A method and device for the targeted conveying of information to individuals using cooking appliances and/or to at least one cooking appliance. The method includes determining usage behavior of the customer(s) or operating behavior of the cooking appliance(s), transferring the usage behavior or the operating behavior to the cooking appliance manufacturer, saving the usage behavior or the operating behavior, receiving information sent by cooperation partners of the cooking appliance manufacturer or receiving information established internally at the manufacturer, evaluating the received information taking into consideration the saved usage or operating behavior, determining which received information or information established internally at the manufacturer could be of interest for customers or for the cooking appliance, and conveying the determined information of interest to the customer or to the cooking appliance. The device includes a user interface, a determination unit, a transmission unit, and a control unit.

A cooker is configured such that reader (19) reads heating control information attached to food from an image of an interior of heating chamber (12) captured by imaging unit (16), correction calculator (29) performs correction calculation based on the heating control information, and heating controller (14) controls heating unit (13) based on a result of the correction calculation.

A method for the targeted conveying of information to individuals using cooking appliances and/or to at least one cooking appliance of a cooking appliance manufacturer, the method having the following method steps: determining by the cooking appliance manufacturer the usage behavior of the customer(s) and/or the operating behaviour of the cooking appliance(s) and/or transferring to the cooking appliance manufacturer the usage behaviour of the individual(s) and/or the operating behaviour of the cooking appliance(s); saving at the cooking appliance manufacturer the determined usage behaviours of the customer or the operating behaviour of the cooking appliance(s) (GG2, GG3); receiving information sent by cooperation partners of the cooking appliance manufacturer and/or receiving information established internally at the business; evaluating by the cooking appliance manufacturer the receiving information taking into consideration the saved usage or operating behavior to determine which of the items of received information and/or information established internally at the business could be of interest for which individuals or for which cooking appliance; and conveying the determined information of potential interest to the corresponding individual(s) and/or to the corresponding cooking appliance.

A household microwave appliance operates with multiple parameter configurations to treat food to be cooked in a locally differing manner. The microwave appliance determines in an initial scan with a thermal imaging sensor directed into the cooking chamber a temperature distributions on a surface of the food to be cooked. Change patterns are obtained from differences between different temperature distributions. An evaluation value is calculated for a best heating pattern that brings the current temperature distribution closest to a target temperature distribution determined based on a normalized target state and a current temperature distribution, whereafter microwave power is applied to the food to be cooked with the parameter configuration associated with the best heating pattern.

The present invention has a configuration of controlling a motor so as to stop a radiation antenna when the radiation antenna faces in a direction in which a reflected wave detection amount is minimized and to stop the radiation antenna when the radiation antenna faces in a different direction different from the direction in which the reflected wave detection amount is minimized. According to this configuration, first, the radiation antenna stops when facing in the direction in which the reflected wave detection amount is minimized. This extends a heating time under the most efficient condition, improving a heating efficiency in comparison with when the radiation antenna constantly rotates. Second, the radiation antenna stops when facing in the different directions. This causes uneven heating when the radiation antenna faces in the direction in which the reflected wave detection amount is minimized as well as when the radiation antenna faces in the different directions. As a result, the uneven heating is cancelled out by the uneven heating each other caused at different locations. In this way, it is possible to achieve the even heating.

An electromagnetic cooking device includes an enclosed cavity; a set of radio frequency feeds configured to introduce electromagnetic radiation into the enclosed cavity to heat up and prepare food; a set of high-power radio frequency amplifiers coupled to the set of radio frequency feeds, each high-power amplifier comprising at least one amplifying stage configured to output a signal that is amplified in power with respect to an input radio frequency signal; a signal generator coupled to the set of high-power radio frequency amplifiers for generating the input radio frequency signal, and a controller. The controller can be configured to, among other things, cause the signal generator and selected ones of the set of high-power amplifiers to output a radio frequency signal, select from a set of phase values of radio frequency electromagnetic waves, and identify the resonant modes excited within the enclosed cavity.

Disclosed are methods and apparatuses for heating an object in a cavity by feeding the cavity with RF signals. One of the disclosed methods includes simultaneously feeding the cavity with at least two RF signals. Of the at least two RF signals, a first RF signal is fed to the cavity via a first antenna and a second RF signal is fed to the cavity via a second antenna. The first and second RF signals have a common frequency and differ in phase by a first phase difference. The method also includes measuring the first phase difference and adjusting the feeding based on measurements of reflected RF signals reflected from the cavity. Conducting the measurements of the reflected RF signals may also be part of the disclosed method. A disclosed apparatus includes the structure required for carrying out the above method.

According to one example, a system includes a heat source operable to provide an amount of energy to be used to cook a food item, and further includes one or more processors. The processors are operable to receive an indication of a requested cooking temperature, and to receive a plurality of indications of measured temperature associated with the food item at different times. The processors are further operable to determine an integral term based on differences between the requested cooking temperature and the measured temperatures, to determine a heat loss term based on the integral term, and to determine an energy adjustment based on the heat loss term. The heat source is further operable to modify the amount of energy provided by the heat source in accordance with the determined energy adjustment.

A microwave oven container may include a body for containing a liquid, an agitator projecting through a bottom wall of the body to agitate the liquid contained in the body, where the agitator includes a first end located in the body and a second end located exterior to the body. The second end of the agitator is able to couple with a turntable drive of a microwave oven to power movement of the agitator in response to rotation of the turntable drive. The container may also include a cage located within the body that substantially surrounds the first end of the agitator and includes a plurality of openings to allow liquid contained in the body to pass through the cage.

Examples and techniques pertaining to avoidance of interference between wireless operation and microwave oven operation are described. A processor configures at least one of a magnetron of a microwave oven or a wireless transceiver of the microwave oven. The processor then controls operations of the magnetron and the wireless transceiver such that wireless communication by the wireless transceiver is not interfered by radiation from the magnetron as a result of the configuring.