Method and device for estimating amount of food material for cooking apparatus, and cooking apparatus

Abstract

The application provides a food material quantity estimation method and device for a cooking device and the cooking device, wherein the food material quantity estimation method comprises the following steps: based on the fact that a pot is put into food material and liquid, a heating device is controlled to heat the pot according to a preset heating power and timing is started; based on the fact that a floating device is detected to float up, the timing duration is determined; according to the corresponding relationship between the timing interval where the timing duration is located and the food material put-in quantity, the food material put-in quantity corresponding to the timing duration is determined, the estimation of the food material quantity based on the timing duration is more accurate, and therefore, the cooking of the food material according to the estimated food material quantity is more accurate, and the probability of cooking failure of the food material is greatly reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of control technology, and more specifically, to a method for estimating the amount of ingredients for a cooking device, a device for estimating the amount of ingredients for a cooking device, the cooking device, and a readable storage medium. Background Technology

[0002] When cooking rice using a cooking device, the user puts the ingredients and liquid of equal amount into the pot of the cooking device for cooking.

[0003] Existing cooking equipment can estimate the amount of food inside the pot, but the estimation is inaccurate. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The present invention aims to solve at least one of the technical problems existing in the prior art or related art.

[0005] Therefore, a first aspect of the present invention is to provide a method for estimating the amount of ingredients for cooking equipment.

[0006] A second aspect of the present invention is to provide an ingredient quantity estimation device for cooking equipment.

[0007] A third aspect of the invention is that it provides one type of cooking apparatus.

[0008] A fourth aspect of the present invention is that a second cooking device is provided.

[0009] A fifth aspect of the present invention is that a readable storage medium is provided.

[0010] In view of this, according to a first aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a method for estimating the amount of ingredients in a cooking device, wherein the cooking device includes a pot body, a float, a heating device, and a detection device, wherein the float is disposed in the pot body, and when the ingredients and liquid in the pot body are heated to a target temperature, the detection device can detect that the float has risen. The method for estimating the amount of ingredients includes: based on the ingredients and liquid being placed in the pot body, controlling the heating device to heat the pot body according to a preset heating power and starting a timer; based on the detection device detecting that the float has risen, determining the timer duration; and determining the amount of ingredients placed corresponding to the timer duration based on the correspondence between the timer duration and the amount of ingredients placed.

[0011] The technical solution of this application proposes a method for estimating the amount of ingredients, which is applicable to cooking equipment. By running this control method, the amount of ingredients in the pot of the cooking equipment can be estimated.

[0012] The technical solution of this application is achieved through the following principle: Specifically, after the user puts food and liquid matching the amount of food into the pot, the heating device heats the mixture of food and liquid to raise the temperature of the mixture. The rate of temperature rise of the mixture is negatively correlated with the amount of food. That is, as the amount of food increases, the rate of temperature rise of the mixture decreases. The amount of food can be detected by detecting the temperature rise of the mixture per unit time.

[0013] Based on the above principle, it can be known that the temperature rise of the mixture per unit time is negatively correlated with the amount of ingredients. Under certain circumstances, the above relationship can be changed so that the time corresponding to the temperature rise of the mixture per unit temperature value is negatively correlated with the amount of ingredients. That is, as the amount of ingredients increases, the time taken for the mixture to rise by one unit temperature will decrease. Based on this, the amount of ingredients can be estimated by detecting the temperature rise of the mixture.

[0014] In the above process, it is difficult to measure the temperature rise of the mixture, which has a significant impact on the estimation of the amount of ingredients.

[0015] To overcome the aforementioned effects, a float and a detection device used in conjunction with the float are installed in the cooking equipment to measure the temperature of the mixture. Specifically, during the heating process, the liquid in the mixture is heated and forms water vapor. As the temperature of the mixture continues to rise until it reaches the target temperature, the temperature of the mixture is maintained at the target temperature. At this time, a large amount of water vapor is stably formed inside the pot. The presence of this water vapor will lift the float. When the detection device detects that the float has risen, it can be known that the temperature of the mixture has reached the target temperature, thus realizing the measurement of the temperature of the mixture.

[0016] In related technical solutions, temperature sensors are directly used to measure the temperature of the mixture. However, when using temperature sensors for temperature measurement, the measurement accuracy of the temperature sensor affects the measurement results. This technical solution can overcome the above problems by using temperature sensors to measure the temperature of the mixture.

[0017] In addition, when using temperature sensors for temperature measurement, there is a problem of temperature lag in the measured temperature values. The above-mentioned technical solution can effectively avoid this problem, improve the accuracy of temperature measurement of mixtures, and ensure the accuracy of ingredient quantity estimation.

[0018] In this technical solution, timing begins when the heating device starts heating the mixture and ends when the detection device detects the float rising, thus obtaining the timing duration. This timing duration is equivalent to a longer unit time (e.g., 1 minute). At this time, the measurement of the temperature rise of the mixture corresponding to the timing duration is more accurate. Therefore, the estimation of the amount of ingredients based on this timing duration will be more accurate. Since the estimation of the amount of ingredients is more accurate, the cooking of the ingredients based on the estimated amount of ingredients will be more accurate, greatly reducing the probability of cooking failure.

[0019] In addition, by pre-establishing the correspondence between timing intervals and the amount of ingredients, after determining the timing duration, the timing duration is compared with the timing intervals pre-stored in the correspondence to obtain the target timing interval corresponding to the timing duration. Since there is a one-to-one correspondence between the target timing interval and the amount of ingredients, after obtaining the timing duration, the amount of ingredients corresponding to the timing duration can be determined by looking up the correspondence.

[0020] It is worth noting that the ingredients and liquids added to the pot have the same temperature value. This temperature value can be room temperature or other temperatures. In order to improve the accuracy of the ingredient quantity estimation, the greater the difference between this temperature value and the target temperature, the better. The greater the difference between the temperature value and the target temperature, the longer the timing will be, which will greatly extend the time for judging the amount of rice and improve the accuracy of judging the amount of rice.

[0021] Furthermore, the lower the temperature of the ingredients and liquid added to the pot, the longer it takes for the heating device to heat the mixture until the float rises, and the longer the corresponding timing time will be. Since the increase in timing time is not due to an increase in the amount of ingredients, there will still be a deviation in the above-mentioned estimation of the amount of ingredients. Therefore, it is necessary to limit the temperature value of the ingredients and liquid added to the pot to a one-to-one correspondence with the corresponding relationship, that is, each temperature value corresponds to a corresponding relationship, in order to eliminate the influence of the temperature value of the ingredients and liquid added to the pot on the estimation of the amount of ingredients, thereby improving the accuracy of the estimation of the amount of ingredients.

[0022] In addition, the heating device operates at a preset heating power, thus implementing the above solution and avoiding the impact of changes in heating power on the estimation of food quantity.

[0023] In any of the above technical solutions, the preset heating power can be the rated heating power of the heating device, i.e., full power operation, or the preset heating power can be the product of the full power and the preset value, wherein the preset value is greater than 0 and less than 1.

[0024] It should be added that there is a matching relationship between the amount of ingredients and the amount of liquid. For example, when the amount of ingredients is the first mark in the pot used to measure the amount of ingredients, the amount of liquid is the first mark in the pot used to measure the amount of liquid.

[0025] In addition, the method for estimating the amount of ingredients for cooking equipment claimed in this application also has the following additional technical features.

[0026] In the above technical solution, after determining the amount of food to be put in corresponding to the timing duration, the method further includes: determining the operating parameters based on the amount of food to be put in corresponding to the timing duration; and controlling the heating device to operate according to the operating parameters.

[0027] In this technical solution, after determining the amount of food to be added corresponding to the timing duration, the operating parameters of the heating device are also determined based on the amount of food to be added corresponding to the timing duration, so as to control the heating device to work according to the operating parameters in order to achieve the cooking of the food.

[0028] In this process, since the operating parameters are determined based on the estimated amount of ingredients, the success rate of cooking the ingredients can be increased.

[0029] In any of the above technical solutions, the operating parameters include one or more of the following parameters: working pressure inside the pot, heating power of the heating device, and duration of maintaining the working pressure.

[0030] This technical solution specifically defines the contents of the operating parameters. By defining the operating parameters, including the working pressure in the pot, the pressure inside the pot can be controlled by the operation of the heating device. This provides a better pressure environment for cooking the food, avoiding excessively high working pressure in the pot, which could cause the food to burst and become too soft and sticky, affecting the taste. At the same time, it also avoids excessively low working pressure in the pot, which could cause the food to not absorb enough liquid, resulting in hardened food that also affects the taste.

[0031] In addition, the operating parameters also include the duration of maintaining the working pressure. By limiting this duration, the pressure inside the pot can be controlled through the operation of the heating device, providing an optimal pressure environment for cooking the food. This avoids a duration that is too short, which would affect the amount of liquid absorbed by the food, causing it to become hard and affecting the texture. Conversely, a duration that is too long would cause the food to absorb too much liquid, resulting in overly soft and mushy food, also affecting the texture. By limiting these parameters, the desired texture of the cooked food can be ensured.

[0032] In addition, the operating parameters also include the heating power of the heating device to heat the pot. Since the actual amount of food in the pot also affects the heating power of the heating device to heat the pot, it is to avoid the mixture near the pot being burnt due to excessive heating power, while the food in the middle of the mixture is not cooked. At the same time, by limiting the heating power to be related to the amount of food put in, the optimal heating power can be selected to heat the pot, so as to improve the cooking speed of the food and reduce the waiting time for users.

[0033] In any of the above technical solutions, based on operating parameters including the working pressure inside the pot and / or the duration of maintaining the working pressure, the working pressure is between 216 kPa and 241 kPa; the duration of maintaining the working pressure is between 3 minutes and 8 minutes.

[0034] This technical solution provides a better pressure environment for cooking ingredients, avoiding excessively high working pressure in the pot, such as exceeding 241 kPa, which would cause the ingredients to burst and become too soft and sticky, affecting the taste. At the same time, it also avoids excessively low working pressure in the pot, such as below 216 kPa, which would result in insufficient liquid absorption by the ingredients, causing the cooked ingredients to become hard and affecting the taste.

