JPH0429939B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to automatic heating of food using a sensor, and in particular to selection of a heating sequence using food color detection.

BACKGROUND TECHNOLOGY As shown in FIG. 7a, in a conventional automatic cooking device of this type, by pressing a key displaying a food name in a row, a preset heating sequence optimal for cooking that food is executed. It used to be structured like this. However, with this kind of configuration, it is necessary to prepare as many keys as there are food names.
Not only did the area of the key become large, which increased costs, but it also added to the hassle of searching for the key for the food name. On the other hand, instead of selecting a food name from such many keys, there is an example in which keys are provided for each cooking category, as shown in FIG. 7, thereby significantly reducing the number of keys.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, when comparing Figures 7a and b, the category of ``reheating'' is summarized in one key, ``warming,'' but the category of ``cooking from raw'' is ``cooking leafy vegetables.''``Cooking'' ``Cooking fruits and vegetables''
It is divided into three keys: ``Cooking root vegetables.''
The reason why the three keys cannot be combined into one key is that the heating form differs depending on the food. In other words, as shown in Figure 8a, cooking of leafy vegetables ends when the food reaches a certain temperature or a certain amount of steam is detected, whereas as shown in Figure 8c, cooking ends when it is detected that the food reaches a certain temperature or a certain amount of steam is released. In "cooking root vegetables", after detecting that a certain amount of steam has been released from the food,
Heating (K=1) must be continued for a certain period of time. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 8b, it is necessary to continue heating (K=0.5) for a certain period of time even in "cooking fruits and vegetables". In this way, although the menu items belong to the same category (both ``cooked from raw''), three different heating sequences had to be adopted due to the differences in the composition of the foods themselves. However, the user of the cooker has to consider which of the three keys he/she should select before operating the key, making it inconvenient to use.

The present invention solves such conventional problems,
This is an attempt to improve the usability of automatic heating cookers by consolidating the category of ``cooking from raw'' into one key.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the automatic heating cooker of the present invention has a heating chamber for heating food, a magnetron for supplying microwaves into the heating chamber, and a lighting lamp inside the heating chamber. "Cooking from raw" key, color sensor,
It has a microcomputer that processes information from the color sensor, and is equipped with a sequence selection function using the color sensor, a notification function thereof, and a heating sequence correction function.

Effects According to the present invention, the color of the food is determined by the color sensor when the start of heating is instructed after the "cooking from raw" key is selected. Depending on the determined color information, it is determined whether the object to be heated is "leaf vegetables", "fruit/flower vegetables", or "root vegetables", and the result is notified by the notification means. If the notified content differs from the object to be heated, the heating sequence is corrected by pressing the key again.

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the accompanying drawings.

In FIG. 1, a magnetron 1 supplies microwave energy through a waveguide 2 to a food product 4 in a heating chamber 3. In FIG. There is a hole 3b in the ceiling 3a of the heating chamber 3.
is bored, and a color sensor 5 is disposed outside. Further, an absolute humidity sensor 6 is disposed outside the punching section 3c of the ceiling section 3a. In addition, an interior light 7 is installed outside the heating chamber 3, and a filter 8
The inside of the heating chamber 3 is illuminated through the heating chamber 3. The keyboard section 9 has a "warming key" 9a and a "defrosting key" 9.
b. “Cooking key from raw” 9c and “Start key”
10 and a display tube 11 are attached,
The input information from the key section is sent to the microcomputer 1.
Processed in 2. Further, the speaker 13 is for notifying the heating sequence. Also, the fan motor 14
is a motor for driving a fan 15 for cooling the magnetron 1, and a turntable motor 16 is a motor for rotating a food table 17. The steam generated from the food 4 by the microwave from the magnetron 1 is detected by the absolute humidity sensor 6 and then exhausted to the outside.

In the above configuration, "cooking key from raw" 9c
is selected and the start key 10 is pressed, the signal from the microcomputer 12 causes the red,
The food 4 is illuminated by sequentially passing through green and blue three-color filters. A color sensor 5 detects the light that passes through each color filter and is reflected on the surface of the food 4, and determines the color of the food based on the output from the color sensor 5, which differs for each color. Next, food that is determined to be "green" based on the color of the food is determined to be "leafy vegetables," and a notification is made from the speaker 13 or the "leafy vegetables" display 11a on the display tube 11 shown in FIG. 2 is turned on. Notification will be made by Those determined to be "red" or "white" are determined to be "root vegetables," and are notified from the speaker 13 or the "root vegetables" display 11b of the display tube 11 is lit. In addition, if the color is determined to be other than the above, it is determined that it is a "flower/fruit" and the speaker 1
3, or the "Flowers/Fruits/Vegetables" display 11c on the display tube 11 is turned on.

In response to the above notification, the microcomputer 12
executes a pre-stored heating sequence.
In other words, the heating sequence shown in Figure 8a is used for "leaf vegetables," and the heating sequence shown in Figure 8b is used for "flowers and fruit vegetables."
For "root vegetables", the heating sequence shown in FIG. 8c is executed. On the other hand, when the user looks at the display tube 11 or listens to the notification from the speaker 13 and determines that the heated object and the heating sequence do not match, and presses the "raw cooking key" 9c again. The above operation of changing the heating sequence up to that point is shown in flowcharts in FIGS. 3 and 4.

Here, FIG. 3 shows the operation of the microcomputer 12 immediately after the "start key" 10 is pressed, and FIG. 4 shows the operation of the microcomputer 12 when the heating sequence is changed.

Next, FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the control circuit according to the present invention.

The microcomputer 12 sequentially sends scanning pulses shown in FIG. 6 to the output terminals _S0 to _S4 ,
Which output terminal is set to High output and which input terminal among input terminals I ₀ to _{I 3}
Determine if a High signal appears.

