JPH01320015A - Timer display device of cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to display a time of abnormal condition occurred as well as to display the abnormal condition and to perform an investigation of the cause of the abnormality easily and quickly by providing a digital display for displaying a current time and a graphic display with displays the current time and a completion time of a cooking. CONSTITUTION:First, a menu is selected by pushing down a menu key 40. Next, a time adjust key 44 is pushed down and a current time is set in a unit of minutes by operating a time up up key 42 or a time down key 43. When a timer setting had finished and a clocking has started with a timer circuit 21, a current time is displayed by a digital display 34 and a rough current time, a time when boiling is to be finished and a remaining time are displayed on a graphic display device 35. When a breaking down of a heater 6 or a temperature sensor abnormality of a temperature sensor 7, etc., happens, a display state of the graphic display device 35 will change to an abnormal display and also the digital display device 34 will halt at the current time. Thus, an occurrence of abnormality on a cooker can be recognised by observing a content of the graphic display device 35, and at the same time the time when an abnormality occurred can be known from the contents of the digital display device 34.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a timer display device used in a cooking appliance having a timer function, such as a rice cooker.

(Prior art) For example, in a rice cooker equipped with a rice cooking control circuit made up of a microcomputer, the rice cooking operation is completed after a desired time using a clock function of the microcomputer, so-called timer rice cooking. There is. In this device, when timer cooking is to be performed, the operator operates the operation unit to first set the current time and then set the desired time for the rice to be cooked. When the start switch is turned on, the waiting time until the start of rice cooking is calculated based on the set cooking completion time, the set current time, and the predetermined time required for rice cooking, and the timing operation starts from the time the start switch is turned on. will be started. Then, when the calculated standby time is counted, rice cooking is executed, and the rice cooking is completed at the set time when the rice is cooked.

A rice cooker having such a timer function is provided with a timer display device for displaying the current time, cooking completion time, etc. set by operating the operation unit. This type of timer display device includes one in which the time display is composed of seven segments and displayed using digital numbers, and one in which the time is displayed in a frame-like arrangement and a graphic display device in which display elements are arranged in order of the weight of the display time. be. Also, devices with both digital and graphic displays are being considered. When an abnormality occurs in the rice cooker, such as a disconnection of the heater or a failure of the temperature sensor, the timer display device of such a rice cooker is designed to display an abnormality using the time display in response to the abnormality detection. controlled. That is, in the case of a digital display, the character "OFF" is displayed using seven segments, and in the case of a graphic display, a symbol such as "X" is displayed. Therefore, the user can know that an abnormality has occurred in the rice cooker when the timer display device displays an abnormality display such as "OFF" or "X".

(Problem to be solved by the invention) However, when an abnormality occurs, it is important to quickly investigate the cause of the abnormality, and to do so, it is necessary to determine in which mode during operation the abnormality occurred, voltage fluctuations, It is necessary to confirm whether there were any external factors such as earthquakes or power outages. However, it has been impossible to determine the cause of the abnormality from the displayed content only by displaying abnormalities such as "OFF" or "x".

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the present invention provides a timer display device for a cooking appliance that can display the abnormality occurrence time as well as an abnormality display when an abnormality occurs in the cooking appliance, and can easily and quickly investigate the cause of the abnormality. .

[Configuration of the Invention (Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention provides a timer display device for a cooking appliance having a timer function, which includes a digital display that digitally displays at least the current time, and a digital display that displays at least the current time and the cooking completion time. A graphic display that displays graphics, and an error that displays an error on either the graphic display or the digital display in response to the detection of an error in the cooking appliance, and displays the time of occurrence of the error on the other display. It is equipped with a display control means.

(Function) With a timer display device for a cooker that takes such measures, when an abnormality occurs in the cooker, an abnormality is displayed on either the graphic display or the digital display, and the other display is displayed. The display shows the time when the abnormality occurred. Therefore, it is possible to recognize that an abnormality has occurred in the cooking device by the abnormality display displayed on one of the indicators.
In addition, based on the time of occurrence of the abnormality displayed on the other display, it is easy to determine in which operating mode the abnormality has occurred, or whether it is due to external factors such as voltage fluctuations or earthquakes.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example in which the timer display device of the present invention is applied to a rice cooker will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an external view of the rice cooker, in which 1 is the main body, 2 is an inner pot, 3 is an inner lid, 4 is an outer lid, and 5 is a power cord. A heater 6 and a temperature sensor 7 are provided at positions facing the bottom of the inner pot 2 inserted into the main body 1. The heater 6 is for heating the inside of the inner pot 2. The temperature sensor 7 is for measuring the temperature inside the inner pot 2. Further, an operation panel 8 equipped with a display section and a keyboard is attached to the outer wall of the main body 1.