[0035] By limiting the duration of the heating element, the pressure inside the pot can be controlled, providing an optimal pressure environment for cooking the food. A duration that is too short (less than 3 minutes) will affect the amount of liquid absorbed by the food, resulting in hardened food and a poor texture. Conversely, a duration that is too long (more than 8 minutes) will cause the food to absorb too much liquid, resulting in overly soft and mushy food, also affecting the texture. By limiting these parameters, the desired texture of the cooked food can be ensured.

[0036] In one technical solution, since the cooking equipment uses a heating device to heat the pot, the working pressure cannot be increased directly by injection. Therefore, the heating device can be controlled, and the working pressure can be adjusted by adjusting the heating power and / or heating time. Specifically, after the float rises, a sealed environment is formed inside the pot. At this time, during the heating process of the heating device, the liquid turns into a gaseous state. As the amount of gaseous liquid increases, the pressure inside the pot also increases, thus increasing the working pressure inside the pot.

[0037] The pressure reduction in the pot can be achieved using the pressure relief device of the cooking equipment. This device can be an exhaust valve. When the pressure in the pot is too high, the exhaust valve is opened to release steam to the outside of the pot, thus relieving pressure. When the pressure in the pot is between 216 kPa and 241 kPa, the exhaust valve can be closed.

[0038] In any of the above technical solutions, based on operating parameters including the working pressure inside the pot and / or the duration of maintaining the working pressure, the working pressure is between 219 kPa and 226 kPa; the duration of maintaining the working pressure is between 5 minutes and 7 minutes.

[0039] This technical solution further restricts the range of pressure environment values, preventing the working pressure in the pot from being too high, such as exceeding 226 kPa, which would cause the food to burst and become too soft and sticky, affecting the taste. At the same time, it also prevents the working pressure in the pot from being too low, such as below 219 kPa, which would result in insufficient liquid absorption by the food, causing the cooked food to become hard and affecting the taste.

[0040] By limiting the duration of the heating element, the pressure inside the pot can be controlled, providing an optimal pressure environment for cooking the food. A duration that is too short (less than 5 minutes) will affect the amount of liquid absorbed by the food, resulting in hardened food and a poor texture. Conversely, a duration that is too long (more than 7 minutes) will cause the food to absorb too much liquid, resulting in overly soft and mushy food, also affecting the texture. By limiting these parameters, the desired texture of the cooked food can be ensured.

[0041] By further narrowing the range of duration and working pressure, the control precision of the cooking equipment is improved, increasing the success rate of cooking ingredients.

[0042] In any of the above technical solutions, the method further includes: acquiring the cooking mode of the cooking device; and determining the corresponding relationship based on the cooking mode.

[0043] In this technical solution, considering that current cooking equipment has multiple cooking modes, if the same parameters are used to estimate the amount of ingredients under all cooking modes, there will inevitably be problems with the reliability of the estimation results.

[0044] To address the aforementioned issues, the technical solution of this application specifically defines the correspondence as determined by the cooking mode of the cooking equipment. Specifically, it can be understood that when the cooking equipment operates in the first cooking mode, the correspondence used is a first correspondence matching the first operating mode; when the cooking equipment operates in the second cooking mode, the correspondence used is a second correspondence matching the second operating mode, and so on. By setting a correspondence for each cooking mode, the accuracy of the estimation in the process of determining the amount of ingredients is ensured, thereby increasing the success rate of cooking the ingredients.

[0045] In any of the above technical solutions, the cooking mode can be either quick cooking or intensive cooking. In quick cooking, the ingredients go through a heating stage, a pressure maintenance stage, a pressure release stage, and a heat preservation stage. In quick cooking, the ingredients need to be cooked for a shorter time to meet the user's needs.

[0046] In the essence cooking process, the ingredients go through the water absorption stage, heating stage, pressure maintenance stage, pressure release stage, rice simmering stage, and heat preservation stage, which can achieve the best cooking effect and result in a better taste.

[0047] In any of the above technical solutions, the method further includes: sending the capacity value of the pot body and the rated heating power of the heating device to the target server; and receiving the correspondence between the capacity value of the pot body and the rated heating power of the heating device fed back by the target server.

[0048] This technical solution specifically defines the method for obtaining the corresponding relationship: the corresponding relationship is obtained through the target server, without storing the corresponding relationship locally on the cooking device. In other words, there is no need to set up a storage unit for storing the corresponding relationship, which helps to reduce the storage cost of the cooking device.

[0049] According to a second aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a food quantity estimation device for a cooking device, the cooking device including a pot body, a float, a heating device, and a detection device, wherein the float is disposed in the pot body, and when the food and liquid in the pot body are heated to a target temperature, the detection device can detect that the float has risen. The food quantity estimation device includes: a control module, used to control the heating device to heat the pot body according to a preset heating power and start timing based on the food and liquid being placed in the pot body; a first determination module, used to determine the timing duration based on the detection device detecting that the float has risen; and a second determination module, used to determine the amount of food placed corresponding to the timing duration according to the correspondence between the timing interval in which the timing duration is located and the amount of food placed.

[0050] The technical solution of this application proposes a food quantity estimation device, which is applicable to cooking equipment. Cooking equipment equipped with this food quantity estimation device can estimate the amount of food in the pot of the cooking equipment.

[0051] The technical solution of this application is achieved through the following principle: Specifically, after the user puts food and liquid matching the amount of food into the pot, the heating device heats the mixture of food and liquid to raise the temperature of the mixture. The rate of temperature rise of the mixture is negatively correlated with the amount of food. That is, as the amount of food increases, the rate of temperature rise of the mixture decreases. The amount of food can be detected by detecting the temperature rise of the mixture per unit time.

[0052] Based on the above principle, it can be known that the temperature rise of the mixture per unit time is negatively correlated with the amount of ingredients. Under certain circumstances, the above relationship can be changed so that the time corresponding to the temperature rise of the mixture per unit temperature value is negatively correlated with the amount of ingredients. That is, as the amount of ingredients increases, the time taken for the mixture to rise by one unit temperature will decrease. Based on this, the amount of ingredients can be estimated by detecting the temperature rise of the mixture.

[0053] In the above process, it is difficult to measure the temperature rise of the mixture, which has a significant impact on the estimation of the amount of ingredients.

[0054] To overcome the aforementioned effects, a float and a detection device used in conjunction with the float are installed in the cooking equipment to measure the temperature of the mixture. Specifically, during the heating process, the liquid in the mixture is heated and forms water vapor. As the temperature of the mixture continues to rise until it reaches the target temperature, the temperature of the mixture is maintained at the target temperature. At this time, a large amount of water vapor is stably formed inside the pot. The presence of this water vapor will lift the float. When the detection device detects that the float has risen, it can be known that the temperature of the mixture has reached the target temperature, thus realizing the measurement of the temperature of the mixture.

[0055] In related technical solutions, temperature sensors are directly used to measure the temperature of the mixture. However, when using temperature sensors for temperature measurement, the measurement accuracy of the temperature sensor affects the measurement results. This technical solution can overcome the above problems by using temperature sensors to measure the temperature of the mixture.

[0056] In addition, when using temperature sensors for temperature measurement, there is a problem of temperature lag in the measured temperature values. The above-mentioned technical solution can effectively avoid this problem, improve the accuracy of temperature measurement of mixtures, and ensure the accuracy of ingredient quantity estimation.

[0057] In this technical solution, timing begins when the heating device starts heating the mixture and ends when the detection device detects the float rising, thus obtaining the timing duration. This timing duration is equivalent to a longer unit time (e.g., 1 minute). At this time, the measurement of the temperature rise of the mixture corresponding to the timing duration is more accurate. Therefore, the estimation of the amount of ingredients based on this timing duration will be more accurate. Since the estimation of the amount of ingredients is more accurate, the cooking of the ingredients based on the estimated amount of ingredients will be more accurate, greatly reducing the probability of cooking failure.

[0058] In addition, by pre-establishing the correspondence between timing intervals and the amount of ingredients, after determining the timing duration, the timing duration is compared with the timing intervals pre-stored in the correspondence to obtain the target timing interval corresponding to the timing duration. Since there is a one-to-one correspondence between the target timing interval and the amount of ingredients, after obtaining the timing duration, the amount of ingredients corresponding to the timing duration can be determined by looking up the correspondence.

[0059] It is worth noting that the ingredients and liquids added to the pot have the same temperature value. This temperature value can be room temperature or other temperatures. In order to improve the accuracy of the ingredient quantity estimation, the greater the difference between this temperature value and the target temperature, the better. The greater the difference between the temperature value and the target temperature, the longer the timing will be, which will greatly extend the time for judging the amount of rice and improve the accuracy of judging the amount of rice.

[0060] Furthermore, the lower the temperature of the ingredients and liquid added to the pot, the longer it takes for the heating device to heat the mixture until the float rises, and the longer the corresponding timing time will be. Since the increase in timing time is not due to an increase in the amount of ingredients, there will still be a deviation in the above-mentioned estimation of the amount of ingredients. Therefore, it is necessary to limit the temperature value of the ingredients and liquid added to the pot to a one-to-one correspondence with the corresponding relationship, that is, each temperature value corresponds to a corresponding relationship, in order to eliminate the influence of the temperature value of the ingredients and liquid added to the pot on the estimation of the amount of ingredients, thereby improving the accuracy of the estimation of the amount of ingredients.

[0061] In addition, the heating device operates at a preset heating power, thus implementing the above solution and avoiding the impact of changes in heating power on the estimation of food quantity.

[0062] In any of the above technical solutions, the preset heating power can be the rated heating power of the heating device, i.e., full power operation, or the preset heating power can be the product of the full power and the preset value, wherein the preset value is greater than 0 and less than 1.

