阅读说明：本技术 加热烹调器 (Heating cooker ) 是由 今井博久 松井严徹 谷口直哉 于 2018-07-31 设计创作，主要内容包括：加热烹调器具有：加热仓(13),其收纳至少一个被加热物；加热部(14),其对收纳于加热仓(13)的至少一个被加热物进行加热；以及拍摄部(17),其对加热仓(13)内进行拍摄。加热烹调器还具有读取部(21),该读取部(21)在复数个被加热物收纳于加热仓(13)的情况下,读取对复数个被加热物中的至少一个被加热物赋予的加热控制信息。加热烹调器具有：复数运算部(31),它们设定至少表示是否同时对复数个被加热物进行加热的复数设定信息；加热控制信息计算部(30),其根据由读取部(21)读取出的加热控制信息和由复数运算部(31)设定的复数设定信息,计算第1复数加热用的加热控制信息；以及加热控制部(15),其根据第1复数加热用的加热控制信息,对加热部(14)进行控制。(A heating cooker is provided with: a heating chamber (13) which accommodates at least one object to be heated; a heating unit (14) that heats at least one object to be heated housed in the heating chamber (13); and an imaging unit (17) that images the interior of the heating chamber (13). The heating cooker further comprises a reading unit (21), and the reading unit (21) reads heating control information given to at least one of the plurality of objects to be heated when the plurality of objects to be heated are stored in the heating compartment (13). A heating cooker is provided with: a plurality of arithmetic units (31) for setting a plurality of setting information indicating at least whether or not to heat a plurality of objects to be heated at the same time; a heating control information calculation unit (30) that calculates the 1 st plural heating control information on the basis of the heating control information read by the reading unit (21) and the plural setting information set by the plural calculation units (31); and a heating control unit (15) that controls the heating unit (14) on the basis of the 1 st plurality of pieces of heating control information.)

1. A heating cooker comprising: a heating chamber that accommodates at least one object to be heated; a heating unit that heats the at least one object to be heated stored in the heating chamber; and an imaging unit for imaging the inside of the heating chamber, wherein,

the at least one heated object comprises a plurality of heated objects,

the heating cooker comprises:

a reading unit that reads heating control information given to the at least one of the plurality of objects to be heated when the plurality of objects to be heated are stored in the heating chamber;

a plurality of setting units that set a plurality of setting information indicating at least whether or not to heat the plurality of objects to be heated simultaneously, when the plurality of objects to be heated are stored in the heating chamber;

a heating information calculation unit that calculates 1 st plural heating control information based on the heating control information read by the reading unit and the plural setting information set by the plural setting unit; and

and a heating control unit that controls the heating unit based on the 1 st plurality of pieces of heating control information.

2. The heating cooker according to claim 1,

the heating control information given to each of the plurality of objects to be heated includes heating power and heating time under the heating power,

the heating information calculation unit includes an electric power conversion unit that converts the 1 st plurality of heating control information and calculates 2 nd plurality of heating control information that is different from the 1 st plurality of heating control information.

3. The heating cooker according to claim 2,

the power conversion unit calculates heating control information for the 2 nd complex heating based on the maximum output of the heating unit.

4. The heating cooker according to claim 1,

the heating cooker further includes a notification unit configured to notify at least one of an error and a notice when the reading unit reads a plurality of heating control information items different from each other from the plurality of heated objects.

5. The heating cooker according to claim 1,

the heating cooker further includes a notification unit configured to notify at least one of an error and a notice when the reading unit reads the plurality of heating control information from the plurality of heated objects and the plurality of setting information is not set by the plurality of setting units.

6. The heating cooker according to claim 1,

the plurality of setting information includes information indicating the number of the plurality of objects to be heated,

the heating cooker further includes a notification unit configured to notify at least one of an error and a warning when the reading unit reads the plurality of heating control information from the plurality of heated objects and the number of the plurality of heated objects in the plurality of setting information set by the plurality of setting unit is smaller than the number of the plurality of heating control information read by the reading unit.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a heating cooker that heats food.

Background

A microwave oven as a representative heating cooker has convenience in that food can be heated in a state of being put in a container without using a pan and a bottom pan. In a store selling lunch, subsidiary food, and the like in a container, a clerk sometimes provides a service of heating the food purchased by using a microwave oven.

Such a service will be explained. In general, the optimum heating time for heating with a microwave oven is shown in containers such as lunch and non-staple. After the display is seen, the clerk in the store sets a heating time in the microwave oven to heat the food. The operation unit of the microwave oven is provided with numeric keys or the like, and the heating time (minutes, seconds) can be manually set.

In addition, there is also a case where the microwave oven has a plurality of operation buttons and different heating times are assigned to the respective operation buttons. In this case, the store clerk selects the button corresponding to the food to be heated. Thus, the food can be heated by heating control suitable for the food, and the food can be provided to the customer.

As in the former configuration, when the heating time (minutes, seconds) is set by using the numeric keys, the number of operations may be large, which may cause a troublesome operation. In the latter configuration, that is, in the case where different heating times are assigned to the plurality of operation buttons, it may be difficult for a clerk to remember the correspondence between the buttons and the heating times when the types of food increase.

In order to solve such troubles and errors, the following methods have also been proposed. The microwave oven stores heating control contents of each commodity in advance, and a clerk of the store reads information (code information) of a barcode attached to the commodity using a barcode reader. Then, the microwave oven calls out the heating control contents of the product corresponding to the code information to perform appropriate heating.

In addition, the following scheme is also proposed: a camera for photographing the inside of a bin is provided to a microwave oven without using a bar code reader, and the microwave oven extracts a bar code portion from an image of a commodity put into the bin and reads the bar code. This makes it possible to call up heating control contents corresponding to the product from the code information and perform appropriate heating. According to this method, the burden of the store clerk on the operation can be reduced, and the heating service can be performed without an error (for example, patent document 1).

