JPH0751107B2 - rice cooker - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Object of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a rice cooker including a control circuit for controlling the rice cooking operation and a display such as a rice cooking timer for displaying the time.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, a rice cooker has been provided in which the operation from the start of rice cooking to the end of rice cooking is controlled by a rice cooking control circuit such as a microcomputer. In this rice cooker, for example, a timer function for setting the rice cooking start time is provided. In the case of the one with a display, a display for displaying the set time is provided on the operation panel, and the current time is normally displayed on the display.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in such a conventional configuration, even if an abnormal state such as a malfunction of the rice cooking control circuit or a stop of the rice cooking control circuit due to a power failure occurs, the user does not If you do not cook rice, you will not know that an abnormality has occurred, and you will notice an abnormal state that you can not cook good rice or you can not cook rice at all after you cook rice, and you can deal with the abnormal condition There was a problem of being late.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a rice cooker capable of promptly notifying the user of the occurrence of an abnormal state when an abnormal state occurs in the rice cooking control circuit.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving Problems) The present invention provides a display device having a time display section and a plurality of display elements for menu instructions, a rice-cooking start operation means for starting rice cooking, and a timer rice-cooking operation. It is equipped with a timer set operation means for setting and a menu selection operation means for selecting a desired rice cooking course from a plurality of rice cooking courses.When the rice is not cooked, the current time is displayed on the time display section. , In the case of displaying the present time, when the rice cooking start operating means is operated, the rice cooking operation is started, and when the timer set operating means is operated, the display of the time display portion is displayed on the rice cooking completion desired time. Is displayed,
When the menu selection operation means is operated, the display element for menu indication corresponding to the rice cooking course written on the outside of the display is selectively displayed, and when an abnormal state such as a failure occurs in the rice cooking control circuit. Is
It is characterized in that the display of the time display section is an abnormal display different from the display of the present time and the desired time of completion of rice cooking.

(Operation) According to the above means, when an abnormal state occurs in the rice cooking control circuit, an abnormality display different from the time display is immediately displayed on the time display section of the display unit to notify the user, so that it is possible to quickly deal with the abnormal state. It is possible to

Then, the one time display unit displays three contents, that is, the current time, the desired rice cooking completion time, and the abnormality display, and the selection contents of the rice cooking course are displayed by the menu instruction display element. For example, the display space is smaller than that of the character display, so that the display can be downsized.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Reference numeral 1 denotes a rice cooker body, inside which a heater 2 and an inner pot 3 heated by the heater 2 are housed. The bottom of the inner pot 3 is for detecting the temperature of the bottom of the pot when the rice is cooked. A temperature sensitive element 4 such as a thermistor is provided. On the other hand, an operation panel 5 is provided on the front surface of the rice cooker main body 1, and three LEDs for displaying the operation state are provided on the operation panel 5.
6, 7 and 8 are provided. Reference numeral 9 denotes an LCD display disposed in the central portion of the operation panel 5, which is a total of 60 linear display elements 10, “kitchen timer” and “on the way” as radially arranged time display portions. Display elements 11 and 12, which consist of the letters "Den", and display elements for displaying 7-segment numbers
Each of the display elements 10 and 14 has four display elements 15 to 18 for instructing a menu. Around the display element 10, a scale and a number for displaying the time are printed. The character "minute" is printed to the left of the. On the surface of the operation panel immediately below each of the display elements 15 to 18, the display characters of each rice cooking course of "white rice", "brown rice", "boiled rice", and "porridge" are printed. At the bottom of the operation panel 5,
Five pushbuttons 19 to 23 are provided, and "menu", "cooking rice", "cancel", "timer", on the surface of each pushbutton,
The indication of "kitchen timer" is attached.

FIG. 3 shows a rice cooking control circuit 24, and input signals from the temperature sensitive element 4 and the push buttons 19 to 23 are given to the microcomputer 25 through the input circuit 26. A drive signal from the microcomputer 25 is given to the heater 2 via the drive circuit 27. The display signal from the microcomputer 25 is given to the LCD display 9 and the LEDs 6 to 8 via the display circuit 28.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. When rice is not being cooked, the microcomputer 25 performs a clock operation to selectively display one of the display elements 10 via the display circuit 28, thereby displaying the current time as shown in FIG. When the push button 19 serving as the menu selection operation means to which "Menu" is attached is pressed, the menu for cooking rice is changed, and the display elements 15 to 18 are selectively displayed accordingly. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, when the display element 15 is displayed, it is set in the "white rice" menu. When the user wants to start cooking rice immediately after setting, pressing the push button 20 serving as a rice cooking start operation means with the display of "rice cooking" causes the microcomputer 25 to output a rice cooking operation command and the heater 2 via the drive circuit 27. Inner pot 3 when electricity is turned on
Rice is cooked. The state of the rice cooking operation at this time is displayed on the LEDs 6 to 8. When the temperature sensitive element 4 detects that the rice in the inner pot 3 is cooked up and the bottom of the inner pot 3 is rapidly heated, the microcomputer 25 outputs a rice cooking operation completion signal to the heater 2. The power supply to was cut off, and the heat transfer started.

