JPH0880251A - Rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent a user's misoperation by providing a lid opening and closing detection means for detecting that a lid of a rice cooker is opened or closed, and by prohibting an input from an operating portion when the lid opening and closing detection means detects the opening of the lid. CONSTITUTION: An inner pot 1 which is a rice cooking container for cooking rice or the like is heated by a heat source 2 such as a heater. The heat source 2 is controlled by a control means 3 having a microcomputer or the like mounted. Also, by means of an operating portion 4 provided in the rice cooker body, cooking, heat retaining and cancellation are set. Further, a lid opening and closing detection means 5 composed of a microswitch and the like is provided, and when the lid is opened, a signal indicating that the lid is opened is fed from the detecting means 5 to the control means 3. When it is detected that the lid is opened during the rice cooking performance or the heat retaining performance, the control means 3 prohibits to receive signals from the operating portion 4 and retains the state before the lid is opened.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rice cooker that cooks rice and keeps heat.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a rice cooker equipped with a microcomputer has been developed in which the rice cook mode is adapted to the amount of rice and the amount of water and has a good taste.

[0003]

However, in the rice cooker of the conventional structure, when the lid of the rice cooker is opened for eating, a part of the body accidentally touches the key of the operation section. It has a problem that it operates by receiving a command from a key. In other words, for example, what was in the heat retention mode touches the cancel key, so that the heat retention is not realized. Moreover, even if the lid of the rice cooker is opened during the rice cooking process, the rice cooking process is continued.

The present invention is to solve the problems of such a conventional structure, and it is a first object to provide a rice cooker that does not receive a command from the operation unit when the lid is open. The purpose is. A second object is to provide a rice cooker that does not cook rice when the lid is opened during the rice cooking process. Further, in relation to the second object, when the lid is opened during the rice cooking process, the user is notified of the opening of the lid, and at the same time, to provide a rice cooker that does not perform rice cooking. Has an aim.

[0005]

The first means of the present invention for achieving the first object is an inner pot for cooking rice, a heat source for heating the inner pot, and a control means for controlling this heat source. And an operation section for inputting an operation signal to the control means, and a lid opening / closing detection means for detecting that the lid of the rice cooker is opened / closed, and when the lid opening / closing detection means detects opening of the lid, The rice cooker prohibits input from the operation unit.

The second means of the present invention for achieving the second object is to detect the closure of the lid by the lid opening / closing detection means, especially when the lid opening / closing detection means detects the opening of the lid during rice cooking. It is a rice cooker that suspends the rice cooking operation until it is done.

A third means of the present invention for achieving the third object is to issue an alarm when the lid opening / closing detecting means detects the opening of the lid during rice cooking, and the lid opening / closing detecting means detects the lid opening. The rice cooker suspends the rice cooking operation until the closure is detected.

[0008]

According to the first means of the present invention, when the lid opening / closing detecting means detects the opening of the lid of the rice cooker, the control means does not receive an input signal from the operating section so that the lid is not opened. It functions as a rice cooker that can maintain the state and prevent user's operation error.

The second means of the present invention operates to stop the rice cooking sequence when the lid opening / closing detecting means detects opening of the rice during the rice cooking operation, and the rice is cooked with the lid open. It is to prevent the advance.

Further, the third means of the present invention is to stop the rice cooking sequence and sound a warning sound at the same time when the lid opening / closing detection means detects opening of the lid during the rice cooking operation. It acts as a rice cooker that announces the opening.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the first means of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 1 denotes an inner pot, which is a rice cooking container for cooking rice or the like, and is heated by a heat source 2 such as a heater.
The heat source 2 is a control means 3 equipped with a microcomputer or the like.
Is controlled by. Reference numeral 4 denotes an operation unit for the user to set rice cooking, heat retention, cancellation, etc., which is provided on the rice cooker body (not shown). Reference numeral 5 denotes a lid opening / closing detection means composed of, for example, a micro switch, and when the lid is opened, a signal indicating that the contact of the micro switch is released and the lid is opened, and when the lid is closed, the contact is connected and the lid is closed. The signal indicating the fact is transmitted to the control means 3. The lid opening / closing detecting means 5 is not particularly limited to the one using a micro switch, and any means can be used as long as it can detect the opening / closing operation of the lid.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. The control means 3 used in this embodiment has a control program as shown in FIG. When a switch (not shown) is turned on, the control means 3
Executes step 1 to check whether a lid opening signal from the lid opening / closing detecting means 5 is received. If the check result in step 1 is NO, it is checked in step 2 whether the user has operated the operation unit 4. The check result in step 2 is YES
If so, the process proceeds to step 3 to execute the operation according to the input. If NO, the process returns to step 1 again. Also, while executing the process in step 3,
Step 4 is provided and the presence / absence of a lid opening signal from the lid opening / closing detection means 5 is checked again. If the check result in step 4 is YES, the process proceeds to step 5 to prohibit the input of a signal from the operation unit 4. If NO, the steps 2 and 3 are repeated. If the result of the check in step 1 is YES, the process jumps to step 5 to prohibit the input of a signal from the operation unit 4.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the lid of the rice cooker is opened during the rice cooking operation or the heat retaining operation, reception of a signal from the operation unit 4 is prohibited, and the lid is opened before the lid is opened. I try to maintain the state. For this reason,
If the user unintentionally operates the cancel key while keeping warm, for example, the cancel command is not executed, and the rice cooker can prevent the user's input operation error.

