JPH0144974Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the invention] [Purpose of the invention] (Field of industrial application) This invention is equipped with a sensor that detects the condition of the food to be cooked, and automatically cooks food according to the detection information of this sensor and a cooking program. Regarding cooking equipment.

(Prior art) Conventionally, this type of cooker, such as a microwave oven,
Since the cooking program is preset, the user does not have to set the cooking conditions one by one, which is very convenient. However, the shapes and quantities of foods vary widely, and the preferences of users regarding the outcome of cooking also vary widely, and for this reason, the reality is that it is not always possible to achieve satisfactory cooking.

Therefore, recently, microwave ovens have been introduced that allow the user to freely modify the cooking program based on the finished state of the food.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) With the above configuration, there is a problem that it is very difficult for the user to judge which part of the cooking program should be corrected just by looking at the finished state of the food. be.

This invention was created in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to make it easier for users to recognize changes in the state of the food being cooked as cooking progresses, and thereby, for example, to To provide an excellent cooking device that enables a person to accurately modify a cooking program and always performs the best cooking.

[Structure of the invention] (Means for solving the problem) This invention provides a cooking device that is equipped with a sensor that detects the state of food to be cooked and that automatically cooks food according to sensor information obtained from the sensor and a cooking program. A storage section and a display section are provided, a storage execution means is provided for sequentially storing sensor information obtained from the sensor during cooking in the storage section, and the sensor information obtained from the sensor during cooking is sequentially displayed on the display section. A post-cooking display execution means is provided for reading sensor information stored in the storage section and displaying it on the display section after cooking is completed, and correcting the cooking program in accordance with key operations. The present invention is characterized by a configuration in which a program modification means is provided and the cooking program can be modified based on recognition of a change in the state of the food to be cooked by displaying sensor information.

(Function) According to the cooker of this invention, after cooking is finished,
If the sensor information stored in the storage section is displayed on the display section by the post-cooking display execution means, the user can know the change in the state of the food to be cooked from the display. Then, based on the recognition of the change in the state of the food to be cooked, the cooking program is corrected to the optimum one by the program correction means.

(Example) An example of this invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a main body of a microwave oven, and a door 2 is pivotally supported on the entire surface of the main body 1 so as to be openable and closable, and an operation panel 3 is provided. A heating chamber (not shown) is provided in the main body 1 corresponding to the door 2, and a sensor 11 (described later) for detecting the state of the food to be cooked is provided on the ceiling of the heating chamber. On the other hand, on the operation panel 3, a display section 4 using, for example, a light emitting diode, a fluorescent display tube, a cathode ray tube, etc., knobs 5, 6, a keyboard 7, etc. are arranged in order from the upper part to the lower part.

FIG. 2 shows the control circuit. That is, 10 is a main control unit with a built-in microcomputer, and the microcomputer is a rewritable ROM (read only memory) 10a that stores cooking programs.
It also has a RAM (random access memory) 10b that stores cooking programs read from the ROM 10a. Reference numeral 11 is a sensor that detects the state of the food to be cooked, and reference numeral 12 is a sensor circuit that processes the output of the sensor 11 and supplies it to the main control section 10. Reference numeral 13 denotes a storage unit, such as a RAM (random access memory), which is supplied with sensor information obtained by the sensor 11 and stored under the control of the main control unit 10. Reference numeral 14 denotes a display circuit, which displays information supplied from the main control section 10 on the display section 4. 15 is a heating section, which consists of a high frequency oscillation circuit and a heater circuit;
The heating operation is performed via the drive circuit 16 in response to a command from the main control section 10. Note that the main control unit 10 is connected to knobs 5 and 6 and a keyboard 7.

In this case, the keyboard 7 includes a cooking progress display key 7a, a program setting key 7b, a DEF (defrost) key 7c, a time key 7d, a numerical key 7e, a start key 7f, and the like.

The main control unit 10 includes a program execution unit 10c that performs automatic cooking according to the sensor information obtained from the sensor 11 (output of the sensor circuit 12) and the cooking program, and a program execution means 10c that performs automatic cooking according to the sensor information obtained from the sensor 11 (output of the sensor circuit 12), and stores the sensor information obtained from the sensor 11 during cooking in the RAM 13. A storage execution means 10d for sequentially storing sensor information, a display execution means 10e for sequentially displaying sensor information obtained from the sensor 11 during cooking on the display unit 4, and a display execution unit 10e for reading out the sensor information stored in the RAM 13 after cooking is completed and displaying it on the display unit 4. It is equipped with a post-cooking display execution means 10f for displaying a display, and a program modification means 10g for modifying a cooking program in accordance with key operations. In other words, it is possible to modify the cooking program based on the recognition of changes in the state of the food to be cooked through the display of sensor information.

Next, the operation in the above configuration will be explained.