Disclosure of Invention

The present disclosure can appropriately heat a plurality of food items at the same time with a simple operation.

The disclosed heating cooker is provided with: a heating chamber that accommodates at least one object to be heated; a heating unit that heats at least one object to be heated stored in the heating chamber; and an imaging unit that images the inside of the heating chamber. The at least one heated object includes a plurality of heated objects. The heating cooker includes a reading unit that reads heating control information given to at least one of the plurality of objects to be heated when the plurality of objects to be heated are stored in the heating compartment. The heating cooker includes: a plurality of setting units that set a plurality of setting information indicating at least whether or not to heat a plurality of objects to be heated simultaneously, when the plurality of objects to be heated are stored in the heating chamber; and a heating information calculation unit that calculates 1 st plural heating control information based on the heating control information read by the reading unit and the plural setting information set by the plural setting unit. The heating apparatus further includes a heating control unit for controlling the heating unit based on the 1 st plurality of heating control information.

According to the present disclosure, when a plurality of objects to be heated are placed in a heating chamber of a heating cooker, a heating information calculating unit calculates heating times for a plurality of heats based on heating control information given to the objects to be heated read by a reading unit based on an image captured by an imaging unit and setting information set by a user through a plurality of setting units, and the heating control unit controls the heating unit. Therefore, it is possible to appropriately heat a plurality of food items at the same time with a simple operation.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is an external perspective view of a microwave oven as an example of a heating cooker according to embodiment 1 of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the microwave oven.

Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of product information including heating control information added to a product heated by the microwave oven.

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a correspondence table of a product of heating power and heating time and heating power corresponding to the product, which the microwave oven has.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of the operation of the microwave oven.

Detailed Description

(insight underlying the present disclosure)

In the heating service, a customer may purchase a plurality of lunch and non-staple foods (an example of an object to be heated). In this case, the customer desires that a plurality of heated objects are put together into the microwave oven compartment and heated at the same time.

When a plurality of objects to be heated can be placed in a microwave oven chamber in a horizontally aligned manner, if a microwave oven having a camera is used, the barcodes of the plurality of heated portions can all be read.

On the other hand, if at least one of the plurality of objects to be heated has a large area when viewed from the upper surface, the plurality of objects to be heated may not be placed in the microwave oven in a horizontally aligned manner in the cabinet.

The plurality of objects to be heated may not be arranged in the lateral direction, but may be simultaneously placed in the microwave oven compartment if stacked.

In this way, when a plurality of objects to be heated are stacked, the camera of the microwave oven cannot read the barcode of the object to be heated other than the uppermost object to be heated among the plurality of stacked objects.

Therefore, in such a case, it is not possible to appropriately heat a plurality of objects to be heated at the same time. Therefore, a troublesome operation such as heating one by one or inputting a heating time suitable for plural heating by manual operation is generated.

The present disclosure has been made in view of such problems.

(an example of the present disclosure)

An example of the 1 st aspect of the present disclosure is a heating cooker including: a heating chamber that accommodates at least one object to be heated; a heating unit that heats at least one object to be heated stored in the heating chamber; and an imaging unit that images the inside of the heating chamber. The at least one heated object includes a plurality of heated objects. The heating cooker includes a reading unit that reads heating control information given to at least one of the plurality of objects to be heated when the plurality of objects to be heated are stored in the heating compartment. A heating cooker is provided with: a plurality of setting units that set a plurality of setting information indicating at least whether or not to heat a plurality of objects to be heated simultaneously, when the plurality of objects to be heated are stored in the heating chamber; and a heating information calculation unit that calculates 1 st plural heating control information based on the heating control information read by the reading unit and the plural setting information set by the plural setting unit. The heating cooker further includes a heating control unit for controlling the heating unit based on the 1 st plurality of heating control information.

Thus, when a plurality of objects to be heated are placed in the heating chamber of the heating cooker, the reading unit reads the heating control information given to the objects to be heated based on the image captured by the imaging unit. Then, when a plurality of food items are heated at the same time, the setting of a plurality of setting units set by the user is performed, the heating information calculating unit calculates the heating time based on the read heating information and the setting information of the plurality of setting units, and the heating control unit controls the heating unit. Therefore, the plurality of food items can be appropriately heated at the same time by a simple operation.

In the 2 nd aspect, the heating control information given to each of the plurality of objects to be heated may include heating power and heating time at the heating power. The heating information calculation unit may include a power conversion unit that converts the 1 st plurality of heating control information to calculate the 2 nd plurality of heating control information that is different from the 1 st plurality of heating control information.

Thus, the power conversion unit calculates a plurality of heating times for simultaneous heating at the optimum heating power, including the heating power different from the read heating power, based on the read heating power and heating time. Therefore, for example, high-output heating can be performed in a short time, and a plurality of food items can be simultaneously and appropriately heated by a simple operation.

In the 3 rd aspect, the power conversion unit may calculate the heating control information for the 2 nd complex heating from the maximum output of the heating unit.

Thus, the power conversion unit further calculates heating control information of the heating control unit at the maximum heating power based on the read heating power and heating time. Therefore, heating can be performed in the shortest time.

In the 4 th aspect, the heating apparatus may further include a notification unit configured to notify at least one of an error and a notice when the reading unit reads the plurality of heating control information different from each other from the plurality of heated objects.

Thus, even when a plurality of food items or the like having different microwave absorption characteristics are placed in the chamber, the notification unit can notify in advance that improper heating such as a large temperature difference between the plurality of food items has been completed. Therefore, the plurality of food items can be appropriately heated at the same time by a simple operation.

In the 5 th aspect, the heating apparatus may further include a notification unit configured to notify at least one of an error and a notice when the reading unit reads the plurality of heating control information from the plurality of heating objects and the plurality of setting information is not set by the plurality of setting units.

