TW202212741A - （無） - Google Patents

Abstract

A heating cooker includes: a heating chamber; a door provided in the heating chamber; an opening/closing detection unit that detects the opening and closing of the door; a determination unit that determines whether food is placed in the heating chamber; a heating unit that heats and cooks the food placed in the heating chamber, and a heating control unit that controls the heating and cooking of the heating unit. Accordingly in a state that at least the determination unit determines that food is placed in the heating chamber, the heating control unit causes the heating unit to perform heating cooking of the food on the condition that the opening/closing detection unit detects that the door is closed.

Description

heating cooker

1 aspect of this invention relates to the heating cooker which heats the food arrange|positioned inside a heating chamber.

Conventionally, in convenience stores, for example, food such as bentos that are sold is heated with a heating cooker such as a microwave oven and delivered to customers.

Appropriate heating temperature and heating time in the case of heating food vary depending on the kind of food. Therefore, in the heating cooker shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-64362 and Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 3076649, a barcode indicating the type of food recorded on the food container is read by a reading device, and the barcode is read according to the same The heating information (heating temperature, heating time) corresponding to the type of food heats the food.

Specifically, in the configuration described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-64362, a barcode scanner is connected to the microwave oven, and a user manually operates the barcode scanner to read the barcode recorded on the food container.

In addition, in the structure described in Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 3076649, the barcode recorded on the food container is held and read by the first barcode reading device provided on one side of the front surface of the heating cooker. Take the barcode. Alternatively, the food accommodated in the container is arranged inside the heating chamber of the heating cooker, and the barcode recorded on the food container is read by the second barcode reading device provided on the ceiling wall of the heating chamber.

However, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-64362 and Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 3076649, there is no description about the timing of reading by the barcode scanner and the first or second barcode reading device.

However, if these reading devices are configured to read all the time, when the heated food is taken out from the inside of the heating chamber, the barcode of the food container may be erroneously read. In this case, since the food has been taken out from the heating chamber, the heating is performed in a state where the food does not exist in the heating chamber. That is, no-load operation is performed, and a burden is imposed on the heating part of the heating cooker, for example, a magnetron, and there is a problem that the life of the equipment is shortened.

An object of one aspect of the present invention is to provide a heating cooker capable of reducing occurrence of various problems due to no-load operation by reducing the occurrence of no-load operation.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a heating cooker according to an aspect of the present invention is characterized by comprising: a heating chamber; a door provided in the heating chamber; an opening/closing detection unit that detects opening and closing of the door; and a determination unit that determines whether Whether food is placed in the heating chamber; a heating unit that heats food placed in the heating chamber; and a heating control unit that controls the heating and cooking of the heating unit, the heating control unit at least determined by the determining unit In a state where food is placed in the heating chamber, and the opening/closing detection unit detects that the door is closed, the heating unit is caused to perform heat cooking of the food.

According to one aspect of the present invention, by reducing the occurrence of no-load operation, the occurrence of various problems caused by no-load operation can be reduced.

[First Embodiment] Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail. Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a state in which the openable and closable front door 12 provided in the main body of the heating cooker 1 according to the present embodiment is closed when viewed from obliquely upward from the front. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a state in which the front door 12 of the heating cooker 1 shown in Fig. 1 is viewed from the front. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a state in which the front door 12 of the heating cooker 1 shown in Fig. 1 is viewed from an obliquely lower right side.

(Outline of heating cooker 1) As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 , the heating cooker 1 is, for example, a microwave oven, has an operation panel 11 on the upper part of the front surface, and has a front door 12 below the operation panel 11 . The front door 12 is a door that opens and closes the heating chamber 13 provided in the front door 12, and covers the front surface opening 13b of the heating chamber 13 in a closed state. In the present embodiment, the front door 12 is of a horizontal opening type that rotates around the end on the left side, and has a handle 14 in the vicinity of the right end, which is the end on the opposite side from the center of rotation.

As shown in FIG. 2 , in the heating chamber 13 , a camera 31 (an imaging unit) for indoor photography is provided on the ceiling surface 13 a of the room. The inside of the heating chamber 13 is photographed by the camera 31 . The presence or absence of food is determined based on the image captured by the camera 31 .

The operation panel 11 is provided on the front surface of the control frame 15 . The operation panel 11 is provided so that the front surface of the operation panel 11 is substantially flush with the front surface of the front door 12 in the front-rear direction of the heating cooker 1 .

Inside the control frame 15 is provided a control board (not shown) that controls the display unit 30 of the operation panel 11 , receives user operations such as input keys, and the like.

(reading device 16) FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the control frame 15 showing the installation state of the reading device 16 . FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the reading area 19 of the reading device 16 .

As shown in FIG. 4 , the control frame 15 is protruded toward the front of the heating cooker 1 . The reading device 16 is mounted on the lower surface of the reading device board (circuit board) 17 , and is provided in the lower part of the inside of the control frame 15 . The reading device substrate 17 includes a drive circuit of the reading device 16 . That is, the reading device 16 is installed outside the heating chamber 13 and above the front surface opening 13b of the heating chamber 13 as the installation position, and has the reading area 19 below the installation position.