First, the door 2 is opened and the food to be cooked is placed in the heating chamber. Then, the user closes the door 2, selects a cooking program by operating appropriate keys on the keyboard 7, and performs a cooking start operation by operating the start key 7f to output a start signal S7f. Then, the program execution means 10c of the main control unit 10 reads the selected cooking program from the internal ROM 10a, writes it to the internal RAM 10b, and writes the selected cooking program to the internal RAM 10b.
The heating unit 15 is controlled by outputting a program execution signal S10c to the drive circuit 16 according to the cooking program in the controller and sensor information from the sensor 11. In this way, the heating section 15 operates and cooking begins.
Therefore, during cooking, the program execution signal S1
By being given 0c, the storage execution means 10d
sequentially stores the sensor information in the RAM 13. However, if the user presses the cooking progress display key 7a of the keyboard 7 in advance to output the cooking progress display signal S7a, the display execution means 10e supplies the sensor information to the display circuit 14 and displays it on the display section 4. let That is, sensor information is displayed on the display section 4 in parallel with the progress of cooking. In addition, if the user presses the cooking progress display key 7a on the keyboard 7 after the cooking is finished, the program execution signal S10c is displayed at this time.
is not output, the post-cooking display execution means 10f supplies the sensor information in the RAM 13 to the display circuit 14. In other words, changes in the sensor information as the cooking progresses are sequentially displayed on the display unit 4. Therefore, the user can easily recognize the change in the state of the food to be cooked by looking at the display section 4, and if the change in state is not satisfactory, the user can press the program setting key 7b of the keyboard 7 to program the food. A setting signal S7b is output, and a predetermined numerical key 7e is operated to output a numerical signal S7e. As a result, program modification means 1
0g is internal based on the content of numerical signal S7e.
The cooking program in the RAM 10b is modified, and the modified cooking program is rewritten and stored in the internal ROM 10a, thereby completing the modification of the cooking program. This allows for optimal cooking that takes into consideration the shape and amount of food and also suits the user's preferences.

Here, as a specific example, a display section 4 as shown in FIG.
The operation of a microwave oven equipped with the following will be explained. The display unit 4 includes a numerical display 4a that displays cooking time and food temperature, a light emitting diode 4b for stage display,
4c, a bar-shaped light emitting diode 4d (having an intermediate point line 4e) that displays changes in the state of the food, and a display device 4f for each purpose that displays thawing completion, high-frequency heating completion, cooking method switching, etc. .
Note that a gas (humidity) sensor is used as the sensor 11.

For example, operate the DEF key 7c on the keyboard 7 to set thawing cooking, and also set the numeric key 7e.
A cooking start operation is performed by inputting the weight of the food to be cooked and operating the start key 7f. Then, the program execution means 10c calculates the defrosting time based on the input weight, and causes the high frequency oscillation circuit of the heating section 15 to oscillate at a weak output for the defrosting time, for example, 30 minutes. In other words, thaw and cook. In this case, the elapsed time during defrosting is shown on the numerical display 4.
It is displayed on a. Normally, the sensor 11 is not used in such thawing since it is time-based cooking based on weight, but at this time as well, the storage execution means 10d takes in the output of the sensor 11 and stores the sensor information in the RAM.
13. And program execution means 1
0c causes the high frequency oscillation circuit to oscillate with high output after 30 minutes, and starts normal microwave cooking according to the sensor information and the cooking program.

By the way, if the user presses the cooking progress display key 7a of the keyboard 7 in advance, the display execution means 10e supplies sensor information to the display circuit 14.
In this way, the output level of the sensor 11 is sequentially displayed on the bar-shaped light emitting diode 4d of the display section 4. Therefore, when 30 minutes have passed from the start of cooking and the output is switched to high power, if the light emitted from the bar-shaped light emitting diode 4d (the black dot in the figure) matches the position of the intermediate point line 4e, the cooking program will start. It's the best. If the light emission is to the left of the intermediate point line 4e, this means that the thawing time is short, and conversely, if the light emission is to the right of the intermediate point line 4e, it means that the thawing time is long. Therefore, when the defrosting time is short or long, the user presses the program setting key 7b on the keyboard 7, and then presses the DEF (defrost) key 7c and the time key 7d in this order.
Cooking programs can be modified. That is, the decompression time of the cooking program in the RAM 10b in the main control unit 10 is rewritten.

According to such an embodiment, the detection information of the sensor 11 is stored in the RAM 13, and the detection information of the sensor 11 or the contents of the RAM 13 is displayed on the display section 4, so that the food to be cooked as cooking progresses. A user can easily recognize changes in the state of food. Therefore, it becomes possible for the user to accurately modify the cooking program, and it is possible to always perform the best cooking.

In the above embodiment, a gas sensor is used as the sensor and a light emitting diode is used as the display part, but the invention is not limited to this. For example, a television camera may be used as the sensor and a cathode ray tube may be used as the display part. This allows the condition of the food to be cooked to be visually checked and judged directly, which is very convenient. That is,
Conventionally, although it has been possible to peek into the heating chamber through the screen on the door, it has been difficult to closely observe the state of the food to be cooked.

In addition, this invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made without changing the gist.

[Effects of the invention] As described above, according to this invention, the user can easily recognize changes in the state of the food to be cooked as cooking progresses, and this allows the user to accurately adjust the cooking program, for example. This feature has the excellent effect of enabling frequent corrections and always ensuring the best quality cooking.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawing shows one embodiment of this invention.
2 is a block diagram of the control circuit, and FIG. 3 is a front view of the operation panel. In the drawing, 3 is an operation panel, 4 is a display section, 7 is a keyboard, 10 is a main control section, and 10a is an internal section.
ROM, 10b is internal RAM, 10c is program execution means, 10d is storage execution means, 10e is display execution means, 10f is post-cooking display execution means, 10
g indicates a program correction means, 11 a sensor, and 15 a heating section.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In a cooking device that is equipped with a sensor that detects the state of food to be cooked and that automatically cooks according to sensor information obtained from the sensor and a cooking program,
a storage section, a display section, a storage execution means for sequentially storing sensor information obtained from the sensor during cooking in the storage section, and a display execution section for sequentially displaying the sensor information obtained from the sensor during cooking on the display section. and post-cooking display execution means for reading out sensor information stored in the storage section and displaying it on the display section after the completion of cooking; and program modification means for modifying the cooking program in response to key operations. What is claimed is: 1. A cooking appliance characterized in that the cooking device is capable of modifying a cooking program based on recognition of changes in the state of food to be cooked through display of sensor information.