Thus, even when the user has not set the plural settings by mistake, it is possible to prevent heating from being performed unexpectedly.

In the 6 th aspect, the plurality of setting information may include information indicating the number of the plurality of objects to be heated. The heating apparatus may further include a notification unit configured to notify at least one of an error and a notice when the reading unit reads the plurality of heating control information from the plurality of heating objects and the number of the plurality of heating objects in the plurality of setting information set by the plurality of setting unit is smaller than the number of the plurality of heating control information read by the reading unit.

This prevents unintended heating when a user mistakenly puts a plurality of food items.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. The present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments.

(embodiment 1)

Fig. 1 is an external perspective view of a microwave oven 1 as an example of a heating cooker of the present embodiment.

As shown in fig. 1, a microwave oven 1 includes: a housing 2 for containing food; and a door 3 provided to the case 2 for taking and putting food. The door 3 is provided with a transparent glass window 4 for viewing the inside of the housing 2 from the outside, a handle 5 to be grasped when opening and closing the door 3, and an operation display unit 6.

The operation display unit 6 includes a liquid crystal display 7 as a notification unit, a time setting button group 8, an increase button 9 as an example of a plurality of setting units, a heating start button 10, a cancel button 11, and a pause button 12.

As will be described later, the microwave oven 1 takes an image of a commodity as a heating target (object to be heated) by an image pickup unit, reads heating power and heating time displayed on the commodity, and automatically heats the commodity.

When the increase button 9 is pressed, it is considered that a plurality of identical food items are put in, and heating power and heating time (heating control information for a plurality of heating) for heating a plurality of objects to be heated at the same time are calculated from the heating power and heating time (heating control information) displayed on the product, and heating is performed.

The liquid crystal display 7 displays a heating time and the like in the case of automatically heating. In order to cope with the case where the heating time cannot be read well or the case where a product not showing the heating time is heated, the microwave oven 1 is provided with a time setting button group 8.

The user can set the heating time using the numeric buttons of the time setting button group 8 and the buttons of "minute" and "second". In this case, the set heating time is displayed on the liquid crystal display 7. The liquid crystal display 7 also has a function as a notification unit for displaying at least one of an error and an attention prompt.

The heating start button 10 is a button that the user presses when heating is started after confirming the heating time displayed on the liquid crystal display 7.

The cancel button 11 is a button that is pressed by the user when the heating start button 10 is pressed to start heating and then heating is stopped during heating, or when the setting of the heating time displayed on the liquid crystal display 7 is cancelled.

The pause button 12 is a button that the user presses when heating is temporarily stopped during heating. When the heating is suspended, the user presses the heating start button 10 again to start the remaining heating from the middle.

Fig. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the microwave oven 1 according to the present embodiment.

The microwave oven 1 can heat food and the like by high frequency, and a magnetron 14 is provided in a heating chamber 13 for accommodating an object to be heated such as food, and the magnetron 14 is a heating part for outputting high frequency. The food is heated by supplying high frequency to the heating chamber 13 through the magnetron 14. The magnetron 14 is controlled by a heating control unit 15.

The microwave oven 1 has an illumination 16, and has a camera 17 as an imaging section on the same side as the illumination 16 is provided. At least one object to be heated is stored in the heating compartment 13. The magnetron 14 heats at least one object to be heated.

The camera 17 captures an image of the inside of the heating chamber 13. Since the camera 17 is provided on the same side as the illumination 16, the inside of the heating chamber 13 can be photographed without being affected by the backlight.

The housing 2 is provided with a door switch 18 for detecting opening and closing of the door 3. The door 3 is provided with a projection 19 for press-fitting the door switch 18. These configurations for detecting the opening and closing of the door 3 are examples, and other configurations may be used.

Goods (heated materials) such as lunch, rice balls, and staple food are put into the heating chamber 13. A label 20 (see fig. 3) is attached to each of these products, and the label 20 is an attached object on which heating power and heating time as heating control information of the product are displayed.

The label 20 also describes: as a standard when heating is performed using a general household microwave oven, for example, a heating time in the case of heating with a heating power of 500W; as a standard when heating is performed in a short time with a large heating power using a commercial microwave oven, for example, a heating time in the case of heating with a heating power of 1500W is described.

Specifically, the label 20 is displayed with, for example, "500W 2 min 00 sec 1500W0 min 40 sec".

More specifically, the heating control information is a character string including, in order, a 1 st character string (e.g., "500") which is a number indicating the amount of heating at a predetermined heating power, a 2 nd character string (e.g., "W") which is a unit of the heating power, a 3 rd character string (e.g., "2") which is a number indicating the heating time at the heating power, a 4 th character string (e.g., "minute") which is a unit of the heating time, a 5 th character string (e.g., "00") which is a number indicating the heating time at the heating power, and a 6 th character string (e.g., "second") which is a unit of the heating time.

The heating control information is a character string including, in order, a 7 th character string (for example, "1500") which is a number indicating an amount of heating with a heating power larger than the predetermined heating power, an 8 th character string (for example, "W") which is a unit of the heating power, a 9 th character string (for example, "0") which is a number indicating a heating time at the heating power, a 10 th character string (for example, "minute") which is a unit of the heating time, an 11 th character string (for example, "40") which is a number indicating a heating time at the heating power, and a 12 th character string (for example, "second") which is a unit of the heating time.

In the present embodiment, "W (watt)" which is an SI unit indicating the amount of heat is used as the 2 nd character string and the 8 th character string, but any other character or unit may be used as long as it is a character indicating a unit of heating power. Note that, as the 4 th, 6 th, 10 th and 12 th character strings, "minutes" or "seconds" are used as characters indicating units of time, but any other characters or units may be used as long as they indicate units of time.

