from the time of eating set by the user.

Specifically, the cooking appliance 100 includes n kinds of cooking modes having different cooking time periods, and the cooking parameters and the cooking effects are different in each cooking mode. Illustratively, the cooking time period of each cooking mode is Δ Tn, and n is a natural number greater than 1, for example, n is 5.

In the present embodiment, if the time period T2 from the user-set eating time at present is greater than or equal to the maximum value Δ Tnmax of the cooking time periods, i.e., the cooking time periods Δ Tn of the respective cooking modes of the cooking appliance 100 are all less than T2, the mode having the maximum value Δ Tnmax of the cooking time periods is selected as the appropriate cooking mode. For example, the cooking time period Δ T3 of the 3 rd cooking mode is maximized, the 3 rd cooking mode is selected.

If the time period T2 when it is from the user-set eating time is less than the maximum value Δ Tnmax of the cooking time period but greater than the minimum value Δ Tnmin of the cooking time period, the cooking mode corresponding to the cooking time period at which the absolute value of the difference from T2 is minimum or less than T2 is selected as the appropriate cooking mode. For example, if the absolute value of the difference between the cooking time period Δ T4 and T2 is the smallest in the 4 th cooking mode, the 4 th cooking mode is selected.

If the time period T2 from the user-set eating time is less than or equal to the minimum value Δ Tnmin of the cooking time periods, i.e., the cooking time periods Δ Tn of the respective cooking modes of cooking appliance 100 are all greater than T2, the cooking mode having the minimum value Δ Tnmin of the cooking time periods is selected as the appropriate cooking mode, e.g., the cooking time period Δ T5 of the 5 th cooking mode is shortest, and the 5 th cooking mode is selected.

It should be understood that the above-described selection method of the cooking mode is only exemplary, and the cooking method according to the present invention may employ various suitable methods to select the cooking mode according to the time period T2 from the user-set eating time.

In step S104, a cooking start time T3 is determined according to the selected cooking mode.

When the cooking mode is selected, determining a time T3 for starting cooking, wherein the time T2 from the current time of eating set by the user is greater than or equal to the maximum value Δ Tnmax of the cooking time, and then T3 is T2- Δ Tnmax + T1; if the time period T2 from the user-set eating time is less than or equal to the minimum value Δ Tnmin of the cooking time period, T3 is T1.

In step S105, cooking is started when the time reaches the cooking start time T3.

When the time reaches the cooking start time T3, cooking appliance 100 starts cooking.

According to the cooking method of the embodiment, as long as the user sets the eating time, the time length from the eating time can be calculated according to the current time, the optimal cooking mode is selected according to the time length and the optimal cooking starting time is reversed within the eating time specified by the user, then the cooking is started after the cooking starting time is reached, so that the optimal cooking effect is achieved, the cooking is finished when the eating time of the user is reached, and great convenience is brought to the user. According to the cooking method of the embodiment, a user does not need to know the cooking time of each cooking mode and set the cooking starting time, and automatic cooking can be completed only by setting the cooking time, so that the cooking method is very convenient.

Further, the cooking method provided by the invention can also consider the freshness of the food material in addition to the time length T2 from the eating time set by the user when the cooking mode is selected.

Another cooking method applied to the cooking appliance 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention is described in detail with reference to fig. 5.

As shown in fig. 5, the cooking method provided by the present embodiment includes:

in step S201, a meal time T0, a food material type, a quantity and a cooking type set by a user are received.

The user may perform cooking settings, such as setting a eating time, a kind and quantity of food materials, and a cooking type, on the cooking appliance 100 through a terminal such as a mobile phone. The cooking appliance 100 receives the user setting, and then knows the eating time T0, the type and amount of the food material, and the cooking type of the user.

In step S202, the time length T2 from the eating time set by the user to the eating time set by the user is calculated according to the eating time T0 set by the user and the current time T1.

Step S203, selecting food materials according to the types and the quantity of the food materials set by the user, and acquiring food material information.

Taking the cooking appliance 100 shown in fig. 1 as an example, after the cooking appliance 100 receives information such as the type and the number set by the user, the food material that meets the requirement is selected from the food material storage module 10, the information of the food material selected by the food material information acquiring module 11 is used, and the number m of cooking cycles experienced by the selected food material is read from the cooking cycle recording module 16.

And step S204, determining the freshness of the food materials according to the food material information.

