Bulk food processing step storage and execution
By designing an interface and memory for receiving and locally storing food processing step instructions in the oven, the problem that the oven cannot receive instructions during network connection problems is solved, and the oven is robust and the cooking quality guaranteed in the case of network failure is achieved.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202411385320.3
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Priority Date
- 2023-10-09
- Filing Date
- 2024-09-30
- Publication Date
- 2025-04-11
AI Technical Summary
Existing ovens may not be able to receive food processing step instructions when connected to remote networks, resulting in unsatisfactory cooking results, especially inability to achieve the desired browning of food.
An oven is designed that includes an interface for receiving food processing step instructions and is equipped with a local memory capable of collectively storing multiple food processing step instructions. Even in the event of network problems, the oven can access and execute all stored instructions.
Improves the robustness of the oven in the event of network interruption or failure, ensures the continuity and quality of the cooking process, avoids the emergence of half-cooked food, and improves the user experience.
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The present invention relates to an oven for preparing food, which is capable of executing a series of food processing instructions. Background Art
[0002] To improve the user's cooking experience, modern ovens provide quality of life features, such as automatic replay of a series of food processing step instructions. To optimally prepare a whole chicken in an oven, for example, in a first food processing step, a lower temperature of the oven's cavity in which the whole chicken is received may be selected, and once a suitable core temperature of the whole chicken is reached, in a second food processing step the cavity temperature may be increased to provide a desired browning of the whole chicken. By properly stacking a series of food processing steps, a delicious dish may be produced; moreover, once the automatic replay is started, the user does not need to pay close attention to the cooking process, as the oven automatically performs the different steps of the cooking process.
[0003] Ovens known in the prior art are typically configured so that they can receive food processing step instructions one at a time, e.g., from a remote network / cloud in which a series of food processing step instructions are stored. If connectivity issues with the remote network occur, e.g., due to problems at the network provider, local WiFi issues, noisy operating conditions in the frequency band in which the oven is configured to communicate, etc., the oven may not receive the food processing step instructions, which may result in less than optimal cooking results. In particular, users of such ovens known in the prior art may become frustrated if, for example, a whole chicken is not browned because the oven did not receive the food processing step instructions related to browning. Summary of the invention
[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide an oven which alleviates at least some of the disadvantages of ovens known in the prior art.
[0005] An embodiment of the present invention relates to an oven for preparing food, wherein the oven includes at least one interface for receiving food processing step instructions, wherein the oven includes a memory for jointly storing multiple food processing step instructions received through the at least one interface, and wherein the oven is configured to execute the multiple food processing step instructions jointly stored in the memory. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0006] The oven according to the invention is configured to store a plurality of received food processing step instructions in a local memory of the oven. In this way, even in the event of a network problem, the oven still has access to all the food processing step instructions that should be followed to achieve the desired food preparation quality, because all the food processing step instructions are available in front of the oven before the execution of the food processing step instructions begins. Therefore, the oven according to the invention is more robust to network interruptions and failures (such as temporary loss of the oven's WiFi connection) and therefore advantageously provides an improved user experience for the user of the oven compared to ovens known in the prior art. Therefore, undercooked food is advantageously avoided if the oven according to the invention is used.
[0007] The term oven may be used for ovens using dry heat, in particular ovens with or without convection, and / or for ovens using steam. The term oven may also be used for ovens including microwave functionality. The term oven may also be applied to cooking facilities for processing food using any known food processing technology, in particular capable of heating and / or cooling the processed food. Food processing step instructions may refer, for example, to the desired temperature of the cavity of the oven in which the food is received, or to the desired temperature and humidity in the cavity; food processing step instructions may also refer to more complex conditions in or on the surface of the food being prepared in the cavity or oven.
[0008] The memory of the oven may be such that a plurality of food processing step instructions stored together may be deleted or overwritten upon receipt of new food processing step instructions via at least one interface.
[0009] In an embodiment of the oven according to the invention, a first interface of the at least one interface is implemented as a network interface, and the oven is configured to receive food processing step instructions from a remote network through the network interface.
[0010] Thus, the oven is able to receive food processing step instructions from the outside.The complete set of food processing step instructions may be sent from the cloud to the oven, for example in one data packet, and received by the network interface of the oven.
[0011] In another embodiment of the oven according to the invention, the network interface is configured to receive food processing step instructions input by a user via an application on a mobile device connected to a remote network.
[0012] The application may store the inputted food processing step instructions in a cloud storage, possibly in a suitably encoded format. Later, the food processing step instructions stored in the cloud storage may be sent in a data packet to the oven according to the present invention for executing the desired cooking process. Alternatively, the food processing step instructions inputted in the application may be sent in a data packet directly to the oven according to the present invention for executing the desired cooking process. The oven may also receive the food processing step instructions via a Bluetooth connection. Typically, the food processing step instructions may be provided to the oven via a remote control connection, and the oven may specifically receive automatically generated food processing step instructions.
