KR0159748B1 - Heating cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heating cooker capable of executing various types of cooking menus, wherein the heating cooking is performed based on at least one of a set cooking menu and a cooking time. An operation panel having a display unit for displaying at least one, a setting dial installed on the operation panel for setting at least one of a cooking menu and a cooking time by a rotation operation, and separately installed inside the setting dial and pressing And a start button for instructing to start cooking.

Description

Cooker

The present invention relates to a heating cooker such as a microwave oven that automatically performs heating cooking based on the selected cooking menu.

For example, in a microwave oven, a cooking program according to a plurality of cooking menus is stored in advance in a microcomputer or the like, and the user automatically selects one of the plurality of cooking menus to automatically heat the cooking according to the corresponding cooking program. Is provided to run it.

This kind of microwave oven is provided with an operation panel 1 as shown in FIG. 8, for example, on the front of the main body. In the center part of this operation panel 1, the some selection key 2 corresponding to several cooking menu group "A"-"F" is provided side by side. On the left side of the selection key 2, there is provided a menu display section 3 on which a cooking menu is printed on the surface.

In the menu display unit 3, for example, a plurality of cooking menus belonging to "A" and a plurality of cooking menus belonging to a cooking menu group "B" different from "A" are displayed. b1, b2, ..., b6) are printed and LEDs corresponding to each of the cooking menus (a1, a2, ..., a6) (b1, b2, ..., b6) 4) is installed.

In this case, when the user wants to execute auto cooking, the user first presses one of the selection keys (2), selects the cooking menu group "A" or "B", and then performs the gambling operation of the selection key (2). Repeatedly select the cooking menu. For example, if the user wants to select the cooking menu of (a1), first operate the selection key 2 of "A" (in this case, the LED (4) of (a1) at the top) lights up, and " When the selection key 2 of "A" is operated twice, the lighting of the LED 4 moves in order, and the LED 4 of (a3) lights up. Then, when the start key 5 is operated, automatic cooking according to the cooking program of (a3) is executed.

However, in recent years, the number of cooking menus tends to increase due to diversification of user's preferences and improvement of microwave functions. However, when the number of cooking menus is increased in this way, the number of cooking menus recorded increases, which makes the display of the menu display unit 3 complicated, and it becomes inconvenient that the user becomes difficult to know when selecting a cooking menu.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a heating cooker which makes it easy to see a display of a menu display unit when a user selects a cooking menu in enabling execution of various types of cooking menus.

1 is a front view of an operation panel showing an embodiment of the present invention,

2 is a front view showing a state in which the upper end of the cooking menu display unit is illuminated.

3 is a front view showing a state in which the middle portion of the cooking menu display unit is illuminated.

4 is a front view showing a state where the lower end of the cooking menu display unit is illuminated.

5 is a flowchart showing a selection procedure of a cooking menu.

6 is a perspective view of a microwave oven.

7 is a block diagram schematically showing an electrical configuration.

8 is an equivalent view of FIG. 1 showing a conventional example.

* Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

11: body 12: cooking chamber

16: microcomputer (control means) 21: operation panel

23: cooking menu display section 24: backlight

25: LED (light emitting element) 29: Dial (operation means)

The heating cooker according to the present invention is provided on the main body and has a display unit for displaying at least one of a cooking menu and a cooking period, and a setting for setting at least one of the cooking menu and cooking time by the rotating operation installed on the operating panel. It is characterized in that it comprises a dial and a start button separately provided inside the dial for setting to instruct cooking start by pressing operation.

In addition, an operation panel provided in the main body and having a display unit for displaying at least one of a cooking menu and a cooking time; It is characterized by including a setting combined start button for instructing the start of cooking.

An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a microwave oven with an oven function will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7. First, FIG. 6 shows the appearance of a microwave oven which is a heating cooker. In the main body 11 of the microwave oven, a cooking chamber 12 and a machine room (not shown) are arranged side to side. In the cooking chamber 12, an oven heater 13 for cooking an oven, a grill heater 14 for cooking a grill, and the like are installed in the cooking chamber 12, and a magnetron 15 for cooking a stove is installed in the machine room. Is installed.

The oven heater 13, grill heater 14 and magnetron 15 are to be controlled via drive circuits 17, 18 and 19, respectively, by microcomputer 16 installed in the machine room as shown in FIG. have. In this way, the microcomputer 16 controls the oven heater 13, the grill heater 14, the magnetron 15 and the like according to the selected cooking menu as described below, and the heating cooking of the food housed in the cooking chamber 12 is automatically performed. It is supposed to run.