Exemplarily, determining the freshness of the food material according to the food material information is realized by the following steps:

firstly, determining the time length delta t3 of the food material from the production date according to the production date t0 and the current date t2 of the food material, wherein the time length delta t is t2-t 0.

Then, determining an equivalent time length delta t4 of the food material from the production date according to the time length delta t3 of the food material from the production date and the number m of the cooking cycles undergone by the food material; illustratively, Δ t4 ═ Δ t3+ k0 × m, k0 is a coefficient, and illustratively, k0 is equal to or greater than 3 and less than 20.

Finally, the freshness of the food material is determined by comparing the equivalent time length delta t4 of the food material from the production date with the shelf life time length t 1. The closer Δ t4 is to the shelf life time period t1, the higher the freshness grade of the food material, the less fresh the food material. For example, the freshness of the food material is determined by the size of Δ t4/t1, and the closer Δ t4 is to the shelf life time period t1, i.e. the larger Δ t4/t1 is, the lower the freshness of the food material is, otherwise, the higher the freshness of the food material is. Exemplarily, in the present embodiment, the freshness of the food material is considered to be low when Δ t4/t1 is greater than 1/2, and the freshness of the food material is considered to be high when Δ t4/t1 is less than or equal to 1/2.

It should be understood that the above-mentioned determination of freshness is merely exemplary, and in other embodiments according to the present invention, various other suitable manners may also be adopted to determine the freshness of the food material.

In step S205, a cooking mode is selected according to the freshness of the food material and the time period T2 from the time of meal set by the user.

In this embodiment, the cooking mode is selected in consideration of the freshness of the ingredients in addition to the time period T2 from the eating time set by the user, because different cooking modes, or cooking parameters, are required for the new and old ingredients in order to achieve a good cooking effect.

As an example, in the present embodiment, if the time period T2 from the current eating time set by the user is greater than or equal to the maximum value Δ Tnmax of the cooking time period and the freshness of the selected food material is low, the mode having the longer water absorption time period is selected from the cooking modes having the cooking time periods Δ Tn close to T2. For example, the cooking time lengths Δ T2, Δ T3 and T2 of the 2 nd and 3 rd cooking modes are close to each other, whereas the water absorption time length of the 2 nd cooking mode is longer, the 2 nd cooking mode is selected.

If the time period T2 from the user-set eating time is less than or equal to the minimum value Δ Tnmin of the cooking time period and the freshness of the selected food material is high, i.e., the cooking time periods Δ Tn of the respective cooking modes of the cooking appliance 100 are both greater than T2, the cooking mode having the shorter cooking time period Δ Tn and the shorter water absorption time period is selected, for example, the cooking time periods Δ T4 and Δ T5 of the 4 th and 5 th cooking modes are both shorter, but the water absorption time period of the 5 th cooking mode is shorter, and the 5 th cooking mode is selected.

Step S206, determining the required water quantity according to the type and the quantity of the food materials set by the user and the selected cooking mode.

Namely, the control module calculates the required water amount according to the type and the quantity of the food materials set by the user and the selected cooking mode.

Step S207, adding a corresponding amount of food and water to the cooking cavity, and starting cooking when the time reaches the cooking start time T3.

The determination method of T3 is as described above and will not be described herein. And when the selected water amount is determined in step S206, a corresponding amount of food material and water may be added to the cooking enhancer, for example, the food material adding module is controlled to add food material, and the water pump is controlled to add water. The addition of the food material and water may be performed when the time T3 arrives, or may be performed in advance, and the food material and water may be added simultaneously or separately.

It should be understood that the cooking method according to the present invention is not only applicable to the cooking appliance 100 shown in fig. 1, but also applicable to other cooking appliances as long as the cooking appliance has a communication capability with a terminal for performing operation setting on the cooking appliance through the terminal. The cooking appliance does not need to have the function of automatically adding food and water, the food and the water can be added into the cooking cavity in advance by a user, and the food information can be sent to the cooking appliance by the user through the terminal or input on the cooking appliance in advance, so that the cooking method provided by the invention can be applied to the situation.

In addition, another cooking appliance is provided in an embodiment of the present invention, which includes a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and running on the processor, and when the processor executes the computer program, the steps of the method shown in fig. 4 or fig. 5 are implemented.