[0063] It should be added that there is a matching relationship between the amount of ingredients and the amount of liquid. For example, when the amount of ingredients is the first mark in the pot used to measure the amount of ingredients, the amount of liquid is the first mark in the pot used to measure the amount of liquid.

[0064] In addition, the food quantity estimation device for cooking equipment claimed in this application also has the following additional technical features.

[0065] In the above technical solution, after determining the amount of food to be added corresponding to the timing duration, the second determining module is also used to: determine the operating parameters based on the amount of food to be added corresponding to the timing duration; and control the heating device to operate according to the operating parameters.

[0066] In this technical solution, after determining the amount of food to be added corresponding to the timing duration, the operating parameters of the heating device are also determined based on the amount of food to be added corresponding to the timing duration, so as to control the heating device to work according to the operating parameters in order to achieve the cooking of the food.

[0067] In this process, since the operating parameters are determined based on the estimated amount of ingredients, the success rate of cooking the ingredients can be increased.

[0068] In any of the above technical solutions, the operating parameters include one or more of the following parameters: working pressure inside the pot, heating power of the heating device, and duration of maintaining the working pressure.

[0069] This technical solution specifically defines the contents of the operating parameters. By defining the operating parameters, including the working pressure in the pot, the pressure inside the pot can be controlled by the operation of the heating device. This provides a better pressure environment for cooking the food, avoiding excessively high working pressure in the pot, which could cause the food to burst and become too soft and sticky, affecting the taste. At the same time, it also avoids excessively low working pressure in the pot, which could cause the food to not absorb enough liquid, resulting in hardened food that also affects the taste.

[0070] In addition, the operating parameters also include the duration of maintaining the working pressure. By limiting this duration, the pressure inside the pot can be controlled through the operation of the heating device, providing an optimal pressure environment for cooking the food. This avoids a duration that is too short, which would affect the amount of liquid absorbed by the food, causing it to become hard and affecting the texture. Conversely, a duration that is too long would cause the food to absorb too much liquid, resulting in overly soft and mushy food, also affecting the texture. By limiting these parameters, the desired texture of the cooked food can be ensured.

[0071] In addition, the operating parameters also include the heating power of the heating device to heat the pot. Since the actual amount of food in the pot also affects the heating power of the heating device to heat the pot, it is to avoid the mixture near the pot being burnt due to excessive heating power, while the food in the middle of the mixture is not cooked. At the same time, by limiting the heating power to be related to the amount of food put in, the optimal heating power can be selected to heat the pot, so as to improve the cooking speed of the food and reduce the waiting time for users.

[0072] In any of the above technical solutions, based on operating parameters including the working pressure inside the pot and / or the duration of maintaining the working pressure, the working pressure is between 216 kPa and 241 kPa; the duration of maintaining the working pressure is between 3 minutes and 8 minutes.

[0073] This technical solution provides a better pressure environment for cooking ingredients, avoiding excessively high working pressure in the pot, such as exceeding 241 kPa, which would cause the ingredients to burst and become too soft and sticky, affecting the taste. At the same time, it also avoids excessively low working pressure in the pot, such as below 216 kPa, which would result in insufficient liquid absorption by the ingredients, causing the cooked ingredients to become hard and affecting the taste.

[0074] By limiting the duration of the heating element, the pressure inside the pot can be controlled, providing an optimal pressure environment for cooking the food. A duration that is too short (less than 3 minutes) will affect the amount of liquid absorbed by the food, resulting in hardened food and a poor texture. Conversely, a duration that is too long (more than 8 minutes) will cause the food to absorb too much liquid, resulting in overly soft and mushy food, also affecting the texture. By limiting these parameters, the desired texture of the cooked food can be ensured.

[0075] In one technical solution, since the cooking equipment uses a heating device to heat the pot, the working pressure cannot be increased directly by injection. Therefore, the heating device can be controlled, and the working pressure can be adjusted by adjusting the heating power and / or heating time. Specifically, after the float rises, a sealed environment is formed inside the pot. At this time, during the heating process of the heating device, the liquid turns into a gaseous state. As the amount of gaseous liquid increases, the pressure inside the pot also increases, thus increasing the working pressure inside the pot.

[0076] The pressure reduction in the pot can be achieved using the pressure relief device of the cooking equipment. This device can be an exhaust valve. When the pressure in the pot is too high, the exhaust valve is opened to release steam to the outside of the pot, thus relieving pressure. When the pressure in the pot is between 216 kPa and 241 kPa, the exhaust valve can be closed.

[0077] In any of the above technical solutions, based on operating parameters including the working pressure inside the pot and / or the duration of maintaining the working pressure, the working pressure is between 219 kPa and 226 kPa; the duration of maintaining the working pressure is between 5 minutes and 7 minutes.

[0078] This technical solution further restricts the range of pressure environment values, preventing the working pressure in the pot from being too high, such as exceeding 226 kPa, which would cause the food to burst and become too soft and sticky, affecting the taste. At the same time, it also prevents the working pressure in the pot from being too low, such as below 219 kPa, which would result in insufficient liquid absorption by the food, causing the cooked food to become hard and affecting the taste.

[0079] By limiting the duration of the heating element, the pressure inside the pot can be controlled, providing an optimal pressure environment for cooking the food. A duration that is too short (less than 5 minutes) will affect the amount of liquid absorbed by the food, resulting in hardened food and a poor texture. Conversely, a duration that is too long (more than 7 minutes) will cause the food to absorb too much liquid, resulting in overly soft and mushy food, also affecting the texture. By limiting these parameters, the desired texture of the cooked food can be ensured.

[0080] By further narrowing the range of duration and working pressure, the control precision of the cooking equipment is improved, increasing the success rate of cooking ingredients.

[0081] In any of the above technical solutions, the control module is also used to: acquire the cooking mode of the cooking equipment; and determine the corresponding relationship based on the cooking mode.

[0082] In this technical solution, considering that current cooking equipment has multiple cooking modes, if the same parameters are used to estimate the amount of ingredients under all cooking modes, there will inevitably be problems with the reliability of the estimation results.

[0083] To address the aforementioned issues, the technical solution of this application specifically defines the correspondence as determined by the cooking mode of the cooking equipment. Specifically, it can be understood that when the cooking equipment operates in the first cooking mode, the correspondence used is a first correspondence matching the first operating mode; when the cooking equipment operates in the second cooking mode, the correspondence used is a second correspondence matching the second operating mode, and so on. By setting a correspondence for each cooking mode, the accuracy of the estimation in the process of determining the amount of ingredients is ensured, thereby increasing the success rate of cooking the ingredients.

[0084] In any of the above technical solutions, the cooking mode can be either quick cooking or intensive cooking. In quick cooking, the ingredients go through a heating stage, a pressure maintenance stage, a pressure release stage, and a heat preservation stage. In quick cooking, the ingredients need to be cooked for a shorter time to meet the user's needs.

[0085] In the essence cooking process, the ingredients go through the water absorption stage, heating stage, pressure maintenance stage, pressure release stage, rice simmering stage, and heat preservation stage, which can achieve the best cooking effect and result in a better taste.

[0086] In any of the above technical solutions, the control module is further configured to: send the capacity value of the pot and the rated heating power of the heating device to the target server; and receive the correspondence between the capacity value of the pot and the rated heating power of the heating device fed back by the target server.

[0087] This technical solution specifically defines the method for obtaining the corresponding relationship: the corresponding relationship is obtained through the target server, without storing the corresponding relationship locally on the cooking device. In other words, there is no need to set up a storage unit for storing the corresponding relationship, which helps to reduce the storage cost of the cooking device.

[0088] According to a third aspect of the present invention, a cooking apparatus is provided, comprising: a pot body; a float disposed within the pot body; a heating device for heating the pot body; a detection device capable of detecting the float rising when food and liquid in the pot body are heated to a target temperature; and a control device for controlling the heating device to heat the pot body according to a preset heating power and start timing based on food and liquid being placed in the pot body; determining the timing duration based on the float rising detected by the detection device; and determining the amount of food placed corresponding to the timing duration based on the correspondence between the timing interval and the amount of food placed in the pot body.

[0089] The technical solution of this application proposes a cooking device that can estimate the amount of food inside the pot of the cooking device.

[0090] The technical solution of this application is achieved through the following principle: Specifically, after the user puts food and liquid matching the amount of food into the pot, the heating device heats the mixture of food and liquid to raise the temperature of the mixture. The rate of temperature rise of the mixture is negatively correlated with the amount of food. That is, as the amount of food increases, the rate of temperature rise of the mixture decreases. The amount of food can be detected by detecting the temperature rise of the mixture per unit time.

[0091] Based on the above principle, it can be known that the temperature rise of the mixture per unit time is negatively correlated with the amount of ingredients. Under certain circumstances, the above relationship can be changed so that the time corresponding to the temperature rise of the mixture per unit temperature value is negatively correlated with the amount of ingredients. That is, as the amount of ingredients increases, the time taken for the mixture to rise by one unit temperature will decrease. Based on this, the amount of ingredients can be estimated by detecting the temperature rise of the mixture.

[0092] In the above process, it is difficult to measure the temperature rise of the mixture, which has a significant impact on the estimation of the amount of ingredients.

[0093] To overcome the aforementioned effects, a float and a detection device used in conjunction with the float are installed in the cooking equipment to measure the temperature of the mixture. Specifically, during the heating process, the liquid in the mixture is heated and forms water vapor. As the temperature of the mixture continues to rise until it reaches the target temperature, the temperature of the mixture is maintained at the target temperature. At this time, a large amount of water vapor is stably formed inside the pot. The presence of this water vapor will lift the float. When the detection device detects that the float has risen, it can be known that the temperature of the mixture has reached the target temperature, thus realizing the measurement of the temperature of the mixture.

[0094] In related technical solutions, temperature sensors are directly used to measure the temperature of the mixture. However, when using temperature sensors for temperature measurement, the measurement accuracy of the temperature sensor affects the measurement results. This technical solution can overcome the above problems by using temperature sensors to measure the temperature of the mixture.

