Household appliance comprising a food processing chamber and camera

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10117294-B2
Application number	US-201515312795-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 3, 2015
Priority date	Jun 5, 2014
Publication date	Oct 30, 2018
Grant date	Oct 30, 2018

Abstract

A household appliance constructed in the form of a microwave appliance includes a food treatment chamber having a loading opening which is closeable by a door, with the food treatment chamber being exposable to microwaves. A camera is provided to observe the food treatment chamber through a viewing window. Received in the viewing window is a shielding plate which includes a number of holes. The camera is fastened to holes in the shielding plate and directed onto the shielding plate such that at least one hole is in a field of view of the camera.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A household appliance constructed in the form of a microwave appliance, comprising:
a food treatment chamber including a loading opening which is closeable by a door, said food treatment chamber being exposable to microwaves;
a viewing window;
a shielding plate received in the viewing window and including a number of holes; and
a camera for observation of the food treatment chamber through the viewing window, said camera being directly fastened to holes of the number of holes in the shielding plate and directed onto the shielding plate such that at least one hole of the number of holes is in a field of view of the camera,
wherein the viewing window is positioned between the camera and the food treatment chamber when the door is in a closed position.

2. The household appliance of claim 1 , wherein the camera is latched onto the holes in the shielding plate.

3. A household appliance constructed in the form of a microwave appliance, comprising:
a food treatment chamber including a loading opening which is closeable by a door, said food treatment chamber being exposable to microwaves;
a viewing window;
a shielding plate received in the viewing window and including a number of holes; and
a camera for observation of the food treatment chamber through the viewing window, said camera being fastened to holes of the number of holes in the shielding plate and directed onto the shielding plate such that at least one hole of the number of holes is in a field of view of the camera,
wherein the camera is latched onto the holes in the shielding plate, and
the camera has latching elements for latching in the holes, at least one of the latching elements having a narrow tip.

4. The household appliance of claim 1 , wherein the shielding plate is a flat plate and the camera is directed obliquely onto the shielding plate.

5. The household appliance of claim 1 , wherein the shielding plate is a flat plate and a central axis of the field of view of the camera is directed onto the shielding plate such that the central axis is perpendicular to the shielding plate.

6. The household appliance of claim 5 , wherein the shielding plate extends at an angle to a vertical.

7. The household appliance of claim 1 , wherein the shielding plate is a plate arched in a direction of the food treatment chamber.

8. The household appliance of claim 1 , wherein the holes in the shielding plate have edges that are rounded in cross section.

9. The household appliance of claim 1 , wherein the camera and the viewing window are arranged in the door.

10. A household appliance constructed in the form of a microwave appliance, comprising:
a food treatment chamber including a loading opening which is closeable by a door, said food treatment chamber being exposable to microwaves;
a viewing window;
a shielding plate received in the viewing window and including a number of holes; and
a camera for observation of the food treatment chamber through the viewing window, said camera being directly fastened to holes of the number of holes in the shielding plate and directed onto the shielding plate such that at least one hole of the number of holes is in a field of view of the camera,
wherein the camera defines a visual axis which is directed onto a point of the shielding plate which point is a center point of a group of holes in the field of view of the camera.

11. The household appliance of claim 10 , wherein the group of holes in the field of view of the camera has an at least two-fold rotational symmetry.

12. A household appliance constructed in the form of a microwave appliance, comprising:
a food treatment chamber including a loading opening which is closeable by a door, said food treatment chamber being exposable to microwaves;
a viewing window;
a shielding plate received in the viewing window and including a number of holes; and
a camera for observation of the food treatment chamber through the viewing window, said camera being fastened to holes of the number of holes in the shielding plate and directed onto the shielding plate such that at least one hole of the number of holes is in a field of view of the camera,
wherein the camera is fastened to at least two lines of holes in the shielding plate, with the field of view of the camera being located between the lines of holes.

13. The household appliance of claim 1 , wherein the viewing window has a transparent pane arranged between the shielding plate and the food treatment chamber at a distance from the shielding plate.

14. The household appliance of claim 2 , wherein the camera has latching elements for latching in the holes, at least one of the latching elements having a narrow tip.

15. The household appliance of claim 1 , wherein the camera defines a visual axis which is directed onto a point of the shielding plate which point is a center point of a group of holes in the field of view of the camera.

16. The household appliance of claim 15 , wherein the group of holes in the field of view of the camera has an at least two-fold rotational symmetry.

17. The household appliance of claim 1 , wherein the camera is fastened to at least two lines of holes in the shielding plate, with the field of view of the camera being located between the lines of holes.

Assignees

• Bsh Hausgeraete Gmbh

Inventors

• Beifuss Wolfgang
• Has Uwe

Classifications

• H04N23/57

  Mechanical or electrical details of cameras or camera modules specially adapted for being embedded in other devices · CPC title

• H05B6/6417

  Door interlocks of the microwave heating apparatus and related circuits · CPC title

• H05B6/6414 Primary

  Aspects relating to the door of the microwave heating apparatus · CPC title

• H05B6/64

  Heating using microwaves {(containers, packaging elements or packages specially adapted to be heated by microwaves B65D81/3446)} · CPC title

• H04N5/2257

  Electricity · mapped topic