In addition, the embodiment of the invention also provides a computer storage medium, and the computer storage medium is stored with the computer program. The computer program, when executed by a processor, may implement the method of fig. 4 or fig. 5 as previously described. For example, the computer storage medium is a computer-readable storage medium.

According to the cooking method, the cooking appliance and the computer storage medium, the cooking method and the cooking appliance provided by the invention enable a user to calculate the time length from the eating time according to the current time as long as the user sets the eating time, select the optimal cooking mode according to the time length and push the optimal cooking starting time backwards within the eating time specified by the user, and then start cooking after reaching the cooking starting time so as to achieve the optimal cooking effect and enable the cooking to be finished when reaching the eating time of the user, thereby being greatly convenient for the user.

Although the illustrative embodiments have been described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the foregoing illustrative embodiments are merely exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention thereto. Various changes and modifications may be effected therein by one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art without departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention. All such changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described device embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical functional division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another device, or some features may be omitted, or not executed.

In the description provided herein, numerous specific details are set forth. It is understood, however, that embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known methods, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure an understanding of this description.

Similarly, it should be appreciated that in the description of exemplary embodiments of the invention, various features of the invention are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the invention and aiding in the understanding of one or more of the various inventive aspects. However, the method of the present invention should not be construed to reflect the intent: that the invention as claimed requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus, the claims following the detailed description are hereby expressly incorporated into this detailed description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of this invention.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and all of the processes or elements of any method or apparatus so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where such features are mutually exclusive. Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise.

Furthermore, those skilled in the art will appreciate that while some embodiments described herein include some features included in other embodiments, rather than other features, combinations of features of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the invention and form different embodiments. For example, in the claims, any of the claimed embodiments may be used in any combination.

The various component embodiments of the invention may be implemented in hardware, or in software modules running on one or more processors, or in a combination thereof. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that a microprocessor or Digital Signal Processor (DSP) may be used in practice to implement some or all of the functionality of some of the modules in an item analysis apparatus according to embodiments of the present invention. The present invention may also be embodied as apparatus programs (e.g., computer programs and computer program products) for performing a portion or all of the methods described herein. Such programs implementing the present invention may be stored on computer-readable media or may be in the form of one or more signals. Such a signal may be downloaded from an internet website or provided on a carrier signal or in any other form.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments illustrate rather than limit the invention, and that those skilled in the art will be able to design alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The word "comprising" does not exclude the presence of elements or steps not listed in a claim. The word "a" or "an" preceding an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements. The invention may be implemented by means of hardware comprising several distinct elements, and by means of a suitably programmed computer. In the unit claims enumerating several means, several of these means may be embodied by one and the same item of hardware. The usage of the words first, second and third, etcetera do not indicate any ordering. These words may be interpreted as names.

The above description is only for the specific embodiment of the present invention or the description thereof, and the protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present invention, and the changes or substitutions should be covered within the protection scope of the present invention. The protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of cooking, the method comprising:

receiving a meal time T0 set by a user;

determining a cooking start time T3 according to the selected cooking mode, starting cooking when time reaches the cooking start time T3,

wherein the cooking mode includes a plurality of modes having different cooking time periods Δ Tn,

the specific step of selecting a proper cooking mode according to the time length T2 from the eating time set by the user comprises the following steps:

if the time period T2 from the user-set eating time is less than or equal to the minimum value Δ Tnmin of cooking of the cooking mode, the cooking mode having the minimum value Δ Tnmin of the cooking time period is selected as the appropriate cooking mode.

2. The cooking method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein the food material information comprises the amount and the type of food material.

3. The cooking method of claim 2, further comprising:

4. A cooking appliance, comprising:

the information receiving module is used for receiving the eating time T0 and the current time T1 set by the user;

a control module for calculating a current time period T2 from the user-set eating time according to the user-set eating time T0 and the current time T1, selecting an appropriate cooking mode according to the time period T2 from the user-set eating time, determining a cooking start time T3 according to the selected cooking mode, and starting cooking when time reaches the cooking start time T3,

wherein the control module is configured to:

5. The cooking appliance of claim 4,

the information receiving module is further used for receiving information of food materials set by a user, wherein the information of the food materials comprises the amount and the types of the food materials;

6. The cooking appliance of claim 5, further comprising:

the control module is used for determining the freshness of the food materials according to the food material information and selecting a proper cooking mode according to the freshness of the food materials and the time length T2 from the eating time set by the user.