JP2008121933A - Cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To acquire heating contents on a cooking menu through communication in a microwave oven for business use, and to attain excellent heating by automatic cooking even in the case of a new cooking menu. <P>SOLUTION: Cooking information and an assigned cooking key are stored in a cooking information database 31 of an information server 29 in relation to each other at each cooking menu. The microwave oven and the information server 29 communicate with each other at a fixed time, and when the cooking menu stored in the cooking information database 31 of the information server 29 is not stored in a storage part 22 of the microwave oven, information specifying the name of the cooking menu, cooking contents and the assigned cooking key is sent to the microwave oven and stored in the storage part 22. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a cooking device that can perform heating with different contents depending on a cooking menu, and more particularly, to a cooking device that can acquire the heating content of a cooking menu from outside.

  A microwave oven (commercial microwave oven) installed in a convenience store or the like is used to warm a regular shape and a mixture of various foods as represented by a lunch box. However, there are foods that are easy to warm and those that are difficult to warm, so if you use a regular microwave oven as a commercial microwave oven as it is, it will cause uneven heating and heat it to a suitable temperature. Is difficult.

  Therefore, in order to eliminate this heating unevenness and enable uniform heating, the techniques of Patent Documents 1 to 3 have been proposed. In Patent Document 1, when a cooking menu to be heated (such as a type of lunch) is read by an operation of an input switch or the like, an excitation mode corresponding to the cooking menu is selected and the position of the excitation mode switch is switched. It is intended to achieve uniform heating so that the radio wave intensity distribution in the heating chamber is in a state suitable for the cooking menu.

Patent Document 2 provides a rotating waveguide that branches in three directions, and attempts to perform uniform heating by switching the output of the magnetron at each rotation position of the rotating waveguide according to the cooking menu to be heated. Is.
Patent Document 3 stores a plurality of types of basic patterns of temperature distribution when heated, detects the temperature distribution of the food to be heated by a temperature sensor during heating, matches the basic pattern, and according to the matched basic pattern The subsequent heating content (magnetron output intensity, etc.) is determined to perform uniform heating.
JP-A-8-330066 JP 2000-353589 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-130686

  Each of Patent Documents 1 to 3 is configured to store in advance the heating content according to the cooking menu or the heating content according to the basic pattern of the temperature distribution. If such a configuration is applied to a commercial microwave oven used at a convenience store, etc., various kinds of lunches are heated and unevenly heated by storing the contents of heating according to the shape of the boxed lunch and the distribution of ingredients. Heating can be performed without any problems. However, in such a microwave oven, it is not possible to automatically heat a lunch that has not been memorized, such as a newly commercialized lunch or a limited-time lunch that uses seasonal ingredients. Is produced.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to be able to acquire the heating contents of the cooking menu by communication, and even a new cooking menu can be heated well by automatic cooking. Is to provide a simple cooking device.

  The heating cooker according to the present invention includes a heating unit, a plurality of cooking keys to which a cooking menu is assigned, at least a cooking information to which the cooking menu is assigned, and a storage unit that associates and stores the cooking key to which the cooking menu is assigned. When any one of the plurality of cooking keys is operated, cooking information acquisition means for acquiring cooking information on the cooking menu assigned to the operated cooking key from the storage means, and the cooking information acquisition means A heating control unit that controls the heating unit based on the acquired cooking information, and communicates with an information server that stores at least cooking information of the cooking menu and key assignment information that specifies cooking keys to which the cooking menu is assigned. Possible communication means, communication start means for causing the communication means to start communication with the information server, On the basis of the download information communication means has acquired by communication with the information server, comprising a storage control means for storing in the storage means in association with the cooking key assigning a cooking menu and cooking information of the cooking menu.

  According to the cooking device of the present invention adopting the above-described means, for example, when it is used for business use, for newly developed cooking menus, the cooking of the new cooking menu is performed through communication with the information server. Information and key assignment information specifying a cooking key to which the cooking menu is assigned are acquired. Then, the cooking information of the cooking menu and the cooking key to which the cooking menu is assigned are associated and stored in the storage means. Therefore, when the assigned cooking key is operated, the cooking key is assigned based on the cooking information corresponding to the cooking key. Heating with contents suitable for the new cooking menu is performed.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a commercial microwave oven will be described with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 3 which shows schematic structure of a microwave oven, the main body 1 of the microwave oven is comprised by arrange | positioning the inner case 3 in the outer case 2. As shown in FIG. The inner box 3 has a rectangular box shape, and the inside is a heating chamber 4. In addition, an operation panel portion 5 is disposed on the upper front surface of the main body 1, and a door 6 positioned below the operation panel portion 5 to open and close the front surface of the heating chamber 4 rotates in the vertical direction. It is provided as possible.