The reading device 16 is, for example, a barcode reader, and reads an information code (eg, a barcode) given to the food or the food container heated by the heating cooker 1 .

As shown in FIG. 5 , for the reading device 16 , the lower region of the reading device 16 is used as the reading region 19 , and the control frame 15 has a transparent reading window at the portion of the lower wall portion facing the reading device 16 . 18.

The reading area 19 of the reading device 16 is displayed by, for example, red light so that the user can visually understand the reading area 19 . This red light is irradiated by the reading area illumination unit 21 (see FIG. 7 ). As the reading area illumination unit 21, for example, a red LED is used. In addition, the light that displays the reading area 19 is not limited to red, and may be other light that the user can see, such as laser light. In addition, the number of red LEDs may be one or a plurality of them.

Moreover, as shown in FIG.2 and FIG.3, the reading window 18 is provided in the center part in the width direction (left-right direction) of the front surface opening part 13b of the heating chamber 13.

Further, the reading device 16 may be a photographing device such as a camera, or may read an information code (eg, a barcode) as an image.

(information code) The information code 1061 of FIG. 6 shows an example of an information code composed of a two-dimensional code (QR code (registered trademark)), and the information code 1062 of FIG. 6 is an example of an information code composed of a one-dimensional barcode.

The information code is used for heat cooking of food. For example, the information code includes information indicating the kind of food, and information (heating information) indicating the heating and cooking conditions of the food showing the kind. The heating information is the information required for heating and cooking, including the heating time in the heating cooker 1 and the wattage of the high-frequency output. Specifically, the information code includes information indicating the type of food, for example, the food is a bento (or a further type of bento), an onigiri (or a further type of onigiri), and information including the heating time corresponding to these indicated foods, Heating information in watts of high frequency output. The information code is imparted on the food or food container by, for example, printing or stickers. In addition, since the information code is used to heat and cook the specified food, it is also possible to include only the information of the specified food, and obtain the heating information of the specified food from the external server 51 ( FIG. 8 ). Also, the information code may only contain heating information of the food.

In addition, the information code may be, for example, a two-dimensional code as shown in the information code 1061 in FIG. 6 , or may be a one-dimensional barcode as shown in the information code 1062 in FIG. 6 . In addition, the information code is not particularly limited to a barcode or the like as long as it can indicate the type of food.

(control device) 7 : is a block diagram which shows the structure of the control apparatus with which the heating cooker 1 is equipped. The control device includes a control unit 22 that controls the operation of the heating cooker 1 . The control unit 22 is constituted by, for example, a microcomputer, and includes a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM.

As shown in FIG. 7 , the control unit 22 is connected to the operation panel 11 , the heating operation unit 23 , the reading device 16 , the reading area lighting unit 21 , the reading result notification unit 24 , the front door opening/closing detection unit 25 , and the memory ( storage) 52. The front door opening/closing detection unit 25 is composed of, for example, a switch that is turned on when the front door 12 is closed, and detects the open state and the closed state of the front door 12 .

The heating operation part 23 is an operation part which heats the food arrange|positioned in the heating chamber 13, for example, a microwave output device and a heater. The reading result notification unit 24 is a buzzer or a sound generating unit, and is controlled by the control unit 22 to notify the user of the success or failure of the reading of the information code by the reading device 16 .

The control unit 22 can communicate with the server 51 using, for example, an Internet line. In the server 51, heating information corresponding to various types of food is registered. The control unit 22 controls the heating operation unit 23 in such a manner as to acquire, from the server 51, heating information corresponding to the type of food acquired by reading the information code by the reading device 16, and heat the food according to the acquired heating information . In addition, the heating cooker 1 itself may have heating information corresponding to the type of food. In this case, the heating cooker 1 does not need to communicate with the server 51 .

Further, the control unit 22 includes a determination unit 22 a that determines the presence or absence of the food 40 in the heating chamber 13 , a heating control unit 22 b that controls the heating operation of the heating operation unit 23 based on the determination result of the determination unit 22 a , and controls reading by the reading device 16 The operating read control unit 22c.

(Heating Control (1)) FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a method of determining whether or not there is food in the heating cooker 1 . The determination part 22a determines whether the food 40 exists in the heating chamber 13 based on the image which the camera 31 picked up. That is, if the image obtained by analyzing the image captured by the camera 31 is the image indicated by the reference numeral 1181, the determination section 22a determines that the food 40 is present in the heating chamber 13, and if the obtained image is the image with the reference numeral 1181 In the image shown by reference numeral 1182 , it is determined that there is no food 40 in the heating chamber 13 .

If the detection result of the front door opening/closing detection unit 25 is a detection result indicating that the front door 12 is closed, and the determination result of the determination unit 22a is a result indicating that the food 40 is in the heating chamber 13, the heating control unit 22b allows the heating operation unit 23 to perform the heating operation . On the other hand, if the detection result of the front door opening/closing detection unit 25 is a detection result indicating that the front door 12 is closed, but the determination result of the determination unit 22a indicates that there is no food 40 in the heating chamber 13, the heating control unit 22b does not allow heating The operation part 23 performs a heating operation. That is, the heating control unit 22b executes the heating operation unit 23 on the condition that at least the determination unit 22a determines that the food 40 is arranged in the heating chamber 13 and the front door opening/closing detection unit 25 detects that the front door 12 is closed. Heat cooking of food 40 .