[0095] In addition, when using temperature sensors for temperature measurement, there is a problem of temperature lag in the measured temperature values. The above-mentioned technical solution can effectively avoid this problem, improve the accuracy of temperature measurement of mixtures, and ensure the accuracy of ingredient quantity estimation.

[0096] In this technical solution, timing begins when the heating device starts heating the mixture and ends when the detection device detects the float rising, thus obtaining the timing duration. This timing duration is equivalent to a longer unit time (e.g., 1 minute). At this time, the measurement of the temperature rise of the mixture corresponding to the timing duration is more accurate. Therefore, the estimation of the amount of ingredients based on this timing duration will be more accurate. Since the estimation of the amount of ingredients is more accurate, the cooking of the ingredients based on the estimated amount of ingredients will be more accurate, greatly reducing the probability of cooking failure.

[0097] In addition, by pre-establishing the correspondence between timing intervals and the amount of ingredients, after determining the timing duration, the timing duration is compared with the timing intervals pre-stored in the correspondence to obtain the target timing interval corresponding to the timing duration. Since there is a one-to-one correspondence between the target timing interval and the amount of ingredients, after obtaining the timing duration, the amount of ingredients corresponding to the timing duration can be determined by looking up the correspondence.

[0098] It is worth noting that the ingredients and liquids added to the pot have the same temperature value. This temperature value can be room temperature or other temperatures. In order to improve the accuracy of the ingredient quantity estimation, the greater the difference between this temperature value and the target temperature, the better. The greater the difference between the temperature value and the target temperature, the longer the timing will be, which will greatly extend the time for judging the amount of rice and improve the accuracy of judging the amount of rice.

[0099] Furthermore, the lower the temperature of the ingredients and liquid added to the pot, the longer it takes for the heating device to heat the mixture until the float rises, and the longer the corresponding timing time will be. Since the increase in timing time is not due to an increase in the amount of ingredients, there will still be a deviation in the above-mentioned estimation of the amount of ingredients. Therefore, it is necessary to limit the temperature value of the ingredients and liquid added to the pot to a one-to-one correspondence with the corresponding relationship, that is, each temperature value corresponds to a corresponding relationship, in order to eliminate the influence of the temperature value of the ingredients and liquid added to the pot on the estimation of the amount of ingredients, thereby improving the accuracy of the estimation of the amount of ingredients.

[0100] In addition, the heating device operates at a preset heating power, thus implementing the above solution and avoiding the impact of changes in heating power on the estimation of food quantity.

[0101] In any of the above technical solutions, the preset heating power can be the rated heating power of the heating device, i.e., full power operation, or the preset heating power can be the product of the full power and the preset value, wherein the preset value is greater than 0 and less than 1.

[0102] It should be added that there is a matching relationship between the amount of ingredients and the amount of liquid. For example, when the amount of ingredients is the first mark in the pot used to measure the amount of ingredients, the amount of liquid is the first mark in the pot used to measure the amount of liquid.

[0103] The above technical solution also includes: a base having a receiving cavity for receiving the pot body; a cover for closing the receiving cavity, wherein the side of the cover facing the pot body has a cavity with a through hole, and at least a portion of the float extends into the pot body through the through hole.

[0104] In this technical solution, the setting position of the float is specifically defined. By defining the float to be installed on the cover, the float can move with the cover when using the cooking device, such as when opening the cover to open and close the receiving cavity. This eliminates the need for the user to adjust the float separately, simplifies the structure of the cooking device, and reduces the design difficulty of the cooking device.

[0105] In addition, by confining the float within the cavity of the lid, the float is protected, reducing the likelihood of interference between the pot and the float during the opening and closing of the cavity, thereby reducing the chance of damage to the cooking equipment.

[0106] Furthermore, the cavity within the cover also serves as a space for the float to rise, protecting it from interference from other structures during the ascent process and thus ensuring the stable operation of the float.

[0107] In any of the above technical solutions, the detection device is located inside the cavity.

[0108] In this technical solution, the detection device is also located inside the cavity to ensure the accuracy of the detection device in detecting the above-mentioned actions of the float. At the same time, it is also convenient for the detection device to move with the lid when using the cooking equipment, such as when opening and closing the cavity, without the need for the user to adjust the detection device separately. This simplifies the structure of the cooking equipment and reduces the design difficulty of the cooking equipment.

[0109] In addition, by confining the detection device to a cavity within the lid, the detection device is protected, reducing the likelihood of interference between the pot and the detection device during the opening and closing of the cavity, thereby reducing the chance of damage to the cooking equipment.

[0110] In any of the above technical solutions, the device further includes: the object to be detected, located at one end of the float in the cavity, and the object to be detected is detected based on the float rising.

[0111] This technical solution specifically defines a method for detecting float buoyancy. By placing a test object at one end of the float and using a detection device to detect the test object, the float buoyancy is detected. In this process, the detection of the test object by the detection device achieves indirect detection of the float's state, eliminating the possible misjudgment when the detection device directly detects the float buoyancy and improving the reliability of food quantity estimation.

[0112] In any of the above technical solutions, the object to be detected can be a magnetic component, and the detection device can detect the magnetic field strength around its location. When the float rises, the object to be detected approaches the detection device. When the detection device detects an increase in the magnetic field strength, it determines that the object to be detected has been detected.

[0113] In any of the above technical solutions, the object to be detected can also be a blocking component. In this case, the detection device can be a light transmitting device and a light receiving device. When the float rises, the blocking component blocks the light transmitted from the light transmitting device to the light receiving device. When the float does not rise, the blocking component does not block the light transmitted from the light transmitting device to the light receiving device.

[0114] In any of the above technical solutions, the cooking equipment includes one or more of the following: rice cooker, electric pressure cooker, and cooking robot.

[0115] According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a cooking apparatus is provided, including a processor, a memory, and a program or instructions stored in the memory and running on the processor, wherein when the program or instructions are executed by the processor, they implement the steps of the ingredient quantity estimation method as described above.

[0116] According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a readable storage medium on which a program or instructions are stored, which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the ingredient quantity estimation method as described above.

[0117] Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. Attached Figure Description

[0118] The above and / or additional aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and readily understood from the description of the embodiments taken in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:

[0119] Figure 1 One of the flowcharts for the method of estimating the amount of ingredients in an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0120] Figure 2 The second schematic diagram of the ingredient quantity estimation method in an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0121] Figure 3 The third schematic diagram of the ingredient quantity estimation method in an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0122] Figure 4 The fourth flowchart of the ingredient quantity estimation method in an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0123] Figure 5 A schematic block diagram of the ingredient quantity estimation device in an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0124] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the structure of the cooking device in an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0125] Figure 7 A schematic block diagram of the cooking apparatus in an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0126] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of rapid cooking in an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0127] Figure 9 A schematic diagram of the essence cooking process in an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0128] in, Figure 6 The correspondence between the reference numerals and component names in the attached drawings is as follows:

[0129] 600 Cooking equipment, 602 Pot body, 604 Float, 606 Heating device, 608 Detection device, 610 Control device, 612 Base, 614 Cover, 616 Cavity. Detailed Implementation

[0130] To better understand the above aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention, the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. It should be noted that, unless otherwise specified, the embodiments and features described in these embodiments can be combined with each other.

[0131] Many specific details are set forth in the following description in order to provide a full understanding of the invention. However, the invention may also be practiced in other ways different from those described herein, and therefore the scope of protection of the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.

[0132] Example 1

[0133] like Figure 1 As shown, according to a first aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a method for estimating the amount of ingredients in a cooking device, wherein the cooking device includes a pot body, a float, a heating device, and a detection device, wherein the float is disposed in the pot body, and when the ingredients and liquid in the pot body are heated to a target temperature, the detection device can detect that the float has risen, and the method for estimating the amount of ingredients includes:

[0134] Step 102: Based on the fact that food and liquid are placed in the pot, control the heating device to heat the pot according to the preset heating power and start timing;

[0135] Step 104: Based on the detection device detecting that the float has risen, determine the timing duration;

[0136] Step 106: Determine the amount of ingredients to be added corresponding to the timing duration based on the correspondence between the timing interval and the amount of ingredients added.

[0137] The embodiments of this application propose a method for estimating the amount of ingredients, applicable to cooking equipment. By running this control method, the amount of ingredients inside the pot of the cooking equipment can be estimated.

[0138] The embodiments of this application are implemented through the following principle: Specifically, after the user puts food ingredients and liquid matching the amount of food ingredients into the pot, the heating device heats the mixture of food ingredients and liquid to raise the temperature of the mixture. The rate of temperature rise of the mixture is negatively correlated with the amount of food ingredients. That is, as the amount of food ingredients increases, the rate of temperature rise of the mixture decreases. The amount of food ingredients can be detected by detecting the temperature rise of the mixture per unit time.

[0139] Based on the above principle, it can be known that the temperature rise of the mixture per unit time is negatively correlated with the amount of ingredients. Under certain circumstances, the above relationship can be changed so that the time corresponding to the temperature rise of the mixture per unit temperature value is negatively correlated with the amount of ingredients. That is, as the amount of ingredients increases, the time taken for the mixture to rise by one unit temperature will decrease. Based on this, the amount of ingredients can be estimated by detecting the temperature rise of the mixture.

[0140] In the above process, it is difficult to measure the temperature rise of the mixture, which has a significant impact on the estimation of the amount of ingredients.

[0141] To overcome the aforementioned effects, a float and a detection device used in conjunction with the float are installed in the cooking equipment to measure the temperature of the mixture. Specifically, during the heating process, the liquid in the mixture is heated and forms water vapor. As the temperature of the mixture continues to rise until it reaches the target temperature, the temperature of the mixture is maintained at the target temperature. At this time, a large amount of water vapor is stably formed inside the pot. The presence of this water vapor will lift the float. When the detection device detects that the float has risen, it can be known that the temperature of the mixture has reached the target temperature, thus realizing the measurement of the temperature of the mixture.