  A rectangular excitation port 7 is formed at the center of the bottom plate of the inner box 3. A main waveguide 8 having one end connected to the excitation port 7 is fixed to the lower surface of the bottom plate of the inner box 3. The other end side of the main waveguide 8 protrudes into the machine chamber 9 formed between the back plate of the inner box 3 and the back plate of the outer box 2. A magnetron 10 that is a microwave generator as a heating means is disposed so as to insert the antenna 10a into the main waveguide 8.

  On the other hand, a bottom plate 11 constituting a bottom surface portion of the heating chamber 4 is disposed on the inner bottom side of the inner box 3. The bottom plate 11 is made of heat-resistant glass or ceramics through which microwaves can pass, and the space between the bottom plate 11 and the bottom plate of the inner box 3 is a rotating waveguide housing portion 12.

  A motor 13 is disposed at a position below the excitation port 7 in the inner and lower portions of the outer box 2. The upper end portion of the rotating shaft 13 a of the motor 13 projects through the main waveguide 8 and protrudes from the excitation port 7 into the rotating waveguide housing portion 12. A rotating waveguide 14 disposed in the rotating waveguide housing portion 12 is attached to the upper end portion of the rotating shaft 13a so as to rotate integrally. The rotating waveguide 14 is formed by bending a metal plate, and has a plurality of, for example, three branch portions 15 to 17 protruding in different directions from the rotation center portion as shown in FIG. .

  The rotating waveguide 14 has a duct shape, and the end portions of the branch portions 15 to 17 are open. In addition, the opening | mouth of the front-end | tip part of each branch part 15-17 was attached | subjected and each shown with the code | symbol 15a-17a. In addition, rectangular openings 15b to 17b are formed on the upper surfaces of the branch portions 15 to 17, respectively. In this case, the openings 15b to 17b of the branch portions 15 to 17 are formed so that the degree of opening increases in the order of the openings 15b to 17b.

  In the microwave oven having such a rotating waveguide 14, the microwave generated by the magnetron 10 is guided to the rotating waveguide 14 from the main waveguide 8 and the excitation port 7, and this rotation is performed. The heating chamber 4 is irradiated from the open portions 15 a to 17 a and the openings 15 b to 17 b of the branch portions 15 to 17 of the waveguide 14. In this case, since the rotating waveguide 14 has branch portions 15 to 17 extending in three directions, microwaves are distributedly supplied by the branch portions 15 to 17. For this reason, the heating distributions by the microwaves radiated from the branch portions 15 to 17 overlap each other in a complicated manner, and heating without uneven heating is possible.

  This is a case where the magnetron 10 is driven while rotating the rotating waveguide 14, but the motor 13 is stopped when the branch portions 15 to 17 of the rotating waveguide 14 reach a desired rotation position, and this rotation is performed. If the magnetron 10 is driven while the waveguide 14 is stopped, the electric field intensity distribution due to the microwave in the heating chamber 4 is fixed to a specific intensity distribution corresponding to the rotational position of the rotating waveguide 14 at that time. can do. The rotating waveguide 14 in this case functions as an electric field intensity distribution (heating intensity distribution) switching unit.

  Therefore, when cooking an object to be cooked, the cooking conditions such as the output intensity of the magnetron 10, the rotation time and stop time of the rotating waveguide 14, and the stop position of the rotating waveguide 14 are individually set. By appropriately adjusting according to the object to be cooked, the object to be cooked can be heated evenly. For example, when a lunch box is warmed and sold at a convenience store, the manufacturer of the lunch box obtains, in advance, an experiment for the above-described cooking conditions that allow the lunch box to be heated without causing uneven heating. And when selling a box lunch in a convenience store, it becomes possible to heat each box lunch by the heating cooking conditions previously calculated | required by experiment uniformly, and to deliver to a customer uniformly. In the following description, the cooking condition obtained by the experiment is referred to as cooking information (heating program).