If the determination result of the determination unit 22a indicates that the food 40 is present, the reading control unit 22c stops the reading operation of the information code by the reading device 16 at a predetermined time, or cancels the reading operation of the information code by the reading device 16 at a predetermined time. Read the information code. Therefore, if the food 40 is present in the heating chamber 13, the reading device 16 does not read the unnecessary information code. For example, even when the front door 12 is opened in the state where the food 40 is present in the heating chamber 13 and the information code of the other food 40 can be read, the reading device 16 does not read the information code.

When the reading control part 22c receives the result that the determination result of the determination part 22a is that there is no food 40 in the heating chamber 13, it cancels the stop of the reading operation of the information code by the reading device 16. FIG.

The heating information contained in the information code read by the reading device 16 is stored in the memory 52 . Thus, for the food whose information code has been read once, the heating information is registered in the memory 52 of the heating cooker 1 , so that the heating information does not need to be acquired every time the information code is read from the outside of the heating cooker 1 .

(Heating Control (2)) As a condition for the heating control performed by the heating control unit 22b, the information code of the food 40 arranged in the heating chamber 13 may be added and read by the reading device 16. That is, if the determination result of the determination unit 22a shows that the food 40 is arranged in the heating chamber 13, and the information code of the food 40 arranged in the heating chamber 13 is read by the reading device 16, the detection result of the front door opening/closing detection unit 25 indicates that the information code of the food 40 arranged in the heating chamber 13 is read by the reader 16 When the front door 12 is closed, the heating control unit 22b controls the heating of the food 40 .

Thereby, when the front door 12 is closed, the heating control corresponding to the information code can be executed by the reading device 16 on the food 40 arranged in the heating chamber 13 .

(operation of heating cooker 1) In the above-mentioned configuration, the operation of the heating cooker 1 will be described below. Here, the case where the food 40 is a bento having an information code provided on the upper surface of the container, and the bento is heated by the heating cooker 1 will be described.

First, the user confirms the guidance display 20 of the operation panel 11 (for example, "Please open the door and keep the information code on the red light"). Then, the user opens the front door 12 according to the guidance display 20 . When the front door opening/closing detection unit 25 detects the open state of the front door 12 , the control unit 22 operates the reading device 16 and the reading area lighting unit 21 .

Next, according to the guidance display 20 of the operation panel 11, the user puts the lunch box so that the information code enters the reading area 19 of the reading device 16 (the information code is irradiated with red light).

By this operation, the reading device 16 reads the information code given to the lunch. When the reading of the information code by the reading device 16 is successful, the control unit 22 notifies the user of the reading result through the reading result notification unit 24 . The operation of the reading result notification unit 24 in this case is, for example, an operation to emit a continuous sound such as "beep", an operation to emit a sound such as "the reading of the information code has been successful", or both.

When the user is informed by the reading result notification unit 24 that the reading of the information code is successful, the user moves the lunch box to the indoor side of the heating chamber 13 and arranges it at a predetermined position (on the flat plate 13 c ) in the heating chamber 13 . At this time, the control unit 22 determines that the lunch box is arranged in the heating chamber 13 by the determination unit 22a, and based on the determination result, permits the heating control by the heating control unit 22b, that is, the heating operation by the heating operation unit 23. If the reading of the information code is successful, the control unit 22 communicates with the server 51 and acquires the heating information corresponding to the type of food indicated by the information code from the server 51 . After that, when the user closes the front door 12, the control unit 22 transmits a detection result indicating that the front door 12 is closed from the front door opening/closing detection unit 25 to the heating control unit 22b, and heats the conveniences in the heating chamber 13 according to the obtained heating information.

As described above, when the heating of the bento is completed, the user is notified of this, and the user takes out the bento from the heating chamber 13 . By taking out the bento from the heating chamber 13 , the determination unit 22 a of the control unit 22 determines that the bento is not in the heating chamber 13 . Based on the determination result of the determination part 22a (no convenience), even if the front door 12 is closed, the heating control part 22b does not allow the heating operation part 23 to perform the heating operation.

Here, even when the heating control unit 22b controls the heating of the lunch in the heating chamber 13, the determination unit 22a always determines the presence or absence of the lunch. Thereby, the heating in a state where it is not in the heating chamber 13 , that is, in a no-load state, is not performed. This is assuming that the user opens the front door 12 and takes out a lunch box, for example, during heating control. That is, when the front door opening/closing detection unit 25 detects that the front door 12 is opened while the lunch in the heating chamber 13 is being heated, the heating control unit 22b stops the heating control.

In addition, for example, the display unit 30 of the operation panel 11 may notify the user whether or not the food is placed in the heating chamber 13 by turning on/off the food mark. For example, when there is food in the heating chamber 13, the food mark is turned on, and when there is no food in the heating chamber 13, the food mark is turned off. Thereby, the user can know whether there is food in the heating chamber 13 without visually checking the heating chamber 13 .

