In-Oven Camera Light Stabilization for Accurate Cooking Image Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cooking appliances lack the capability to systematically and automatically produce complex meals with precision and speed, as they require human intervention and cannot consistently capture accurate images of food cooking progress due to varying lighting conditions from heating elements, which affects image analysis and cooking outcomes.
Innovation Solution
A cooking appliance equipped with an in-oven camera and heating elements that can adjust their power and emission spectrum to stabilize lighting conditions during image acquisition, allowing for accurate image capture and processing, using algorithms and neural networks to analyze images and control heating patterns for precise cooking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If heating elements are used to illuminate the cooking chamber for image acquisition, then the lighting conditions become unstable and vary rapidly, but this provides sufficient illumination intensity for image capture
Solution Approach 1:
A light diffuser is introduced as an intermediary component between the heating element and the food item. The diffuser scattering panel disperses the intense light from the heating element to create more uniform and stable illumination conditions in the cooking chamber, reducing rapid fluctuations while maintaining sufficient brightness for image capture.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the physical state and distribution parameters of light by introducing a diffuser material that transforms concentrated heating element radiation into scattered, uniform illumination. This parameter change stabilizes the lighting conditions while preserving adequate intensity for imaging.
2Stability of the object's composition
If a dedicated light source is added to provide stable illumination, then lighting stability improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The heating element serves dual functions: it provides thermal energy for cooking and acts as a light source for image acquisition. By making the heating element multi-functional, the system avoids adding dedicated lighting components, thereby maintaining lighting stability improvements without significantly increasing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the lighting function with the heating function by using the heating element's emitted light for illumination. This combination eliminates the need for separate lighting systems while achieving stable illumination conditions through the diffuser modification.
3Productivity
If rapid adjustments in heating element power levels are made to control cooking, then cooking precision and speed improve, but the lighting conditions fluctuate rapidly affecting image quality
Solution Approach 1:
The light diffuser acts as a mediator that decouples the relationship between rapid heating element power adjustments and lighting stability. It smooths out the correlation between power level changes and light intensity fluctuations, allowing rapid cooking adjustments while maintaining relatively stable illumination for continuous image capture.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables consistent and accurate image capture and processing, ensuring precise cooking results by stabilizing the light spectrum and using image analysis to monitor cooking progress and environmental conditions, thereby improving the automation of complex meal preparation.
Implementation Method 1
the heating elements implemented in various embodiments of the present disclosure also generate light
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
Systems and methods include a cooking appliance comprising a heating element disposed within a cooking chamber to selectively emit waves at any of a plurality of powers and/or peak wavelengths, a camera to capture an image of the cooking chamber, and a computing device to supply power to the heating element to vary the power and/or peak wavelength of the emitted waves and generate heat within the cooking chamber, and instruct the camera to capture the image when the heating element is emitting at a stabilized power and/or peak wavelength. The computing device is operable to generate an adjusted captured image by adjusting the captured image with respect to the stabilized power and/or peak wavelength. The computing device comprises feedback components to receive the adjusted captured image, extract features, and analyze the one or more features to determine an event, property, measurement and/or status.