JP2890496B2 - rice cooker - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a rice cooker having a timer rice cooking function capable of presetting a cooking time.

(Prior Art) In recent years, this kind of rice cooker has a microcomputer as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-92629, so that rice cooker, brown rice cooker, rice cooker, rice porridge cooker, etc. Various functions such as selecting a rice cooking menu of various courses, performing reservation timer rice cooking by the timer function, storing the reservation time, reading and displaying the reservation time of the previous reservation timer rice cooking, etc. It can be implemented.

This type of conventional rice cooker has a display unit for displaying a plurality of rice cooking menus and a current time and a cooked time, and displays the contents as shown in FIG. Section displays only the current time. And when you make a reservation timer rice cooking, first press the reservation switch to read and display the previous cooking time, confirm it, change the cooking time if necessary, and press the rice cooking switch to make the reservation timer rice cooking. Is started. To select the rice menu, first press the menu switch to display multiple rice menus,
This allows the user to confirm the set rice cooking menu, change the rice cooking menu as needed, and press the rice cooking switch to start rice cooking in the selected course. During the rice cooking and warming operation, the cooking time and a plurality of rice cooking courses are continuously displayed, and only the current time is displayed by operating the cancel switch.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) In the above-described conventional technology, only the current time is displayed when the cancel switch is operated, and so on.
When setting the rice cooking content by operating the operation switch, it is necessary to first press the reservation switch to display the cooking time, or to press the menu switch to display multiple rice cooking menus. Since the operation of changing the cooked rice menu, the cooking time, and the start operation is performed, the switch operation is troublesome. Further, during the rice cooking and warming operation, the cooking time and a plurality of rice cooking menus are continuously displayed, so that there is a problem that the set rice cooking content is easily erroneously recognized.

To cope with such a problem, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H01-11512 discloses that after a rice cooking operation, a set rice cooking menu is displayed without displaying a reservation time, that is, a cooking time, and a timer rice cooking timer. After operation,
A display device of a cooker that displays a rice cooking menu set as a reservation time is disclosed.

However, in the above configuration, when the reservation time is set,
In order to display the reservation time in the current time display part, when setting the rice content by operating the switch on the operation unit, the time setting key must be pressed each time to display the reservation time, which makes the switch operation troublesome. become. In addition, when setting the content of rice cooking, it is not possible to know which rice menu is present and which rice menu is being selected, so to display such a rice menu, operate the switch one by one. In addition to the fact that the reservation time cannot be confirmed immediately, the switch operation becomes more troublesome. In addition, when the operation is stopped, there is a concern that it is not possible to confirm at a glance the status of the rice cooking content including the current time.

Therefore, the present invention enables easy operation of the operation switch and accurate confirmation of the content of cooked rice, and when the operation is stopped,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a rice cooker capable of confirming at a glance the state of rice cooking content including the current time.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) When the rice cooker of the present invention is in an operation stop state before the timer operation of the rice cooking operation or the timer rice cooking, the current time, the cooking start time, and all the possessed time are obtained. The cooked rice menu and the instructions of the set cooked rice menu among the plurality of cooked rice menus are simultaneously displayed.After the rice cooking operation, at least the set cooked rice menu instructions are displayed without displaying the cooked time, and the timer is displayed. After the timer operation of rice cooking, at least the instruction of the rice cooking menu that is set as the cooking time is displayed, and after the rice cooking or timer rice cooking operation, the operation is stopped again by pressing the cancel switch or the like, when the operation was stopped again. The timer is provided with an indicator for displaying the cooked time of rice cooking.

(Operation) According to the above configuration, in the operation stop state before the start of the ordinary rice cooking or the timer rice cooking, the current time, the cooking time, all the rice cooking menus held, and the plurality of rice cooking menus are set on the display. Since the instructions of the cooked rice menu are displayed at the same time, it is not necessary to operate the switch to display the cooked rice menu and the cooked time. This simplifies the switch operation and sets the current time when the operation is stopped. At a glance, you can check the status of the content of cooked rice, including rice. In addition, when setting the content of rice cooking, the user can check the rice cooking menu pre-selected on the display and the preset cooking time performed last time without operating the switch, and immediately start cooking rice when no change is required. It is convenient and can prevent erroneous operation. Further, after the rice cooking is started, the content of the cooked rice to be executed is displayed, and other displays are not performed, so that misunderstanding of the content of the cooked rice is prevented.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In FIG. 9, reference numeral 1 denotes a vessel main body having an inner case 2 and an outer case 3, etc., 4 a lid, 5 a rice cooking container housed in the inner case 2, and 6 a bottom of the inner case 2. A rice cooking heater, 7 is a warming heater provided on the side surface of the inner case 2 and the inner surface of the lid 4, and 8 is a cup-shaped heat-sensitive portion provided so as to elastically press against the outer bottom of the container 5, and has a container 5 inside. Is provided with a temperature sensor 9 for detecting the temperature.
Reference numeral 10 denotes an electronic circuit unit that controls the inputs of the rice cooker 6 and the heater 7 based on the temperature detection information from the temperature sensor 9 and the like, and is provided on the side of the outer case 3. 3 and 10 show a display unit 11 provided on the lid 4.
And an operation unit 12. The display unit 11 has a display unit 13 composed of an LCD serving as a display. The display unit 13 has a time display unit 14 for a current time, which is constituted by a 4-digit 7-segment LCD.
And a time display section 15 serving as a reserved time display means for displaying a reserved time such as a cooked time, etc., and arranged in order of white rice cooked plump (standard), white rice cooked crisp (hard), cooked brown rice cooked, porridge cooked. There is provided a course display section 17 which is a course display means for displaying, by moving the surrounding frame 16, a plurality of courses having different cooking menus or different cooking modes. The display unit 11 also has a mode display unit 18 composed of four LEDs, which displays the mode being processed among timer rice cooking, hot rice cooking, rice cooking, and heat retention. The operation unit 12 includes a plurality of operation switches, which are a current time switch 19 provided on a side of the display unit 13 and a menu for selecting a course provided on the lower part of the display unit 13. Switch 20, forward switch 21 and back switch 22, timer rice cooker switch 23, rice cooker switch 24
And a cancel switch 25.

