Cooking Appliance Imaging Interface for Real-Time Browning Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Household cooking appliances lack effective monitoring and control mechanisms to prevent overcooking or overbaking, as they rely on traditional temperature-based methods that do not account for visual changes in food appearance during the cooking process.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating an imaging device and computing device within the appliance to capture real-time images of the food, determine the degree of browning, and display a visual scale for user feedback, allowing users to set a target degree of browning and adjust cooking parameters accordingly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional temperature-based cooking methods are used, then the cooking process is simple to operate, but the appliance cannot effectively monitor visual changes in food appearance to prevent overcooking
Solution Approach 1:
The system captures real-time images of the food item during cooking, analyzes the degree of browning using image processing algorithms, and uses this feedback to automatically adjust cooking parameters or notify the user when the target browning level is achieved, creating a closed-loop control system that continuously monitors and responds to food appearance changes
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical temperature-based cooking control with an optical-based imaging and image processing system. Instead of relying solely on temperature sensors and fixed time-temperature profiles, the system uses cameras to capture visual information, processes images to determine browning degree, and uses this optical data to control the cooking process
2Loss of information
If real-time imaging and image processing are implemented, then the degree of browning can be accurately determined, but the device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a digital copy (image) of the food item's appearance during cooking, processes this copy to extract browning information, and uses the processed image data to control the cooking process. This allows accurate monitoring of visual changes without requiring direct physical contact with the food or complex sensor arrays
Solution Approach 2:
The imaging device serves multiple functions: capturing real-time images of the food item, determining the degree of browning through image analysis, providing visual feedback to the user, and controlling the cooking process. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate sensors and control mechanisms for each function
Data Source
AI summary
A method of cooking a food item in a cooking appliance having a cooking chamber and a user interface with a selector that allows a user to set a target degree of browning includes imaging, by an imaging device for capturing a real-time image, the food item inside the cooking chamber. A computing device in communication with the imaging device, and having a software module that receives the captured image, receives the captured real-time image from the imaging device.