Cooking Appliance Interface Using Pictorial Parameter Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cooking appliance control systems face challenges in providing intuitive and error-free operation, particularly for untrained users, due to reliance on text descriptions and numeric inputs for cooking parameters, leading to inconsistent cooking results across different countries and regions.
Innovation Solution
A method utilizing pictorial depictions on a display to represent cooking parameters, allowing users to select degrees of cooking and product size visually, eliminating the need for text inputs and numeric values, and enabling adjustments based on realistic representations of food colors and sizes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If text descriptions and numeric inputs are used for cooking parameters, then precise control is achieved, but ease of operation deteriorates for untrained users
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses visual copies (pictorial depictions) of food items at different cooking stages to represent cooking parameters instead of text descriptions. Users select from visual representations of raw, partially cooked, and fully cooked food states, which accurately convey the desired cooking outcome without requiring numeric input or textual understanding.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs color changes in pictorial depictions to indicate different cooking degrees. The visual representations show color transformations that occur during cooking (e.g., meat changing from red to brown), allowing users to intuitively select their preferred cooking level based on visual color cues rather than text or numbers.
2Loss of information
If text descriptions are used for cooking parameters, then information can be conveyed, but reliability deteriorates due to regional language differences
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces text-based information transmission with visual pictorial copies that universally represent cooking states. These images depict the actual appearance of food at different cooking stages, eliminating the need for language-specific descriptions and ensuring consistent understanding across different regions and cultures.
3Measurement precision
If numeric values are required for parameter selection, then precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent simplifies the control interface by replacing numeric input fields with visual pictorial selections. Each pictorial depiction represents a specific cooking parameter setting, allowing users to make precise selections through simple image selection rather than complex numeric input, thereby reducing device complexity while maintaining precision.
Data Source
AI summary
A method relates to adjusting a parameter of a process to be executed in a cooking appliance. The parameter has a range of values. The method includes displaying a set of pictorial depictions on a display. Each pictorial depiction represents one of the values in the range. A manual selection from among the pictorial depictions is input. The process is executed in accordance with the value represented by the manually selected pictorial depiction.