COOKING OVEN

• US 20150345801A1
• Filed: 08/11/2015
• Published: 12/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Appliance Innovation, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Appliance Innovation, Inc.
• Inventors: McKee, Philip R.
• Granted Patent: US 9,857,082 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A23L 5/15 using wave energy, irradiation, electrical means or magnetic fields, e.g. oven cooking or roasting using radiant dry heat
• CPC Class Codes: F24C 7/085 on baking ovens
• CPC Class Codes: F24C 7/088 on stoves

Abstract

A method for cooking food items in an oven is disclosed. A history of instant oven temperatures is initially obtained during a cook of a first food item. A salient representation of the oven temperature history is stored in a non-volatile memory. The salient representation includes multiple average oven temperatures, each selected to represent a summary of the instant oven temperatures at various specific time periods throughout the cook of the first food item. During a cook of a second food item that is substantially similar to the first cook item, the current cook settings are dynamically adjusted during the cook of the second food item based on the results of a comparison between the instant oven temperatures and the stored average oven temperatures in order to duplicate the result of the cook of the first item.

Claims

1. An oven comprising:

a housing having a cavity;

a heating and airflow system for supplying heat to the cavity;

a controller for,

during a cook of a first food item,

obtaining a plurality of instant oven temperature values within the cavity during an entire cook time of the first food item;

dividing the entire cook time into a plurality of cook time segments, wherein each of the cook time segments is associated with a subset of the instant oven temperatures;

determining a representative instant oven temperature value for each of the cook time segments based on the associated instant temperature values; and

during a cook of a second food item that is substantially similar to the first cook item,

obtaining a new representative instant oven temperature value within the cavity at a time frame corresponding to one of the cook time segments;

comparing the new representative instant oven temperature value to a respective one of the stored representative instant oven temperature values previously obtained during the corresponding cook time segments, and

dynamically adjusting a current cook setting during the one cook time segment in order to duplicate the result of the cook of the first item; and

a non-volatile memory for storing the representative instant oven temperature values.

2. An oven comprising:

a housing having a cavity;

a heating system for supplying heat to the cavity;

a volatile memory;

a non-volatile memory; and

a controller,

wherein;

when the oven is operating under a first mode, the controller stores in the volatile memory instant oven temperatures measured within the cavity during a first cook cycle that includes a plurality of equal-sized time segments, determines an average temperature for each of the time segments using the instant oven temperatures stored in the volatile memory, and stores the average temperatures in the non-volatile memory, and

when the oven is operating under a second mode, the controller recalls the stored average temperatures from the non-volatile memory, measures instant oven temperatures within the cavity during a time segment of a second cook cycle, determines an average value of the instant oven temperatures for the time segment, compares the average value with the stored average temperature for the corresponding time segment, and dynamically adjusts a current cook setting in accordance with the comparison.

3. An oven having a first mode and a second mode of operation, comprising:

a housing having a cavity;

a heating system for supplying heat to the cavity;

a volatile memory;

a non-volatile memory;

a user interface; and

a controller,

wherein under the first mode of operation, the controller measures instant oven temperatures within the cavity during a first cook cycle comprising a plurality of equal-sized time segments and stores the instant oven temperatures in the volatile memory, and if there is a command from a user through the user interface, the controller calculates an average temperature for each of the time segments based on the instant oven temperatures stored in the volatile memory and stores the average temperatures in the non-volatile memory, and

wherein under the second mode of operation, the controller recalls the stored average temperatures from the non-volatile memory, measures instant oven temperatures within the cavity during a time segment of a second cook cycle, calculates an average value of the instant oven temperatures for the time segment, compares the average value with the stored average temperature for the corresponding time segment, and dynamically adjusts a current cook setting in accordance with the comparison.

4. The oven of claim 3, wherein the user interface comprises a button, which, when pressed, causes the controller to calculate an average temperature for each of the time segments based on the instant oven temperatures stored in the volatile memory and store the average temperatures in the non-volatile memory.

5. The oven of claim 3, wherein the controller dynamically adjusts a current cook setting by extending or reducing a time duration of the time segment by a correction factor.