JP2003325337A - Rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a convenient rice cooker capable of reporting a cooking finish to a user before a fixed time to the user. <P>SOLUTION: In this rice cooker, a microcomputer circuit 20 determines the time required for rice cooking from the input of a temperature detecting circuit 22 and the input of a setting circuit 23 at the start of rice cooking, displays the determined time on a display circuit 21, subsequently displays the residual time up to the cooking finish by subtracting the time from this time, and controls a heating circuit 26 according to the input signal of the temperature detecting circuit 22. This rice cooker further comprises a residual time setting circuit 25 for setting the residual time up to cooking finish, and the microcomputer circuit compares the set residual time set by the residual time setting circuit 25 with the residual time up to cooking finish displayed on the display circuit 21 after the start of rice cooking, and controls a voice reporting circuit 24 to report the cooking finish when the both are matched. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rice cooker, and when a remaining time until cooking is completed before the completion of rice cooking set by a user, a notification sound is given, This is to enhance the convenience of the user. 2. Description of the Related Art The operation of rice cookers that have been put on the market in recent years is controlled by a microcomputer circuit. After the start of rice cooking, the microcomputer circuit calculates the time required for rice cooking, displays the obtained time on the display unit, and thereafter subtracts from this time to display the remaining time until cooking, and informs when cooking is completed. You can see what sounds or sounds synthesized. (For example, see JP-A-2001-37
An example of such a conventional induction heating type rice cooker will be described with reference to FIG. An AC commercial power supply 1 is converted to DC by a rectifier circuit 2, and this DC is smoothed by a smoothing circuit 5 to form a DC power supply. A heating circuit 6, a capacitor 7, and a load 8, which is a container for cooking rice, form a resonance circuit 9, and a switching element 10 and a diode 11 form an inverter unit 12. A drive circuit 14, a trigger circuit 15,
The inverter unit 12 is driven at a high frequency by a free-running oscillator 16, a comparison circuit 17, and a trigger timing circuit 13,
An electric current is supplied from the DC power supply to the heating coil 6 to heat the load 8. The power setting for heating is performed by converting a digital power setting reference signal output from the microcomputer circuit 20 into an analog voltage by the D / A conversion circuit 18, and further by the power setting signal circuit 19 to a range corresponding to the load. The power level is converted so that the voltage within is output,
This is performed by being input to the comparison circuit 17. The time, the rice cooking menu, and the like are set in a setting circuit 23.
And is displayed on the display circuit 21. The transition of the rice cooking state and the like are notified by the voice notification circuit 24 by a synthesized voice. The temperature of the load 8 to be heated is detected by the temperature detection circuit 22, and the data is input to the microcomputer circuit 20. Normally, when a heating start signal input by the user is input to the microcomputer circuit 20 from the setting circuit 23, the microcomputer circuit 20 drives the inverter unit 12 to start the heating operation, and at the same time, starts the display processing. And so on. Next, a control process of the display circuit 21 and the voice notification circuit 24 performed by the microcomputer circuit 20 from the start of rice cooking to the end of rice cooking will be described with reference to FIG. When a rice cooking start signal is input, first, the microcomputer circuit 20 calculates a remaining time calculation 402 for calculating the time required for rice cooking from the temperature of the load 8 detected by the temperature detection circuit 22 and the set rice cooking menu. Then, the remaining time initial display 403 for displaying the calculated value on the display circuit 21 is executed. Next, the remaining time is counted 404, the displayed time is subtracted, and the remaining time is displayed on the remaining time display 405 and updated to a new remaining time. Every time the remaining time is updated during the rice cooking, it is determined at the rice cooking end 406 whether or not to end the rice cooking based on the value of the remaining time calculation 402 and the temperature data of the load 8 detected by the temperature detection circuit 22. If it is not finished, that is, if it is NO, the process returns to the step of remaining time counting 404 again, and the remaining time counting 404 → remaining time display 40