The reading unit 21 extracts a portion where heating control information given to the product is displayed from the image captured by the camera 17, and reads characters (including at least numerals) of the heating control information.

Here, as an example, at least a part of the functions of the heating control unit 15, the reading unit 21, and the heating control information calculation unit 30 (described later) may be realized by a microcomputer and a peripheral circuit.

The microcomputer and the peripheral circuit may be of any type as long as they perform the control described later. At least a part of the functions of the heating control unit 15, the reading unit 21, and the heating control information calculation unit 30 may be constituted by an arithmetic processing unit and a storage unit storing a control program. The arithmetic Processing Unit includes an MPU (Micro Processing Unit) and a CPU (Central Processing Unit). As the storage portion, a memory is exemplified. The control program recorded in the storage unit is executed by the arithmetic processing unit.

At least a part of the functions of the heating control unit 15, the reading unit 21, and the heating control information calculation unit 30 may be constituted by hard logic. If it is constituted by hard logic, it is effective to increase the processing speed. Each component may be constituted by one semiconductor chip or may be physically constituted by a plurality of semiconductor chips. When at least a part of the functions of the heating control unit 15, the reading unit 21, and the heating control information calculation unit 30 is constituted by a plurality of semiconductor chips, the respective controls described later may be realized by different semiconductor chips.

Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the label 20 applied to the product.

Various information such as a product name 22, heating control information 23, amount information 24, expiration date information 25, a barcode 26 as an example of a code symbol for specifying a product, nutrition information 27, and notification information 28 are displayed on the label 20.

In order to easily extract the heating control information 23 from such various information, a mark frame 29 is displayed on the label 20, and the mark frame 29 is a rectangular position specification mark formed so as to surround the heating control information 23.

The reading section 21 first extracts the logo frame 29 from the image captured by the camera 17. Next, the reading unit 21 reads the alphanumeric characters surrounded by the logo frame 29 in a character string of "500W 2001500W 040". Here, the reading unit 21 does not read characters indicating time units such as "minute" and "second", or does not use the reading for analysis.

Then, the reading unit 21 decomposes the character string into 4 of a numeric string before "W", a 3-bit numeric string after "W", a numeric string before "W" following the numeric string, and a 3-bit numeric string after "W" according to a predetermined analysis rule, thereby obtaining "500", "200", "1500", and "040".

The reading unit 21 analyzes the 2 nd digit string and the 4 th digit string as the unit of the first 1 digit being "minute" and the unit of the second 2 digits being "second".

The reading unit 21 analyzes that the 1 st digit string is a heating power and corresponds to a heating time of the 2 nd digit string, and the 3 rd digit string is a heating power and corresponds to a heating time of the 4 th digit string.

As a result, the reading unit 21 reads the heating control information such as "500W 2 minutes" and "1500W 40 seconds".

Returning to fig. 2, the description of the microwave oven 1 is continued. The user opens the door 3 to put the goods into the heating compartment 13. Here, when the heating of the product is manually set, the user sets the heating time using the time setting button group 8. If not, the user sets the plurality of setting information by using the addition button 9 when the product is heated based on the heating control information 23 of the sticker 20 attached to the food and when a plurality of identical food items are heated simultaneously.

That is, the heating control information calculation unit 30 is notified of the pressing of the increment button 9, and the heating control information calculation unit 30 changes a plurality of setting information described later. Thus, a plurality of settings are performed. The plurality of settings are at least settings for simultaneously heating a plurality of objects to be heated.

For example, the initial value of the plurality of setting information is set to "1", and the value of the plurality of setting information is changed to "2" by pressing the increase button 9. In this case, if the value of the plurality of setting information is "2", it indicates that the user has performed a plurality of settings by the add button 9, that is, the plurality of settings is "present". On the other hand, if the value of the plural setting information is "1", it indicates that the user has not performed plural setting, that is, does not heat the plural objects at the same time.

In addition, when the user repeatedly presses the increase button 9, a periodic state transition may be performed in which the plurality of setting information is returned from the maximum value to the initial value after the values are incremented to the maximum value in the order of "1", "2", "1", and "2". Thus, the user can cancel the plurality of settings and can easily perform the plurality of settings again.

Further, a configuration in which the plurality of setting information items are changed as "1", "2", "3" and "1" can also cope with a state transition in which 3 objects to be heated are supposed to be heated simultaneously. By designing the upper limit (maximum value) of the plurality of setting information, the same or more number can be dealt with.

Here, an example is shown in which the values of the plural number setting information are expressed by "1" and "2", but may be expressed by other values (for example, "0" and "1").

In addition, there are various methods for initializing the complex number setting information to an initial value. For example, the initialization may be performed by the end of heating, or may be performed by opening and closing the door 3. For example, the plural sets of setting information may be initialized to an initial value indicating that 1 food item is to be heated after the heating is completed.

In addition, when the product is heated based on the heating control information 23 of the label 20 attached to the food, the plural setting operations may not be performed in particular as long as 1 food is heated.

When the user presses the heating start button 10 in the case of manually setting the heating time, heating is started according to the set heating time. When the heating time is not manually set, the reading unit 21 reads the heating control information 23 from the image of the inside of the heating chamber 13 captured by the camera 17 as described above. The reading section 21 sends the read heating control information 23 to the heating control information calculation section 30.

The heating control information calculation unit 30 includes a complex calculation unit 31 and a power conversion unit 32.

The plurality of computing units 31 compute heating information corresponding to a plurality of identical food items when the same food items are placed in the bin.

For example, in the case of heating 2 identical bents, a case where 2 bents are stacked up and put into the heating chamber 13 is assumed. In such a case, only the sticker 20 attached to the upper note among the stacked 2 notes can be captured by the camera 17, and in many cases, the sticker 20 attached to the lower note cannot be captured.

