METHOD FOR TREATING PRODUCTS TO BE COOKED, AND DOMESTIC COOKING APPLIANCE

Abstract

In a method for treating food to be cooked in a household cooking appliance, a sensor measures a local distribution of a surface condition of the food to be cooked. A measure of deviation is calculated from the measured local distribution and multiple local power distributions that are known in advance in the region of the food to be cooked in correspondence with different sets of setting values of a unit for treating the food to be cooked. A unit for treating the food to be cooked is operated by using the set of setting values of the one of the power distributions for which the measure of deviation fulfills a predetermined criterion.

Claims

1-15. (canceled)

16. A method for treating food to be cooked in a household cooking appliance, the method comprising: measuring by a sensor a local distribution of a surface condition of the food to be cooked; calculating a measure of deviation from the measured local distribution and multiple local power distributions that are known in advance in the region of the food to be cooked in correspondence with different sets of setting values of a unit for treating the food to be cooked; and operating the unit for treating the food to be cooked using the set of setting values of the one of the power distributions for which the measure of deviation fulfills a predetermined criterion.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the predetermined criterion corresponds to a greatest deviation between the measured local distribution and the multiple local power distributions.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the measure of deviation is a comparative summation or a difference value between the measured local distribution and the multiple local power distributions.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the unit for treating the food to be cooked is a member selected from the group consisting of an electric radiant heating body, an induction coil, a microwave facility, a radiant-oriented cooling air blower, a radiant-oriented hot air facility, and a radiant-oriented water supplying facility.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the unit for treating the food to be cooked is an electric radiant heating body comprising at least two radiant heating bodies, with the set of setting values comprising setting values for at least two of the radiant heating bodies.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the at least two radiant heating bodies are selected from the group consisting of a bottom heat heating body, upper heat heating body, and grill heating body

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising determining the one of the power distributions that is known in advance only for a set of setting values of the at least two radiant heating bodies.

23. The method of claim 16, further comprising executing the steps a) to c) cyclically.

24. The method of claim 16, wherein the sensor comprises at least one of an optical sensor and an infrared sensor.

25. The method of claim 16, wherein the surface condition comprises at least one of a degree of browning, a surface temperature, and moisture.

26. The method of claim 16, further comprising: determining a position of the food to be cooked in a cooking compartment; and using only the local power distributions and the local distribution of the surface condition that relate to said position.

27. The method of claim 16, wherein the local distribution of the surface condition is measured by the sensor for multiple items of food to be cooked, with the measure of deviation for the items of food to be cooked being calculated jointly from the measured distribution of the surface condition and the multiple local power distributions that are known in advance in the region of the items of food to be cooked, and with the unit for treating the food to be cooked being operated using the set of setting values of the one of the power distributions for which the measure of deviation fulfills the predetermined criterion.

28. The method of claim 16, wherein the measure of deviation is calculated for different part regions of the food to be cooked having different target values of the surface condition from the measured local distribution of the surface condition and the multiple local power distributions that are known in advance, with the unit for treating the food to be cooked being operated using the set of setting values of the one of the power distributions for which the measure of deviation fulfills the predetermined criterion.

29. The method of claim 16, further comprising: determining a position of the food to be cooked; and adapting the known power distributions to the determined position of the food to be cooked.

30. The method of claim 16, further comprising adapting a height position of the food to be cooked to a group of known ones of the power distributions which group matches said height position.

31. A household cooking appliance, comprising: a cooking compartment; a unit for treating a food to be cooked in the cooking compartment; a sensor for determining a local distribution of a surface condition of the food to be cooked; and a control facility operably connected to the sensor and configured to calculate a measure of deviation from the local distribution and multiple local power distributions that are known in advance in the region of the food to be cooked in correspondence with different sets of setting values of the unit for treating the food to be cooked, and to operate the unit for treating the food to be cooked using the set of setting values of the one of the power distributions for which the measure of deviation fulfills a predetermined criterion.

32. The household cooking appliance of claim 31, wherein the unit for treating the food to be cooked is a member selected from the group consisting of an electric radiant heating body, an induction coil, a microwave facility, a radiant-oriented cooling air blower, a radiant-oriented hot air facility, and a radiant-oriented water supplying facility.