The operation of judging 5 → end of rice cooking 406 is repeated. When the processing is completed, that is, in the case of YES, the rice cooking operation is stopped, and at the same time, the microcomputer 20
Then, a drive signal is output to the control unit 4 and a voice notification 407 for notifying the end of rice cooking is performed by a voice synthesis sound, and the apparatus shifts to a heat retaining state to execute a heat retaining state display 408. [0010] In the above-mentioned conventional rice cooker, the user has to check the display of the rice cooker in order to grasp the remaining time until cooking. In particular,
When you cook with a rice cooking menu that takes a long time, you want to finish the cooking according to the cooking time of the rice. Plan, etc.,
If you do something else in another place while cooking rice,
In some cases, the user may forget to check the remaining time until the synthesized voice sounds at the end of cooking. The present invention is intended to solve such a problem. When the remaining time before the completion of rice cooking set by the user reaches the time set by the user without increasing the number of parts, the user is notified of the sound. The purpose is to inform. [0012] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a heating circuit for heating a vessel for cooking rice;
A temperature detection circuit for detecting the temperature of the container, a setting circuit for setting a rice cooking menu and time, a display circuit for displaying a remaining time until the cooking is completed, and a sound for notifying a user of the rice cooking process by sounding a notification sound. A notification circuit and a microcomputer circuit are provided, and the microcomputer circuit calculates the time required for cooking rice from the input of the temperature detection circuit and the input of the setting circuit at the start of rice cooking, displays the obtained time on the display circuit, and thereafter displays this time. A remaining time setting circuit for setting the remaining time until cooking is provided in a rice cooker in which the remaining time until cooking is displayed by subtracting and displaying the remaining time until cooking is completed, and the heating circuit is controlled by an input signal of the temperature detection circuit. , The microcomputer circuit, the remaining time set by the remaining time setting circuit,
The remaining time until the completion of cooking displayed on the display circuit after the start of rice cooking is compared, and if they match, control is performed so as to be notified by a voice notification circuit. An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram of an induction heating rice cooker showing one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the operation of display and voice notification in one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an AC commercial power supply. Reference numeral 2 denotes a rectifier circuit, which is composed of a plurality of rectifiers. The input is connected to an AC commercial power supply 1, the minus terminal is grounded, and the commercial power supply 1 is rectified, converted to a DC power supply, and output.
A choke coil 3 has one end connected to the plus terminal of the rectifier circuit 2, the other end connected to one end (high-voltage side terminal) of the smoothing capacitor 4, and the other end of the smoothing capacitor 4 grounded. Reference numeral 5 denotes a smoothing circuit formed by the choke coil 3 and the smoothing capacitor 4, and smoothes the DC power output from the rectifier circuit 2. Reference numeral 6 denotes a heating coil which is connected in parallel to the capacitor 7, and one end of which is connected to the high voltage side terminal of the smoothing capacitor 4. Reference numeral 8 denotes a load, which is a container for cooking rice, which is arranged near the heating coil 6 and performs induction heating by a magnetic flux generated by the heating coil 6. Reference numeral 10 denotes a switching element. The collector terminal is connected to one end of the heating coil 6, the emitter terminal is grounded, and the resonance circuit 9 is switched by high-speed switching.
That is, a high-frequency current flows through the heating coil 6.
A diode 11 has a cathode terminal and an anode terminal connected to the collector terminal and the emitter terminal of the switching element 10, respectively. Reference numeral 12 denotes an inverter circuit, which comprises a switching element 10 and a diode 11. Reference numeral 13 denotes a trigger timing circuit whose input is connected to the collector terminal of the switching element 10 and determines the ON timing of the switching element 10. A drive circuit 14 has an output connected to a base terminal of the switching element 10 and converts an input signal into a driving voltage suitable for driving to convert the input signal into a driving voltage.