In addition, a door 10 for closing the cooking chamber 12 is rotatably installed on the front surface of the main body 11 and an operation panel 21 is provided. The operation panel 21 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

First, a time display section 22 for digitally displaying a cooking time or the like is provided at the top of the operation panel 21. A cooking menu display section 23 is provided immediately below the time display section 22. The cooking menu display unit 23 is formed by printing various types of cooking menus on a light-transmissive panel. Such cooking menus are classified into three types of cooking menu groups, "A", "B", and "C", and each cooking menu In the middle of the display portion 23, a cooking menu name is printed to the upper portion 23a, the stop portion 23b, and the lower portion 23c.

In the upper end portion 23a, a title of the cooking menu group "A" is printed on the upper portion, and a plurality of cooking menus a1, a2, ..., a8 are printed on the lower portion thereof. Similarly, the titles of the plurality of cooking menus "B" and "C" and the cooking menus b1, b2, ..., b8 (c1, c2, ..., ...) in the middle portion 23b and the lower portion 23c. c8) is printed respectively.

On the back side of the cooking menu display unit 23, a backlight 24 (shown only in FIG. 7) is provided corresponding to each of the upper end 23a, the stop 23b, and the lower end 23c. In this case, the title of the cooking menu group is printed such that the title of the cooking menu group is always displayed to the user regardless of whether the backlight 24 is turned on. As shown in FIGS. It is printed so that it only rises brightly when it is illuminated and darkens when the backlight 24 is turned off.

The cooking menu display 23 is provided with LEDs 25 as light emitting elements for each cooking menu. The backlight 24 and the LEDs 25 are the microcomputer 16 as shown in FIG. By means of the display circuits 26 and 27, control of lighting and turning off is performed.

As a result, as described later, one LED 25 corresponding to the cooking menu is selectively turned on according to the user's operation of selecting the cooking menu, and the backlight 24 corresponding to the cooking menu group to which the cooking menu belongs. ) Is selectively lit. Therefore, the microcomputer 16 is supposed to function as a control means of the present invention. In addition, the time display section 22 is also controlled by the microcomputer 16 through the display circuit 28.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, the lower part of the operation panel 21 is provided with the dial 29 which is an operation means for a user to select a cooking menu so that rotation and a push operation are possible. This dial 29 is operated by turning the pulse switch 30 (shown in FIG. 7 only) by turning and according to the rotation angle of the dial 29 in this pulse switch 30 as shown in FIG. The pulse signal is input to the microcomputer 16 via the menu and time setting circuit 31.

In this embodiment, the dial 29 also serves as a cooking start button so that the start switch 32 (shown in FIG. 7 only) is operated by pressing. The signal of the start switch 32 is also input to the microcomputer 16 via the key switch circuit 33.

The microcomputer 16 stores a cooking program corresponding to each of the cooking menus and executes automatic cooking according to a user's selection. In this case, when the dial 29 is rotated, the microcomputer 16 dials ( According to the rotation angle of 29), the LED 25 of the cooking menu display unit 23 is sequentially turned on and the backlight 24 is turned on, and the LED 25 of the cooking menu desired by the user lights up. The cooking menu is automatically executed by stopping the rotation of the dial 29 at that point and pressing the dial 29 in the state.

At the bottom of the dial 29, manual keys 34 such as "range", "toaster", "oven" and "temperature control" are provided for executing manual cooking (cooking in which the user sets the aspect and time of cooking). It is. As shown in FIG. 7, the signal of the manual key 34 is also input to the microcomputer 16 via the key switch circuit 33. As shown in FIG. When manual cooking is selected here, the function of the dial 29 is switched for time setting and the cooking time can be set by the rotation operation.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 1, a function display lamp 35 for displaying the current function of the dial 29 is provided in the upper left portion of the dial 29, and "auto select" is lit. In this case, when the cooking menu is selected as described above by the rotation operation of the dial 29, and when "time" is lit, the time setting can be performed by the rotation operation of the dial 29. The set time at this time is displayed on the time display section 22.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. When food is accommodated in the cooking chamber 12 and the door 20 is closed, the microcomputer 16 performs control in the order shown in the flowchart of FIG.