Therefore, in order to calculate appropriate heating information, the user sets the case of putting 2 keys in by operating the add button 9. That is, the plurality of setting information is set to "2" by operating the add button 9.

In the case where 2 keys are set by the add button 9, the plurality of computing units 31 set the heating time read by the reading unit 21 to, for example, 2 times the heating time.

However, since the heating efficiency is generally improved when the heating load is large, the heating time may not be set to 2 times when 2 heaters are placed. In this case, for example, by calculating 1.8 times or the like smaller than 2 times as the heating time, it is possible to set an appropriate heating time with less energy waste.

That is, the heating control information calculating unit 30 (heating information calculating unit) calculates the 1 st plural heating control information based on the heating control information read by the reading unit 21 and the plural setting information set by the plural setting unit.

Next, the power conversion unit 32 will be explained. First, a heating power (hereinafter, referred to as a maximum output) that can be output to the microwave oven will be described.

The heating control information calculation unit 30 (heating information calculation unit) includes an electric power conversion unit 32, and the electric power conversion unit 32 converts the 1 st plural heating control information to calculate the 2 nd plural heating control information different from the 1 st plural heating control information.

Generally, the maximum output of a microwave oven varies depending on models. In the existing standard microwave oven, the maximum output of the household microwave oven is 500W in many cases, and the maximum output of the commercial microwave oven is 1500W.

However, there is often a need from the user to shorten the heating time by outputting a stronger heating power. Therefore, in recent years, the following microwave ovens are being sold: even if the voltage and current inputted to the power supply of the microwave oven 1 are the same, the conversion efficiency of the heating power is improved and the maximum output is increased.

For example, the following microwave ovens are being sold: the maximum output is 800W in the case of a household microwave oven, 1800W in the case of a commercial microwave oven, and the like. Therefore, in the market, an existing microwave oven (for example, a household microwave oven having a maximum output of 500W or a commercial microwave oven having a maximum output of 1500W) is present together with a microwave oven which has been sold in recent years (for example, a household microwave oven having a maximum output of 800W or a commercial microwave oven having a maximum output of 1800W). Therefore, the maximum output varies for each model of microwave oven.

On the other hand, it is difficult to set the heating control information (for example, the heating power and the heating time described in the label 20) given to the product as all combinations of the various heating powers and the heating times corresponding to the respective heating powers.

Therefore, in order to enable the conventional microwave oven with a low maximum output and the microwave oven with a high maximum output which is sold in recent years to use the heating power described in the sticker 20 in common, display corresponding to the microwave oven with a low maximum output is performed.

For example, only 2 combinations of 500W and the heating time corresponding to the standard heating power for home use and 1500W and the heating time corresponding to the standard heating power for business use are displayed as the heating control information 23 on the label 20.

Thus, in the microwave oven having a high maximum output, the user can use a heating time shorter than the heating time displayed on the sticker 20 (hereinafter referred to as a display time) as the heating time at the maximum output heating power by manual setting.

In addition, even in a microwave oven with a high maximum output, the user can suppress the heating power of the microwave oven and perform heating with the same low heating power as the conventional one by using the display time.

However, for example, in a shop that provides a heating service for heating purchased food items with a microwave oven, it is difficult to accurately set a heating time different from a display time while dealing with many customers. Therefore, the clerk of the shop does not heat with the maximum output of the microwave oven but heats with a low heating power corresponding to the display time. In this case, the high maximum output inherent in the microwave oven cannot be exhibited, and the heating time of the microwave oven cannot be shortened.

To solve this, the microwave oven 1 has a power conversion part 32. The power conversion unit 32 receives at least 1 set of combinations of heating power and heating time described in the label 20 as the heating control information 23 given to the product from the reading unit 21.

The power converter 32 receives a value of the maximum output that can be heated by the microwave oven 1 from the heating controller 15.

Then, the power conversion unit 32 performs a conversion operation of converting the heating time included in the heating control information 23 into a heating time corresponding to the maximum output of the microwave oven 1. In the microwave oven 1, if the total amount of heating heat (product of heating power and heating time) to be input to the food is equal, the food can be heated equally, and therefore, the heating time included in the heating control information 23 may be converted so as to be equal to the product of heating power and heating time.

Specifically, the power conversion unit 32 divides the product of the heating power included in the heating control information 23 and the heating time corresponding to the heating power by the maximum output received from the heating control unit 15. Thus, the power conversion unit 32 performs a conversion operation of converting the heating time included in the heating control information 23 into the heating time corresponding to the maximum output of the microwave oven 1.

For example, when the reading unit 21 reads 1 minute 00 second as the heating time of 1500W, the power conversion unit 32 divides 90000J, which is the product of multiplying 60 seconds by 1500W, by 1800W, which is the maximum output received from the heating control unit 15, and calculates the heating time of 50 seconds.

The conversion operation of the power conversion unit 32 is also applied to the result of the complex operation performed by the complex operation unit 31. For example, when the reading unit 21 reads 1 minute 00 second as the heating time of 1500W and sets 2 objects to be heated by the increment button 9 (when the plural setting information is "2"), first, the plural arithmetic unit 31 calculates 1 minute 48 seconds which is 1.8 times of 1 minute 00 seconds. Next, the power conversion unit 32 divides 162000J, which is the product of the 108 seconds multiplied by 1500W, by 1800W, which is the maximum output received from the heating control unit 15, to calculate the heating time of 90 seconds.

The calculation performed by the power conversion unit 32 does not necessarily require a calculation of dividing the product of the heating power included in the heating control information 23 and the heating time corresponding to the heating power by the maximum output. In short, the combination of the heating power and the heating time corresponding to the heating power included in the heating control information 23 may be calculated by applying a relationship in which the heating power and the heating time corresponding to the maximum output of the microwave oven 1 are inversely proportional to each other.

