JP2979449B2 - Automatic rice cooker - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic rice cooker used in ordinary households.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Until now, rice was weighed, washed, added and removed,
Various automatic rice cookers that automatically perform rice cooking have been proposed. Among them, in order to improve the usability, the priority of the input setting is set to the order of the course, the menu, and the amount of cooked rice, and the resetting of the rice cooking condition is performed according to the priority (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-241412) or In addition, there has been proposed a device in which the content of the rice cooked amount display area is displayed in accordance with the menu selected in the menu display area (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-241413).

[0003]

However, in the above-described conventional configuration, if the user sets the menu after setting the rice cooking amount, inconsistency may occur between the menu and the rice cooking amount. In other words, in a rice cooker that cooks 1.8 liters (10 cups), the rice cookable area of the white rice menu is from 2 cups to 10 cups, and the whole rice porridge is boiled and 0.5 cups to 3 cups. ing. Here, for example, if the menu is changed to full after setting the amount of cooked rice for 5 cups in the white rice menu, spilling etc. will occur if 5 cups are left, so the device will be in an abnormal state and the user will not be able to do anything. There is a problem that the state needs to be notified by such means.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and a first object of the present invention is to provide an automatic rice cooker which informs a user of a contradiction between the above-mentioned menu and the amount of cooked rice with a simple configuration. Is what you do.

It is a second object of the present invention to provide an automatic rice cooker capable of easily resolving the contradiction when the user notices the contradiction.

It is a third object of the present invention to provide an automatic rice cooker for re-notifying that a contradiction has occurred even if the user operates without noticing the reported contradiction.

[0007]

In order to achieve the first object, the present invention provides a rice measuring means for measuring rice, a rice washing means for washing the rice measured by the rice measuring means, and a rice washing means. Water adjusting means for performing predetermined water adjusting according to the amount of rice measured by the measuring means, rice cooking means for cooking rice based on a predetermined rice cooking sequence, setting of rice cooking conditions such as a rice cooking menu and the amount of cooked rice, and starting cooking. And input setting means for inputting cancellation and the like, input display means for displaying the rice cooking conditions set by the input setting means, and overall control according to the rice cooking conditions determined by the input setting means and the input display means. The automatic rice cooker is provided with a control means for performing the setting, and after setting the rice cooking amount, the menu setting is performed. When the set rice cooking amount is out of the range of the setting menu, the setting rice cooking amount display is turned on. It is obtained so as to.

In order to achieve the second object,
After setting the amount of cooked rice, set the menu and operate the input setting means to set the amount of cooked rice again in a state where the set amount of cooked rice is out of the range of available rice in the setting menu. If the amount exceeds the maximum amount, the display automatically changes to the maximum amount that can be cooked in the menu.If the set amount of rice is less than the minimum amount that can be cooked in the menu, the display is automatically changed to the minimum amount that can be cooked in the menu. The input display means is provided in the automatic rice cooker.

[0009] In order to achieve the third object, when a rice cooker is set, a menu is set, and when a cook start operation is performed in a state where the cooked rice amount is out of the rice cookable range of the set menu, the cooked rice is set. If the amount exceeds the maximum amount of rice that can be cooked in the menu, the maximum amount of rice that can be cooked in the menu.If the amount of cooked rice is less than the minimum amount that can be cooked in the menu, the amount is set to the minimum amount that can be cooked in the menu. The automatic rice cooker is provided with input display means for automatically changing the display and displaying the occurrence of the setting error together.

[0010]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the menu setting is performed after the rice cooking amount is set, and when the set rice cooking amount is out of the rice cooking range of the setting menu, the set rice cooking amount display is blinked. This allows the user to be notified of the contradiction.

Further, as in the configuration of the second aspect of the present invention, it is necessary to perform menu setting after setting the rice cooking amount, and to set the rice cooking amount again in a state where the set rice cooking amount is out of the rice cooking range of the setting menu. When the input setting means is operated, if the set amount of cooked rice exceeds the maximum amount of rice that can be cooked in the menu, if the set amount of cooked rice is less than the minimum amount of rice that can be cooked in the menu, ,
By automatically changing the display to the minimum amount of rice that can be cooked in the menu, if the user notices the contradiction, the contradiction can be easily released.