  FIG. 1 shows a control configuration of a microwave oven. As shown in FIG. 1, in addition to the magnetron 10 and the motor 13, the control circuit 18 as the heating control means includes a key switch device 19 as an operation means, a display unit 20, and communication as a communication means. A unit 21 and a storage unit 22 as storage means are connected. The control circuit 18 is composed mainly of a known microcomputer and its peripheral devices. As shown in FIG. 2, the key switch device 19 includes a plurality of cooking keys as cooking menu selection means, for example, ten main cooking keys 23 with 1 to 10 display and spare 1 to spare 4 displays. Are provided with four pre-cooking keys 24, a start key 26, and a stop key 27.

  The display unit 20 includes, for example, a liquid crystal display, and is provided side by side with the key switch device 19 on the operation panel unit 5 as shown in FIG. The communication unit 21 can be connected to the information server 29 via the Internet 28 that is a communication network by wire or wirelessly, and downloads cooking information and the like from the information server 29. FIG. 1 shows an example in which the communication unit 21 is connected to the information server 29 by wire. The storage unit 22 includes a flash memory and stores cooking information downloaded from the information server 29.

  The information server 29 has cooking information assigned to each lunch box (type), cooking information about various lunch boxes (cooking menus) sold at the convenience store, with respect to a microwave oven installed in the convenience store. This is for downloading key assignment information for specifying a key. As shown in FIG. 1, the information server 29 includes a control device 30 as a control unit that controls the entire information server 29, a cooking information database 31 as a storage unit, and a user management database 32 as a storage unit. A communication device 33 as communication means and an operation device 34 as operation means are connected. Both databases 31 and 32 may be configured by the same storage means.

  The cooking information database 31 stores names, cooking information, key assignment information, sales period information, and the like for various types of lunch boxes. The sales period information includes information such as whether each lunch box is a standard menu or a limited-time menu, and if a time limit is set, the due date. And the key which belongs to the main cooking key 23 which a microwave oven has is allocated to the lunch of a basic menu. In addition, among the limited time menus, a relatively long-term menu is assigned a key belonging to the main cooking key 23, and a relatively short-term menu such as a seasonal limited menu is assigned a key belonging to the preliminary cooking key 24.

The user management database 32 stores device information such as specifications of each microwave oven installed in the convenience store, device information / personal information of each microwave oven, and the like. The device information / personal information includes a microwave oven specification, an IP address, a MAC address, an owner and contact information thereof, a microwave usage history, and the like.
Moreover, the communication apparatus 33 is for communicating via the internet 28 with the communication part 21 of each microwave oven installed in each convenience store. The operating device 34 is for inputting various information to the cooking information database 31 and the user management database 32.

  The storage unit 22 of the microwave oven stores cooking information, key assignment information, sales period information, and the like for various types of lunch boxes downloaded from the information server 29 or the like. And when a store clerk heats the lunch according to the demand of the customer who purchased the lunch at the convenience store, the cooking key assigned to the lunch is operated. Then, the control circuit 18 of the microwave oven executes a routine for cooking as shown in FIG.

  That is, when any cooking key in the cooking key group is operated (“YES” in step S1 of FIG. 1), the control circuit 18 operates the cooking keys to be a plurality of main cooking keys 23 and a plurality of cooking keys. Which cooking key is one of the individual preliminary cooking keys 24 is identified (step S2). When the operated cooking key is identified, the control circuit 18 refers to the storage unit 22 and acquires the name of the lunch box assigned to the operated cooking key and its cooking information (step S3; cooking information acquisition means). .

  Then, the control circuit 18 displays the name of the lunch box on the display unit 20 as shown in FIG. 2 (step S4), controls the output of the magnetron 10 based on the acquired cooking information, and rotates the rotating waveguide 14. The rotation of the motor 13 is controlled (step S5; heating control means). The example of FIG. 2 represents that the “preparation 1” of the preliminary cooking keys 23 is operated, and the type of the lunch assigned to the cooking key of the “preliminary 1” is “chestnut lunch”. Yes. “Remaining 1:10” indicates that the remaining heating time is 1 minute 10 seconds. By this heating, the lunch purchased by the customer is heated evenly.

  By the way, in the case of a limited-time menu lunch, when the sales period elapses, the cooking information and key assignment information of the lunch are no longer necessary. Conversely, if a lunch box sales company develops a new menu lunch, in order to sell the newly-developed lunch at a convenience store, the cooking information, key assignment information, etc. for the lunch is stored in the microwave oven. Is required. In such a case, for example, the microwave oven automatically communicates with the information server 29 at midnight when there are few customers to erase unnecessary cooking information from the storage unit 22 and newly requires heating. Cooking information and the like are stored in the storage unit 22.