[0013] In another embodiment of the oven according to the invention, a second interface of the at least one interface is implemented as a user interface directly accessible to a user of the oven, and wherein the user interface is configured to receive food processing step instructions directly input by the user of the oven.
[0014] The user interface may also be embedded directly in the oven, for example in the form of a small touch screen, or in the form of a small display in which text entered via suitable input elements such as capacitive sensors, buttons, etc. is displayed. The user interface may be implemented in such a way that it converts expressions typed by the user in human-readable form into a data format suitable for machine execution.
[0015] In another embodiment of the oven according to the invention, the memory is implemented as a random access memory (RAM).However, other forms of memory are also feasible.
[0016] In another embodiment of the oven according to the invention, the oven is configured to receive, via the at least one interface, sorting sequence information regarding the order in which the commonly stored plurality of food processing step instructions are to be executed.
[0017] In the sorting sequence information, it may be specified in what order the oven is to execute the food processing step instructions once the oven has started the entire cooking process specified by a plurality of commonly stored food processing step instructions. The execution of the food processing step instructions may be initiated based on a dedicated "start" instruction provided to the oven, or may be programmed into the oven to occur at a pre-specified time. The execution of the food processing steps may end once a dedicated "end" instruction is read, or may end automatically once the last food processing step instruction has been executed and once the timeout condition of the last food processing step instruction has been met.
[0018] In another embodiment of the oven according to the present invention, each food processing step instruction includes a time-out condition, wherein the oven is configured to stop executing the corresponding food processing step instruction once the corresponding time-out condition is met, and wherein each food processing step instruction also includes oven control information.
[0019] In the corresponding timeout condition, it can be specified when the oven should stop executing the food processing step described in the food processing step instruction. The timeout condition can be implemented as a duration, such as a duration of five minutes, for example. Suitable cooking step instructions are, for example, as follows: 1) "steam, 99°C, 70°C core temperature", or 2) "grill, 240°C, 10 minutes", the timeout condition in example 1) is "70°C core temperature", and the timeout condition in example 2) is "10 minutes", while the oven control information in example 1) is "steam" and "99°C", and in example 2) is "grill" and "240°C".
[0020] In another embodiment of the oven according to the invention, the oven control information comprises information about a cavity temperature to which a cavity of the oven receiving the food to be prepared should be heated.
[0021] The oven control information may typically include nominal target conditions to be achieved or applied within the food processing chamber of the oven. The oven control information may include, for example, microwave power or a certain level of steam saturation in the cavity of the oven.
[0022] In the above two examples, the cavity temperature in Example 1) is set to "99° C.", and in Example 2), the cavity temperature is set to "240° C.".
[0023] In another embodiment of the oven according to the present invention, the timeout condition is implemented as a condition regarding the duration for which the corresponding cooking step instruction is to be executed, or the timeout condition is implemented as a condition regarding the core temperature of the food being prepared in the oven, or the timeout condition is implemented as a condition regarding the degree of browning of the food being prepared in the oven.
[0024] The core temperature and / or the degree of browning may be measured using dedicated sensors which may be an integral part of the oven or may be added separately to the oven, wherein, in the latter case, both the oven and the separate sensor are configured to communicate with each other and exchange information.
[0025] For example, a timeout condition for a food processing step such as heating can be met if the food probe temperature measurement crosses a predefined, in particular configurable temperature threshold. A timeout condition for a food processing step such as heating can also be met, for example, if the amount of browning of the processed food exceeds a predefined, in particular configurable browning threshold. A timeout condition for a food processing step such as heating can also be met, for example, if the volume of the processed food crosses a predefined, in particular configurable volume threshold from below or from above. A timeout condition for a food processing step such as heating can also be met, for example, if two or more subconditions are met: For example, a timeout condition for a food processing step such as heating can be met if a desired amount of browning of the processed food and a desired core food temperature are reached.
[0026] In another embodiment of the oven according to the present invention, the oven is configured to: execute a second food processing step instruction among a plurality of food processing step instructions stored together after a timeout condition of a first food processing step instruction among a plurality of food processing step instructions stored together is met, wherein, with respect to sorting sequence information, the second food processing step instruction follows the first food processing step instruction.
[0027] In another embodiment of the oven according to the present invention, the oven includes at least one power board for controlling the heating elements of the oven, and the oven is configured to convert each received food processing step instruction into a data format suitable for execution by the at least one power board of the oven.
