Systems and methods for user configurable cooking appliances include receiving system resources having associated budgets, facilitating user allocation the system resources to a plurality of heating elements without exceeding the associate budgets, applying the system resources to the heating elements to heat one or more food substances within a cooking chamber, and selectively regulating delivery of the system resources to the heating elements such that no more than the associated budget of each of the system resources is delivered to the heating elements. Computing components can execute a heating algorithm to cook at least one food substance in the cooking chamber, detect a state change of the food substance, and modify the heating algorithm to reconfigure the system resources supplied to the heating elements in response to the state change and in accordance with user configured allocation and associated budgets for the system resources.

Packaged product (20) comprising a food product (24) to be cooked in a cooking device (10), the packaged product (20) comprising identification means (21) providing information to and readable by the cooking device (10) related to a plurality of steps to be applied for cooking the food product (24) according to a predetermined profile, such that, in particular the duration, the selection of the heating mode and the power level of each of the heating mode, optionally and additionally a cooling mode, are set for each one of these steps according to the type of product to be cooked. The heating mode for each step is selected amongst one or a combination of microwave heating, infrared heating, hot air convection or hot air impingement, the cooling mode being applied by one or a combination of sub-pressure cooling or air ventilation.

A microwave appliance provides safe heating of packaged food products at an efficiency greater than 90%. A temperature sensor positioned about a product holder is configured to sense a temperature of the package. A product identification scanner identifies a type of food product, a type of packaging, and/or a size of packaging being inserted into the microwave appliance. The product identification may be used to obtain a dielectric constant and/or electrical conductivity of the product. An electric field detector verifies that a suitable product has been inserted into the microwave appliance and is used to estimate a volume of the packaged food product. Accordingly, even partially full packaged food products may be safely re-heated to a desired temperature. As opposed to a time-based operation with traditional microwave appliances, operation of the microwave appliance may be adjusted based on the product identification scanner, temperature sensor, and electric field detector.

A heating cooker includes a heating chamber in which an object to be heated is stored, a heating unit heating the object to be heated stored in the heating chamber, an imaging unit imaging an inside of the heating chamber, and a reading unit extracting a character of heating control information from an attachment attached to the object to be heated and reading that character. The heating cooker further includes a heating control unit controlling the heating unit based on the heating control information read by the reading unit. In this manner, heating time can be automatically set without a clerk having to input a product heating time or select a button corresponding to a product and a hassle attributable to registration of a relationship between a product code and the heating time can be avoided.

Several embodiments include a cooking appliance/instrument (e.g., oven). The cooking appliance/instrument can include a cooking chamber, a support tray adapted to hold food in the cooking chamber; and a heating system comprised of at least a heating element. The heating system is adapted to emit waves according to a particular configuration such that the emitted waves is substantially transparent or substantially opaque to the support tray and thus enabling the cooking instrument to select what to heat.

A selective heating device may include a chamber, at least one heating element, and a circuit. The at least one heating element may selectively heat a first portion of a target in the chamber at a first energy level for a first period of time. The at least one heating element may also selectively heat a second portion of the target at a second energy level for a second period of time, wherein the second energy level and/or the second period of time are different from the first energy level and/or the first period of time; or refrain from heating a third portion of the target; or a combination thereof. The circuit may receive a heating instruction and control the at least one heating element based on the heating instruction.

An instrument for performing microwave-assisted reactions and an associated method are disclosed. The instrument typically includes (i) a microwave-radiation source, (ii) a cavity, (iii) a waveguide in microwave communication with the microwave-radiation source and the cavity, (iv) at least one reaction-vessel sensor for determining the number and/or type of reaction vessels positioned within the cavity, (v) an interface, and (vi) a computer controller. The computer controller is typically in communication with the interface, the microwave-radiation source, and the reaction-vessel sensor. The computer controller is typically capable of determining the output of the microwave-radiation source in response to the number and/or type of reaction vessels positioned within the cavity.

A cooking apparatus includes a cooking chamber, a cooking plate having a visual representation distinguishing a plurality of areas on a top surface of the cooking plate, a plurality of heaters configured to supply heat to the plurality of areas and a controller configured to receive information about a cooking object including a plurality of pieces of food having different cooking conditions, based on the information about the cooking object, determine a first heating intensity to be used to heat the first piece of the food, and a second heating intensity to be used to heat the second piece of the food, control the plurality of heaters to supply heat of the first heating intensity to the first area, and control the plurality of heaters to supply heat of the second heating intensity to the second area.

A selective heating device comprises a chamber configured to contain a target to be at least partially heated, an active electromagnetic (EM) element to generate an electromagnetic field in the chamber and a passive EM element in the chamber. The passive EM element is capable of electromagnetically coupling to the active element. The active EM element and passive EM element are controllable to selectively heat a portion of the target.

A food preparation appliance includes a processing mechanism, a thermal element, a sensor positioned to acquire identifying data regarding identifying characteristics of a food product to be processed by the food preparation appliance, and a processing circuit. The processing circuit is configured to receive the identifying data from the sensor, identify a type of the food product based on the identifying data, and automatically set a predefined operating parameter of at least one of the processing mechanism and the thermal element to provide target processing of the food product based on the type and the identifying characteristics.