Drive. A trigger circuit 15 has an input connected to the output of the trigger timing circuit 13, and outputs a trigger pulse in synchronization with the signal of the trigger timing circuit 13. Reference numeral 16 denotes a free-running oscillator.
5 is an oscillator connected to the output of the trigger circuit 5 and generating a substantially triangular wave signal in synchronization with the output signal of the trigger circuit 15, that is, the output signal of the trigger timing circuit 13. Reference numeral 17 denotes a comparison circuit.
And the output of the power setting signal circuit 19 described later,
These two signals are compared to output a pulse signal from which the switching element 10 is driven. Reference numeral 18 denotes a D / A conversion circuit whose input is connected to one output terminal of the microcomputer circuit 20 and converts the input power setting reference signal from an 8-bit digital value to an analog power setting reference signal. Output. Reference numeral 19 denotes a power setting signal circuit whose input is D / A
It is connected to the output of the conversion circuit 18 and converts the voltage level of the input analog power setting reference signal and outputs it as a power setting signal. The above is the heating circuit 26 for heating the load 8. Reference numeral 20 denotes a microcomputer circuit. The output OUT1 is composed of eight ports, and outputs an 8-bit digital value as a power setting reference signal. The output OUT2 outputs a drive signal of a voice notification circuit 24 described later. The output OUT3 is composed of a plurality of terminals.
1 is output. The input IN1 inputs the temperature data of the load 8 output from the temperature detection circuit 22 described later. The input IN2 allows the user to input a time, a rice cooking menu, a reservation time, a rice cooking start signal, and the like from a setting circuit 23 described later. The input IN3 is used to input the remaining time until cooking from the remaining time setting circuit 25 described later. Reference numeral 21 denotes a display circuit, which is usually realized by an LCD, and an input is an output OUT of the microcomputer circuit 20.
3 and displays the remaining time until cooking, the time, the rice cooking state, and the like according to the input display signal. Reference numeral 22 denotes a temperature detecting circuit for detecting the temperature of the load 8, which is a container, which is usually realized by a thermistor. The output is connected to the input IN1 of the microcomputer circuit 20,
The temperature data of the load 8 is input to the microcomputer circuit 20. Reference numeral 23 denotes a setting circuit for setting a rice cooking menu, time, and the like, which is usually realized by a tact switch, an output of which is connected to the input IN2 of the microcomputer circuit 20, and a setting of the rice cooking menu, time, and the like input by the user. The signal is input to the microcomputer circuit 20. Reference numeral 24 denotes a voice notification circuit, whose input is connected to the output OUT2 of the microcomputer circuit 20, and notifies the user of the rice cooking process by a voice synthesis sound according to the input drive signal. Reference numeral 25 denotes a remaining time setting circuit for setting the remaining time until the completion of cooking, which is used for setting a notification during the cooking of the rice, and which is usually realized by a tact switch capable of inputting a combination of numbers from 0 to 9; Is connected to IN3 of the microcomputer circuit 20 and inputs the remaining time until the input cooking to the microcomputer circuit 20. Here, when the setting of the remaining time setting circuit 25 is a zero digit, it is set that there is no rice cooking informing setting, and when the setting is other than zero, it is set that there is a rice cooking informing setting. In the above configuration, first, the state of the circuit before the start of heating and the operation of the microcomputer circuit 20 will be described. An AC power source is supplied from a commercial power source 1 to a rectifier circuit 2.