(Effect) According to the heating cooker 1 having the above-described configuration, in a state where the determination unit 22a determines that the food 40 is arranged in the heating chamber 13, if the front door opening/closing detection unit 25 detects that the front door 12 is opened, the heating control unit 22b allows the front door 12 to be opened. And the heating control of the food 40 is performed. Thereby, heating in a no-load state in which the food 40 is not arranged in the heating chamber 13 is not performed. Thereby, since the heating operation (no-load operation) by the heating operation unit 23 in the state where the food 40 (the object to be heated) does not exist in the heating chamber 13 is not permitted, that is, the heating operation (no-load operation) in the no-load state, no Problems caused by no-load operation. For example, there is no problem that the magnetron is burdened by the no-load operation, and the life of the equipment is shortened.

Furthermore, by adding the information code read into the food 40 by the reading device 16 as a condition to the above two conditions, in addition to the effect of not performing heating in a no-load state, the information code can also be used. Heat food 40 properly.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the determination of the presence or absence of the arrangement of the food 40 in the heating chamber 13 by the determination unit 22a is performed by analyzing the image captured by the camera 31, but it is not limited to this. For example, as described in the second embodiment below, a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element may be provided, and the presence or absence of the food 40 in the heating chamber 13 may be determined based on the presence or absence of transmitted light.

[Second Embodiment] Hereinafter, other embodiments of the present invention will be described. In addition, for convenience of description, the same reference numerals are attached to the members having the same functions as the members described in the above-described embodiments, and the description thereof will not be repeated.

(Outline of heating cooker 2) FIG. 9 is a front view showing a state in which the front door 12 of the heating cooker 2 according to the present embodiment is opened. As shown in FIG. 9, the heating cooker 2 is provided with the light-emitting element 61 on the top surface 13a, and is provided with the light-receiving element 62 which receives the light irradiated by the light-emitting element 61 under the flat plate 13c of the bottom surface. Since the flat plate 13c is formed of a translucent material, the light-receiving element 62 provided below the flat plate 13c can receive the light irradiated by the light-emitting element 61 . In this way, the presence or absence of food placed in the heating chamber 13 is detected using the light-emitting element 61 and the light-receiving element 62 . Details of the determination of the presence or absence of food in the heating chamber 13 will be described later.

(control device) FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control device included in the heating cooker 2 . The control device controls the light-emitting element 61 and the light-receiving element 62 in place of the control of the camera 31 in the heating cooker 1 of the first embodiment. Except for the control of the light-emitting element 61 and the light-receiving element 62 , the same control as in the above-described first embodiment is performed, so the details thereof are omitted.

The control part 22 includes the determination part 22a which determines whether the food 40 exists in the heating chamber 13, and the heating control part 22b which controls the heating operation of the heating operation part 23 based on the determination result of the determination part 22a.

The determination part 22a determines whether the food 40 exists in the heating chamber 13 based on the signal from the light-receiving element 62. Here, when a signal indicating that light is received from the light-receiving element 62 is received, the determining unit 22a determines that the food 40 is not placed in the heating chamber 13, and when receiving a signal indicating that light is not being received from the light-receiving element 62, the determining unit 22a determines that The food 40 is arranged in the heating chamber 13 .

The heating control unit 22b allows the heating operation unit 23 to perform the heating operation if the determination result of the determination unit 22a indicates that the food 40 is present in the heating chamber 13, and if it indicates that the food 40 does not exist in the heating chamber 13 As a result, the heating operation part 23 is not allowed to perform the heating operation.

(Determination of whether there is food in the heating chamber 13) FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram schematically showing the heating cooker 2 shown in FIG. 9 . As indicated by reference numeral 1111 in FIG. 11 , in the state where the food 40 is arranged in the heating chamber 13 , the light irradiated from the light-emitting element 61 is blocked by the food 40 and is not received by the light-receiving element 62 . That is, in the state where the food 40 is arrange|positioned in the heating chamber 13, the signal which shows that light is not received from the light receiving element 62 is sent to the control part 22 mentioned later.

On the other hand, as indicated by reference numeral 1112 in FIG. 11 , when the food 40 is taken out from the state where the food 40 is arranged in the heating chamber 13 , the light irradiated from the light emitting element 61 is received by the light receiving element 62 . Therefore, a signal (light-receiving signal) indicating that the light-receiving element 62 has received light is sent to the control unit 22 to be described later.

As described above, the control unit 22 determines whether or not the food 40 is placed in the heating chamber 13 based on the signal from the light receiving element 62 . That is, by using the light-emitting element 61 and the light-receiving element 62, it can be determined whether the food 40 is arranged in the heating chamber 13 or not.