Further, as in the configuration of the third aspect of the present invention, when a menu setting is performed after the rice cooking amount is set, and a cooking start operation is performed in a state where the set rice cooking amount is out of the rice cooking range of the setting menu, If the set amount of cooked rice exceeds the maximum amount of rice that can be cooked in that menu, if the set amount of cooked rice is less than the minimum amount that can be cooked in that menu, the maximum amount of rice that can be cooked in that menu is By automatically changing the display to a small amount and displaying that a setting error has occurred, it is possible to re-notify that the inconsistency has occurred even if the user operates without noticing the reported inconsistency. .

[0013]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of an automatic rice cooker according to one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 designates rice according to an input set by a user from a rice storage unit such as a rice bin. Is a rice washing means for washing the rice weighed by the rice weighing means 1, 3 is a water weighing means for performing a predetermined water weighing corresponding to the amount of rice weighed by the rice weighing means 1, and 4 is Rice cooking means for cooking rice based on a predetermined rice cooking sequence,
Reference numeral 5 denotes input setting means for setting rice cooking conditions such as a rice cooking menu and the amount of cooked rice, and inputting start and cancellation of cooking, 6 denotes input display means for displaying the rice cooking conditions set by the input setting means 5, and 7 denotes input setting. This is control means for performing overall control in accordance with the rice cooking conditions determined by the means 5 and the input display means 6.

Next, the operation in this configuration will be described. When the user inputs rice cooking conditions by the input setting means 5, a display corresponding to the input is performed by the input display means 6, and the rice measuring means 1, the rice washing means 2, the water adding and subtracting means in accordance with a sequence preset by the control means 7. 3 and the rice cooking means 4 are controlled respectively. This sequence will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, a user inputs rice cooking conditions such as a rice cooking menu and the number of rice cooking cups (S1). Then, the control means 7
The rice weighing means 1 weighs the rice according to the rice cooking conditions and transfers the rice to the next step (S2). Next, the transferred rice is washed by the rice washing means 2 (S3). Subsequently, the water level is adjusted by the water leveling means 3 in accordance with the amount of rice (S4). Then, rice cooking is performed by the rice cooking means 4 (S5). When the rice cooking is completed, the temperature is automatically kept warm and the sequence ends (S6).

Here, the operation at the time of inputting the rice cooking condition setting in S1 of FIG. 2 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When the user inputs the rice cooking conditions (S10),
Judge whether there is no conflict between the setting menu and the setting rice cooking amount
(S11). If there is no inconsistency, the process ends. If there is inconsistency, the process 1 is executed (S12), and it is determined whether or not the rice cooking amount setting key is pressed (S13). Here, when the rice cooking amount key is pressed, processing 2 is executed next (S14), and the rice cooking condition setting ends. If the start key is pressed without the rice cooker key being pressed
(S15), processing 3 is executed (S16), and the rice cooking condition setting is finished. If the start key has not been pressed, the process returns to S13 and the above operation is repeated.

Next, the operations of the processes 1, 2, and 3 will be described in order.

In the processing 1 (S12) of FIG. 3, as shown in FIG. 4, the cooked rice content is blinked on the input display means 6 (S1).
21) Finish. Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 5, after the menu is set to "white rice" and the amount of cooked rice is set to "5 cups" (display state 61), the menu is changed from "white rice" to "porridge".
Display, the display of “5 cups” flashes (display state 6
2) This informs that a contradiction has occurred between the setting menu and the set amount of cooked rice.

In the process 2 of FIG. 3, it is first determined whether or not the displayed rice cooking amount exceeds the maximum rice cooking amount in the setting menu as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6 (S141). If it exceeds the maximum rice cooking amount in the setting menu, the display is changed to the maximum rice cooking amount that can be cooked in the menu (S142). If not, the display is changed to the minimum amount of rice that can be cooked in the menu (S143), and the process 2 ends. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, the display contradiction is corrected by changing the display to "3 cups", which is the maximum amount of cooked rice in the "porridge" menu (display state 63).