Each time the menu / heating selection switch 20 is pressed, each course is set in order from the preset white rice cooked plump to white rice cooked crisp, cooked / brown rice cooked, rice porridge cooked, and white rice cooked plumply. The course is indicated by box 16. In this case, when the cancel switch 25 is operated or when the power is restored, for example, when the power is restored, the rice is automatically set to the standard heating pattern of white rice cooking. The reservation time or the current time is adjusted by pressing the forward switch 21 or the back switch 22.After pressing the current time switch 19, pressing the switches 21 and 22 to adjust the current time, and then pressing the current time switch 19 again, the current time is set. The time is set. In addition, the time display section 15 displays the last time the timer cooking was performed, and switches 21 and 2 are displayed.
After pressing 2 to change the reservation time, pressing the timer rice cooker switch 23 sets the reservation time and starts timer rice cooking. Also, every time the cooker switch 24 is pressed,
Heating and heat retention are set in order.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration. Reference numeral 26 denotes an A / D converter which constitutes a temperature detecting means 27 together with the temperature sensor 9, and outputs a signal corresponding to the detected temperature. Numeral 28 is control means composed of a microcomputer constituting the electronic circuit unit 10, which has a CPU 29, a timing circuit 30, a memory 31, a backup circuit 32, an input circuit 33, an output circuit 34, and the like, as is well known. A battery 35 is connected to the backup circuit 32. The control means 28 has a plurality of types of programs, and according to the programs stored therein, before the start of rice cooking, that is, when the cancel switch 25 is operated or when the power is restored after the power failure is restored, or when the power plug is inserted, etc. Is displayed, and after the rice cooking is started, a display control means is provided for performing a display necessary for the content of the rice cooked to be executed and controlling not to perform other displays. Control means
28 has a function to sequentially set a heating pattern for performing a rice cooking menu or a plurality of courses with different heating levels based on the operation signal of the menu / heating selection switch 20 from the standard heating pattern. I have. Control means 28
Has a function of storing and displaying the reservation time when the timer rice cooking is performed. The control means 28 is an operation unit
Drive circuit according to 12 operation signals and detected temperature of container 5
The drive of the heaters 6 and 7 is controlled by 36, and the drive of the display unit 11 is controlled by the drive circuit 37.

FIG. 2 shows a circuit diagram of a power supply unit and a heater driving unit,
Reference numeral 38 denotes a commercial power supply, and a rice-cooking heater 6, a warming heater 7, and a triac 39 are connected in series between both terminals.
A relay is connected to the series circuit of the heater 7 and the triac 39.
A normally open relay switch 40A constituting 40 is connected in parallel. Reference numeral 41 denotes a power transformer, and a predetermined power voltage is supplied to the microcomputer as the control means 28 via the power transformer 41 and the constant voltage circuit 42. This control means 28
Inputs a temperature signal of the container 5 from the thermistor as the temperature sensor 9, and inputs a rice cooking start signal from a container detection switch 43 for detecting that the container 5 is set in the inner case 2.
The control means 28 excites the exciting coil 40B of the relay 40 via the relay drive circuit 44 and drives the triac 39 via the triac drive circuit 45 to control the inputs of the rice cooker heater 6 and the heat retaining heater 7.

The display control means provided in the control means 28 is the seventh control means.
When the cancel switch 25 is turned on after the completion of rice cooking as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 8 and FIG. 8, or when the operation is stopped such as when a power plug is inserted, all of the contents in the display unit 13 as shown in FIG. Are displayed at the same time. That is, the current time is displayed on the time display section 14 in the display section 13, the reservation time of the last timer rice cooking is displayed on the time display section 15, and the white rice cooking plump and white rice cooking crispness are displayed on the course display section 17. , Cooking, brown rice cooking, porridge cooking are displayed, and the surrounding frame 16 is displayed surrounding white rice cooking plump. To change the content of cooked rice in this state, pressing the menu / heating selection switch 20 once moves the surrounding frame 16 to white rice cooking and refreshing the menu. Brown rice cooked, porridge cooked, white rice cooked plumply selected. By pressing switches 21 and 22, the reservation time is adjusted, and then by pressing timer rice cooker switch 23, the reservation time is set and the timer operation starts. Cooker switch 24
Press once to start regular rice cooking, press twice to start cooking rice quickly, and press it three times to start warming. In this case, if it is not necessary to change the content of the cooked rice, it is sufficient to operate the start switch, and if the cancel switch 25 is pressed during the cooking and warming operation, the display shown in FIG. 3 is displayed.