In the present embodiment, by making the light-emitting element 61 and the light-receiving element 62 face each other, the light-receiving element 62 receives the transmitted light transmitted through the heating chamber 13 from the light emitted by the light-emitting element 61, and determines whether or not the food 40 is arranged based on the received light intensity. It is not limited to this. For example, the light-emitting element 61 and the light-receiving element 62 may be provided on the same side, and the light-receiving element 62 may receive the reflected light of the light emitted by the light-emitting element 61 in the heating chamber 13, and determine whether or not the food 40 is arranged based on the received light intensity. That is, the determination part 22a determines whether the food 40 is arrange|positioned in the heating chamber 13 based on the received light intensity of the light irradiated at the position where the food 40 is arrange|positioned in the heating chamber 13, or the reflected light reflected in the heating chamber 13.

(Effect) In the heating cooker 2 having the above-described configuration, the light-emitting element 61 and the light-receiving element 62 are also used to determine whether or not the food 40 is placed. Therefore, as with the heating cooker 1 according to the first embodiment described above, no heating in the heating chamber 13 is performed. The heating in a no-load state such as the food 40 is arranged. Thereby, since the heating operation (no-load operation) by the heating operation unit 23 in the state where the food 40 (the object to be heated) does not exist in the heating chamber 13 is not permitted, that is, the heating operation (no-load operation) in the no-load state, no Problems caused by no-load operation. For example, there is no problem that the magnetron is burdened by the no-load operation, and the life of the equipment is shortened.

That is, compared to the case where the temperature of the magnetron is detected after the heating control is performed once to determine the no-load operation as in the related art, there is no burden on the equipment, so the life of the equipment can be extended.

In addition, in this embodiment, the light-emitting element 61 is provided for detecting the food 40, but if the light irradiated by the light-emitting element 61 is visible light, a room lamp (not shown) provided in the heating chamber 13 in advance may be used. Instead, the light-emitting element 61 is provided. In this case, when the food 40 is arranged in the heating chamber 13, the light receiving element 62 may be arranged at a position where the light of the indoor lamp is blocked. In this way, if the light irradiated by the light-emitting element 61 is visible light, an existing indoor lamp can be used. However, the light irradiated by the light-emitting element 61 may be infrared light. In this case, the light received by the light receiving element 62 also needs to be infrared light. In this way, when the presence or absence of the food 40 in the heating chamber 13 is determined using infrared light, it is less likely to be affected by noise such as external light than when using visible light.

In general, among the heating cookers, there is a heating cooker which switches between the heating cooking using the high frequency described in the first and second embodiments and the oven cooking using the heater. In oven cooking, a square plate on which a food to be heated is mounted may be installed in a heating chamber and used. Generally, square pans are not suitable for high-frequency cooking because they are made of metal. Therefore, when a metal square pan is installed in the heating chamber, it is necessary to prevent high-frequency cooking. In the following third embodiment, an example will be described in which the presence or absence of a metal square plate in the heating chamber is detected, and high-frequency cooking is not performed when the square plate is detected.

[Third Embodiment] Hereinafter, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. In addition, for convenience of description, the same reference numerals are attached to the members having the same functions as the members described in the above-described embodiments, and the description thereof will not be repeated.

(Outline of heating cooker 3) FIG. 12 is a front view showing a state in which the front door 12 of the heating cooker 3 according to the present embodiment is opened. As shown in FIG. 12 , when the heating chamber 13 is viewed from the front, the heating cooker 3 has guide portions 32 extending horizontally in the front-rear direction on the left and right side walls 13d, respectively. The guide portion 32 may be attached to the side wall 13d by welding or the like, or may be formed by deep-drawing the side wall 13d.

The two guide portions 32 face each other and are formed at the same height from the flat plate 13c on the bottom surface. In addition, a square plate 34 for oven cooking is placed on the guide portion 32 . A square plate detection sensor (a square plate placement determination unit) 33 that determines whether or not the square plate 34 is placed is provided on at least one inner upper portion of the two guide portions 32 . The square plate detection sensor 33 may be any kind of sensor as long as the square plate detection sensor 33 can determine whether or not the square plate 34 is placed at a predetermined position of the guide portion 32 . Details of the determination of whether or not the square plate 34 is placed in the heating chamber 13 will be described later.

(control device) FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a control device included in the heating cooker 3 . With respect to the control part 22 of the heating cooker 1 of the said 1st Embodiment, the control apparatus further includes the square plate detection sensor 33, and performs control of square plate detection. Except for the control using the square plate detection sensor 33, since the same control as the above-described first embodiment is performed, details are omitted.

The control part 22 includes the determination part 22a which determines whether the food 40 exists in the heating chamber 13, and the heating control part 22b which controls the heating operation of the heating operation part 23 based on the determination result of the determination part 22a.

The determination part 22a determines whether the food 40 exists in the heating chamber 13 based on the image which the camera 31 picked up.

Moreover, the determination part 22a determines whether the square plate 34 exists in the heating chamber 13 based on the detection signal from the square plate detection sensor 33. Specifically, if the detection signal received from the square plate detection sensor 33 is a signal indicating that the square plate 34 is installed in the heating chamber 13 , the determination unit 22 a determines that the square plate 34 is not arranged in the heating chamber 13 .

