Oven control method and apparatus

• US 6,809,301 B1
• Filed: 06/30/2000
• Issued: 10/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc. DBA GE Appliances (Haier Group Company)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Heimerdinger, Mark, Daum, Wolfgang, McIntyre, Michael Lee, Vinocur, Sergio Alberto
• Primary Examiner(s): PASCHALL, MARK H
• Application Number:
  US09/609,560
• Time in Patent Office: 1,579 Days
• Field of Search: 219/490, 219/411-414, 219/492, 219/501, 219/502, 219/497, 219/506, 219/440-450, 219/714, 219/715, 219/720, 219/491, 993/25
• US Class Current: 219/506
• CPC Class Codes: F24C 7/082 on ranges, e.g. control panels, illumination

Abstract

A control system for a an oven having at least one cooking element and a surface warmer includes a microprocessor, a memory, and a user input interface for user entry of cooking recipes including a cooking mode, an oven temperature, and a cooking time. Up to five favorite recipes can be stored in system memory for selection by a user, and two recipes can be combined for automatic sequential execution. The surface warmer is operable upon manipulation of two input selectors within a pre-determined time, and a preheat algorithm preheats the surface warmer by applying a 100% duty cycle to the surface warmer until an oven thermal limiter input switch reaches a predetermined temperature.

Claims

1. A method for controlling an oven, the oven including at least one cooking element and at least one control system coupled to the cooking element, the control system including a processor, a memory, and an input interface, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving an initial stage user programmed cooking recipe of a multi-stage cooking operation;

storing the initial stage cooking recipe in system memory;

receiving at least one subsequent stage user programmed cooking recipe of a multi-stage cooking operation;

storing the subsequent stage cooking recipe in system memory; and

executing the initial and subsequent stage cooking recipes sequentially without further user input.

2. A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said step of receiving the initial stage cooking recipe comprises the step of receiving a cooking mode, an oven temperature, and a cooking time.

3. A method in accordance with claim 2 wherein said step of receiving the initial stage cooking recipe comprises the step of recalling a previously programmed user-entered cooking recipe stored in system memory.

4. A method in accordance with claim 2 wherein said step of receiving the initial stage cooking recipe comprises the step of receiving a user entered cooking recipe from the input interface.

5. A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said step of receiving at least one subsequent stage cooking recipes comprises the step of receiving a cooking mode, an oven temperature, and a cooking time.

6. A method in accordance with claim 5 wherein said step of receiving at least one subsequent stage cooking recipe comprises the step of recalling a previously programmed user-entered cooking recipe stored in system memory.

7. A method in accordance with claim 5 wherein said step of receiving at least one subsequent stage cooking recipe comprises the step of receiving a user entered cooking recipe from the input interface.

8. A method for controlling an oven, the oven including at least one cooking element and at least one, control system coupled to the cooking element, the control system including a processor, a memory, and an input interface, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving at least one user programmed cooking recipe from the input interface;

storing the cooking recipe in system memory;

recalling the user programmed cooking recipe when requested by the user;

receiving a subsequent user programmed cooking recipe from the input interface; and

sequentially executing the recalled recipe and the subsequent recipe without further user input.

9. A method in accordance with claim 8 wherein said step of receiving the cooking recipe comprises the step of receiving a cooking mode, an oven temperature, and a cooking time.

10. A method in accordance with claim 9, the control system further including a display, said step of recalling the user programmed recipe comprising the steps of:

displaying at least one stored recipe on the display; and

executing the displayed recipe when selected by a user.

11. A method in accordance with claim 8 further comprising the step of deleting a stored cooking recipe upon user command via the input interface.

12. A control system for an oven including at least one cooking element, said control system comprising:

at least one microprocessor operatively coupled to the at least one cooking element;

at least one memory for storing cooking element command recipes for execution by said microprocessor;

at least one display coupled to said microprocessor for displaying operating conditions and oven features; and

at least one user input interface coupled to said microprocessor for user entry of cooking recipes, said microprocessor and said memory configured to execute at least one of a user-programmed multi-stage cooking recipe and a user programmed recalled recipe in response to manipulation of said user input interface, said multi-stage cooking recite including oven settings that are automatically adjusted between a first stage and a second stage without monitoring by the user.

13. A control system in accordance with claim 12 wherein said microprocessor and said memory are configured to execute cooking element command recipes comprising a cooking mode, an oven temperature, and a cooking time.

14. A control system in accordance with claim 13 wherein said microprocessor and said memory are configured to execute a multi-stage cooking recipe without intervention by a user, said multi-stage cooking recipe comprising a first cooking mode, a first oven temperature, and a first cooking time followed by at least a second cooking mode, at least a second oven temperature, and at least a second cooking time.

15. A control system in accordance with claim 12, the oven further including at least one surface warmer operatively coupled to said microprocessor and operable at a plurality of power levels, said input interface comprising at least a first surface warmer operation input selector and a second surface warmer operation input selector, said microprocessor configured to operate the surface warmer only upon manipulation of said first and at least said second surface warmer input selectors within a pre-determined time.

16. A control system in accordance with claim 15 wherein said microprocessor is configured to preheat the at least one surface warmer when selected by a user.

17. A control system in accordance with claim 16 wherein the oven further includes a thermal limiter input switch coupled to said microprocessor, said microprocessor configured to apply a 100% duty cycle to the at least one surface warmer until the thermal limiter input switch reaches a predetermined temperature.

18. A control system in accordance with claim 17 wherein said microprocessor is configured to display an indicator on said display when a temperature of the thermal limiter exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

19. A control system in accordance with claim 12, said microprocessor further configured to lock-out said interface when a designated interface manipulation sequence is performed by a user.