The display control means controls so that only the display necessary for the cooked rice content executed after the start of the cooked rice is performed. In other words, after the timer rice of the fluffy rice cooking course is started, the mode display section 18 indicating timer rice cooking is turned on as shown in FIG. 4, and the time display sections 14 and 15 on the display section 13 show the current time and the current time.
While the reservation time is displayed, the course display section 17 displays only white rice plump surrounded by the surrounding frame 16, and other courses not selected are not displayed. Also, after the start of the ordinary rice cooking in the white rice cooking plump course, the mode display section 18 indicating normal rice cooking is turned on as shown in FIG. 5, and the display section 13 displays only the current time and the white rice plumping surrounded by the box 16. The reservation time and the rice cooking course not selected are not displayed. In this case, after the start of rice cooking, the display state is the same as that shown in FIG. 5, and only the lighting of the mode display section 18 moves to rice cooking. During the heat retention, the mode display section 18 indicating the heat retention is turned on as shown in FIG.
It is displayed as shown in the figure.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the cancel switch 25 is operated or when the power plug is inserted, the operation is stopped, that is, before the rice cooking is started, all contents are simultaneously displayed as shown in FIG. Since it is not necessary to first press the menu switch to display the menu or press the reservation switch to display the reservation time when setting the contents of rice cooking, the switch operation is simplified and the operation is stopped. At a time, the status of the rice cooking content including the current time can be checked at a glance. At the time of setting the rice cooking content, the course selected in advance and the preset reservation time can be confirmed without operating the switch by the display shown in FIG. 3, and if no change is required, the rice cooking is started immediately. This is convenient and can prevent erroneous operation. In addition, the timer rice cooking can be started by one switch operation, so that the timer rice switch operation becomes easy. In addition, rice cooking,
During the warming operation, only the content of cooked rice is displayed as shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, so that the display is simplified and the content of cooked rice can be accurately confirmed.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention. For example, the time display section of the reservation time may display the rice cooking start time or the remaining time until the rice cooking is completed, instead of the cooking time, and the rice cooking course may not have a selection of heating and cooling. Also, the current time does not necessarily need to be displayed after the start of rice cooking. At the time of shipment, the reservation time may be displayed at, for example, 6:00. The basic configuration of a rice cooker is applicable to various types.

[Effects of the Invention] In the present invention, when the operation is stopped before the timer operation of the rice cooking operation or the timer rice cooking, the current time, the cooking time, all the rice cooking menus held, and the setting of the plurality of rice cooking menus are set. After the rice cooking operation, at least the set rice cooking menu instruction is displayed simultaneously without displaying the cooking time, and after the timer rice cooking timer operation, at least the cooking time is set. It has a display that displays the instructions of the cooked rice menu, and displays the time when the last cooked rice was cooked when the rice cooked or timer cooked operation was stopped again by pressing the cancel switch after the rice cooked or timer cooked. The operation of the operation switch is easy, the contents of the cooked rice can be checked accurately, and when the operation is stopped, the current It is possible to provide a rice cooker that allows the user to check at a glance the status of the rice cooking content including the time at the time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 to 11 show an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electric configuration of a rice cooker, FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of a power supply unit and a heater driving unit, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a front view of the display unit showing the display of the timer rice cooking state, FIG. 5 is a front view of the display unit showing the display of the normal rice cooking state, FIG. Is a front view of the display unit showing the display of the heat retention state, FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the course display operation, FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the reservation display operation, FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the rice cooker, and FIG. FIG. 11 is a front view of a display unit showing a display of an operation stop state in a conventional rice cooker. 13 Display unit (display) 25 Cancel switch

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-1-11512 (JP, A) JP-A-63-49113 (JP, A) JP-A-63-197411 (JP, A) JP-A-62 19123 (JP, A) JP-A-63-290519 (JP, A) JP-A-61-92629 (JP, A) JP-A-63-181717 (JP, A) JP-A-63-105713 (JP, A) Hira 2-78120 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) A47J 27/00-27/64

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] When the rice cooking operation or the timer rice cooking operation is stopped before the timer operation, the current time, the cooking time, all the rice cooking menus and the rice cooking set among the plurality of rice cooking menus are set. The menu instructions are displayed at the same time, and after the rice cooking operation, at least the set rice cooking menu instruction is displayed without displaying the cooking time, and after the timer rice cooking timer operation, at least the cooking time is set. After the rice cooker menu instruction is displayed, after the rice cooker or timer rice cooker is operated, when the operation is stopped again by pressing the cancel switch, etc., it is provided with an indicator that displays the time of the last cooked timer rice cooker. Characterized rice cooker.