A touch slider unit includes: a touch slider having a contact part to be in contact with a user and a light-transmitting part disposed to surround a circumference of the contact part; an electrode disposed on a back surface of the contact part of the touch slider; a controller which detects a change in electrostatic capacity of the electrode to detect a contact of the user with the touch slider based on the detected change in the electrostatic capacity of the electrode; and a light source disposed on the back side of the touch slider to emit a light, thereby having a favorable backlight characteristic and an improved operability.

A cooking apparatus, a cooking apparatus controlling system, and a method of controlling a cooking apparatus are provided. The cooking apparatus controlling system includes a first cooking apparatus having a user interface configured to receive a user command from a user and a second cooking apparatus separated from the first cooking apparatus and configured to receive the user command input to the first cooking apparatus and operate according to the user command. The user interface receives one or more of a user command related to the first cooking apparatus and a user command related to the second cooking apparatus. The first cooking apparatus includes a first communicator. The second cooking apparatus includes a second communicator configured to communicate with the first communicator.

A system for warming up and/or cooking food is provided herein and includes: a frame; operating means for heating an active zone defined within the volume delimited by said frame; an emitter device for irradiating said active zone with incident microwaves; a detector device for detecting corresponding radiations coming from said active zone; a first transmission unit associated with at least said detector device and configured for sending first data, representative of said corresponding radiations, to a processing unit.

Most ovens have a window on the door of the oven to allow the user/consumer to see the food inside of the oven while the food is being heated or cooked. By replacing this window with a video screen (flat panel display) and using one or more cameras that is/are pointing inside the oven, the user can view the food on the video screen instead of through the window. Addition of the video screen to the oven as well as adding a computer/microprocessor with connection to internet, and given the typical user/consumer desire to look at the display to see the food being heated or cooked, allows a good medium to present advertising to the user/consumer.

Integration of a tablet computer and/or flat panel display with an oven brings numerous added functionalities to an oven that is not currently possible with current stand alone oven. It creates a new kitchen appliance that can be used for cooking, entertainment, shopping and provides a platform for displaying information and advertisement to the user. Since most kitchens have limited kitchen counter space, integration of the tablet computer/display with an oven can save counter space and provide the ability to watch TV or streaming videos on the oven. This combination can become the central entertainment and communication, as well as control hub in a kitchen for interfacing with other smart appliances as part of Internet of Things (IOTs). This new appliance can be a portal to present information and advertisement to the user with a more user friendly interface for programming the oven, automatically entering cooking instructions, or downloading applications/recipes for using the oven.

Disclosed are cooking methods using inspection systems including: a distance sensor and a digital optical recognition device. The distance sensor detects the position of the food product placed in the cooking device and the digital optical recognition device captures a series of images for the purpose of food product recognition. Once the food product is recognized, the operator is provided with the correct cooking cycle/program for the position and type of food product placed in the cooking device. The methods also ensure that the food product has been properly cooked at the end of the cooking cycle/program. The methods ensure: (1) the food product is correctly recognized; (2) the cooking cycle/program is correctly selected; (3) the correct cooking cycle/program is followed to completion; and (4) the quality of the cooked food product meets expected standards.

A microwave heating apparatus includes: a body defining a microwave heating chamber therein; a drawer door moveably mounted on the body to open or close the microwave heating chamber; a door switch button disposed on the body or the drawer door and configured to control the drawer door to be opened or closed; a speed adjusting button disposed on the body or the drawer door and configured to control a moving speed of the drawer door; a driving device with a controllable operating speed mounted on one of the body and the drawer door, connected with the other of the body and the drawer door in a transmission way, and configured to drive the drawer door to move; a controller communicated with the door switch button, the speed adjusting button and the driving device respectively.

A method for controlling a cooker is provided that may include receiving via a user input a selection of a menu in which one of a manual cooking mode or an automatic cooking mode may be selected and a cooking start signal, determining via the controller whether a type of dish to be cooked requires a user operation in which, when the automatic cooking mode is selected, whether an input type of dish to be cooked requires a manual user operation during cooking is determined and performing via the controller a user operation mode in which, when it is determined, in the determining of whether the type of dish to be cooked requires a user operation, that the type of dish to be cooked requires the manual user operation, the user is informed of a time point at which a predetermined user operation has to be performed.

The present invention relates to a technical field of microwave heating, and more particularly to a microwave frequency-selective heating device and a method thereof. The microwave frequency-selective heating device includes: a heating chamber with a microwave feed-in device, and a frequency controller; wherein the frequency controller is connected to the microwave feed-in device. According to the microwave frequency-selective heating device and the method of the present invention, the heating frequency is adjusted by setting the microwave adjusting device, which improves a material heating uniformity while greatly increases a material microwave absorption rate, so as to solve a heating efficiency problem of the conventional technologies. According to the present invention, the frequency for the heated material is intelligently selected by the micro-processor of the microwave adjusting device, and then fed in after being adjusted by the frequency control circuit, which is effective and convenient.

A heating cooking system includes a cooking device (100), servers (400, 500) for communicating with the cooking device (100) via a communication network and an information terminal (300) for communicating with the servers (400, 500) via the communication network. The servers (400, 500) have a communication tool manager (400) for managing communication tools of the information terminal (300) for users. The cooking device (100) has posting sections for posting information relating to executed cooking menus to the communication tool manager (400) of the servers (400, 500) via the communication network (N).