  Communication with the information server 29 in this case will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. When the clock unit (not shown) of the information server 29 has a predetermined time of midnight, for example, 2:00 am (“YES” in step A1), the control device 30 of the information server 29 electronically transmits from the communication device 33 via the Internet 28. The range communication unit 21 is accessed (step A2). In response to this access signal (communication start request signal), the control circuit 18 of the microwave oven secures connection with the information server 29 via the Internet 28 and starts communication in order to start communication with the information server 29 ( Step B1; communication start means).

  When the connection is secured, the control device 30 of the information server 29 first transmits a key information request to the microwave oven from the transmission device 33 to the communication unit 21 of the microwave oven (step A3). When the microwave oven side receives the key information request (“YES” in step B2), the control circuit 18 accesses the storage unit 22 and acquires various lunch box names and cooking key information assigned to each lunch box. This is transmitted as key information to the information server 29 (step B3).

  When the control device 30 of the information server 29 receives the key information from the microwave oven (“YES” in step A4), the information on the cooking key assigned to each lunch stored in the cooking information database 31 with the key information. (Step A5). If they match (“YES” in step A5), the control device 30 ends communication with the microwave oven because there is no information to be deleted from the storage unit 22 of the microwave oven or information to be newly stored in the storage unit 22 (Step A12), the process returns. When the information server 29 ends communication, the microwave oven also disconnects from the information server 29 and ends communication.

  When the key information does not match the information of the cooking key assigned to each lunch stored in the cooking information database 31 ("NO" in step A5), that is, the lunch to be deleted or the new menu lunch If there is, the control device 30 transmits an update start consultation signal (step A6). When receiving the update start consultation (“YES” in step B4), the control circuit 18 of the microwave oven displays “update will start” on the display unit 20 as a notification means (step B5). In view of this display, if the clerk at the convenience store is currently heating the lunch box, he / she waits for the heating to be completed and operates the start key 25 as the update information reception start means (in step B6, “ YES ").

  Then, the control circuit 18 of the microwave oven transmits a cooking setting information request to the information server 29 (step B7), and displays “downloading” on the display unit 20. As a result, it is possible to prevent the lunch from being heated while receiving the download information from the information server 29 and causing trouble in receiving the download information. When receiving the cooking setting information request (“YES” in step A7), the control device 30 of the information server 29 transmits the cooking setting information (step A8). Here, the cooking setting information includes cooking information for each lunch box, key assignment information for each lunch box, sales period information, and the like. When receiving the cooking setting information (“YES” in step B9), the microwave control circuit 18 updates the cooking setting information stored in the storage unit 22 (step B10; storage control means).

  Next, the control circuit 18 acquires the updated cooking setting information stored in the storage unit 22, and transmits this to the information server 29 (step B11). When receiving the cooking setting information from the microwave oven (“YES” in step A9), the control device 30 of the information server 29 obtains the received cooking setting information and the cooking setting information stored in the cooking information database 31. If they match, it is correctly updated ("YES" in step A10), and cooking setting information update normal completion is transmitted to the microwave oven (step A11), and communication with the microwave oven is terminated (step A12). . In addition, when the control unit 22 of the microwave oven receives the normal completion of cooking setting information update (“YES” in step B12), the “downloading” in the display unit 20 is deleted (step B13), and communication with the information server 29 is performed. Is finished (step B14).

  In the present embodiment, not only the cooking setting information is updated by communication with the information server 29, but also the lunch set for which the end date of sales is set by the sales period information is erased by the microwave oven. I do. That is, as shown in FIG. 7, the control circuit 18 determines whether or not any lunch box stored in the storage unit 22 has a sales time limit (step C1; cooking menu determination with time limit). means). This determination is made, for example, every day after midnight every day. Then, when there is a lunch box with a sales deadline (“YES” in step C1), the control circuit 18 acquires the current date and time from a clock unit (not shown) that can count the calendar date and time that it has. Then, it is determined whether the sales deadline has passed (step C2; deadline determination means).

  When the sales deadline has passed ("YES" in step C2), the control circuit 18 displays, for example, "Bento A" on the display unit 20 as a notification means that indicates the name of the lunch box whose sales deadline has passed and the sales deadline has passed. "The expiration date has passed" is displayed (step C3), and the information about the lunch box whose sales expiration date has passed is deleted from the storage unit 22 (step C4; spare key setting means). As a result, the cooking key previously assigned to the lunch box becomes a spare cooking key that is not assigned, and can be assigned to a new lunch box.