If the determination result of the determination unit 22a is that the food 40 is stored in the heating chamber 13, or the determination result of the determination unit 22a is that there is no square plate 34 in the heating chamber 13, the heating control unit 22b allows heating The heating operation performed by the operation unit 23 . On the other hand, if the determination result of the determination unit 22a indicates that there is no food 40 in the heating chamber 13, or the determination result of the determination unit 22a indicates that the square plate 34 is present in the heating chamber 13, the heating control unit will 22b does not allow the heating operation by the heating operation part 23 . That is, if the square plate 34 is detected by the square plate detection sensor 33, the heating control unit 22b does not execute heating control (mainly, high-frequency heating) for heat cooking other than oven cooking. When it is determined by the square plate detection sensor 33 that the square plate 34 is placed at a predetermined position, the heating control unit 22b allows the heating operation unit 23 to perform oven cooking without performing high-frequency heating.

(Effect) Also in the heating cooker 3 having the above-described configuration, the light-emitting element 61 and the light-receiving element 62 are used to determine whether or not the food 40 is arranged, and therefore, similarly to the heating cooker 1 of the first embodiment described above, no heating operation is performed in the heating chamber 13 . The heating in a no-load state such as the food 40 is arranged. Thereby, since the heating operation (no-load operation) by the heating operation unit 23 in the state where the food 40 (the object to be heated) does not exist in the heating chamber 13 is not permitted, that is, the heating operation (no-load operation) in the no-load state, no Problems caused by no-load operation. For example, there is no problem that the magnetron is burdened by the no-load operation, and the life of the equipment is shortened.

That is, compared to the case where the temperature of the magnetron is detected after the heating control is performed once to determine the no-load operation as in the related art, there is no burden on the equipment, so the life of the equipment can be extended.

In addition, in this embodiment, the light-emitting element 61 is provided for detecting the food 40, but if the light irradiated by the light-emitting element 61 is visible light, a room lamp (not shown) provided in the heating chamber 13 in advance may be used. Instead, the light-emitting element 61 is provided. In this case, when the food 40 is arranged in the heating chamber 13, the light receiving element 62 may be arranged at a position where the light of the indoor lamp is blocked. In this way, if the light irradiated by the light-emitting element 61 is visible light, an existing indoor lamp can be used.

However, the light irradiated by the light-emitting element 61 may be infrared light. In this case, the light received by the light receiving element 62 also needs to be infrared light. In this way, when the presence or absence of the food 40 in the heating chamber 13 is determined using infrared light, it is less likely to be affected by noise such as external light than when using visible light.

(Variation 1) FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating another example of determining the presence or absence of the food 40 using the video imaged by the camera 31 in the heating cooker 1 of the first embodiment.

On the flat plate 13c of the heating chamber 13 of the heating cooker 1, a plurality of food detection marks 26 of a color different from the color of the flat plate 13c are provided. The food detection mark 26 may be attached to the flat plate 13c by a heat-resistant sticker, or may be directly drawn on the flat plate 13c. It is preferable to provide a plurality of food detection marks 26 on the flat plate 13c. For example, the plurality of food detection marks 26 are located near the center of the flat plate 13c as indicated by reference numeral 1411 in FIG. 14 , and are in a state where the food 40 is placed as indicated by reference numeral 1412 in FIG. 14 . Below, set in a range where not all food detection marks 26 are hidden.

As shown by reference numeral 1411 in FIG. 14 , when the number of food detection marks 26 is set to 16, as shown by reference numeral 1412 in FIG. 14 , when the food 40 is placed, the food 40 unhidden food detection marks 26 become 12. As a result, the number of food detection marks 26 after the food 40 is placed becomes smaller than the number of the food detection marks 26 before the food 40 is placed. In this way, it can be determined whether or not the food 40 is placed in the heating chamber 13 based on the number of recognizable food detection marks 26 . Specifically, the food detection marks 26 are extracted from the image captured by the camera 31 in the heating chamber 13 , and the presence or absence of the food 40 is determined based on the number of the extracted food detection marks 26 . In this case, it is only necessary to extract the food detection marks 26 from the image captured by the camera 31 . Therefore, compared with the case of analyzing the entire image and determining whether or not the food 40 is placed in the heating chamber 13 , it is possible to more easily Determine the presence or absence of food 40.

(Variation 2) FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating another example of determining the presence or absence of the square plate 34 in the heating cooker 3 according to the third embodiment.

In the heating cooker 3 according to the third embodiment described above, the square plate detection sensor 33 provided in the heating chamber 13 is used to detect the presence or absence of the square plate 34, but here, the square plate formed at the four corners of the flat plate 13c is used. The disc detection mark 27 is used to detect the presence or absence of the square disc 34 .

On the flat plate 13c of the heating chamber 13 of the heating cooker 3, there are provided a plurality of food detection marks 26 of a color different from the color of the flat plate 13c, and four food detection marks 26, that is, on the outer side of the flat plate 13c, are provided. Square disc detection marks 27 are provided at the corners. Similar to the food detection mark 26, the square plate detection mark 27 may be attached to the flat plate 13c by a heat-resistant sticker, or may be directly drawn on the flat plate 13c. For example, as shown by reference numeral 1511 in FIG. 15 , the square disc detection marks 27 are provided at the four corners of the flat plate 13c, and as shown by reference numeral 1512 in FIG. 15 , the square disc detection marks 27 are provided at the placement In the state where the square plate 34 is present, all the square plate detection marks 27 are hidden.