On the other hand, if you want to activate the rice cooking timer function at the current time of 9:00 pm and complete rice cooking at 6:00 am, press the push button 22 that is the timer set operating means labeled "timer". The display elements 10 displaying 9 o'clock of the current time are displayed in the clockwise direction adjacent to each other, so that the display elements 10 face each other at 6:00 am as the desired rice cooking completion time as shown in FIG. Push button 22 when
When the push button 20 marked with "cooking rice" is pressed, the setting of timer rice cooking is completed. The position of the display element 10 representing the current time changes with the passage of time, the display element 10 maintains the display state between the current time and the timer set time, and the rice is cooked when the current time and the timer set time match. Microcomputer to complete 25
Calculates the rice cooking start time and automatically starts the rice cooking operation described above.

When you press the push button 23 with the indication "kitchen timer",
Display element 1 consisting of the characters "Kitchen Timer" is displayed, and at the same time, "minute" is displayed as a 2-digit number.
3,14 are displayed, and if the push button 23 is kept pressed, the display elements 13,14
The display of the time displayed in is increased in order. When the push button 23 is released when the desired time is displayed, the setting is completed, and after setting, the time displayed by the display elements 13 and 14 decreases as time passes, and the set time elapses. Then, an electronic buzzer sounds.

For example, if the heater 2 is broken or the temperature sensitive element 4 fails, rice may not be cooked at all or may be half cooked, resulting in a sticking. If such a failure makes good rice impossible. The microcomputer 25 detects this and erases the display of the current time or the end time of the rice cooked by the timer on the LCD display 9, and instead uses a plurality of display elements 10 as an abnormal display as shown in FIG. "X"
The display pattern 29 corresponding to the figure is displayed.

For example, when a power failure occurs during rice cooking, the heater 2 of the rice cooking control circuit 24 is cut off during rice cooking, which is not a malfunction but the rice may be half cooked. In any case, the microcomputer 25 detects this and erases the time display by the LCD display 9, and instead, a plurality of display elements 10 are used to display an abnormal display "T" as shown in FIG. The display pattern 30 corresponding to the character is displayed, and at the same time, the display element 12 including the character "I'm in the middle" is displayed.

In the above configuration, when the rice cooking control circuit 24 has an abnormal state, that is, a failure of the circuit itself, or when there is no abnormality in the circuit but an abnormality due to an external factor such as a power failure, a different display pattern 29 or 30 is displayed by the LCD display 9. Therefore, the user can
The contents of the abnormality can be immediately known by the display pattern displayed on the display unit 9. For example, the heater 2 or the temperature sensing element 4 can be used.
In the event of a failure, there is no need to cook the rice again to confirm it, and a request for repair can be made immediately, and in the case of an abnormality due to an external factor, the rice cooker itself is not a malfunction, so repair is unnecessary. It is only necessary to remove external factors, and it is possible to quickly deal with abnormal conditions.

Furthermore, by the display element 10 as one time display unit,
Since three contents, that is, the current time, the desired time of completion of rice cooking, and an abnormality display, are displayed, and the selection contents of the rice cooking course are displayed on the menu instruction display elements 16 to 18, for example, characters are displayed. The display space is smaller than that of the display, so that the LCD display 9 can be downsized.

[Effects of the Invention] As is apparent from the above description, the present invention immediately notifies the user by displaying an abnormal display different from the time display on the time display section of the display when an abnormal state occurs in the rice cooking control circuit. Therefore, it is possible to quickly deal with abnormal conditions,
Furthermore, the one time display unit displays three contents, that is, the current time, the desired rice cooking completion time, and the error display, and
Since the selection content of the rice cooking course is displayed by the display element for menu instruction, for example, the display space is smaller than that of the character display, and therefore, the excellent effect that the display device can be downsized can be achieved. .

[Brief description of drawings]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a front view of an operation panel displaying a current time, FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of the whole, FIG. 3 is a block diagram, and FIG. The figure is a front view of the operation panel displaying the timer set state, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are front views of the operation panel showing different abnormal states. In the drawing, 1 is a rice cooker body, 2 is a heater, 4 is a temperature sensing element,
5 is an operation panel, 9 is an LCD display, 10 is a display element (time display section), 15 to 18 are display elements for menu instruction, 19 is a push button (menu selection operation means), 20 is a push button (rice cooking start operation means) 22 is a push button (timer setting operation means), 24 is a rice cooking control circuit, 25 is a microcomputer, and 29 and 30 are display patterns.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Hiroaki Kawaguchi 2570-1 Gosuda, Kamo-shi, Niigata 1 Toshiba Heat Appliance Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP-A-58-133212 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A display device having a time display section and a plurality of display elements for menu instructions, a rice cooking start operation means for starting rice cooking, a timer set operation means for setting a timer rice cooking operation, and a plurality of rice cooking courses. With a menu selection operation means for selecting a desired rice cooking course from inside, when the rice is not cooked, the current time is displayed on the time display section, and when the current time is displayed, When the rice cooking start operation means is operated, the rice cooking operation is started, and when the timer set operation means is operated, the display of the time display section is displayed as the desired rice cooking completion time,
When the menu selection operation means is operated, the display element for menu indication corresponding to the rice cooking course written on the outside of the display is selectively displayed, and when an abnormal state such as a failure occurs in the rice cooking control circuit. Is
A rice cooker characterized in that the display of the time display section is an abnormal display different from the display of the current time and the desired rice cooking completion time.