, Rectified by the rectifier circuit 2, smoothed by the smoothing circuit 5, and converted into a DC power supply. This DC power supply is in a ready state to supply a current to these circuits when the resonance circuit 9 including the load 8 and the switching element 10 in the inverter unit 12 connected thereto are driven. The self-running oscillator 16 oscillates at its own frequency and generates a substantially triangular wave at all times, unlike the case where the self-running oscillator 16 is synchronized with an inverter unit 12 described later. After the power is supplied, the microcomputer circuit 20 stores the set remaining time until the cooking is completed, and inputs a signal for starting heating when the user makes a notification during the rice cooking in the remaining time setting circuit 25 after the power is supplied. Until you wait in the initial state. Next, the operation of the circuit after the start of heating will be described. When a signal for starting rice cooking by the user is input from the setting circuit 23 to the microcomputer circuit 20, the microcomputer circuit 20 starts the heating operation as follows. First, in order to heat the load 8, the microcomputer circuit 20 outputs an 8-bit power setting reference signal suitable for the load 8 from its output OUT1, and this signal is converted into an analog value by the D / A conversion circuit 18. , And is input to the power setting signal circuit 19. Next, the power setting signal output from the power setting signal circuit 19 and the signal generated by the free-running oscillator 16 are compared by a comparison circuit 17, and the output pulse signal is passed through a drive circuit 14 to an inverter unit. The power is transmitted to the bases of the twelve switching elements 10, and the switching elements 10 are driven. When the switching element 10 is driven, a current is supplied from the DC power supply to the resonance circuit 9, and a current starts flowing through the heating coil 6, the switching element 10, and the like. When a current flows through the switching element 10, the trigger timing circuit 13 for detecting the voltage of the collector, that is, the resonance voltage, starts operating, and its output is transmitted to the trigger circuit 15 and further transmitted to the free-running oscillator 16. When the signal of the trigger timing circuit 13 is transmitted to the free-running oscillator 16, the free-running oscillator 16 oscillates at a frequency synchronized with the signal. Thereafter, the signal is transmitted in a loop from the free-running oscillator 16, the comparing circuit 17, the drive circuit 14, the switching element 10, the trigger timing circuit 13, the trigger circuit 15, the free-running oscillator 16, and so on. . This allows
The switching element 10 is driven by a trigger timing circuit.
Since it is periodically driven at N timings, the heating coil 6
The high-frequency current continuously flows through the load 8 to heat the load 8. On the other hand, at the same time as the heating is started, the microcomputer circuit 20 starts controlling the display circuit 21 and the voice notification circuit 24. Next, an operation of controlling the display circuit 21 and the voice notification circuit 24 will be described with reference to FIG. When the rice cooking start signal is input, first, the microcomputer circuit 20 calculates a remaining time calculation 202 for calculating the temperature of the load 8 detected by the temperature detection circuit 22 and the time required for rice cooking in the set rice cooking menu. Run,
The initial value of the calculated value is displayed on the display circuit 21 in the remaining time initial display 203. Next, it is determined in the middle notification setting 204 whether there is a setting for the middle of cooking rice, and the remaining time setting circuit 2
In the case where the setting of 5 is not set to the notification of the cooking of rice with the number 0, that is, NO, the remaining time is displayed and the remaining time is displayed as 20.
In steps 5 and 206, the displayed time is subtracted and updated to a new remaining time. Each time the remaining time is updated during the rice cooking, it is determined from the remaining time value and the temperature data of the load 8 detected by the temperature detection circuit 22 whether or not to end the rice cooking at the rice cooking end 207. If the rice cooking is not ended, that is, if the determination is NO, the operation of measuring the remaining time 205 → remaining time display 206 → determining the end of the rice cooking 207 is repeated. To end the rice cooking, that is, in the case of YES, stop the rice cooking operation,
The microcomputer circuit 20 outputs a drive signal to the voice notification circuit 24, executes voice notification 208 for notifying the user of the end of rice cooking by voice synthesis sound, shifts to the warming state, and displays the warming state on the display circuit 21. The heat retention state display 209 is executed. Next, when there is a setting for the notification of rice cooking, that is, when the setting of the remaining time setting circuit 25 is other than 0, the result is YES, and the remaining time is displayed and the remaining time is displayed.
