OPERATING AN APPLIANCE BASED ON COOKING INSTRUCTIONS EMBEDDED IN AN RFID PRODUCT TAG

• US 20100213187A1
• Filed: 02/26/2009
• Published: 08/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Daedalus Blue LLC
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Patel, Pravin, Bandholz, Justin P., Maxwell, Joseph E., Weinstein, Phillip L.
• Granted Patent: US 9,277,601 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 219/506
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 6/6441 allowing the input of coded operation instructions, e.g. bar code reader

Abstract

Method and computer program product for using an RFID antenna of a cooking appliance to read a plurality of cooking instruction sets from a single RFID tag associated with a food product that is positioned to be cooked by the cooking appliance. The cooking appliance selects one of the plurality of cooking instruction sets that the cooking appliance is capable of performing. Furthermore, the cooking appliance may then automatically cook the food product by controlling the cooking appliance according to the selected cooking instruction set. The selection of a cooking instruction set may consider the temperature of the food product or a determination whether the food product is frozen. Alternatively, cooking appliance settings may be interpolated between two cooking instruction sets or calculated on the basis of physical property information about the food product.

Claims

1. A computer program product including computer usable program code embodied on a computer usable medium for operating a cooking appliance, the computer program product comprising:

computer usable program code for using an RFID antennae of a cooking appliance to read a plurality of cooking instruction sets from a single RFID tag associated with a food product that is positioned to be cooked by the cooking appliance;

computer usable program code for selecting one of the plurality of cooking instruction sets that the cooking appliance is capable of performing; and

computer usable program code for cooking the food product by controlling the cooking appliance according to the selected cooking instruction set.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein each cooking instruction set includes a cooking appliance performance parameter value necessary to perform the cooking instruction set, the computer program product further comprising:

computer usable program code for reading a performance parameter rating of the cooking appliance from a memory device of the cooking appliance; and

computer usable program code for identifying that the cooking appliance is capable of performing one of the plurality of cooking instructions sets if the performance parameter rating of the cooking appliance is determined to be greater than or equal to the performance parameter value of the cooking instruction set.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the RFID tag is secured to packaging that holds the food product.

4. The computer program product of claim 3, further comprising:

computer usable program code for using the RFID antennae of the cooking appliance to read a temperature of the food product; and

computer usable program code for adjusting the set of cooking instructions based upon the temperature of the food product.

5. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein the temperature of the food product is read by the cooking appliance prior to cooking the food product.

6. The computer program product of claim 3, further comprising:

computer usable program code for using the RFID antennae of the cooking appliance to read a temperature of the food product;

computer usable program code for determining whether the food product is frozen or not frozen;

computer usable program code for selecting a first cooking instruction set from the plurality of cooking instruction sets in response to determining that the food product is frozen; and

computer usable program code for selecting a second cooking instruction set from the plurality of cooking instructions sets in response to determining that the food product is not frozen.

7. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the cooking instructions include properties of the food product, the computer program product further comprising:

computer usable program code for automatically calculating one or more cooking appliance settings to cook the food product based upon the properties of the food product.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the cooking appliance is a microwave oven and the one or more cooking appliance settings include a power level and a duration.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising:

computer usable program code for displaying information about the selected cooking instruction set on the cooking appliance for viewing by a user; and

computer usable program code for beginning the cooking step upon detecting user confirmation of the displayed information.

10. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:

computer usable program code for displaying information about the selected cooking instruction set on the cooking appliance for viewing by a user; and

computer usable program code for beginning the cooking step upon detecting user confirmation of the displayed information.

11. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the cooking appliance is an oven, the computer program product further comprising:

computer usable program code for beginning the cooking step upon detecting that a door of the oven has been closed with the food product inside.

12. A method comprising:

using an RFID antennae of a cooking appliance to read a plurality of cooking instruction sets from an RFID tag associated with a food product that is positioned to be cooked by the cooking appliance;

automatically selecting one of the plurality of cooking instruction sets that the cooking appliance is capable of performing; and

cooking the food product by controlling the cooking appliance according to the selected cooking instruction set.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein each cooking instruction set includes a cooking appliance performance parameter value necessary to perform the cooking instruction set, the method further comprising:

reading a performance parameter rating of the cooking appliance from a memory device of the cooking appliance; and

wherein the cooking appliance is capable of performing one of the plurality of cooking instructions sets if the performance parameter rating of the cooking appliance is determined to be greater than or equal to the performance parameter value of the cooking instruction set.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the RFID tag is secured to packaging that holds the food product.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

using the RFID antennae of the cooking appliance to read a temperature of the food product; and

adjusting the set of cooking instructions based upon the temperature of the food product.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the temperature of the food product is read prior to cooking the food product.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

using the RFID antennae of the cooking appliance to read a temperature of the food product;

determining whether the food product is frozen or not frozen;

selecting a first cooking instruction set from the plurality of cooking instruction sets in response to determining that the food product is frozen; and

selecting a second cooking instruction set from the plurality of cooking instructions sets in response to determining that the food product is not frozen.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the cooking instructions include properties of the food product, the method further comprising:

automatically calculating one or more cooking appliance settings to cook the food product based upon the properties of the food product.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the cooking appliance is a microwave oven and the one or more cooking appliance settings include a power level and a duration.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

the cooking appliance displaying information about the selected cooking instruction set for viewing by a user; and

the cooking appliance beginning the cooking step upon detecting user confirmation of the displayed information.

21. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

the cooking appliance displaying information about the selected cooking instruction set for viewing by a user; and

the cooking appliance beginning the cooking step upon detecting user confirmation of the displayed information.

22. The method of claim 12, wherein the cooking appliance is an oven, the method further comprising:

the oven beginning the cooking step upon detecting that a door of the oven has been closed with the food product inside.

23. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

detaching the RFID tag from packaging around the food product prior to cooking the food product.