33. The household cooking appliance of claim 31, wherein the unit for treating the food to be cooked is an electric radiant heating body comprising at least two radiant heating bodies, with the set of setting values comprising setting values for at least two of the radiant heating bodies.

34. The household cooking appliance of claim 33, wherein the at least two radiant heating bodies are selected from the group consisting of a bottom heat heating body, upper heat heating body, and grill heating body

35. The household cooking appliance of claim 31, wherein the sensor comprises at least one of an optical sensor and an infrared sensor.

Description

[0086] The above-described characteristics, features and advantages of this invention and also the manner in which these are achieved become clearer and more explicit in conjunction with the following schematic description of an exemplary embodiment that is further explained in conjunction with the drawings.

[0087] FIG. 1 shows as a sectional view in a side view a diagram of a household cooking appliance that is configured so as to implement the above-described method;

[0088] FIG. 2 shows a method sequence for implementing the above-described method on the household cooking appliance; and

[0089] FIG. 3A to 3E shows various measured distributions and power distributions that are associated with the method.

[0090] FIG. 1 illustrates as a sectional view in a side view a diagram of a household cooking appliance 1 that is configured so as to implement the method that is described in detail in FIG. 2. The household cooking appliance 1 has a cooking compartment 2 having a front-side loading hatch 3 that can be closed by means of a door 4. Food to be cooked G is arranged in the cooking compartment 2 on a carrier 5 for food to be cooked. The carrier 5 for food to be cooked is arranged at one of multiple possible insertion levels E. The household cooking appliance 1 can be configured for the purpose of automatically determining which insertion level E is occupied.

[0091] The household cooking appliance 1 moreover has multiple units for treating food to be cooked in the form of IR radiant heating bodies 6 to 8, namely a bottom heat heating body 6 that is marked here as annular, an annular marked upper heat heating body 7 and an annular marked grill heating body 8.

[0092] In addition or as an alternative, a unit for treating the food to be cooked can be provided in the form of a microwave generating facility 9. The microwave generating facility 9 can have for example an inverter-controlled microwave generator, a rotationally-adjustable and/or height-adjustable antenna and/or a rotationally adjustable and/or height adjustable frequency modulator (not illustrated).

[0093] The units 6 to 9 for treating the food to be cooked are controlled by means of a control unit 10. The control unit 10 is moreover connected to an optical sensor in the form of a digital camera 11. The digital camera 11 is arranged in such a manner that it is oriented into the cooking compartment 2 and can capture an image of the food to be cooked G. As a consequence, the digital camera 11 can be used so as to determine a degree of browning BG of the food to be cooked G as the surface condition.

[0094] The control unit 10 can moreover be configured so as to implement the above-described method and can also be used for this purpose as an evaluating facility. Alternatively, the evaluation can also be performed on an instance that is external to the appliance such as a network computer or the so-called “cloud” (not illustrated).

[0095] FIG. 2 illustrates a method sequence for implementing the method on the household cooking appliance 1 under the exemplary assumption that the household cooking appliance 1 does not have a microwave generating facility 9 or does not use this microwave generating facility, for example because it is deactivated. It is also assumed that only one item of food to be cooked G is located in the cooking compartment 2.

[0096] In one step S1, a local distribution of the degree of browning BG of the food to be cooked G is measured by virtue of the fact that the digital camera 11 captures an image of the food to be cooked G.

[0097] In a second step S2, an object recognition procedure is performed by means of the control unit 10 in the image that is captured by the digital camera 11 and as a consequence, the image region that corresponds to the food to be cooked G or that the food to be cooked is located in is identified.

[0098] In a third step S3, the distribution of the degree of browning, which is measured for the image region of the food to be cooked G, is linked for the same region having local power distributions that are known in advance (for example heat inputs) in that for this image region a measure of deviation is determined in the form for example of a comparative summation or a difference value. In this case, the local power distributions that are known in advance correspond to different sets of setting values of the radiant heating bodies 6 to 8 in the region of the food to be cooked G. In this case, the knowledge of the insertion level E and where applicable the type of the food to be cooked G (for example chicken, pizza etc.) can be used for the purpose of using the local power distributions that are known in advance for the as a consequence at least approximately known height of the food to be cooked G in the cooking compartment 2.