[0142] In related embodiments, a temperature sensor is directly used to measure the temperature of the mixture. However, when using a temperature sensor to measure the temperature, the measurement accuracy of the temperature sensor will affect the measurement results. This embodiment can overcome the above-mentioned problems by using the temperature sensor to measure the temperature of the mixture.

[0143] Furthermore, when using a temperature sensor for temperature measurement, there is a problem of lag in the measured temperature value. The above-described embodiments can effectively avoid this problem, improve the accuracy of the mixture temperature measurement, and ensure the accuracy of the ingredient quantity estimation.

[0144] In this embodiment, timing begins when the heating device starts heating the mixture and ends when the detection device detects the float rising, thus obtaining the timing duration. This timing duration is equivalent to a longer unit time (e.g., 1 minute). At this time, the measurement of the temperature rise of the mixture corresponding to the timing duration is more accurate. Therefore, the estimation of the amount of ingredients based on this timing duration will be more accurate. Since the estimation of the amount of ingredients is more accurate, the cooking of the ingredients based on the estimated amount of ingredients will be more accurate, greatly reducing the probability of cooking failure.

[0145] In addition, by pre-establishing the correspondence between timing intervals and the amount of ingredients, after determining the timing duration, the timing duration is compared with the timing intervals pre-stored in the correspondence to obtain the target timing interval corresponding to the timing duration. Since there is a one-to-one correspondence between the target timing interval and the amount of ingredients, after obtaining the timing duration, the amount of ingredients corresponding to the timing duration can be determined by looking up the correspondence.

[0146] It is worth noting that the ingredients and liquids added to the pot have the same temperature value. This temperature value can be room temperature or other temperatures. In order to improve the accuracy of the ingredient quantity estimation, the greater the difference between this temperature value and the target temperature, the better. The greater the difference between the temperature value and the target temperature, the longer the timing will be, which will greatly extend the time for judging the amount of rice and improve the accuracy of judging the amount of rice.

[0147] Furthermore, the lower the temperature of the ingredients and liquid added to the pot, the longer it takes for the heating device to heat the mixture until the float rises, and the longer the corresponding timing time will be. Since the increase in timing time is not due to an increase in the amount of ingredients, there will still be a deviation in the above-mentioned estimation of the amount of ingredients. Therefore, it is necessary to limit the temperature value of the ingredients and liquid added to the pot to a one-to-one correspondence with the corresponding relationship, that is, each temperature value corresponds to a corresponding relationship, in order to eliminate the influence of the temperature value of the ingredients and liquid added to the pot on the estimation of the amount of ingredients, thereby improving the accuracy of the estimation of the amount of ingredients.

[0148] In addition, the heating device operates at a preset heating power, thus implementing the above solution and avoiding the impact of changes in heating power on the estimation of food quantity.

[0149] In any of the above embodiments, the preset heating power can be the rated heating power of the heating device, i.e., full power operation, or the preset heating power can be the product of the full power and a preset value, wherein the preset value is greater than 0 and less than 1.

[0150] It should be added that there is a matching relationship between the amount of ingredients and the amount of liquid. For example, when the amount of ingredients is the first mark in the pot used to measure the amount of ingredients, the amount of liquid is the first mark in the pot used to measure the amount of liquid.

[0151] In any of the above embodiments, the target temperature is the boiling temperature.

[0152] Example 2

[0153] In one embodiment, such as Figure 2 As shown, after determining the amount of ingredients to be added corresponding to the timing duration, the following steps are also included:

[0154] Step 202: Determine the operating parameters based on the amount of ingredients added according to the timing duration;

[0155] Step 204: Control the heating device to operate according to the operating parameters.

[0156] In this embodiment, after determining the amount of food to be added corresponding to the timing duration, the operating parameters of the heating device are also determined based on the amount of food to be added corresponding to the timing duration, so as to control the heating device to work according to the operating parameters in order to achieve the cooking of the food.

[0157] In this process, since the operating parameters are determined based on the estimated amount of ingredients, the success rate of cooking the ingredients can be increased.

[0158] In any of the above embodiments, the operating parameters include one or more of the following parameters: working pressure inside the pot, heating power of the heating device, and duration of maintaining the working pressure.

[0159] In this embodiment, the contents of the operating parameters are specifically defined. By defining the operating parameters, including the working pressure in the pot, the pressure inside the pot can be controlled by the operation of the heating device. This provides a better pressure environment for cooking the food, avoiding excessively high working pressure in the pot, which could cause the food to burst and become too soft and sticky after cooking, affecting the taste. At the same time, it also avoids excessively low working pressure in the pot, which could cause the food to not absorb enough liquid, resulting in hardened food after cooking, affecting the taste.

[0160] In addition, the operating parameters also include the duration of maintaining the working pressure. By limiting this duration, the pressure inside the pot can be controlled through the operation of the heating device, providing an optimal pressure environment for cooking the food. This avoids a duration that is too short, which would affect the amount of liquid absorbed by the food, causing it to become hard and affecting the texture. Conversely, a duration that is too long would cause the food to absorb too much liquid, resulting in overly soft and mushy food, also affecting the texture. By limiting these parameters, the desired texture of the cooked food can be ensured.

[0161] In addition, the operating parameters also include the heating power of the heating device to heat the pot. Since the actual amount of food in the pot also affects the heating power of the heating device to heat the pot, it is to avoid the mixture near the pot being burnt due to excessive heating power, while the food in the middle of the mixture is not cooked. At the same time, by limiting the heating power to be related to the amount of food put in, the optimal heating power can be selected to heat the pot, so as to improve the cooking speed of the food and reduce the waiting time for users.

[0162] In any of the above embodiments, based on the operating parameters including the working pressure inside the pot and / or the duration of maintaining the working pressure, the working pressure is between 216 kPa and 241 kPa; the duration of maintaining the working pressure is between 3 minutes and 8 minutes.

[0163] In this embodiment, a better pressure environment is provided for cooking the ingredients, avoiding excessively high working pressure in the pot, such as exceeding 241 kPa, which would cause the ingredients to burst and become too soft and sticky, affecting the taste. At the same time, the working pressure in the pot is also avoided being too low, such as below 216 kPa, which would result in insufficient absorption of liquid by the ingredients, causing the cooked ingredients to become hard and affecting the taste.

[0164] By limiting the duration of the heating element, the pressure inside the pot can be controlled, providing an optimal pressure environment for cooking the food. A duration that is too short (less than 3 minutes) will affect the amount of liquid absorbed by the food, resulting in hardened food and a poor texture. Conversely, a duration that is too long (more than 8 minutes) will cause the food to absorb too much liquid, resulting in overly soft and mushy food, also affecting the texture. By limiting these parameters, the desired texture of the cooked food can be ensured.

[0165] In one embodiment, since the cooking device uses a heating element to heat the pot, the working pressure cannot be increased directly by injection. Therefore, the heating element can be controlled, and the working pressure can be adjusted by adjusting the heating power and / or heating time. Specifically, after the float rises, a sealed environment is formed inside the pot. At this time, during the heating process, the liquid turns into a gaseous state. As the amount of gaseous liquid increases, the pressure inside the pot also increases, thus increasing the working pressure inside the pot.

[0166] The pressure reduction in the pot can be achieved using the pressure relief device of the cooking equipment. This device can be an exhaust valve. When the pressure in the pot is too high, the exhaust valve is opened to release steam to the outside of the pot, thus relieving pressure. When the pressure in the pot is between 216 kPa and 241 kPa, the exhaust valve can be closed.

[0167] In any of the above embodiments, based on the operating parameters including the working pressure inside the pot and / or the duration of maintaining the working pressure, the working pressure is between 219 kPa and 226 kPa; the duration of maintaining the working pressure is between 5 minutes and 7 minutes.

[0168] In this embodiment, the range of pressure environment values ​​is further narrowed to avoid excessively high working pressure in the pot, such as exceeding 226 kPa, which would cause the food to burst and result in overly soft and sticky food, affecting the taste. At the same time, it also avoids excessively low working pressure in the pot, such as below 219 kPa, which would result in insufficient absorption of liquid by the food, causing the cooked food to become hard and affecting the taste.

[0169] By limiting the duration of the heating element, the pressure inside the pot can be controlled, providing an optimal pressure environment for cooking the food. A duration that is too short (less than 5 minutes) will affect the amount of liquid absorbed by the food, resulting in hardened food and a poor texture. Conversely, a duration that is too long (more than 7 minutes) will cause the food to absorb too much liquid, resulting in overly soft and mushy food, also affecting the texture. By limiting these parameters, the desired texture of the cooked food can be ensured.

[0170] By further narrowing the range of duration and working pressure, the control precision of the cooking equipment is improved, increasing the success rate of cooking ingredients.

[0171] Example 3

[0172] In one embodiment, such as Figure 3 As shown, it also includes:

[0173] Step 302: Obtain the cooking mode of the cooking equipment;

[0174] Step 304: Determine the corresponding relationship based on the cooking mode.

[0175] In this embodiment, considering that current cooking equipment has multiple cooking modes, if the same parameters are used to estimate the amount of ingredients under all cooking modes, there will inevitably be a problem of unreliable estimation results.

[0176] To address the aforementioned issues, the embodiments of this application specifically define the correspondence as determined by the cooking mode of the cooking equipment. Specifically, this can be understood as follows: when the cooking equipment operates in the first cooking mode, the correspondence used is a first correspondence matching the first operating mode; when the cooking equipment operates in the second cooking mode, the correspondence used is a second correspondence matching the second operating mode, and so on. By setting a correspondence for each cooking mode, the accuracy of the estimation in the process of determining the amount of ingredients is ensured, thereby increasing the success rate of cooking the ingredients.

[0177] In any of the above embodiments, the cooking mode can be quick cooking or intensive cooking. In quick cooking, the ingredients go through a heating stage, a pressure maintenance stage, a pressure release stage, and a heat preservation stage. In quick cooking, the ingredients need to be cooked for a shorter time to meet the user's needs.

