Cooking Appliance Image-Based Browning Control for Precise Doneness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Household appliances lack effective monitoring of food items during cooking, leading to potential overcooking or overbaking, as they do not provide real-time visual feedback on the browning or doneness of food.
Innovation Solution
A cooking appliance equipped with an imaging device, a user interface, and a computing device that captures images of food items and computes a target image based on user-set browning levels, displaying real-time and target browning degrees on the interface, allowing for precise control of cooking parameters.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional cooking appliances are used without imaging devices, then the device complexity is low, but the measurement precision of food doneness is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual visual inspection and mechanical probing methods with an imaging device that captures images of the food item. The computing device then processes these images to determine cooking doneness, substituting mechanical and human sensory systems with optical and computational systems for more precise measurement.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an imaging device as an intermediary between the food item and the user. This intermediary captures visual information about the food's cooking state and transmits it to the computing device, which processes the information and provides feedback to the user through the user interface.
2Loss of information
If real-time image capture and processing is implemented, then the information availability on food browning is improved, but the use of energy increases
Solution Approach 1:
The imaging device captures images at periodic intervals during the cooking process rather than continuously. The controller is configured to capture images at specific time points or at predetermined intervals, reducing energy consumption while still providing sufficient information about the food's browning progress.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the existing cooking environment's light sources to illuminate the food for imaging, rather than requiring additional active illumination. The imaging device captures images using ambient light from the cooking chamber, allowing the system to obtain browning information without consuming extra energy for lighting.
3Manufacturing precision
If image processing software is added to compute target images, then the manufacturing precision of food preparation is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The software module creates a digital copy (target image) of what the cooked food should look like based on user specifications. This virtual model serves as a reference for the imaging system to compare against the actual food appearance, enabling precise control of cooking outcomes without requiring complex physical measurement instruments.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a feedback loop where the imaging device captures the actual food state, the software compares it against the target image, and the controller adjusts cooking parameters based on this comparison. This closed-loop feedback system enables precise cooking control by continuously monitoring and adjusting the cooking process based on visual feedback.
Data Source
AI summary
A cooking appliance having a cooking chamber, a user interface with a selector that allows a user to set a target degree of browning, an imaging device that captures an image of a food item inside the cooking chamber, a computing device in communication with the imaging device and has a software module that receives the captured image from the imaging device and computes a target image based on the captured image and the target degree of browning, and where the target image and the target degree of browning are displayed on the user interface.