Here, a case will be described where the power conversion unit 32 receives a plurality of sets of combinations of heating power and heating time described in the label 20 as the heating control information 23 given to the product from the reading unit 21.

For example, in many cases, in the case of products such as lunch and non-staple food, the following are described together: the heating time in the case of heating at 500W, which is a standard when heating with a general household microwave oven, and the heating time in the case of heating at 1500W, which is a standard when heating with a commercial microwave oven having a larger heating power.

In this case, the correction (conversion) operation described above may be performed based on any combination of a small heating power and a heating time corresponding to the heating power, and a combination of a larger heating power and a heating time corresponding to the heating power. In general, the calculation results are substantially the same regardless of which combination the correction calculation is performed.

More preferably, the correction calculation may be performed based on a combination of the heating power and the heating time corresponding thereto, which is closer to the maximum output received from the heating control unit 15, of a combination of the small heating power and the heating time corresponding thereto and a combination of the larger heating power and the heating time corresponding thereto.

For example, when the reading unit 21 reads 2 minutes as the heating time corresponding to 500W and 40 seconds as the heating time corresponding to 1500W, and the maximum output of the microwave oven 1 is 1800W, the power converter 32 preferably calculates the heating time corresponding to the heating power of 1800W based on the information of 1500W and 40 seconds as the heating time corresponding thereto.

Next, the switching unit 33 will be explained. In general, when an object to be heated such as a food is very small, the heating load on the object to be heated is small. Therefore, in the case of heating with a microwave oven, although heating with a small heating power is not problematic, when heating with a large heating power, the heating power output from magnetron 14 may not be sufficiently transmitted to the food, and the conversion efficiency to the heating power may be reduced.

For such a large heating power, the above-described relationship in which the heating power is inversely proportional to the heating time does not hold. When small food is heated with the maximum output heating power, the heating power not transmitted to the food returns to magnetron 14, and the temperature of magnetron 14 increases, which may damage microwave oven 1.

To solve this problem, the microwave oven 1 includes a switching unit 33.

The switching unit 33 switches the magnitude of the heating power output from the heating control unit 15 via the magnetron 14, based on at least 1 of the heating control information 23 given to the product, that is, the combination of the heating power and the heating time described in the sticker 20.

For example, in a small food such as a rice ball, only one heating power and a heating time corresponding to the heating time may be displayed as "500W 20 seconds".

This means that heating with a household microwave oven having a maximum output of about 500W to 800W is recommended, and heating with a commercial microwave oven having a high output of 1500W or more is not recommended. That is, when the above correction calculation is performed in a commercial microwave oven having a maximum output of 1800W, the heating time is 5.6 seconds obtained by dividing the product of 500W and 20 seconds by 1800W, but it is not preferable to perform heating for 5.6 seconds at a heating power of 1800W.

The heating controller 15 is configured to be able to heat the object to be heated with a plurality of stages of heating power via the magnetron 14. For example, the heating control unit 15 can select 1 arbitrary heating power from 9 types of heating powers that are increased in increments of 200W from the minimum output of 200W to the maximum output of 1800W.

The switching unit 33 switches the heating power to the optimum heating power among the plurality of heating powers selectable by the heating control unit 15 according to the heat load of the food. Specifically, the magnitude of the heating load of the food can be estimated from the product of the heating power and the heating time described in the label 20. Therefore, the switching unit 33 switches the magnitude of the heating power output from the heating control unit 15 via the magnetron 14 according to the product of the heating power and the heating time described in the sticker 20.

For example, when the product of the heating power and the heating time is 10000J, such that the heating power read by the reading unit 21 is 500W and the heating time is 20 seconds, the conversion efficiency is not decreased if the heating power is less than 1000W, but the heat is not completely transferred to the object to be heated and the conversion efficiency is decreased if the heating power is more than the above. Therefore, the switching unit 33 selects 1000W as the heating power output by the heating control unit 15.

The switching unit 33 selects the heating power based on a correspondence table of the product of the heating power and the heating time and the optimum heating power corresponding to the product. An example of such a correspondence table is shown in fig. 4.

The correspondence table in fig. 4 is predetermined and stored in a storage unit (not shown) of the microwave oven 1 so that the heating power selected by the switching unit 33 is larger as the product of the heating power and the heating time is larger.

As shown in fig. 4, by determining the heating power and the heating time in stages to 1000W if the product is 10000 or more, 1200W if the product is 12000 or more, 1400W if the product is 14000 or more, etc., the switching unit 33 can select the maximum heating power (maximum output) without lowering the conversion efficiency according to the load of the food.

This enables the microwave oven 1 to heat the object to be heated in a shorter time. The switching unit 33 need not necessarily be provided in the microwave oven 1, and may not be provided.

The switching of the heating power by the switching unit 33 is also applied to the result of the complex calculation performed by the complex calculation unit 31. For example, in the case of the above-described rice ball given "500W 20 seconds" as the heating information, the following is assumed: the reading unit 21 reads 20 seconds as the heating time of 500W, and 2 settings are made by the increment button 9.

First, the complex number calculation unit 31 calculates 36 seconds, which is 1.8 times of 20 seconds. Next, the power conversion unit 32 calculates 18000J, which is a product obtained by multiplying 36 seconds by 500W. Here, since the product obtained by multiplication is a value of 18000J or more, the switching unit 33 selects 1800W as the corresponding heating power and performs heating by referring to the correspondence table of fig. 4. Then, 18000J was divided by 1800W to calculate a heating time of 10 seconds. Based on the calculated value, the heating control unit 15 controls the magnetron 14 to heat 1800W for 10 seconds when two rice balls suitable for heating 20 seconds at 500W are heated.

The heating control information calculation unit 30 transmits the calculation result of the plurality of calculation units 31, the heating power selected by the switching unit 33, and the heating time calculated as described above based on the heating power to the heating control unit 15 as the calculated heating control information. The heating control unit 15 transmits the calculated heating control information to the operation display unit 6. The operation display unit 6 displays the calculated heating time of the heating control information on the liquid crystal display 7.