That is, when the door 20 is closed, first, the "auto select" of the function display lamp 35 lights up. (Step S1) In this state, which of the manual keys 34 is pressed, the manual cooking mode is set. (Yes in step S2), it is determined that the manual cooking course is selected, and the function display lamp 35 is switched to lighting of "time". (Step S3)

After that, when the dial 29 is rotated (Yes in step S4), the cooking time is displayed on the time display section 22 in accordance with the amount of rotation (step S5). The user stops the operation at the time when the time to be called is displayed. In this way, the cooking mode and the time are set, and when the dial 29 is pressed (started) (Yes in step S6), the set cooking is executed. (Step S7)

On the other hand, if the user rotates the dial 29 without pressing the manual key 34 (No in step S2) (Yes in step S8), it is determined that the automatic cooking course is selected. Here, when the user rotates the dial 29, one LED 25 corresponding to each cooking menu of the cooking menu display unit 23 turns on one by one, but in this case, the dial 29 is turned to the right (clockwise rotation). Direction (Yes in step S9), the LED 25 is turned on sequentially from the highest cooking menu a1. (Step S10)

Moreover, when the dial 29 rotates to the left (counterclockwise rotation) direction (No in step S9), the lighting of the LED 25 proceeds in the direction going up. (Step S11) Therefore, now (a1) If the dial 29 rotates to the left when the LED 25 of the lamp is turned on, the LED 25 of the last (c8) turns on and rotates to the left (c7) (c6). The LED 25 is turned on in the order of. The user selects one of the cooking menus displayed on the cooking menu display unit 23 by the lighting of the LED 25.

At this time, the backlight 24 is turned on together with the lighting of the LED 25 (step S12). In this case, one of the three backlights 24 is selectively turned on and the cooking of the LED 25 that is currently turned on is performed. Only the cooking menu group to which the menu belongs is illuminated so as to be brightly displayed behind.

Specifically, when the LED 25 of the cooking menu belonging to the cooking menu group "A" from (a1) to (a8) is lit, the upper end 23a is illuminated by the backlight 24 (Fig. 2). Reference), and when the LED 25 of the cooking menu belonging to the cooking menu group "B" from (b1) to (b8) is lit, the stop part 23b is illuminated by the backlight 24 (third) When the LED 25 of the cooking menu belonging to the cooking menu group "C" from (c1) to (c8) is lit, the lower end 23c is illuminated by the backlight 24. See Figure 4)

If the dial 29 is pressed (started) after such a cooking menu is selected, automatic cooking of the selected cooking menu (corresponding to the lit LED 25) is executed (Yes in step S13). Step S14)

According to this embodiment, when the user selects a desired cooking menu, only the backlight 24 corresponding to the cooking menu group to which the selected cooking menu belongs is lit, and only the cooking menu group is illuminated from behind.

Accordingly, some of the cooking menus required by the cooking menu display unit 23, which is different from the conventional heating cooker, in which the display of the menu display unit 3 is complicated and difficult for the user to navigate when selecting a cooking menu, is provided. Only the light is displayed brightly, and the display is very visible to the user and the selection operation can be easily performed.

In particular, in the present embodiment, since the cooking menu is selected by the rotation operation of the dial 29, the operation is much easier than in the case of pressing the select key 2 several times as in the prior art. In addition, since the function of the plurality of selection keys 2 and the function of the start button are made by one dial 29, the number of parts on the operation panel 21 can be reduced, and furthermore, the cooking menu display unit ( 23 can be enlarged and the cooking menu display 23 can be made easier for the user.

In the above embodiment, the cooking menu is selected by rotating the dial 29. Alternatively, the cooking menu may be selected by pressing a selection key, and the dial and the start button may be separately installed. The present invention is a heating cooker which can be appropriately changed and carried out within a range not departing from the gist.

As is clear from the above description, according to the heating cooker of the present invention, since only the backlight corresponding to the cooking menu group to which the selected cooking menu belongs is lit and the cooking menu group is illuminated from behind, execution of various types of cooking menus is performed. This makes it possible to make the display of the menu display section easier to see when the user selects the cooking menu.

In addition, when the operation means is constituted by a dial, it is possible to add to the above-described effects, making it easier to select a cooking menu, and to reduce the number of parts and save space.

Claims (2)

An apparatus for performing heating cooking based on at least one of a set cooking menu and a cooking time, comprising: an operation panel installed in a main body and having a display unit for displaying at least one of a cooking menu and a cooking time; A setting dial installed on the operation panel for setting at least one of a cooking menu and a cooking time by a rotation operation; And a start button separately provided inside the setting dial to instruct cooking start by a pressing operation. An apparatus for performing heating cooking based on at least one of a set cooking menu and a cooking time, comprising: an operation panel unit installed in a main body and having a display unit displaying at least one of a cooking menu and a cooking time; And a setting combined start button installed on the operation panel for setting at least one of a cooking menu and a cooking time by a rotation operation and instructing cooking start by a pressing operation.