FIG. 2 is a control block diagram of the rice cooker.

In the figure, 11 is a CPU (central processing unit) as the main body of the control unit, and a ROM 12 that stores fixed data such as control programs, and a ROM 12 that stores fixed data such as control programs, and a ROM 12 that stores fixed data such as control programs and the current time and A RAM 13 having a memory for storing rising times and the like is controlled via a pass line 14. Also, a heater drive circuit 15 for the heater 6, a temperature detection circuit 16 for receiving a signal from the temperature sensor 7, and a display section 1 on the operation panel 8.
A display control circuit 18 for driving and controlling the CPU 7, a keyboard input circuit 20 for inputting signals from the keyboard 19 on the operation panel 8, and a timer circuit 21 for measuring time are connected to the CPU 1 via a pass line 22. .

FIG. 3 is a detailed view of the operation panel 8. As shown in the figure, above the panel 8 is a timer LED 31 that lights up when the timer is set. Rice cooking/steaming LED 32 that lights up during the rice cooking process and flashes during the steaming process. A group of LED indicators including a warming LED 33 that lights up during the warming process, and a digital indicator 3 that displays the current time or cooking completion time in 1-minute units.
4. Current time 2 Cooking time and remaining time 1■ 155
Graphic display 35 that displays "white rice" in minutes
A display section 17 consisting of a timer display device 37 having a menu display 36 for displaying each menu of "Hayayaki", "Rice-cooked brown rice", and "Porridge" is provided at the bottom. Start key 38 to press
, a cancel key 39 that is pressed to cancel a set, a menu key 40 that is pressed to select a menu, a reservation key 41 that is pressed to make a timer reservation, and a time up key that advances the current time or cooking time. 42
, a time down key 43 that sends the current time or the finished cooking time in the backward direction, a time setting key 44 that is pressed to set the current time, and a reservation display key that switches the display content of the digital display 34 between the current time and the finished cooking time. A keyboard 19 on which 45 is arranged is provided.

Accordingly, the CPU II executes the following operations according to the program in the ROM 12.

When the power plug at the end of the power cord 5 is inserted into an outlet and the power is turned on, a predetermined initial process is executed, and then key data from one keyboard is waited for. Here, when the menu key 40 is input, the display on the menu display 36 is cyclically switched in the order of "white rice", "cooked rice", "cooked/brown rice", and "porridge". Also, time setting key 4
4 is input, the current time setting is recognized, and the digital display 34 displays, for example, "12:00" as the initial time, and the initial time 1 is displayed on the graphic display 35.
The display element corresponding to 2 o'clock is turned on. In this state, wait for the input of the time up key 42 or the time down key 43, and if the up key 42 is pressed manually, the time on the digital display 34 is updated in 1 minute increments, and graphically displayed in 155 minute increments. The lighting display element of the container 35 is also shifted in the advancing direction.

Conversely, if the down key 43 is input, the time on the digital display 34 is updated in 1-minute increments in the backward direction, and 155
The lighting display element of the graphic display 35 is also shifted in the return direction by a minute. Thus, the current time setting is completed in response to the input of the reservation key 41 or the start key 38.

Here, when the reservation key 41 is input, the setting of the cooking time is recognized, and the time UP key 42 is input. When the up key 42 is pressed manually, the lighting display elements of the graphic display 35 are sequentially shifted in the forward direction by 155 minutes from the current time position. However, start key 38
The setting of the cooking time is completed according to the human power.

After that, the waiting time until the start of rice cooking is calculated based on the current time, the cooking completion time, and the time required for rice cooking that is predetermined for each menu, and the timer circuit 21 is set to start measuring the waiting time. . At this time, the timer LED 31 is turned on. In addition, the digital display 3
5, the remaining time until the rice is cooked is displayed by lighting up all the display elements from the display element corresponding to the current time to the display element corresponding to the time when the rice is cooked (see FIG. 4). The timer circuit 21 updates the current time on the digital display 34 in the forward direction every time one minute is counted, and advances the display element corresponding to the current time on the graphic display 35 every time 15 minutes are counted. Turn off the lights in sequence in the direction.