[0178] In the essence cooking process, the ingredients go through the water absorption stage, heating stage, pressure maintenance stage, pressure release stage, rice simmering stage, and heat preservation stage, which can achieve the best cooking effect and result in a better taste.

[0179] Example 4

[0180] In one embodiment, such as Figure 4 As shown, it also includes:

[0181] Step 402: Send the capacity value of the pot and the rated heating power of the heating device to the target server;

[0182] Step 404: Receive feedback from the target server regarding the correspondence between the capacity value of the pot and the rated heating power of the heating device.

[0183] In this embodiment, the method of obtaining the correspondence is specifically defined. The correspondence is obtained through the target server, which eliminates the need to store the correspondence locally on the cooking device. In other words, there is no need to set up a storage unit for storing the correspondence, which helps to reduce the storage cost of the cooking device.

[0184] Example 5

[0185] In one embodiment, the present invention provides a food quantity estimation device for a cooking apparatus. The cooking apparatus includes a pot body, a float, a heating device, and a detection device. The float is disposed within the pot body. When the food and liquid in the pot body are heated to a target temperature, the detection device can detect the float rising. Figure 5 As shown, the ingredient quantity estimation device 500 includes: a control module 502, used to control the heating device to heat the pot body according to a preset heating power and start timing based on the ingredients and liquid being put into the pot body; a first determination module 504, used to determine the timing duration based on the detection device detecting that the float is rising; and a second determination module 506, used to determine the amount of ingredients put in corresponding to the timing duration based on the correspondence between the timing interval in which the timing duration is located and the amount of ingredients put in.

[0186] The embodiments of this application propose an ingredient quantity estimation device, which is applicable to cooking equipment. Cooking equipment equipped with this ingredient quantity estimation device can estimate the amount of ingredients in the pot of the cooking equipment.

[0187] The embodiments of this application are implemented through the following principle: Specifically, after the user puts food ingredients and liquid matching the amount of food ingredients into the pot, the heating device heats the mixture of food ingredients and liquid to raise the temperature of the mixture. The rate of temperature rise of the mixture is negatively correlated with the amount of food ingredients. That is, as the amount of food ingredients increases, the rate of temperature rise of the mixture decreases. The amount of food ingredients can be detected by detecting the temperature rise of the mixture per unit time.

[0188] Based on the above principle, it can be known that the temperature rise of the mixture per unit time is negatively correlated with the amount of ingredients. Under certain circumstances, the above relationship can be changed so that the time corresponding to the temperature rise of the mixture per unit temperature value is negatively correlated with the amount of ingredients. That is, as the amount of ingredients increases, the time taken for the mixture to rise by one unit temperature will decrease. Based on this, the amount of ingredients can be estimated by detecting the temperature rise of the mixture.

[0189] In the above process, it is difficult to measure the temperature rise of the mixture, which has a significant impact on the estimation of the amount of ingredients.

[0190] To overcome the aforementioned effects, a float and a detection device used in conjunction with the float are installed in the cooking equipment to measure the temperature of the mixture. Specifically, during the heating process, the liquid in the mixture is heated and forms water vapor. As the temperature of the mixture continues to rise until it reaches the target temperature, the temperature of the mixture is maintained at the target temperature. At this time, a large amount of water vapor is stably formed inside the pot. The presence of this water vapor will lift the float. When the detection device detects that the float has risen, it can be known that the temperature of the mixture has reached the target temperature, thus realizing the measurement of the temperature of the mixture.

[0191] In related embodiments, a temperature sensor is directly used to measure the temperature of the mixture. However, when using a temperature sensor to measure the temperature, the measurement accuracy of the temperature sensor will affect the measurement results. This embodiment can overcome the above-mentioned problems by using the temperature sensor to measure the temperature of the mixture.

[0192] Furthermore, when using a temperature sensor for temperature measurement, there is a problem of lag in the measured temperature value. The above-described embodiments can effectively avoid this problem, improve the accuracy of the mixture temperature measurement, and ensure the accuracy of the ingredient quantity estimation.

[0193] In this embodiment, timing begins when the heating device starts heating the mixture and ends when the detection device detects the float rising, thus obtaining the timing duration. This timing duration is equivalent to a longer unit time (e.g., 1 minute). At this time, the measurement of the temperature rise of the mixture corresponding to the timing duration is more accurate. Therefore, the estimation of the amount of ingredients based on this timing duration will be more accurate. Since the estimation of the amount of ingredients is more accurate, the cooking of the ingredients based on the estimated amount of ingredients will be more accurate, greatly reducing the probability of cooking failure.

[0194] In addition, by pre-establishing the correspondence between timing intervals and the amount of ingredients, after determining the timing duration, the timing duration is compared with the timing intervals pre-stored in the correspondence to obtain the target timing interval corresponding to the timing duration. Since there is a one-to-one correspondence between the target timing interval and the amount of ingredients, after obtaining the timing duration, the amount of ingredients corresponding to the timing duration can be determined by looking up the correspondence.

[0195] It is worth noting that the ingredients and liquids added to the pot have the same temperature value. This temperature value can be room temperature or other temperatures. In order to improve the accuracy of the ingredient quantity estimation, the greater the difference between this temperature value and the target temperature, the better. The greater the difference between the temperature value and the target temperature, the longer the timing will be, which will greatly extend the time for judging the amount of rice and improve the accuracy of judging the amount of rice.

[0196] Furthermore, the lower the temperature of the ingredients and liquid added to the pot, the longer it takes for the heating device to heat the mixture until the float rises, and the longer the corresponding timing time will be. Since the increase in timing time is not due to an increase in the amount of ingredients, there will still be a deviation in the above-mentioned estimation of the amount of ingredients. Therefore, it is necessary to limit the temperature value of the ingredients and liquid added to the pot to a one-to-one correspondence with the corresponding relationship, that is, each temperature value corresponds to a corresponding relationship, in order to eliminate the influence of the temperature value of the ingredients and liquid added to the pot on the estimation of the amount of ingredients, thereby improving the accuracy of the estimation of the amount of ingredients.

[0197] In addition, the heating device operates at a preset heating power, thus implementing the above solution and avoiding the impact of changes in heating power on the estimation of food quantity.

[0198] In any of the above embodiments, the preset heating power can be the rated heating power of the heating device, i.e., full power operation, or the preset heating power can be the product of the full power and a preset value, wherein the preset value is greater than 0 and less than 1.

[0199] It should be added that there is a matching relationship between the amount of ingredients and the amount of liquid. For example, when the amount of ingredients is the first mark in the pot used to measure the amount of ingredients, the amount of liquid is the first mark in the pot used to measure the amount of liquid.

[0200] In addition, the food quantity estimation device for cooking equipment claimed in this application also has the following additional technical features.

[0201] In the above embodiment, after determining the amount of food to be added corresponding to the timing duration, the second determining module 506 is further configured to: determine the operating parameters based on the amount of food to be added corresponding to the timing duration; and control the heating device to operate according to the operating parameters.

[0202] In this embodiment, after determining the amount of food to be added corresponding to the timing duration, the operating parameters of the heating device are also determined based on the amount of food to be added corresponding to the timing duration, so as to control the heating device to work according to the operating parameters in order to achieve the cooking of the food.

[0203] In this process, since the operating parameters are determined based on the estimated amount of ingredients, the success rate of cooking the ingredients can be increased.

[0204] In any of the above embodiments, the operating parameters include one or more of the following parameters: working pressure inside the pot, heating power of the heating device, and duration of maintaining the working pressure.

[0205] In this embodiment, the contents of the operating parameters are specifically defined. By defining the operating parameters, including the working pressure in the pot, the pressure inside the pot can be controlled by the operation of the heating device. This provides a better pressure environment for cooking the food, avoiding excessively high working pressure in the pot, which could cause the food to burst and become too soft and sticky after cooking, affecting the taste. At the same time, it also avoids excessively low working pressure in the pot, which could cause the food to not absorb enough liquid, resulting in hardened food after cooking, affecting the taste.

[0206] In addition, the operating parameters also include the duration of maintaining the working pressure. By limiting this duration, the pressure inside the pot can be controlled through the operation of the heating device, providing an optimal pressure environment for cooking the food. This avoids a duration that is too short, which would affect the amount of liquid absorbed by the food, causing it to become hard and affecting the texture. Conversely, a duration that is too long would cause the food to absorb too much liquid, resulting in overly soft and mushy food, also affecting the texture. By limiting these parameters, the desired texture of the cooked food can be ensured.

[0207] In addition, the operating parameters also include the heating power of the heating device to heat the pot. Since the actual amount of food in the pot also affects the heating power of the heating device to heat the pot, it is to avoid the mixture near the pot being burnt due to excessive heating power, while the food in the middle of the mixture is not cooked. At the same time, by limiting the heating power to be related to the amount of food put in, the optimal heating power can be selected to heat the pot, so as to improve the cooking speed of the food and reduce the waiting time for users.

[0208] In any of the above embodiments, based on the operating parameters including the working pressure inside the pot and / or the duration of maintaining the working pressure, the working pressure is between 216 kPa and 241 kPa; the duration of maintaining the working pressure is between 3 minutes and 8 minutes.

[0209] In this embodiment, a better pressure environment is provided for cooking the ingredients, avoiding excessively high working pressure in the pot, such as exceeding 241 kPa, which would cause the ingredients to burst and become too soft and sticky, affecting the taste. At the same time, the working pressure in the pot is also avoided being too low, such as below 216 kPa, which would result in insufficient absorption of liquid by the ingredients, causing the cooked ingredients to become hard and affecting the taste.

[0210] By limiting the duration of the heating element, the pressure inside the pot can be controlled, providing an optimal pressure environment for cooking the food. A duration that is too short (less than 3 minutes) will affect the amount of liquid absorbed by the food, resulting in hardened food and a poor texture. Conversely, a duration that is too long (more than 8 minutes) will cause the food to absorb too much liquid, resulting in overly soft and mushy food, also affecting the texture. By limiting these parameters, the desired texture of the cooked food can be ensured.