[0099] The power distributions can be provided for example as two-dimensional, in particular horizontally-oriented sectional planes through the cooking compartment 2. In general, the power distributions can be provided for a determined set of setting values as levels (“level bands”) that are allocated to different heights.

[0100] In a fourth step S4, the measure of deviation having the value that best fulfills the predetermined criterion, for example that expresses a greatest difference between the measured distribution and the power distribution, is selected from the values of the measures of deviation that are determined previously for the different power distributions. This power distribution is the power distribution that, if it is input into the cooking compartment 2, treats the food to be cooked G most effectively in the direction of a uniform distribution of browning. The selected value can be for example the smallest value of a comparative summation or the highest value of a difference summation.

[0101] In a step S5, the radiant heating bodies 6 to 8 are operated using the set of setting values of the power distribution that corresponds to the selected value of the measure of deviation.

[0102] The steps S1 to S5 can be repeated with a cycle duration Δt.

[0103] FIG. 3A illustrates a first measured distribution LBG1 of the degree of browning BG of the food to be cooked G in percent. In this case, a value of 100% can correspond for example to a maximum measured degree of browning BG or as illustrated to a target degree of browning B G.

[0104] FIG. 3B illustrates a power distribution LV1 that is associated with the insertion level E or with the height of the food to be cooked G at the site or at the position of the food to be cooked G for a set of setting values in which only the bottom heat heating function and the upper heat heating function are activated, but the grill heating body 8 is switched off (setting value=0).

[0105] FIG. 3C illustrates a power distribution LV2 that is associated with the insertion level E or with the height of the food to be cooked G at the site or at the position of the food to be cooked G for a set of setting values in which the grill heating body 8 is now also activated. The form of the power distribution LV2 differs from the measured distribution LBG1 of the degree of browning BG to a greater extent than the power distribution LV1.

[0106] It is provided by the method that is described in FIG. 2 that the measure of deviation of the power distribution LV2 provides a greater deviation than the measure of deviation of the power distribution LV1. Consequently, in step S5 the radiant heating bodies 6 to 8 would be operated using the set of setting values that is associated with the power distribution LV2.

[0107] FIG. 3D illustrates a second measured distribution LBG2 of the degree of browning BG of the food to be cooked G in percent after the food to be cooked G was exposed to the power distribution LV2 for a specific time period (for example the cycle time Δt). As a consequence, the degree of browning BG of the food to be cooked G has been standardized, which comes closer to a desired cooking result of a homogeneous distribution of the degree of browning BG on the surface of the food to be cooked 2 than the distribution of the degree of browning LBG1 in FIG. 3A.

[0108] FIG. 3E discloses a further possible power distribution LV3 that has been produced by means of a radiation of microwaves by the microwave generating apparatus 9 in the cooking compartment 2.

[0109] Obviously, the present invention is not limited to the illustrated exemplary embodiment.

[0110] In general, “a”, “an” etc. can be understood as singular or a plurality, in particular in the sense of “at least one” or “one or more” etc., as long as this is not explicitly ruled out, for example by the expression “precisely one” etc.

[0111] The disclosure of a numerical value can also comprise precisely the disclosed numerical value as well as a customary tolerance range as long as this is not explicitly ruled out.

LIST OF REFERENCE CHARACTERS

[0112] 1 Household cooking appliance [0113] 2 Cooking compartment [0114] 3 Loading hatch [0115] 4 Door [0116] 5 Carrier for food to be cooked [0117] 6 Bottom heat heating body [0118] 7 Upper heat heating body [0119] 8 Grill heating body [0120] 9 Microwave generating facility [0121] 10 Control unit [0122] 11 Digital camera [0123] BG Degree of browning [0124] E Insertion level [0125] LBG1 Distribution of the degree of browning [0126] LBG2 Distribution of the degree of browning [0127] LV1 Power distribution [0128] LV2 Power distribution [0129] LV3 Power distribution [0130] G Food to be cooked [0131] S1-S5 Method steps [0132] Δt Cycle duration