Here, when it detects that a High signal appears at input terminal I ₃ while a High signal is output from output terminal S ₀ , it determines that the "warming key" 9a has been pressed, and a High signal appears at I ₂ . When this is detected, it is determined that the "defrost key" 9b has been pressed, and _the
When it detects that the High signal has appeared, it determines that the "raw cooking key" 9c has been pressed, and switches to I ₀ .
When the appearance of the High signal is detected, it is determined that the "start key" 10 has been pressed.

The individual output terminal _R1 is connected to a relay 22 that controls energization to the magnetron device 21 via a driver 20.
This is a terminal that outputs a control signal. In addition, the individual output terminal R ₂ is the relay 2 that controls the energization of the circuit.
This is a terminal that outputs a signal to control 3. Further, the individual output terminal R ₃ is a terminal that outputs a signal for controlling the buzzer 24 . Further, the individual output terminals R ₄ and R ₅ are terminals for controlling the transmission of audio data to the speaker 13 via the audio ROM 25 . Also individual terminals
_R6 is a terminal for controlling lighting of the illumination lamp 7. The signal from the absolute humidity sensor 6 is amplified by an amplifier 27 and input into the microcomputer 12 from the input terminal A/D ₁ , and energization of the magnetron device 21 is controlled based on this information. Individual output terminals R ₇ and R ₈ are terminals for controlling the step motor 29 via the step motor control circuit 28. A filter 8 is attached to the shaft of the step motor 29. Further, the output of the color sensor 5 is amplified by an amplifier 30 and input into the microcomputer 12 from the input terminal A/D ₂ , and the color of the food is determined based on this information. D ₀ to _{D 7} are parallel output terminals, and this output becomes the display data of the display tube 11.

In the above configuration, when the "start key" 10 is pressed after the "raw cooking key" 9c is selected, the illumination light 7 is turned on and the step motor 29 is turned on.
rotates every 90 degrees, and the light that passes through red, green, and blue filters is reflected on the surface of the food 4 and enters the color sensor 5. After the light passes through the three-colored filters, the inside of the refrigerator is illuminated through a transparent filter.
The signal from the color sensor 5 is taken into the microcomputer 12, and it is determined which color filter passed through which light was input based on the output states of the individual terminals _R7 and _R8 . After checking the output of the color sensor 5 based on the light that has passed through the three-color filter, the microcomputer 12 determines whether the food 4 is "leaf vegetables,""flower/fruitvegetables," or "root vegetables," and makes a notification from the speaker 13. do. After the announcement from speaker 13,
"Cooking from raw key" when the user notices a false positive detection
Tap 9c to select "Leafy Vegetables" → "Flowers/Fruits" →
The display changes to "root vegetables" and the heating sequence settings are also changed.

However, if the "raw cooking key" 9c is tapped later than T ₀ time (the time when the absolute humidity sensor 18 detects the humidity), the key input is ignored.

According to the above structure and function, it is the "key to cooking from raw"
You can start cooking just by pressing , making it easy to operate. Furthermore, since the heating sequence selected by the sensor is notified, the user can confirm the heating sequence, giving a sense of security. Even if the selected heating sequence is incorrect, the selected heating sequence will be notified and corrections can be made immediately. The correction method can be easily done cyclically by simply pressing the ``raw cooking key''.

Since the lighting inside the heating chamber can also be used as a light source for selecting the color of the food 4, there is no need to provide a special light source. There are other effects.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the automatic heating cooker of the present invention, (1) Since the type of food can be distinguished by color discrimination of the food, cooking of the same category with different heating methods can be done using one key. It becomes executable by operation, improving usability.

(2) The number of keys can be reduced, making the key section simpler.

(3) There is a sense of security because the selected heating sequence is notified.

(4) Even if an incorrect heating sequence is selected, the heating sequence can be easily corrected by pressing the key again.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a system configuration diagram of the automatic heating cooker of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a pattern diagram of the display tube, Fig. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing inside the microcomputer, and Fig. 4 is a diagram showing the processing inside the microcomputer. FIG. 5 is an electronic circuit system diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing scanning pulses of the same microcomputer, and FIG. 7a is a conventional automatic heating cooking process. FIG. 7b is a front view showing an example of displaying the menu name of the dish; FIG. 7b is a front view showing an example of displaying cooking categories; FIG. FIG. 8b is a characteristic diagram showing the heating sequence for "flowers and fruit vegetables," and FIG. 8c is a characteristic diagram showing the heating sequence for "root vegetables." 1... Magnetron, 9c... Raw cooking key, 7... Lighting light, 8... Filter, 10...
Start key, 5...Color sensor, 6...Absolute humidity sensor, 11...Display tube, 12...Microcomputer, 13...Speaker, 29...Step motor.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A heating chamber in which food is placed, high-frequency generating means for supplying high-frequency energy to the food in the heating chamber, means for illuminating the inside of the heating chamber, a group of keys for inputting the cooking type of food, and means for determining the color of the food, means for detecting the completion state of the heated food, means for selecting a plurality of heating sequences by one key of the key group, and information on the means for determining the color of the food. means for selecting a unique heating sequence; and means for notifying the selected heating sequence;
and means for changing the selected heating sequence. 2. The automatic device according to claim 1, which includes a means for illuminating the inside of the heating chamber as a means for determining the color of food, and a three-color filter of red, green, and blue, its driving mechanism, and a photodiode between the heating chamber. Heating cooker. 3. The automatic heating cooking device according to claim 1, which provides audible notification as the heating sequence notification means. 4. The automatic heating cooker according to claim 1, further comprising means for changing the selected heating sequence when a key is input again after the selected heating sequence is notified.