[0211] In one embodiment, since the cooking device uses a heating element to heat the pot, the working pressure cannot be increased directly by injection. Therefore, the heating element can be controlled, and the working pressure can be adjusted by adjusting the heating power and / or heating time. Specifically, after the float rises, a sealed environment is formed inside the pot. At this time, during the heating process, the liquid turns into a gaseous state. As the amount of gaseous liquid increases, the pressure inside the pot also increases, thus increasing the working pressure inside the pot.

[0212] The pressure reduction in the pot can be achieved using the pressure relief device of the cooking equipment. This device can be an exhaust valve. When the pressure in the pot is too high, the exhaust valve is opened to release steam to the outside of the pot, thus relieving pressure. When the pressure in the pot is between 216 kPa and 241 kPa, the exhaust valve can be closed.

[0213] In any of the above embodiments, based on the operating parameters including the working pressure inside the pot and / or the duration of maintaining the working pressure, the working pressure is between 219 kPa and 226 kPa; the duration of maintaining the working pressure is between 5 minutes and 7 minutes.

[0214] In this embodiment, the range of pressure environment values ​​is further narrowed to avoid excessively high working pressure in the pot, such as exceeding 226 kPa, which would cause the food to burst and result in overly soft and sticky food, affecting the taste. At the same time, it also avoids excessively low working pressure in the pot, such as below 219 kPa, which would result in insufficient absorption of liquid by the food, causing the cooked food to become hard and affecting the taste.

[0215] By limiting the duration of the heating element, the pressure inside the pot can be controlled, providing an optimal pressure environment for cooking the food. A duration that is too short (less than 5 minutes) will affect the amount of liquid absorbed by the food, resulting in hardened food and a poor texture. Conversely, a duration that is too long (more than 7 minutes) will cause the food to absorb too much liquid, resulting in overly soft and mushy food, also affecting the texture. By limiting these parameters, the desired texture of the cooked food can be ensured.

[0216] By further narrowing the range of duration and working pressure, the control precision of the cooking equipment is improved, increasing the success rate of cooking ingredients.

[0217] In any of the above embodiments, the control module 502 is further configured to: acquire the cooking mode of the cooking device; and determine the corresponding relationship based on the cooking mode.

[0218] In this embodiment, considering that current cooking equipment has multiple cooking modes, if the same parameters are used to estimate the amount of ingredients under all cooking modes, there will inevitably be a problem of unreliable estimation results.

[0219] To address the aforementioned issues, the embodiments of this application specifically define the correspondence as determined by the cooking mode of the cooking equipment. Specifically, this can be understood as follows: when the cooking equipment operates in the first cooking mode, the correspondence used is a first correspondence matching the first operating mode; when the cooking equipment operates in the second cooking mode, the correspondence used is a second correspondence matching the second operating mode, and so on. By setting a correspondence for each cooking mode, the accuracy of the estimation in the process of determining the amount of ingredients is ensured, thereby increasing the success rate of cooking the ingredients.

[0220] In any of the above embodiments, such as Figure 8 and Figure 9 As shown, the cooking mode can be either quick cook or simmer. In quick cook, the ingredients go through a heating stage, a pressure maintenance stage, a pressure release stage, and a heat preservation stage. In quick cook, the ingredients need to be cooked for a shorter time to meet the user's needs.

[0221] In the essence cooking process, the ingredients go through the water absorption stage, heating stage, pressure maintenance stage, pressure release stage, rice simmering stage, and heat preservation stage, which can achieve the best cooking effect and result in a better taste.

[0222] In any of the above embodiments, the control module 502 is further configured to: send the capacity value of the pot body and the rated heating power of the heating device to the target server; and receive the correspondence between the capacity value of the pot body and the rated heating power of the heating device fed back by the target server.

[0223] In this embodiment, the method of obtaining the correspondence is specifically defined. The correspondence is obtained through the target server, which eliminates the need to store the correspondence locally on the cooking device. In other words, there is no need to set up a storage unit for storing the correspondence, which helps to reduce the storage cost of the cooking device.

[0224] Example 6

[0225] In one embodiment, such as Figure 6As shown, the present invention provides a cooking device 600, including: a pot body 602; a float 604 disposed inside the pot body 602; a heating device 606 for heating the pot body 602; a detection device 608 that detects the float 604 rising when the food and liquid in the pot body 602 are heated to a target temperature; and a control device 610 for controlling the heating device 606 to heat the pot body 602 according to a preset heating power and start timing based on the food and liquid being placed in the pot body 602; determining the timing duration based on the float 604 rising detected by the detection device 608; and determining the amount of food placed corresponding to the timing duration based on the correspondence between the timing interval and the amount of food placed.

[0226] The embodiments of this application propose a cooking device 600 that can estimate the amount of food in the pot 602 of the cooking device 600.

[0227] The embodiments of this application are implemented through the following principle: Specifically, after the user puts food ingredients and liquid matching the amount of food ingredients into the pot 602, the heating device 606 heats the mixture of food ingredients and liquid to raise the temperature of the mixture. The rate of temperature rise of the mixture is negatively correlated with the amount of food ingredients. That is, as the amount of food ingredients increases, the rate of temperature rise of the mixture decreases. The amount of food ingredients can be detected by detecting the temperature rise of the mixture per unit time.

[0228] Based on the above principle, it can be known that the temperature rise of the mixture per unit time is negatively correlated with the amount of ingredients. Under certain circumstances, the above relationship can be changed so that the time corresponding to the temperature rise of the mixture per unit temperature value is negatively correlated with the amount of ingredients. That is, as the amount of ingredients increases, the time taken for the mixture to rise by one unit temperature will decrease. Based on this, the amount of ingredients can be estimated by detecting the temperature rise of the mixture.

[0229] In the above process, it is difficult to measure the temperature rise of the mixture, which has a significant impact on the estimation of the amount of ingredients.

[0230] To overcome the above-mentioned effects, a float 604 and a detection device 608 used in conjunction with the float 604 are set in the cooking device 600 to realize the temperature measurement of the mixture. Specifically, during the heating process of the heating device 606, the liquid in the mixture is heated and forms water vapor. As the temperature of the mixture continues to rise, it reaches the target temperature and is maintained at the target temperature. At this time, a large amount of water vapor is stably formed in the pot body 602. The presence of this water vapor will lift the float 604. When the detection device 608 detects that the float 604 has risen, it can be known that the temperature of the mixture has reached the target temperature, thus realizing the measurement of the temperature of the mixture.

[0231] In related embodiments, a temperature sensor is directly used to measure the temperature of the mixture. However, when using a temperature sensor to measure the temperature, the measurement accuracy of the temperature sensor will affect the measurement results. This embodiment can overcome the above-mentioned problems by using the temperature sensor to measure the temperature of the mixture.

[0232] Furthermore, when using a temperature sensor for temperature measurement, there is a problem of lag in the measured temperature value. The above-described embodiments can effectively avoid this problem, improve the accuracy of the mixture temperature measurement, and ensure the accuracy of the ingredient quantity estimation.

[0233] In this embodiment, the heating device 606 starts timing when it begins heating the mixture, and the timing ends when the detection device 608 detects that the float 604 has risen, thus obtaining the timing duration. This timing duration is equivalent to a longer unit time (e.g., 1 minute). At this time, the measurement of the temperature rise of the mixture corresponding to the timing duration is more accurate. Therefore, the estimation of the amount of ingredients based on this timing duration will be more accurate. Since the estimation of the amount of ingredients is more accurate, the cooking of the ingredients based on the estimated amount of ingredients will be more accurate, greatly reducing the probability of cooking failure.

[0234] In addition, by pre-establishing the correspondence between timing intervals and the amount of ingredients, after determining the timing duration, the timing duration is compared with the timing intervals pre-stored in the correspondence to obtain the target timing interval corresponding to the timing duration. Since there is a one-to-one correspondence between the target timing interval and the amount of ingredients, after obtaining the timing duration, the amount of ingredients corresponding to the timing duration can be determined by looking up the correspondence.

[0235] It is worth noting that the ingredients and liquids added to the pot 602 have the same temperature value. This temperature value can be room temperature or other temperatures. In order to improve the accuracy of the ingredient quantity estimation, the greater the difference between this temperature value and the target temperature, the better. The greater the difference between the temperature value and the target temperature, the longer the timing time will be, which will greatly extend the time for judging the amount of rice and improve the accuracy of judging the amount of rice.

[0236] Furthermore, the lower the temperature of the ingredients and liquid added to the pot 602, the longer it takes for the heating device 606 to heat the mixture until the float 604 rises, and the longer the corresponding timing duration will be. Since the increase in timing duration is not due to an increase in the amount of ingredients, there will still be a deviation in the above-mentioned estimation of the amount of ingredients. Therefore, it is limited that the temperature value of the ingredients and liquid added to the pot 602 has a one-to-one correspondence with the corresponding relationship, that is, each temperature value corresponds to a corresponding relationship, in order to eliminate the influence of the temperature value of the ingredients and liquid added to the pot 602 on the estimation of the amount of ingredients, thereby improving the accuracy of the estimation of the amount of ingredients.

[0237] In addition, the heating device 606 implements the above solution by operating at a preset heating power, thus avoiding the impact of changes in heating power on the estimation of the amount of ingredients.

[0238] In any of the above embodiments, the preset heating power can be the rated heating power of the heating device 606, i.e., full power operation. The preset heating power can also be the product of the full power and a preset value, wherein the preset value is greater than 0 and less than 1.

[0239] It should be added that there is a matching relationship between the amount of ingredients and the amount of liquid. For example, when the amount of ingredients is the first scale line used to measure the amount of ingredients in the pot body 602, the amount of liquid is the first scale line used to measure the amount of liquid in the pot body 602.

