Cooking appliance having a camera and method for operating a cooking appliance

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing cooking appliances with cameras can compromise user privacy by allowing individuals in front of the oven to be visible in recorded images, which can be shared or viewed remotely.

Innovation Solution

A cooking appliance with a camera integrated into the cooking compartment door, coupled to an image processing facility that anonymizes specific image regions, such as by filling them with a constant color or pattern, ensuring that individuals are not recognizable in the images recorded and shared, either locally or over a network.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If a camera is integrated into the cooking appliance to allow users to view and share images of the cooking compartment, then user convenience and monitoring capability are improved, but user privacy is compromised because individuals in front of the oven can be visible in recorded images

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemonitoring capabilityVSAvoidprivacy violation

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The harmful element (person recognition capability) is extracted from the useful element (image monitoring). The system captures and transmits images but deliberately removes or obscures identifiable features of persons, separating the monitoring function from the privacy-violating recognition function.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

An image processing facility acts as an intermediary between the camera and the user/display. This intermediary processes the images to anonymize persons while preserving the cooking compartment view, mediating between the need for monitoring and the need for privacy protection.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Adaptability or versatility

If images are shared over a network to allow remote monitoring, then user convenience is improved, but the risk of privacy leakage increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveremote monitoring capabilityVSAvoidprivacy leakage risk

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

Anonymization is performed in advance before images are transmitted or stored. The harmful information (person identification) is removed beforehand, so that even if images are shared over the network, the privacy leakage risk is already mitigated.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system converts the potentially harmful feature (clear image capture that could reveal persons) into a beneficial feature (anonymized images that protect privacy while maintaining monitoring capability). The same imaging technology that could violate privacy is transformed into a privacy-protecting solution.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #22Blessing in disguise (Convert harm into benefit)

Data Source

PatentUS11375160B2Cooking appliance having a camera and method for operating a cooking appliance

Publication Date: 2022.06.28 BSH HAUSGERATE GMBH

AI summary

A cooking appliance includes a cooking compartment having a loading opening and a cooking compartment door for closing off the loading opening, with the cooking compartment door including a viewing window. A camera is directed into the cooking compartment for recording an image in the cooking compartment. Coupled to the camera is an image processing facility which is configured to anonymize an image region in the image recorded by the camera.