JP2869295B2 - Cooker with in-store demonstration mode - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cooker such as a microwave oven, and more particularly to a cooker provided with a storefront demonstration mode (cooking demonstration mode) in which driving of a load cooking means is prohibited.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A recent cooking device such as a microwave oven is equipped with a microcomputer and its operation is complicated, and for sales promotion, it is necessary to demonstrate this complicated operation at a store and explain it to customers. . In this operation demonstration, since a magnetron or the like, which is a load cooking means, is driven, it is necessary to put a food load into the heating chamber, which is troublesome. In addition, a turntable, a container, and the like are contained in a packed state in a heating chamber of a cooker at a store, and in order to load food, the package must be taken out, which is troublesome in this respect. what if,
If the operation demonstration is performed with the packaged items inside, the packaged items will be heated and ignite, causing a very dangerous situation.

[0003] Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 3-17134 discloses an in-store demonstration mode (a control mode for performing a cooking demonstration without driving the load cooking means) by a special operation in order to eliminate the trouble and the danger of ignition during the operation demonstration. ) Is shown. This special operation is completely unnecessary when the customer purchases a cooker and uses it at home, so that the customer is not notified and does not perform the operation. In this cooker, when the power is turned off due to the end of store operations in one day, the store demonstration mode is canceled, and when the power is turned on the next day and the operation demonstration is performed in the same manner, the above operation must be performed again, which is troublesome. It is.

On the other hand, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-33944 discloses that in order to eliminate the trouble, once the mode has been shifted to the in-store demonstration mode by a special operation, the power is turned off and then the power is turned on. A cooker is shown that can be returned to the in-store demonstration mode without special operation (with simple operation) based on memory.

[0005]

A system in which the power is turned off once the power is turned on once the power is turned on after the special operation has been performed and the power supply is turned on after the special operation is performed, is convenient for the seller. If the customer does not release the in-store demonstration mode after performing the special operation before delivering the product to the customer, the customer shifts to the in-store demonstration mode and inconveniences the customer.

The only way to prevent the occurrence of this problem is for the seller to release the in-store demonstration mode by a special operation, and if this is not possible, the adoption of this system must be discontinued.

In view of the above, the present invention provides a system in which the power is turned off once the power is turned on once the special operation is performed to shift to the in-store demonstration mode, and then the power is turned on. If you turn off, the storefront demonstration mode is canceled and the cooking appliance manufacturer can select on the production line in response to distribution needs whether to use a system that requires special operation after turning on the power to return to the storefront demonstration mode The purpose is to provide cookers.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a load cooking means for cooking a food load, an operation unit, and a first determination as to whether or not a storefront demonstration mode setting operation has been performed by the operation unit.
A non-volatile memory for storing data of the first and second data as to whether or not to use the first data, and drive control of the load cooking means based on information from the operation unit and information in the non-volatile memory The first data indicating that the setting operation of the storefront demonstration mode has been performed in the nonvolatile memory when the power is turned on again after the power is turned off, and the second data indicating that the first data is used. If it is stored, control is performed so as to shift to the storefront demonstration mode without any operation on the operation unit, and the second data not using the first data is controlled.
If this data is stored, the cooker is controlled so as not to shift to the in-store demonstration mode unless a setting operation in the in-store demonstration mode is performed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cooker in which the second data stored in the nonvolatile memory is rewritable by an operation of the operation unit based on a special operation of the operation unit.

[0010]

According to the second data stored and set in the non-volatile memory, the system automatically shifts to the in-store demonstration mode when the power is turned off once the special operation is performed to shift to the in-store demonstration mode and then the power is turned on. When the cooker becomes a cooker or the power to the cooker is turned off, the storefront demonstration mode is released and the cooker becomes a system cooker that requires special operations after turning on the power to return to the storefront demonstration mode. Companies can change system specifications by rewriting non-volatile memory on the production line in response to distribution needs.

Since the second data stored in the non-volatile memory can be rewritten by operating the operation unit, the cooker manufacturer can immediately respond to market complaints on the production line. Can respond immediately.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A microwave oven which is a typical cooking device will be described as an example. As shown in detail in FIG. 1, a front panel of the microwave oven is provided with a display unit 1 and an operation unit 2. The display unit 1 includes a numeric display unit 3 for displaying a current time, a heating time, and the like, and a mode display unit 4 for displaying a heating mode, a special mode (D meaning storefront demonstration mode), and the like.
The operation unit 2 includes a cancel key 5, a manual key 6, a decompression key 7, an oven key 8, a start key 9, a clock key 10,
Multi cook key 11, range key 12, grill key 1
3. A timer knob 14 is provided.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a microwave oven according to the present invention. A control unit 15 which is composed of a microcomputer and controls the microwave oven, the display unit 1 and the operation unit 2 disposed around the control unit 15, and a load cooking for microwave cooking a food load stored in the heating chamber. Means, ie, a magnetron 16, a cooling fan 17 for cooling the magnetron 16, a nonvolatile memory (E ² PROM) 18, and the like are provided. The control unit 15 controls the display unit 1, the magnetron 16, the cooling fan 17, the nonvolatile memory 18, and the like based on operation information from the operation unit 2.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of an operation program relating to the in-store demonstration mode incorporated in the control unit 15 described above. Hereinafter, a specific operation according to the in-store demonstration mode of the microwave oven according to the present invention will be described based on the flowchart. explain. First, when power is turned on to the microwave oven, S1
At step S, the RAM X is initialized (to 0). The data of X indicates whether or not the setting operation of the in-store demonstration mode has been performed. “1” indicates that the setting operation has been performed, and “0” indicates that the setting operation has not been performed. This data is also stored as first data in the non-volatile memory 18 based on the presence or absence of the storefront demonstration mode setting operation.