[0240] In one embodiment, taking the capacity of the pot 602 as 1.2 liters and the rated heating power of the heating device 606 as 1700 watts as an example, the heating device 606 is set to its rated heating power (the amount of rice has a temperature limit to prevent excessive temperature rise and abnormalities). The timing time corresponding to the rise of the float 604 and the measurement results of the amount of food are as follows: 0.5 cups of rice: 1 minute 02 seconds (temperature range for 0.5 cups of rice: 50 seconds to 1 minute 20 seconds); 1 cup of rice: 1 minute 36 seconds (temperature range for 1 cup of rice: 1 minute 21 seconds to 2 minutes); 2 cups of rice: 2 minutes 28 seconds (temperature range for 2 cups of rice: 2 minutes 1 second to 3 minutes 20 seconds). Any other ranges exceeding this range are taken as the closest.

[0241] In any of the above embodiments, the float 604 is a metal float 604, such as an aluminum float.

[0242] In the above embodiment, it further includes: a base 612, which has a receiving cavity for receiving the pot body 602; a cover 614 for closing the receiving cavity, wherein the cover 614 has a cavity 616 with a through hole on the side facing the pot body 602, and at least a portion of the float 604 extends into the pot body 602 through the through hole.

[0243] In this embodiment, the setting position of the float 604 is specifically defined. By defining the installation of the float 604 on the cover 614, the float 604 can move with the cover 614 during the use of the cooking device 600, such as when the cover 614 is opened to open and close the receiving cavity. This eliminates the need for the user to adjust the float 604 separately, which simplifies the structure of the cooking device 600 and reduces the design difficulty of the cooking device 600.

[0244] Furthermore, by confining the float 604 within the cavity 616 of the cover 614, the float 604 is protected, reducing the likelihood of interference between the pot body 602 and the float 604 during the opening and closing of the cavity, thereby reducing the likelihood of damage to the cooking equipment 600.

[0245] Furthermore, the cavity 616 in the cover 614 also serves as a receiving space for the float 604 to float. This receiving space protects the float 604 from interference from other structures during the floating process, thereby ensuring the stable operation of the float 604.

[0246] In any of the above embodiments, the detection device 608 is disposed inside the cavity 616.

[0247] In this embodiment, by limiting the detection device 608 to also be located within the cavity 616, the accuracy of the detection device 608 in detecting the aforementioned actions of the float 604 is ensured. At the same time, it also facilitates the movement of the detection device 608 with the cover 614 when using the cooking device 600, such as when opening the cover 614 to open and close the receiving cavity, without requiring the user to adjust the detection device 608 separately. This simplifies the structure of the cooking device 600 and reduces the design difficulty of the cooking device 600.

[0248] Furthermore, by confining the detection device 608 within the cavity 616 of the cover 614, the detection device 608 is protected, reducing the likelihood of interference between the pot body 602 and the detection device 608 during the opening and closing of the cavity, thereby reducing the probability of damage to the cooking equipment 600.

[0249] In any of the above embodiments, the device further includes: an object to be detected, located at one end of the float 604 in the cavity 616, and the detection device 608 detects the object to be detected based on the float 604 rising.

[0250] In this embodiment, a specific detection scheme for the float 604 rising is defined. By placing a test object at one end of the float 604, the float 604 is detected by the detection device 608. In this process, the detection of the test object by the detection device 608 realizes the indirect detection of the state of the float 604, eliminating the possible misjudgment when the detection device 608 directly detects the float 604 rising, and improving the reliability of the food quantity estimation.

[0251] In any of the above embodiments, the object to be detected may be a magnetic component. The detection device 608 is able to detect the magnetic field strength around its location. When the float 604 rises, the object to be detected approaches the detection device 608. When the detection device 608 detects an increase in the magnetic field strength, it determines that the object to be detected has been detected.

[0252] In any of the above embodiments, the object to be detected can also be a blocking element. In this case, the detection device 608 can be a light transmitting device and a light receiving device. When the float 604 floats, the blocking element blocks the light transmitted from the light transmitting device to the light receiving device. When the float 604 does not float, the blocking element does not block the light transmitted from the light transmitting device to the light receiving device.

[0253] In any of the above embodiments, the cooking device 600 includes one or more of a rice cooker, an electric pressure cooker, and a cooking robot.

[0254] Example 7

[0255] In one embodiment, such as Figure 7 As shown, the present invention provides a cooking device 600, including a processor 618, a memory 620, and a program or instructions stored in the memory 620 and running on the processor 618. When the program or instructions are executed by the processor 618, they implement the steps of the ingredient quantity estimation method as described above.

[0256] In this embodiment, a cooking device is proposed, wherein the processor 618 included in the cooking device executes the program or instructions stored in the memory 620, and implements the steps of the above-mentioned ingredient quantity estimation method. Therefore, the cooking device has all the beneficial technical effects of the above-mentioned ingredient quantity estimation method, which will not be repeated here.

[0257] Example 8

[0258] In one embodiment, the present invention provides a readable storage medium on which a program or instructions are stored, which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the ingredient quantity estimation method as described above.

[0259] In the description of this invention, the term "a plurality of" refers to two or more. Unless otherwise explicitly defined, the terms "upper," "lower," etc., indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as a limitation of the invention. The terms "connection," "installation," "fixing," etc., should be interpreted broadly. For example, "connection" can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium. For those skilled in the art, the specific meaning of the above terms in this invention can be understood according to the specific circumstances.

[0260] In the description of this invention, the terms "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "specific embodiment," etc., refer to a specific feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with that embodiment or example, which is included in at least one embodiment or example of the invention. In this invention, the illustrative expressions of the above terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments or examples.

[0261] The above are merely preferred embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention. Various modifications and variations can be made to the present invention by those skilled in the art. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A food material amount estimation method for a cooking apparatus, characterized by, The cooking equipment includes a pot body, a float, a heating device, and a detection device. The float is disposed within the pot body. When the food and liquid in the pot body are heated to a target temperature, the detection device detects the float rising. The method for estimating the amount of food includes: Based on the fact that the ingredients and liquid are placed in the pot, the heating device is controlled to heat the pot according to the preset heating power and start timing; Based on the detection device's detection of the float rising, the timing duration is determined, and the target timing interval corresponding to the timing duration corresponds one-to-one with the amount of food. Based on the correspondence between the timing interval in which the timing duration is located and the amount of food put in, determine the amount of food put in corresponding to the timing duration; The operating parameters are determined based on the amount of food added corresponding to the timeout duration. The heating device is controlled to operate according to the operating parameters.

2. The food material amount estimation method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The operating parameters include one or more of the following parameters: The working pressure inside the pot, the heating power of the heating device, and the duration for which the working pressure is maintained.

3. The method for estimating the amount of ingredients according to claim 2, characterized in that, Based on the operating parameters, including the working pressure inside the pot and / or the duration of maintaining the working pressure, the working pressure is between 216 kPa and 241 kPa; the duration of maintaining the working pressure is between 3 minutes and 8 minutes.

4. The method for estimating the amount of ingredients according to claim 3, characterized in that, Based on the operating parameters, including the working pressure inside the pot and / or the duration of maintaining the working pressure, the working pressure is between 219 kPa and 226 kPa; the duration of maintaining the working pressure is between 5 minutes and 7 minutes.

5. The food material amount estimation method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, Also includes: Obtain the cooking mode of the cooking equipment; The correspondence is determined based on the cooking mode.

6. The food material amount estimation method according to claim 5, characterized in that, Also includes: The capacity value of the pot and the rated heating power of the heating device are sent to the target server. The system receives feedback from the target server regarding the correspondence between the capacity value of the pot and the rated heating power of the heating device.

7. A food material amount estimation device for a cooking apparatus, characterized by, The cooking equipment includes a pot body, a float, a heating device, and a detection device. The float is disposed within the pot body. When the food and liquid in the pot body are heated to a target temperature, the detection device detects the float rising. The food quantity estimation device includes: The control module is used to control the heating device to heat the pot body according to a preset heating power and start timing based on the food and liquid being placed in the pot body; The first determining module determines the timing duration based on the detection device detecting that the float is rising, and the target timing interval corresponding to the timing duration corresponds one-to-one with the amount of food. The second determining module is used to determine the amount of food to be added corresponding to the timed duration based on the correspondence between the timed interval and the amount of food added; determine the operating parameters based on the amount of food added corresponding to the timed duration; and control the heating device to operate according to the operating parameters.

8. A cooking apparatus, characterized by, include: Pot body; A float is installed inside the pot. A heating device is used to heat the pot body; The detection device is capable of detecting the float rising when the food and liquid in the pot are heated to the target temperature. A control device is used to control the heating device to heat the pot body according to a preset heating power and start timing based on the food and liquid being placed in the pot body; Based on the detection device's detection of the float rising, the timing duration is determined, and the target timing interval corresponding to the timing duration corresponds one-to-one with the amount of food. Based on the correspondence between the timing interval in which the timing duration is located and the amount of food put in, determine the amount of food put in corresponding to the timing duration; The operating parameters are determined based on the amount of food added corresponding to the timeout duration. The heating device is controlled to operate according to the operating parameters.

9. The cooking apparatus according to claim 8, characterized in that, Also includes: The base has a receiving cavity for accommodating the pot body; A cover for closing the receiving cavity, the cover having a cavity with a through hole on the side facing the pot body, through which at least a portion of the float extends into the pot body.

10. The cooking apparatus according to claim 9, characterized in that, The detection device is located inside the cavity.

11. The cooking apparatus according to claim 9, wherein Also includes: The object to be detected is located at one end of the float in the cavity. The detection device detects the object based on the float rising.

12. The cooking apparatus according to any one of claims 8 to 11, characterized in that, The cooking equipment includes one or more of the following: rice cooker, electric pressure cooker, and cooking robot.

13. A cooking apparatus, characterized by, It includes a processor, a memory, and a program or instructions stored in the memory and running on the processor, wherein when the program or instructions are executed by the processor, they implement the steps of the ingredient quantity estimation method as described in any one of claims 1 to 6.

14. A readable storage medium, characterized by, The readable storage medium stores a program or instructions that, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the ingredient quantity estimation method as described in any one of claims 1 to 6.

Images