As indicated by reference numeral 1511 in FIG. 15 , in a state where the square plate 34 is not placed on the flat plate 13c, the square plate detection mark 27 can be recognized, and when the food 40 is also not placed, all food detection can be recognized. Mark 26. Further, as indicated by reference numeral 1512 in FIG. 15 , when the square plate 34 is placed on the flat plate 13c, all the food detection marks 26 and all the square plate detection marks 27 cannot be recognized. Specifically, the presence or absence of the square plate 34 is determined based on whether or not the food detection mark 26 and the square plate detection mark 27 extracted from the image captured by the camera 31 in the heating chamber 13 are detected. That is, when the food detection mark 26 and the square plate detection mark 27 cannot be extracted from the image, it is determined that the square plate 34 is placed on the flat plate 13c, and when extraction is possible, it is determined that the square plate 34 is not placed on the plate 13c. on the plate 13c. In this case, the presence or absence of the square plate 34 can be determined based on whether or not the square plate detection mark 27 can be extracted from the image captured by the camera 31 . Therefore, the square plate detection sensor 33 is not required to be provided. The presence or absence of the square plate 34 is determined.

[Example of implementation by software] The control modules of the display control unit 22 (in particular, the determination unit 22a, the heating control unit 22b, and the reading control unit 22c) can be realized by a logic circuit (hardware) formed in an integrated circuit (IC chip), etc. It can be realized by software.

In the latter case, the control unit 22 includes a computer that executes the commands of the program as software for realizing each function. The computer includes, for example, at least one processor (control device) and at least one computer-readable storage medium for storing the program. Furthermore, in the above-mentioned computer, the above-mentioned processor reads the above-mentioned program from the above-mentioned storage medium and executes the program to achieve the object of one aspect of the present invention. As the above-mentioned processor, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit, central processing unit) can be used. As the recording medium, a "non-transitory tangible medium" such as ROM (Read Only Memory) can be used, and a magnetic tape, a magnetic sheet, a card, a semiconductor memory, a programmable logic circuit, etc. can also be used. In addition, a RAM (Random Access Memory) or the like extending the above-mentioned program may be further provided. In addition, the above-mentioned program can be provided to a computer via any transmission medium (communication network, broadcast wave, etc.) capable of transmitting the program. Furthermore, one aspect of the present invention can also be implemented in the form of a data signal in which the above-described program is embodied by electronic transmission and embedded in a carrier wave.

〔Summarize〕 The heating cooker according to the first aspect of the present invention includes: a heating chamber 13; a door (front door 12) provided in the heating chamber 13; opening and closing; a determination unit 22a that determines whether food 40 is placed in the heating chamber 13; a heating unit (heating operation unit 23) that heats the food placed in the heating chamber 13; and a heating control unit 22b that The heating and cooking of the heating unit (heating operation unit 23 ) is controlled, and the heating control unit 22 b is controlled by the opening/closing detection unit ( The front door opening/closing detection unit 25 ) detects that the door (front door 12 ) is closed as a condition, and causes the heating unit (heating operation unit 23 ) to perform heat cooking of the food 40 .

According to the above configuration, when it is determined that the food is placed in the heating chamber, the heating unit heats the food when the door is detected to be closed. Food is also not heated. Furthermore, when it is determined that no food is placed in the heating chamber, even if the door is detected to be closed, the heating unit does not perform heating. That is, heating is not performed in a state (no-load state) in which no food (load) is placed in the heating chamber. Therefore, since the heating operation (no-load operation) performed by the heating unit in the no-load state can be reduced, various problems caused by the no-load operation can also be reduced.

The heating cooker according to the second aspect of the present invention, in the above-mentioned first aspect, may further include a reading device 16 that reads an information code indicating at least the type of the food 40 , and the heating control unit 22b is adapted to read the information. The heating condition corresponding to the information code of the food 40 read by the device 16 controls the heating and cooking of the heating part (the heating operation part 23 ).

According to the above configuration, food can be heated under appropriate heating conditions.

In the heating cooker according to the third aspect of the present invention, in the aforementioned aspect 1 or 2, the determination unit may determine whether or not food is placed in the heating chamber by analyzing imaging data obtained by imaging the heating chamber.

According to the above configuration, it is possible to easily determine whether or not food is placed in the heating chamber by simply photographing the interior of the heating chamber.

In the heating cooker according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in the aforementioned aspect 1 or 2, the determination unit 22a may be in the heating chamber 13 based on light irradiated at a position where the food 40 is arranged, or in the heating chamber 13 The received light intensity of the reflected reflected light determines whether or not food is placed in the heating chamber 13 .

According to the above configuration, whether or not the food is placed in the heating chamber is determined based on the light-receiving intensity of light transmitted or reflected in the heating chamber. Therefore, only the light-emitting portion that irradiates light and the light-receiving portion that receives light may be provided. Therefore, complicated processing such as analysis of an image captured by an imaging device such as a camera is not required.