[0028] The food processing step instructions input by a human user may not be directly executable by the oven. For example, in order to increase the temperature using dry heat in the oven, it may be necessary to increase the current flowing through the thick wire in the cavity of the oven. An intermediate power board can take over control of the heating elements of the oven, and the food processing step instructions may therefore first need to be converted into a data format that the power board can understand and execute. Specifically, the food processing step instructions may first be converted into commands that are understood by at least one power board, and the power board then provides detailed control signals, such as in the form of voltage and current, to the heating elements. At least one power board may also monitor whether a timeout condition for the currently executing food processing step instruction is met.
[0029] In another embodiment of the oven according to the present invention, the food processing step instructions received by the network interface are encoded food processing step instructions, and the user interface is configured to convert the encoded food processing step instructions into a data format suitable for execution by at least one power board.
[0030] The food processing step instructions stored remotely in the cloud may be stored in a format that is not directly understood by the at least one power strip. Thus, the user interface may convert the encoded food processing step instructions received by the network interface into a data format understood by the at least one power strip.
[0031] In another embodiment of the oven according to the invention, the user interface is configured to convert the encoded food processing step instructions into a data format on the fly.
[0032] A plurality of food processing step instructions stored together in the oven's memory may be converted on the fly into a data format understood by at least one power board. Once a particular food processing step instruction is fully executed, or just before a particular food processing step instruction is fully executed, i.e., once its timeout condition is satisfied or just before its timeout condition is satisfied, a subsequent food processing step instruction may be converted into the data format of at least one power board and sent to at least one power board for execution. Alternatively, all food processing step instructions may be converted into a data format understood by at least one power board at once and sent sequentially to at least one power board.
[0033] In another embodiment of the oven according to the invention, the application and / or the user interface is configured to provide the user with predefined food processing step instructions from which the user can select.
[0034] Providing predefined food processing step instructions may help the user to optimally configure a cooking process that can later be performed in the oven.
Claims
1. An oven for preparing food, wherein: The oven includes at least one interface for receiving food processing step instructions, wherein the oven includes a memory for jointly storing multiple food processing step instructions received through the at least one interface, and wherein the oven is configured to execute the multiple food processing step instructions jointly stored in the memory.
2. The oven according to claim 1, wherein: A first interface of the at least one interface is implemented as a network interface, and wherein the oven is configured to receive food processing step instructions from a remote network through the network interface.
3. The oven according to claim 2, wherein: The network interface is configured to receive food processing step instructions input by a user via an application on a mobile device connected to the remote network.
4. The oven according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: A second interface of the at least one interface is implemented as a user interface directly accessible to a user of the oven, and wherein the user interface is configured to receive food processing step instructions directly input by the user of the oven.
5. The oven according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein: The memory is implemented as a random access memory RAM.
6. An oven according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The oven is configured to receive, via the at least one interface, sorting sequence information regarding an order in which the commonly stored plurality of food processing step instructions are to be executed.
7. The oven according to claim 6, wherein: Each food processing step instruction includes a timeout condition, wherein the oven is configured to stop executing the corresponding food processing step instruction once the corresponding timeout condition is met, and wherein each food processing step instruction also includes oven control information.
8. The oven according to claim 7, wherein: The oven control information comprises information about a cavity temperature to which a cavity of the oven receiving the food to be prepared should be heated.
9. The oven according to claim 7 or 8, wherein: The timeout condition is implemented as a condition regarding the duration for which the corresponding food processing step instruction is to be executed, or wherein the timeout condition is implemented as a condition regarding the core temperature of the food being prepared in the oven, or wherein the timeout condition is implemented as a condition regarding the degree of browning of the food being prepared in the oven.
10. The oven according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein: The oven is configured to execute a second food processing step instruction among the plurality of food processing step instructions stored together after a timeout condition of a first food processing step instruction among the plurality of food processing step instructions stored together is satisfied, wherein, with respect to the sorting sequence information, the second food processing step instruction follows the first food processing step instruction.
11. An oven according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein The oven comprises at least one power strip for controlling a heating element of the oven, and wherein the oven is configured to convert each received food processing step instruction into a data format suitable for execution by the at least one power strip of the oven.
12. The oven according to claim 11, wherein: The food processing step instructions received by the network interface are encoded food processing step instructions, and wherein the user interface is configured to convert the encoded food processing step instructions into a data format suitable for execution by the at least one power strip.
13. The oven according to claim 12, wherein: The user interface is configured to convert the encoded food processing step instructions into the data format on the fly.
14. The oven according to any one of claims 2 to 13, wherein: The application and / or the user interface is configured to provide the user with predefined food processing step instructions which the user can select.