When the user confirms the proper heating time displayed on the liquid crystal display 7, the door 3 is closed and the heating start button 10 is pressed. When heating control unit 15 receives a signal indicating that the door is closed from door switch 18 and a signal indicating that heating start button 10 is pressed from operation display unit 6, heating control is performed on magnetron 14 so that the object is heated in accordance with the heating power and the heating time of the heating control information received from heating control information calculation unit 30.

So far, the case where a plurality of objects to be heated are the same food has been described. This is because different foods have different absorption efficiencies for microwaves emitted from the magnetron 14, and thus it is difficult to appropriately heat both of them.

For example, if a food having a high microwave absorption efficiency, such as rice, is heated together with a food having a low microwave absorption efficiency, such as a stew, microwaves concentrate on the rice, and only the rice becomes hot, but the stew becomes hard to become hot.

In the description so far, since a plurality of food items having a large area are heated while being stacked, the image of the sticker 20 for the upper food item can be captured only by the camera 17.

However, if the area of the food is small, it may be heated while being arranged in the heating chamber 13 in the lateral direction. In this case, the camera 17 can take an image of the tags 20 of the plurality of foods. When the plurality of heating control information read by the reading unit 21 are the same, the heating control information calculating unit 30 may calculate the heating control information in the case of heating the plurality of heating control information based on the read heating control information.

When the plurality of heating control information read by the reading unit 21 are different from each other, it indicates that the food is different from each other. In this case, since it is not desirable to heat a plurality of heaters at the same time, a display for warning the user is displayed on the liquid crystal display 7, and heating control is not performed. Thereby, a situation that a plurality of different food materials are improperly heated can be avoided.

In addition, when a plurality of food items are placed side by side and the reading unit 21 reads a plurality of heating control information and a user does not perform a plurality of settings by adding the button 9 (when the plurality of setting information is "1"), the liquid crystal display 7 may be configured to display a warning message without performing heating control regardless of whether the plurality of heating control information are the same. This prevents unexpected heating.

Next, the operation procedure of the microwave oven 1 according to the present embodiment will be described.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of operations of the heating control unit 15, the reading unit 21, and the heating control information calculation unit 30.

Before proceeding to step S1 of the flowchart, the user opens the door 3, puts the food into the heating compartment 13, then closes the door 3, and presses the add button 9 or the like if necessary to complete the previous operation.

In step S1, the reading unit 21 determines whether or not the heating start button 10 is pressed by the user, and if so (yes in S1), the process proceeds to step S2. On the other hand, if the heating start button 10 is not pressed (no at S1), step S1 is repeated to wait for the heating start button 10 to be pressed.

In step S2, the reading section 21 captures an image of the floor of the heating compartment 13 with the camera 17. Then, the process proceeds to step S3.

In step S3, the reading section 21 searches the image for the tag frame 29. When the identification box 29 is found (S3, yes), the flow proceeds to step S4. On the other hand, if the identification box 29 is not found (S3, no), the flow proceeds to step S15.

In step S4, the reading unit 21 reads the alphanumeric characters surrounded by the logo frame 29, and if the label is the example shown in fig. 3, reads the character string of "500W 2001500W 040". Then, the character string is analyzed into two sets of heating control information, i.e., "500W 2 minutes" and "1500W 40 seconds", according to a predetermined analysis rule. Then, the process proceeds to step S5.

In step S5, it is determined whether or not the heating control information is plural. If a plurality of pieces of heating control information are present (yes at S5), the process proceeds to step S13. On the other hand, if the number of heating control information items is only 1 (no at S5), the process proceeds to step S6.

In step S6, it is determined whether or not the increment button 9 has been pressed before the heating start button 10 is pressed, and a plurality of settings are made.

That is, it is determined whether or not the plurality of setting information is a number other than "1". When the plural number setting is performed (yes at S6), the process proceeds to step S7. On the other hand, if the plural number setting is not performed (no at S6), the process proceeds to step S8 without performing step S7.

Step S7 is a process for performing a plurality of settings, and the heating time (for example, 1.8 times) is calculated from the heating control information read in step S4 (calculation of the 1 st plurality of heating control information). In the case of the label shown in FIG. 3, the heating time is calculated as "3 minutes 36 seconds at 500W" and "1 minute 12 seconds at 1500W".

Next, in steps S8 to S11, the heating control information calculator 30 calculates heating control information for actual heating. The heating control information calculation unit 30 receives the maximum output of the microwave oven 1 from the heating control unit 15 in advance as 1800W.

In step S8, the heating control information calculation unit 30 calculates the product of the heating power closer to the maximum output received from the heating control unit 15 and the heating time corresponding thereto in the heating control information. Specifically, the heating control information of 1500W close to 1800W and 1 minute 12 seconds corresponding to this is used to calculate 1500 × 72 to 108000.

Next, in step S9, the switching unit 33 selects the heating power corresponding to the product of the heating power and the heating time calculated by the heating control unit 15, based on the correspondence table of the product of the heating power and the heating time determined in advance and the optimal heating power corresponding to the product. Specifically, as is clear from the correspondence table in fig. 4, since 108000 is 18000 or more, 1800W is selected as the heating power from the column "18000 or more" of the product of the heating power and the heating time.

Next, in step S10, power conversion unit 32 calculates the heating time corresponding to the heating power selected by switching unit 33. Specifically, the heating time of 60 seconds was calculated by dividing 108000J by 1800W (calculation of the heating control information for the 2 nd complex heating).

Next, in step S11, the heating control information calculation unit 30 transmits the heating time obtained by the above calculation, that is, 60 seconds, to the heating control unit 15. The heating control unit 15 displays the result of "1800W, 60 seconds" on the liquid crystal display 7 of the operation display unit 6.

