A control system for use in controlling operation of an electrical appliance, including: an electrical appliance housing having a control module; and a power source; a control knob including: an attachment element configured for releasably attaching the control knob to an outer surface of the housing; and an input/output module; a wireless power transfer system configured for wirelessly transferring power from the power source through the electrical appliance housing and to the input/output module for use in powering the input/output module; and a wireless control signaling module configured for wirelessly communicating a control signal from the control knob through the housing to the control module within the electrical appliance housing, said control signal received by the control module being indicative of an operational position/state of the control knob, and whereby said control module is configured for controlling operation of the electrical appliance by reference to the received wireless control signal.

A control system is described for synchronizing food processing steps performed by a multi-function cooking apparatus with food processing steps performed by one or more remote kitchen appliances, includes a recipe program interface for accessing a recipe program on a data storage device wherein the recipe program is configured to be executed by the cooking apparatus and has internal instructions configured to control functions of the cooking apparatus for performing food processing steps thereon, and has at least one external instruction for a remote food processing step performed by a particular remote kitchen appliance.

A control system, method and computer program product for controlling food processing steps performed by a multi-function cooking apparatus and food processing steps performed by one or more remote kitchen appliances for preparing a food product. A recipe program interface is configured to access on a data storage device a recipe program for preparing the food product wherein the recipe program is configured to be executed by the cooking apparatus and to synchronize food processing steps performed by the cooking apparatus with food processing steps performed by the one or more remote kitchen appliances. A validation component is configured to check if the one or more remote kitchen appliances are registered with the cooking apparatus in an appliance registry, and is further configured to check if technical specifications of registered remote kitchen appliances comply with control parameters in respective recipe program instructions.

A cooking appliance may employ one or both of a post-preheat phase and a two stage preheat phase to both accelerate preheating of an oven cavity while minimizing temperature differentials therein. A post-preheat phase may be performed subsequent to a preheat phase, but prior to a cooking phase, to cycle a cooking element disposed in a cooler portion of an oven cavity to reduce a temperature differential between the top and bottom of the oven cavity. A two stage preheat phase may sequentially activate each of top and bottom cooking elements in an oven cavity a single time.

Dough preparation apparatus and associated methods. The dough preparation apparatus can store and be configured to execute a plurality of dough preparation recipes. In one example, the dough preparation apparatus is configured for thawing or slacking frozen dough and conditioning the dough prior to baking. The dough preparation apparatus facilitates production of baked bread having higher and more consistent quality.

An IoT-based system and method are described for identifying appropriate cooking parameters for cooking food. For example, one embodiment of a system comprises: a cooking appliance for cooking food products, the cooking appliance having control logic to control cooking temperature or power level, cooking duration, and/or one or more other cooking variables; an IoT device integrated in or on the cooking appliance, the IoT device comprising scanning logic to capture a code associated with a food product to be cooked, the IoT device to use the code to identify cooking parameters associated with the food product; and the IoT device comprising circuitry to control the control logic of the cooking appliance in accordance with the cooking parameters associated with the food product.

A mobile device for communicating with a smart appliance and the Internet is disclosed. The mobile device includes a sensing element for detecting a current value of an operational features of the smart appliance. A memory including relationships between other values and operational features is provided. A processor is also provided for accessing the memory and comparing the current and other values to determine whether there is a match. If the values do not match, the process generates and sends instructions to the smart appliance to adjust its settings so as to bring the current and other values into alignment. The mobile device is also in communication with the Internet where the mobile device may draw upon online resources to perform or support performing any of the above steps.

A method for data communication with a domestic appliance by a mobile computer device. The domestic appliance and the mobile computer device are interconnected or interconnectable via a wireless data connection. The wireless data connection is adapted for transferring signals between the domestic appliance and the mobile computer device. Further, the present invention relates to application software for the mobile computer device. Moreover, the present invention relates to a domestic appliance. Additionally, the present invention relates to a mobile computer device including a display or touch screen.

Provided is an information processing apparatus including a control unit (200) that determines a recipe on a basis of user information including an avoidance level of a user for a predetermined ingredient, food information regarding each food, and ingredient information including information regarding each ingredient, in which the avoidance level for the predetermined ingredient is set on a basis of an avoidance factor of the user for the predetermined ingredient, and the food information includes information indicating the ingredient used to cook the food.

An appliance having a current sensor configured to monitor load current in the appliance associated with operation of one or more components for determining a fault condition thereof. The appliance comprises a smart controller configured to control operations of the appliance and the one or more components each configured to perform an operation of the appliance in response to the smart controller. An input/output (IO) circuit coupled to the smart controller via a local data bus is configured to receive commands from the smart controller and to control the one or more components in response thereto.