A food preparation appliance includes a housing, a conveyor, a thermal element, a first sensor, a second sensor, and a third sensor. The housing defines an inlet, an outlet, and a processing zone between the inlet and the outlet. The conveyor is configured to move a food product from the inlet, through the processing zone, and to the outlet. The thermal element is positioned within the processing zone. The first sensor is positioned proximate the inlet of the housing and along a lateral side of the conveyor or along a first cantilever arm extending laterally across the conveyor. The second sensor is positioned within the processing zone. The third sensor is positioned proximate the outlet of the housing and along a lateral side of the conveyor or along a second cantilever arm extending laterally across the conveyor.

A recommendation engine generates contextually relevant media programs tailored to the specific context of the user. The recommendation engine interfaces with one or more Internet-of-Things (IoT) appliances to determine one or more food items stored within the IoT appliance(s) and/or one or more cooking capabilities associated with the IoT appliance(s). The recommendation engine also gathers profile data that reflects a set of preferences associated with the user. Based on the gathered data, the recommendation engine queries a database of cooking program data associated with various cooking programs. The recommendation engine obtains cooking program data that is contextually relevant to the user and then generates a contextual cooking program that describes how to perform a given recipe. During playback of the contextual cooking program, the recommendation engine can modify the contextual cooking program based on the progress of the user in following the recipe.

A method of displaying time to temperature for a microwave appliance includes operating the microwave appliance to heat an article positioned within a cooking chamber of the microwave appliance, measuring a temperature of the article with an infrared camera of the microwave appliance, calculating an estimated time until the temperature of the article is less than a threshold temperature based at least in part on a cook time input, the measured temperature of the article, and a current power setting of the microwave appliance, and presenting the estimated time on a display of the microwave appliance.

A modular cooking apparatus is disclosed. The modular cooking apparatus includes a housing having a first interchangeable cooking module, a second interchangeable cooking module, and a single power connection for receiving electrical power from a wall outlet. The first interchangeable cooking module contains a first oven, and the second interchangeable cooking module contains a second oven. The second oven is a different oven type from the first oven. The modular cooking apparatus also includes a controller within the housing for controlling the first and second ovens. The controller includes a memory for storing a list of food items to be cooked within the modular cooking apparatus and a corresponding oven type for each of the food items. The modular cooking apparatus further includes a control panel on the housing for displaying only the food items for which the first oven or the second oven is a corresponding oven type.

A user interface for a microwave oven. The user interface including: a power input element for receiving user input to adjust a cooking power setting; a time input element for receiving user input to adjust a cooking time setting; a display element for displaying the cooking power setting and the cooking time setting; and a processor module that receives a first signal from the power input element that is indicative of an adjustment to a cooking power setting and a second signal from the time input element that is indicative of an adjustment to a cooking time setting; the processor being coupled to the display element to cause the display to present the user selected cooking power setting and the user selected cooking time setting; wherein: upon commencing a cooking cycle, user input applied to the power input module caused the user selected cooking power setting to be adjusted. The user interface can further include: a plurality of shortcut selection elements, each shortcut selection element is associated with a predetermined cooking profile having predetermined cooking settings. The user interface can further include: an “a bit more” selection element that causes calculation of a supplemental cooking setting.

Apparatus for processing an object includes a cavity for receiving therein the object. A plurality of processing antennas are configured to coherently feed the cavity with RF radiation generated by a processing RF source. A memory stores processing instructions for each object from a given group of objects. A user interface is configured to receive identification of an object to be processed from a user. A processor is configured to receive from the interface indication of the identification of the object, select a processing instruction based on the indication, and control the processing RF source to radiate according to the selected processing instruction. The energy processing instruction includes a plurality of excitation setups, each excitation setup of said plurality of excitation setups including amplitudes, each of which is associated with one of the plurality of antennas, and one or more phase differences associated with each two antennas associated with non-zero amplitudes.

A method for operating a cooking appliance, comprising: (a) providing a database with operating parameters of the cooking appliance; (b) obtaining recipe data from a recipe source; (c) extracting cooking process parameters from the obtained recipe data; (d) determining adapted cooking parameters by evaluating the extracted cooking process parameters in light of data from the database, and optionally of settings made by a user; and (e) operating the cooking appliance based on the adapted cooking parameters.

A recommendation engine generates contextually relevant media programs tailored to the specific context of the user. The recommendation engine interfaces with one or more Internet-of-Things (IoT) appliances to determine one or more food items stored within the IoT appliance(s) and/or one or more cooking capabilities associated with the IoT appliance(s). The recommendation engine also gathers profile data that reflects a set of preferences associated with the user. Based on the gathered data, the recommendation engine queries a database of cooking program data associated with various cooking programs. The recommendation engine obtains cooking program data that is contextually relevant to the user and then generates a contextual cooking program that describes how to perform a given recipe. During playback of the contextual cooking program, the recommendation engine can modify the contextual cooking program based on the progress of the user in following the recipe.

A device for cooking by heating comprises: a heating unit for heating food that is accommodated in a cooking cavity, a setting unit for setting a heating control content of the heating unit, a display unit for displaying the heating control content set by setting unit, and a display controller for controlling display on the display unit. Moreover, the device for cooking by heating comprises: an image capturing unit for capturing the inside of the cooking cavity, and a storage unit for storing an image captured by image capturing unit and the heating control content set by setting unit in a correspondence table in association with each other. The display controller controls display so as to display images stored in the storage unit in a list on the display unit, and the setting unit sets, based on selection of an image from the list, the associated heating control content in the correspondence table in the storage unit.

A high-frequency heating apparatus includes: a heating chamber for accommodating a load; a microwave source; at least one radiator; a temperature detector; and a controller. The microwave source generates a microwave and adjusts the frequency and output of the microwave. The at least one radiator radiates a microwave into the heating chamber. The temperature detector detects the temperature in the heating chamber. The controller causes the microwave source to adjust the output of the microwave based on the temperature profile that defines the temperature change in the load, and the temperature in the heating chamber. According to this aspect, food can be heated in accordance with the temperature profile appropriate for the cooking recipe, thereby ensuring the quality of cooked food.