Then, in step S12, heating control unit 15 drives magnetron 14 to start heating.

If a plurality of heating control information 23 exist in step S5 (yes in S5), the process proceeds to step S13.

In step S13, it is determined whether or not the plurality of heating control information 23 are identical to each other. If the plurality of heating control information 23 are the same (yes at S13), the process proceeds to step S14. On the other hand, if the plurality of heating control information 23 are different from each other (no at S13), the process proceeds to step S15.

In step S14, it is determined whether or not the value (set number) of the plurality of setting information set by the increment button 9 is equal to or greater than the number (read number) of the heating control information 23 read by the reading unit 21. If the set number is equal to or greater than the read number (yes at S14), it is determined that a plurality of identical food items are placed and a plurality of settings are made, and the process proceeds to step S7, where the heating time is calculated. On the other hand, if the setting number is smaller than the read number (no at S14), it is determined that the setting error by the user is more likely, and the process proceeds to step S15.

The condition for performing step S15 is any one of the following cases: a case where no identification box is found in step S3 (S3, no); a case where the plurality of heating control information 23 are different from each other in step S13 (S13, no); alternatively, in step S14, the plurality of heating control information 23 are read but the plurality of settings are not made (no in S14). In either case, since it is considered that the user has an operation error, a setting error, or the like, the liquid crystal display 7 displays a warning message without performing heating control.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the reading unit 21 reads the characters (including at least alphanumerics) of the heating control information 23 displayed on the product, and if a plurality of identical food items are put in the hot well 13 in correspondence with a plurality of setting information set by the plurality of setting units, i.e., the increment buttons 9, the heating time suitable for heating the plurality of food items at the same time is calculated.

Further, by providing the power conversion unit 32, the maximum heating power (maximum output) of the microwave oven can be selected within a range in which the efficiency does not significantly decrease, and the heating time at the heating power can be calculated. This enables heating to be performed in a short time.

In addition, when the plurality of heating control information 23 are read but the heating control information are different from each other, or when the plurality of heating control information are the same but the plurality of settings are not set by the addition button 9, the user does not expect to heat the heating because the user is not started to pay attention to the setting error.

Note that, when the plurality of heating control information 23 are read, the warning is given and the heating is not performed in different cases, but the present disclosure is not limited to this example. For example, the heating device may be configured to have a user interface that confirms to the user whether heating is still to be performed, based on the attention prompt. In this case, when the user selects heating, the heating control information may be calculated by considering that there are a plurality of different pieces of food in any one of a plurality of pieces of heating control information (for example, when the heating time is short).

In another configuration in which the plurality of heating control information 23 are read but are different from each other, the products of the respective heating powers and heating times may be calculated for each of the plurality of heating control information, and the products may be added and further multiplied by a predetermined coefficient, for example, 0.9 times or the like, to convert the heating powers into the plurality of heating times.

In the present embodiment, two examples of the plurality of examples are described, but the present invention can be applied to 3 or more examples. For example, when the number of food items is 3, the plurality of heating times may be 2.6 times instead of 3 times. Similarly, in the case of 4 food items, the plurality of heating times may be set to 3.4 times instead of 4 times. This can cope with simultaneous heating of a larger number of objects to be heated.

In this way, when a larger number of objects to be heated are heated simultaneously, the number of objects to be heated can be set to 2, 3, or 4 by pressing the increment button 9 the number of times. Then, in step S14, if the number of settings (plural setting information) set by the user by the increment button 9 is smaller than the number of heating control information read by the reading unit 21, the user may similarly perform the attention calling.

In the present embodiment, the heating control information is described as a character (including at least an alphanumeric character), but the present disclosure is not limited to this example. For example, the heating control information may be a barcode, a two-dimensional code such as a QR code (registered trademark), or a separate code. When these are used, an error detection bit or the like may be added, and the read performance can be improved.

In the present embodiment, the description has been given of the case where two sets of combinations of heating power and heating time are described in the label 20, but it is sufficient to describe at least 1 set or more of combinations of heating power and heating time.

In addition, the case where the alphanumeric characters surrounded by the mark frame 29 are read when the heating control information 23 is read from the label 20 has been described, but the present disclosure is not limited to this example.

By using a position specifying mark having a predetermined shape in a predetermined positional relationship with the heating control information 23 instead of the mark frame 29, the heating control information 23 can be read with high accuracy. The position specifying mark may be a predetermined figure such as a star, a business number or a badge of a shop, or the like.

Industrial applicability

As described above, according to the present disclosure, the following special effects are exhibited: the heating control information given to the commodity can be read only by the user putting the commodity into the heating chamber, and the commodity can be appropriately heated based on the heating control information. Therefore, since there is no trouble in setting the heating time and the heating performance of the heating cooker can be maximized, the present invention is useful not only for commercial microwave ovens used in stores for food products and the like but also for all cookers such as household microwave ovens, rice cookers, and IH cooking heaters.

Description of the reference symbols

1: a microwave oven; 2: a housing; 3: a door; 4: a glass window; 5: a handle; 6: an operation display unit; 7: a liquid crystal display (notification unit); 8: a time setting button group; 9: add buttons (plural setting sections); 10: a heating start button; 11: a cancel button; 12: a pause button; 13: a heating chamber; 14: a magnetron (heating part); 15: a heating control unit; 16: illuminating; 17: a camera (imaging unit); 18: a door switch; 19: a protrusion portion; 20: labeling; 21: a reading section; 22: a name of the commodity; 23: heating control information; 24: amount information; 25: shelf life information; 26: a bar code; 27: nutritional information; 28: informing information; 29: identifying a frame; 30: a heating control information calculation unit; 31: a plurality of arithmetic units; 32: a power conversion section; 33: a switching unit.