When the timer circuit 21 finishes counting the standby time, the heater 6 is turned on and rice cooking is performed according to the rice cooking control corresponding to the selection menu. At this time, during the rice cooking process,
The steaming LED 32 is turned on, and when the steaming process begins, the LED 32 is blinked. Then, the rice cooking is completed at the set cooking time, and the warming process begins. At this time, the heat retention LED 33 is turned on.

On the other hand, when the reservation display key 45 is pressed manually when setting the cooking time or after setting the timer, the display contents of the digital display 34 are changed from displaying the current time to displaying the cooking completion time (see FIG. 5).

Also, after setting the timer, the heater 6 may be disconnected or the temperature sensor 7 may be disconnected.
If an abnormality such as temperature detection abnormality is detected, the display state of the graphic display 35 is changed to an "x" symbol indicating an abnormality, and the digital display 34 is locked at the current clock time (see FIG. 6).

When performing timer rice cooking with the rice cooker of this embodiment that operates as described above, the user first presses the menu key 40 to select a menu. Next, the user presses the time setting key 44 and operates the time up key 42 or the time down key 43 to set the current time in one-minute increments. At this time, the set time is displayed as a digital number on the digital display 34, so if the display content on the digital display 34 matches the current time, press the reservation key 41 and set the current time (for example, 1
2:00) to complete the settings. Next, operate the time up key 42 to set the cooking time in 15 minute increments. At this time, the set time is indicated by lighting up the corresponding display element on the graphic display 35, so if the display element for the desired cooking completion time lights up, press the start key 38 and set the cooking completion time (for example, 6:00). complete. The timer is then set, and the timer circuit 21 starts counting time. In this state, as shown in FIG. 4, the digital display 34 displays the current time, and the graphic display 35 displays the approximate current time, finished cooking time, and remaining time.

Here, the user presses the reservation display key 45 if he wants to check the cooking time. Then, the content displayed on the digital display 34 changes to the set cooking time as shown in FIG. 5, so that it can be confirmed at a glance rather than reading from the content displayed on the graphic display 35.

On the other hand, when the waiting time until the start of rice cooking is measured by the timer circuit 21, the rice cooking operation according to the selection menu is started. As shown in FIG. 6, the display state of the graphic display 35 becomes an abnormal display, and the digital display 34 stops at the current time. Therefore, the user can recognize that an abnormality has occurred in the rice cooker from the content displayed on the graphic display 35, and can also know the time of occurrence of the abnormality from the content displayed on the digital display 34.

As described above, with the timer display device of this embodiment, when an abnormality occurs in the rice cooker, the abnormality information can be displayed on the graphic display 35, and the time of occurrence of the abnormality can be displayed on the digital display 34. From the time when the abnormality occurred, it is possible to immediately check which operating mode the abnormality was being executed in, or whether it was caused by an external factor such as a power outage or an earthquake.

Therefore, since the cause of the abnormality can be easily investigated, recovery processing can be performed quickly and practicality can be improved.

In the above embodiment, the graphic display 35 displays the abnormality and the digital display 34 displays the time of occurrence of the abnormality.
It is also possible to display an abnormality such as "F", and lock the display on the graphic display when an abnormality occurs to display the time of abnormality (current time) along with the cooking completion time and remaining time.Furthermore, the timer of the present invention Of course, the display device can be applied to cooking appliances other than rice cookers that have a timer function.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the present invention, when an abnormality occurs in a cooking device, the abnormality occurrence time can be displayed together with the abnormality display, and the cause of the abnormality can be easily and quickly investigated. can provide a timer display device for the device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 to 6 are diagrams showing one embodiment of the present invention, in which Figure 1 is an external view of the rice cooker, Figure 2 is a control block diagram of the rice cooker, and Figure 3 is details of the operation panel. 4 to 6 are diagrams showing the display format of the timer display device of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the display format when the timer is set, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the display format when the reservation display key is pressed. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display form when an abnormality occurs. 8... Operation panel, 11... CPU, 18... Display control circuit, 21... Timer circuit, 34... Digital display, 35... Graphic display, 45...
・Reservation display key. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a timer display device for a cooker having a timer function,
a digital display that digitally displays at least the current time; a graphic display that graphically displays at least the current time and cooking completion time; and one of the graphic display or the digital display in response to detection of an abnormality in the cooking device. 1. A timer display device for a cooking appliance, comprising an abnormality display control means for displaying an abnormality on one display and displaying the time of occurrence of the abnormality on the other display.