Next, in step S2, the second data stored in the nonvolatile memory 18 is read into Y of the RAM. The Y data indicates whether to use the first data stored in the non-volatile memory 18, "1" indicates use, and "0" indicates not use. Then, the initial value of this data is written in the nonvolatile memory 18 by a writing device together with other data at the time of shipment from the factory, and is set as a standard specification of a product.

In step S3, it is determined whether the data of Y is "0" or "1". If "0", the process proceeds to step S5. If "1", the nonvolatile memory 18 is stored in X of the RAM in step S4. After reading the first data stored in step S5, the process proceeds to step S5.

In step S5, it is determined whether X in the RAM is "1" or "0". If "1", it is determined that the in-store demonstration mode operation has been performed, and the process proceeds to the in-store demonstration mode in step S6, where D display is performed. If "0", it is determined that the in-store demonstration mode operation has not been performed, and the process proceeds to the normal mode in step S7.

In step S8, it is determined whether or not an operation of releasing the in-store demonstration mode has been performed in the in-store demonstration mode. The data of 1 and X of the RAM are rewritten to “0”. In the S10 mode, it is determined whether or not the setting operation of the storefront demonstration mode has been performed under the normal mode.
At step 11, the mode shifts to the storefront demonstration mode, and the first data of the nonvolatile memory 18 and X of the RAM are rewritten to "1".

In step S12, it is determined whether or not a second data setting operation for setting the above-described second data to "1" has been performed. If the setting operation has been performed, the non-volatile memory 18 in step S13 is determined. Is rewritten to "1". If the setting operation has not been performed, S14
In step S15, it is determined whether or not a second data erasing operation for erasing the second data (to "0") has been performed. If the erasing operation has been performed, the second data in the nonvolatile memory 18 is determined in step S15. Is rewritten to “0”. When the erasing operation is not performed, the second data in the nonvolatile memory 18 retains the storage state.

The above-mentioned in-store demonstration mode setting operation and the second data setting operation do not require a shift to the in-store demonstration mode at the stage of customer use. I have. For example, after the multi-cook key 11 is pressed for 2 seconds, the decompression key 7 is pressed for 2 seconds, and the timer knob 14 is turned until the display becomes 15.
Next, the start key 9 is pressed, and the timer knob 14 is turned until the display becomes 30. Next, it is a special operation of pressing the clock key 10, turning the timer knob 14 until the display becomes 00, and finally pressing the cancel key 3 three times.

When a product that does not need to perform such a complicated operation every time the power is turned on is set, the second data in the nonvolatile memory 18 is set to “1”.
The first data in the non-volatile memory 18 that the special operation has been performed is read into X of the RAM every time the power is turned on, and the mode can be immediately shifted to the storefront demonstration mode.

On the other hand, when it is not necessary to deliver the product used in the in-store demonstration mode to the customer without canceling the in-store demonstration mode and cause inconvenience to the customer, the second data in the nonvolatile memory 18 is not required. Is set to “0” so that once power is turned off and power is turned on,
Is initialized and the mode does not shift to the storefront demonstration mode unless the special operation is performed, so that the customer is not inconvenienced.

[0023]

According to the present invention, the second memory of the nonvolatile memory
By changing the data of the system, the power is turned off once the power is turned off once the power is turned on after the special operation is performed and the mode is changed to the storefront demonstration mode. When you turn off the storefront demonstration mode, you can use the cooker as a system that requires special operation after turning on the power to return to the storefront demonstration mode, and the cookware manufacturer can respond to the distribution needs immediately Can be changed.

Since the second data stored in the non-volatile memory can be rewritten by the operation unit, the cooker manufacturing company can immediately respond to the market complaint on the production line, and the sales company can use the sales company. We can respond instantly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an operation panel of a microwave oven according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram of a microwave oven according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart according to an in-store demonstration mode incorporated in a control unit of a microwave oven according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Operation unit 15 Control unit 16 Magnetron (load cooking means) 18 Non-volatile memory

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A load cooking means for cooking a food load, an operation unit, first data indicating whether or not a storefront demonstration mode setting operation has been performed by the operation unit, and whether or not to use the first data. A non-volatile memory for storing the second data, and control means for driving and controlling the load cooking means based on the information from the operation unit and the information in the non-volatile memory, and after the power is turned off, the power supply is again turned on. If the first data indicating that the setting operation of the in-store demonstration mode has been performed and the second data indicating that the first data is to be used are stored in the nonvolatile memory at the time of insertion, the operation is not performed by the operation unit. Control is performed so as to shift to the in-store demonstration mode, and if the second data indicating that the first data is not used is stored, the in-store demonstration mode is not changed unless the in-store demonstration mode setting operation is performed. Cooker with in-store demonstration mode controlled by 2. The in-store demonstration according to claim 1, wherein the second data stored in the nonvolatile memory is rewritable by an operation of the operation unit based on a special operation on the operation unit. Cooker with mode.