In the heating cooker according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, in the aforementioned aspect 1 or 2, the heating unit (heating operation unit 23 ) may perform oven cooking as the heating cooking, and may include a square plate 34 arranged as a heating target and a square plate placement determination unit (a square plate detection sensor 33) that determines whether the square plate 34 is placed at a predetermined position of the heating chamber 13, and if the square plate detection and determination unit is (Square plate detection sensor 33) determines that the square plate 34 is placed at a predetermined position, the heating control unit 22b allows the heating unit (heating operation unit 23) to execute the oven cooking without executing the high frequency heating.

According to the above-mentioned configuration, when the square plate is placed, the oven cooking is permitted, but the heating cooking by the high-frequency heating is not performed. Thereby, since a discharge phenomenon occurs when high-frequency heating is performed especially when the square plate is made of metal, this power generation phenomenon does not occur.

In the heating cooker according to the sixth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the aforementioned aspects 1 to 5, during the control period of the heating operation by the heating unit (the heating operation unit 23 ), the opening/closing detection unit ( When the front door opening/closing detection unit 25) detects that the door (the front door 12) is opened, the heating control unit 22b stops the control.

According to the above configuration, heating in a no-load state is not performed.

In the heating cooker according to the sixth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the aforementioned aspects 1 to 5, the heating performed by the heating unit (heating operation unit 23 ) may be high-frequency heating.

According to the above configuration, if the heating by the heating unit is high-frequency heating, it is more preferable not to perform the heating in a no-load state. That is, when high-frequency heating is performed in a no-load state, various problems such as failure of a magnetron will occur, but if high-frequency heating is not performed in a no-load state, high-frequency heating in a no-load state will not occur. problems caused by frequent heating.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims, and embodiments obtained by appropriately combining technical means disclosed in different embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. Furthermore, new technical features can be formed by combining the technical means disclosed in the respective embodiments.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a state in which the front door of the heating cooker according to the embodiment of the present invention is viewed from obliquely above the front. Fig. 2 is a front view of the heating cooker shown in Fig. 1 in a state where the front door is opened. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a state in which the front door of the heating cooker shown in Fig. 1 is viewed obliquely from the lower right. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of a control frame showing an installation state of a reading device included in the heating cooker shown in Fig. 1 . FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a reading area of the reading device shown in FIG. 4 . FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of an information code. Fig. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control device included in the heating cooker shown in Fig. 1 . Fig. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of determining whether or not food is present in the heating cooker shown in Fig. 1 . 9 is a front view showing a state in which the front door of the heating cooker according to another embodiment of the present invention is opened. Fig. 10 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control device included in the heating cooker shown in Fig. 9 . Fig. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of determining whether or not food is present in the heating cooker shown in Fig. 9 . Fig. 12 is a front view showing a state in which the front door of the heating cooker according to another embodiment of the present invention is opened. Fig. 13 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control device included in the heating cooker shown in Fig. 12 . FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing a modification of the method for determining the presence or absence of food. FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing a modification of the method for determining the presence or absence of a square plate.

1: heating cooker

11: Operation panel

16: Reader

21: Reading area lighting

22: Control Department

22a: Judgment Department

22b: Heating control section

22c: Read control section

23: Heating action part

24: Reading Result Notification Department

25: Front door opening and closing detection section

31: Camera

51: Server

52: memory

Claims (7)

A heating cooker, comprising: heating chamber; a door provided in the heating chamber; an opening and closing detection unit, which detects the opening and closing of the door; a determination unit that determines whether food is arranged in the heating chamber; a heating unit that heats and cooks food placed in the heating chamber; and a heating control unit that controls heating cooking by the heating unit, The heating control unit causes the heating unit to perform heating of the food on the condition at least that the determination unit determines that food is placed in the heating chamber and the opening/closing detection unit detects that the door is closed. cooking. The heating cooker according to claim 1, further comprising a reading device that reads an information code indicating at least the type of food, The heating control unit controls the heating and cooking of the heating unit according to the heating condition corresponding to the information code of the food read by the reading device. The heating cooker according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, This determination part analyzes the imaging data obtained by imaging the said heating chamber, and determines whether food is arrange|positioned in this heating chamber. The heating cooker according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, This determination part determines whether food is arrange|positioned in this heating chamber based on the light irradiated at the position where this food is arrange|positioned in this heating chamber, or the received light intensity of the reflected light reflected in this heating chamber. The heating cooker according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, The heating part can perform oven cooking as heating cooking, The heating part includes: a square plate configured as food to be heated; and a square plate placement determination unit that determines whether or not the square plate is placed at a predetermined position in the heating chamber, If it is determined by the square plate placement determination unit that the square plate is placed at a predetermined position, the heating control unit allows the heating unit to perform the oven cooking without performing high-frequency heating. The heating cooker according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein, The heating control unit stops the control when the opening/closing detection unit detects that the door is opened during the control period of the heating operation performed by the heating unit. The heating cooker according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein, The heating performed by the heating unit is high-frequency heating.

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