The processing is performed at steps 0 and 211, and the remaining time until cooking is displayed on the display circuit 21 is subtracted and updated to a new remaining time. Next, the new remaining time displayed on the display circuit 21 is compared with the set remaining time until cooking is completed at 212 by the remaining time setting circuit 25 set before the start of rice cooking and stored in the microcomputer circuit 20. When the remaining time is not equal to the set remaining time, that is, in the case of NO, the process returns to the remaining time counting 210 again, and the remaining time counting 210 → the remaining time display 211 → compares the remaining time with the setting remaining time 21
Step 2 is repeated. The remaining time is equal to the set remaining time,
That is, in the case of YES, the microcomputer circuit 20 outputs a drive signal to the voice notification circuit 24, and executes the voice notification 213 for notifying that the rice cooking is finished xx minutes (set time) before using the voice synthesis sound, and thereafter, At 205 and 206, the remaining time is measured and the remaining time is displayed. Every time the remaining time is updated, it is determined at 207 whether or not to end the rice cooking from the remaining time value and the temperature data of the load 8 detected by the temperature detection circuit 22. If the rice cooking is not ended, that is, if the determination is NO, the operation of measuring the remaining time 205 → remaining time display 206 → determining the end of the rice cooking 207 is repeated. When the rice cooking is finished, that is, in the case of YES, the rice cooking operation is stopped, and at the same time, the microcomputer circuit 20 outputs the voice notification circuit 2
Then, a drive signal is output to the control unit 4, and a voice notification 208 for notifying the end of rice cooking with a voice synthesis sound is executed, and the apparatus shifts to a warm state. As described above, in the present rice cooker, the user can be notified of the remaining time until cooking by voice synthesis sound at the set remaining time before cooking is completed, so that the user can display the remaining time until cooking. Can check the end of rice cooking in advance, without having to check the menu, so that cooking can be started in accordance with the end of rice cooking, and preparation of the dining table can be started. it can. The remaining time setting circuit 25 is replaced with a setting circuit 23.
With this configuration, the program can be realized by the microcomputer circuit 20 without increasing the number of components, so that the configuration can be made inexpensively, and the user can be provided at low cost. As described above, according to the present invention, the user can be notified by voice of the remaining time until cooking is completed at the set remaining time before the end of rice cooking. The convenience of the user, such as being able to grasp the end of rice cooking in advance without having to check the display of the remaining time, can start cooking along with the cooking and start preparing the dining table. Can be increased. In addition, the configuration of the present invention can be realized at low cost because it can be realized by a program of a microcomputer circuit without increasing the number of parts, and has an effect that it can be provided to a user at low cost.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of displaying and notifying by voice. FIG. 3 is a circuit block diagram of a conventional example. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of display and sound notification. [Description of Signs] 20 Microcomputer circuit 21 Display circuit 22 Temperature detection circuit 23 Setting circuit 24 Voice notification circuit 25 Remaining time setting circuit 26 Heating circuit

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. A heating circuit (2) for heating a container for cooking rice.
6) and a temperature detection circuit (2) for detecting the temperature of the container.
2) and a setting circuit (2) for setting a rice cooking menu, time, and the like.
3), a display circuit (21) for displaying the remaining time until cooking, a sound notification circuit (24) for emitting a notification sound to inform the user of the rice cooking process, and a microcomputer circuit (20). The microcomputer circuit (20) obtains the time required for rice cooking from the input of the temperature detection circuit (22) and the input of the setting circuit (23) at the start of rice cooking,
The obtained time is displayed on the display circuit (21), and the remaining time until cooking is displayed by subtracting and displaying the time thereafter, and the heating circuit (26) is turned on by the input signal of the temperature detection circuit (22). In the rice cooker to be controlled, a remaining time setting circuit (25) for setting a remaining time until cooking is provided, and the microcomputer circuit includes: a remaining time set by the remaining time setting circuit (25); A rice cooker characterized by comparing the remaining time until cooking displayed on a display circuit (21) after the start, and controlling to notify by a voice notification circuit (24) if the remaining times match.