Convection oven with modular control panel
First Claim
1. A convection oven comprising:
- a) a base unit including;
i) a cooking cavity to receive food items to be cooked;
ii) a plurality of controlled elements including a heating element for heating air and a blower for circulating said heated air in said cooking chamber;
b) a plurality of separate, modular control panels which can be inserted into said base unit, each of said modular control panels including;
i) a plurality of controls for controlling the operation of said controlled elements;
ii) a support panel to which said controls are mounted; and
c) connecting means for connecting said control panel to said controlled elements on said base unit;
d) wherein each control panel includes a set of controls that differ from the controls on the other modular control panels so that the functional capability of said oven can be varied by interchanging said control panels in said base unit.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A convection oven includes a plurality of modular control panels which can be interchanged with one another to change the functional capability of the oven. The base unit contains the basic structural and mechanical components of the convection oven including a heating element and blower. Each of the individual control panels can control the operation of the heating element and blower in the base unit. Each control panel will include a different group of controls. All of the available control panels plug into a standard interface on the base unit. Therefore, the functional capabilities of the oven can be changed by removing the existing control panel on the base unit and reinstalling a different control panel.
89 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A convection oven comprising:
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a) a base unit including; i) a cooking cavity to receive food items to be cooked; ii) a plurality of controlled elements including a heating element for heating air and a blower for circulating said heated air in said cooking chamber; b) a plurality of separate, modular control panels which can be inserted into said base unit, each of said modular control panels including; i) a plurality of controls for controlling the operation of said controlled elements; ii) a support panel to which said controls are mounted; and c) connecting means for connecting said control panel to said controlled elements on said base unit; d) wherein each control panel includes a set of controls that differ from the controls on the other modular control panels so that the functional capability of said oven can be varied by interchanging said control panels in said base unit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A convection oven comprising:
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a) a base unit including; i) a cooking cavity to receive food items to be cooked; ii) a plurality of controlled elements including a heating element for heating air and a blower for circulating said heated air in said cooking chamber; iii) an interface connector on said base unit which is electrically connected to said controlled elements; b) a plurality of separate, modular control panels which can be inserted into said base unit, each of said modular control panels including; i) a plurality of controls for controlling the operation of said controlled elements; ii) a support panel to which said controls are mounted; iii) an interface connector on said control panel which is electrically connected to said controls and which mates with the interface connector on said base unit; c) mounting means for removably mounting said control panel to said base unit; d) wherein each control panel includes a set of controls that differ from the controls on the other modular control panels so that the functional capability of said oven can be varied by interchanging said control panels in said base unit. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification