In the interests of improved temperature detection and temperature control of a cooking appliance on a hob by means of an induction coil, the cooking appliance has specific and individual identification. This can be contained in an NFC tag, by way of identification means. This identification can be read out on a hob, either by means of the hob itself or by means of a mobile telephone, and transferred to a database in an Internet cloud storage facility. From the latter, specific characteristics for this cooking appliance can be downloaded and employed for a temperature-controlled heating of the cooking appliance.

A cooking utensil includes a drive unit which is configured to drive at least one consumer, and a receiving unit which is configured to receive energy in a contactless manner and to supply energy to the drive unit. The cooking utensil can be part of a cooking system which further includes a cooktop apparatus having an induction unit configured at least to supply energy for the receiving unit of the cooking utensil.

A wireless power transfer system includes an induction heating cooking apparatus including a heating coil that produces a high-frequency magnetic field, a power reception device including a power reception coil that receives power from the heating coil, a first communication device provided on the power reception device to transmit a communication signal, a second communication device provided above the induction heating cooking apparatus to receive the communication signal from the first communication device, and a notification unit that indicates whether the power reception coil is located within a predetermined region that is set in advance with respect to the heating coil, when the second communication device receives the communication signal from the first communication device.

A food preparation system includes a food treatment unit having a food treatment function, a functional unit having an auxiliary function associated with the food treatment function, and a control unit provided to cause execution of a recipe and to control the food treatment function and the auxiliary function in an open-loop and/or closed-loop manner when guided by the recipe.

An inductive heating cooker includes a main body and a power-receiver device. The main body includes a top plate on which a heating target is placed, a heating coil provided under the top plate and configured to inductively heat the heating target, a drive circuit configured to supply electric power to the heating coil, a power transmission coil configured to transmit the electric power by magnetic resonance, and a power transmission circuit configured to supply the electric power to the power transmission coil. The power-receiver device includes a power reception coil configured to receive the electric power from the power transmission coil by the magnetic resonance, and a load circuit configured to operate by the electric power received by the power reception coil.

A pad device includes a pad unit for placement at least in part between a setting-down counter and a heated cooking vessel in a heating operating mode. To provide great flexibility, the pad device includes an electronic unit which supplies at least one function in at least one operating mode.

Various smart package configurations may include a package intelligence and communication module (PICM) intelligently interacting with smart heating appliances and users. A thermodynamic load profile may correlate thermodynamic response characteristics of the package and be stored in or associated with a unique identifier in the PICM. The TLP enables efficient and safe heating of packages on a smart appliance as well as package validation and authentication. Package configurations also include structural elements for efficient heating of food, beverage, cosmetic and personal care products.

A cooking vessel sensor and an induction heating device including a cooking vessel sensor is provided. The cooking vessel sensor may include a cylindrical hollow body having a first receiving space defined therein; a hollow cylindrical magnetic core received in the first space and having a second receiving space defined therein; and a sensing coil wound on an outer face of the side wall by a predetermined number of winding counts. The cylindrical hollow body may have a side wall having a coil outlet defined therein, and the sensing coil may pass though the coil outlet out of the body. The cooking vessel sensor may further include a controller that applies a current to the sensing coil and determines, based on a sensing result of the cooking vessel sensor, whether the cooking vessel is inductive or has an inductive heating property.

A control knob for an appliance deploys a round bezel region that surround a fixed electronic display panel that is touch sensitive. The appliance state or operating condition is modified by the user rotating the bezel and selecting graphic user interface (GUI) icons on the electronic display. The bezel orientation modifies the GUI to display icons that operate the appliance in different modes. In a first mode of power control, the GUI displays power levels and the bezel orientation modifies the power level. In a second mode, the GUI displays temperature settings and the bezel orientation modifies the temperature. The GUI displays icons that when activated switch between the first and second mode as well as turn off the appliance. Another icon may activate a third mode that enables control and display of other settings, such as temperature units, time and date, count down timers and the like.

A cooking vessel sensor and an induction heating device including a cooking vessel sensor is provided. The cooking vessel sensor may include a cylindrical hollow body having a first receiving space defined therein; a hollow cylindrical magnetic core received in the first space and having a second receiving space defined therein; and a sensing coil wound on an outer face of the side wall by a predetermined number of winding counts. The cylindrical hollow body may have a side wall having a coil outlet defined therein, and the sensing coil may pass though the coil outlet out of the body. The cooking vessel sensor may further include a controller that applies a current to the sensing coil and determines, based on a sensing result of the cooking vessel sensor, whether the cooking vessel is inductive or has an inductive heating property.