As described above, in the microwave oven according to the present embodiment, the cooking information about the lunch to be newly started can be automatically downloaded from the information server 29. Therefore, for the lunch to be newly sold, the dedicated heating program is immediately used. Automatic heat treatment can be performed so as not to cause uneven heating.
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, and can be expanded or changed as follows.
As long as the lunch box is of a type that can be heated uniformly only by adjusting the heating time of the magnetron and the magnitude of the output, the rotating waveguide 14 as the electrolytic intensity distribution switching means is not necessary.
The electric field intensity distribution switching means for changing the electric field intensity distribution in the heating chamber 4 is not limited to that by the rotating waveguide 14.
The heating means is not limited to the magnetron 10, but may be an induction heating coil, a heater, or a combination of a magnetron and a heater or an induction heating coil.

A configuration in which heating number storage means (storage unit 22 may be used) for storing the number of times of heating for each cooking menu (lunch) is provided, and the number of times of heating for each lunch is sent to the information server 29 when communicating with the information server 29. It is also good. If it does in this way, the sales number for every lunch box can be acquired with the information server 29, and it can utilize as data for the manufacturing business of a lunch box.
The time point for downloading the cooking information from the information server 29 is not limited to once a day at midnight, but the control circuit 18 of the microwave oven has a predetermined time point (a predetermined time of the day, a weekly time). The information server 29 may be accessed to download the cooking information at a predetermined time on a predetermined day of the week.
The notification of downloading, the name of the lunch to be cooked, and the like may be made by sound emitted from a speaker (notification means).

The block diagram which shows one Embodiment of this invention and shows the electrical configuration of a microwave oven and an information server, and both communication configurations Front view of microwave oven Longitudinal side view of microwave oven Cross section of microwave oven Cooking flowchart Heating cooking information update flowchart Flow chart for erasing cooking information after expiration date

Explanation of symbols

  In the drawings, 1 is a main body, 4 is a heating chamber, 7 is an excitation port, 10 is a magnetron (heating means), 13 is a motor, 14 is a rotating waveguide, 18 is a control circuit (cooking information acquisition means, heating control means, 19 is a key switch group, 20 is a display unit (notification unit), 21 is a communication unit (communication unit), 22 is a storage unit (storage unit), and 23 and 24 are A cooking key, 25 is a start key, 28 is the Internet, 29 is an information server, 30 is a control device, 31 is a cooking information database, and 33 is a communication device.

Claims (4)

Heating means;
A plurality of cooking keys to which cooking menus are assigned;
Storage means for associating and storing at least cooking information of the cooking menu and a cooking key to which the cooking menu is assigned;
When any of the plurality of cooking keys is operated, cooking information acquisition means for acquiring cooking information of the cooking menu assigned to the operated cooking key from the storage means;
A heating control means for controlling the heating means based on the cooking information acquired by the cooking information acquisition means,
Communication means capable of communicating with at least an information server storing key assignment information specifying cooking keys to which cooking information and cooking menus for cooking menus are assigned;
Communication starting means for causing the communication means to start communication with the information server;
Based on the download information acquired by the communication means through communication with the information server, storage control means for associating the cooking information of the cooking menu with the cooking key to which the cooking menu is assigned is stored in the storage means. Cooking cooker. When the download information acquired from the information server includes the expiration date of the cooking menu, the storage control means associates the expiration date with the cooking key to which the cooking menu is assigned and stores the expiration date in the storage means. Configured,
Furthermore, a time limit judging means for obtaining a cooking menu use time limit from the storage means and determining whether or not the use time limit has passed,
When this expiration date determining means determines that the expiration date of use has passed, it has notification means for notifying this,
When the expiration date determining means determines that the expiration date has passed, the storage control means obtains, from the storage means, at least association information between the cooking menu whose expiration date has passed and the cooking key to which the cooking menu is assigned. 2. The cooking device according to claim 1, wherein the cooking key is erased and used as a preliminary cooking key that can be assigned another cooking menu.   The cooking device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein when the cooking information is acquired from the information server by the communication means, an informing means for informing the fact is provided. When the cooking by the cooking menu stored in the storage means is performed, the heating number storage means for accumulating and storing the number of heating times by the cooking menu,
The said communication control means uploads the information of the heating frequency for every cooking menu memorize | stored in the said heating frequency memory | storage means to the said information server at the time of communication with the said information server by the said communication means. The cooking device according to any one of 1 to 3.

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