In the process 3 shown in FIG. 3, the above-described process 2 is first executed as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 8 (S161), a "cup error" is displayed (S162), and the process 3 ends. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 9, the display is changed to “3 cups” which is the maximum rice cooking amount in the “porridge” menu, and
Display "Error" under "Cup display" (display state 64)
Thus, the user is notified that the contradiction has occurred again.

[0021]

As described above, in the automatic rice cooker according to the present invention, the menu setting is performed after the rice cooking amount is set, and when the set rice cooking amount is out of the rice cooking range of the setting menu, the set rice cooking amount is set. An automatic rice cooker capable of notifying a user of a contradiction in setting of rice cooking conditions with a simple configuration by blinking a display is provided.

Further, when the menu setting is performed after setting the rice cooking amount and the input setting means is operated to set the rice cooking amount again in a state where the set rice cooking amount is out of the rice cooking range of the setting menu, the setting rice cooking amount is reduced. If the maximum amount of rice that can be cooked in the menu is exceeded, the maximum amount of rice that can be cooked in that menu is automatically set. The present invention is to provide an automatic rice cooker that can easily release the contradiction when the user notices the contradiction by changing the display to the rice cooker.

Further, when a menu setting is performed after setting the rice cooking amount and a cooking start operation is performed in a state where the set rice cooking amount is out of the rice cooking range of the setting menu, the set rice cooking amount becomes the maximum amount of rice that can be cooked in the menu. If it exceeds, the display automatically changes to the maximum amount of rice that can be cooked in the menu, and if the set amount of rice is less than the minimum amount of rice that can be cooked in the menu, the display is automatically changed to the minimum amount that can be cooked in that menu, The present invention also provides an automatic rice cooker that re-informs that a contradiction has occurred even if an operation is performed without noticing the contradiction by displaying that a setting error has occurred.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the automatic rice cooker of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of a rice cooking condition setting input (S1) of the automatic rice cooker of FIG. 2;

4 is a flowchart showing a process 1 of the operation of the automatic rice cooker of FIG. 3 in detail.

FIG. 5 is a specific display example of processing 1 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a process 2 of FIG. 3 in detail.

FIG. 7 is a specific display example of processing 2 in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a process 3 of FIG. 3 in detail.

FIG. 9 is a specific display example of processing 3 in FIG. 8;

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Rice measuring means, 2 ... Rice washing means, 3 ...
4 ... rice cooking means, 5 ... input setting means, 6 ... input display means, 7 ... control means.

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Seiichi Uemoto 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-2-241412 (JP, A) JP-A-2 -241413 (JP, A) JP-A-1-170427 (JP, A) JP-A-62-129019 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) A47J 27/00 109

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. Rice measuring means for measuring rice, rice washing means for washing the rice measured by the rice measuring means, and water for performing a predetermined water adjustment corresponding to the amount of rice measured by the rice measuring means. Adjusting means, rice cooking means for cooking rice based on a predetermined rice cooking sequence, input setting means for setting rice cooking conditions such as a rice cooking menu and the amount of cooked rice, and starting and canceling cooking, and setting by the input setting means Input display means for displaying the cooked rice cooking conditions, and control means for performing overall control according to the rice cooking conditions determined by the input setting means and the input display means. An automatic rice cooker characterized by flashing the set rice cooker display when the set rice cooker is out of the rice cookable range of the setting menu. 2. After the rice cooking amount is set, a menu is set, and when the input setting means is operated to set the rice cooking amount again in a state where the set rice cooking amount is out of the rice cooking range of the setting menu, the set rice cooking amount is reduced. If the maximum amount of rice that can be cooked in the menu is exceeded, the maximum amount of rice that can be cooked in that menu is automatically set. 2. The automatic rice cooker according to claim 1, further comprising input display means for changing the display. 3. After the rice cooking amount is set, a menu setting is performed, and when the cooking start operation is performed in a state where the rice cooking amount is out of the rice cooking range of the setting menu, the rice cooking amount set in the menu is the maximum amount of rice that can be cooked in the menu. If it exceeds, the display automatically changes to the maximum amount of rice that can be cooked in the menu, and if the set amount of rice is less than the minimum amount of rice that can be cooked in the menu, the display is automatically changed to the minimum amount that can be cooked in that menu, 2. The automatic rice cooker according to claim 1, further comprising input display means for displaying that a setting error has occurred.