Next, the second means of the present invention will be described. The overall configuration of this embodiment is similar to that of FIG. The control means 3 used in this embodiment has a control program as shown in FIG.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. When the switch is turned on, step 1 is entered to check the presence / absence of a lid opening detection signal by the lid opening / closing detection means 5. If the result of this check is NO, the routine proceeds to step 2, where it is checked whether or not the user has operated the rice cooking key of the operation unit 4. If the check result in step 2 is YES, the process proceeds to step 3 to cook rice. If NO, the process returns to step 1 again. Step 4 is provided during execution of this rice cooking process, and in this step 4, the presence / absence of a lid opening detection signal from the lid opening / closing detection means 5 is checked again. If the result of this check is NO, then steps 2 and 3 are repeated. If the check result in step 4 is YES, step 5
Go to and interrupt the rice cooking operation. This interruption
It is continued until the result of the check in step 4 becomes NO. If the check result in step 1 is YES, the process jumps to step 5 to interrupt the rice cooking operation.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when the lid of the rice cooker is opened during the rice cooking operation, the lid opening / closing detecting means 5
The rice cooker is capable of detecting the opening of the lid and stopping the rice cooking operation until the lid is closed.

Next, an embodiment of the third means of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, the notifying means 6 constituted by a buzzer, a lamp or the like which operates according to an instruction from the control means 3 is provided. That is, sound or light is used to notify the user that the opening of the lid is abnormal during rice cooking. Other configurations are the same as the configurations described in FIG.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. In step 1, the presence / absence of a lid opening signal from the lid opening / closing detection means 5 is checked, and if NO, the process proceeds to step 2 to check whether the rice cooking key of the operation unit 4 has been operated. If the result is YES, the rice cooking operation is started and step 4 provided during the rice cooking operation is executed. That is, it is checked whether the lid opening / closing detection means 5 contains the lid opening information. If the result is YES, the process proceeds to step 5 to interrupt the rice cooking operation. If NO, step 2 and step 3 are executed. Here, in the present embodiment, if the check result of the lid opening signal from the lid opening detection means 5 in step 1 is YES, the process proceeds to step 6 and the notifying means 6 is operated to open the lid to the user. Is to announce that there is. In the present embodiment, this notification is continuously executed until the lid opening detection result in step 4 becomes NO.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the lid is opened during rice cooking, the rice cooking process is interrupted until the lid closure is detected, and the rice is used by using sound or light. It is intended to notify the person that the lid is open.

[0020]

The first means of the present invention is an inner pot for cooking rice, a heat source for heating the inner pot, a control means for controlling the heat source, and an operation section for inputting an operation signal to the control means. When,
A lid opening / closing detection means for detecting opening / closing of the lid of the rice cooker is provided, and when the lid opening / closing detection means detects opening of the lid, the lid is opened so that input from the operation unit is prohibited. In this state, a rice cooker that does not receive a command from the operation unit is realized.

According to the second means of the present invention, particularly when the lid opening / closing detecting means detects the opening of the lid during rice cooking, the rice cooking operation is interrupted until the lid opening / closing detecting means detects the lid closing. As a configuration, a rice cooker that does not cook rice when the lid is open is realized.

Further, according to the third means of the present invention, particularly when the lid opening / closing detecting means detects opening of the lid during rice cooking, an alarm is issued and until the lid closing / opening detecting means detects the lid closing. As a configuration for interrupting the rice cooking operation, when the lid is opened during rice cooking, the user is notified of the opening of the lid, and at the same time, a rice cooker that does not perform rice cooking is realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a rice cooker according to an embodiment of a first means of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a control program included in the control means.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a control program included in the control means of the embodiment of the second means of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a rice cooker that is an embodiment of a third means of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a control program included in the control means.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Inner pan 2 Heat source 3 Control means 4 Operation part 5 Lid opening / closing detection means 6 Notification means

Front page continued (72) Inventor Hideki Omori 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An inner pot for cooking rice, a heat source for heating the inner pot, a control means for controlling the heat source, an operation section for inputting an operation signal to the control means, and a lid of the rice cooker opened and closed. A rice cooker which has a lid opening / closing detecting means for detecting that, and when the lid opening / closing detecting means detects the opening of the lid, the rice cooker prohibits an input from the operation unit. 2. An inner pot for cooking rice, a heat source for heating the inner pot, control means for controlling this heat source, an operation section for inputting an operation signal to the control means, and a lid of the rice cooker opened and closed. A rice cooker having a lid opening / closing detecting means for detecting such a situation, and when the lid opening / closing detecting means detects the opening of the lid, the rice cooking operation is suspended until the lid opening / closing detecting means detects the lid closing. 3. An inner pot for cooking rice, a heat source for heating the inner pot, control means for controlling this heat source, an operation section for inputting an operation signal to this control means, and a lid of the rice cooker opened and closed. When the lid opening / closing detection means detects opening of the lid, an alarm is issued and the rice cooking operation is suspended until the lid opening / closing detection means detects the lid closing. Rice cooker.