Powered cooking accessory for an oven cavity

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10524614-B2
Application number	US-201514871337-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 30, 2015
Priority date	Oct 7, 2014
Publication date	Jan 7, 2020
Grant date	Jan 7, 2020

Abstract

A powered cooking accessory for use in an oven includes a body receivable within an interior of the oven and a first electronic device received within a portion of the body. The accessory further includes a device coupling extending from the body and having a power coupling exposed thereon and electrically connected with the electronic device. The device coupling has an identification element encoded with information regarding at least one characteristic of the accessory and is coupleable with the oven to receive electrical power from the oven and to communicate the information encoded with the identification element to the oven.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A powered cooking accessory for use in an oven, comprising:
a rack portion having a width spanning a cavity of the oven to slidably engage within the cavity of the oven, the rack defining a receiving portion therein with an at least partially open rack area surrounding the receiving portion;
a body removably positioned within the receiving portion of the oven rack;
a first electronic device received within a portion of the body; and
a device coupling extending from the body and having a power coupling exposed thereon and electrically connected with the electronic device, the device coupling having an identification element encoded with information distinguishing at least two fixed device characteristics of the accessory among a selection of accessories that may alternately be coupled with the oven and being coupleable with a connection port within the oven to receive electrical power from the oven, the information encoded with the identification element being communicated to the oven when the device coupling is coupled with the connection port;
wherein the device coupling comprises a plurality of pins, at least some of the plurality of pins being included within the identification element and having respective lengths thereof configured to communicate the information regarding the at least one characteristic of the accessory by the connection port determining the lengths of at least some of the plurality of pins.

2. The powered cooking accessory of claim 1 , wherein:
the body defines a body type;
the electronic device defines one of a device type or a device component configuration; and
the information that distinguishes the at least two fixed device characteristics of the accessory among the selection of accessories includes at least two of the body type, the device type, and the device component configuration.

3. The powered cooking accessory of claim 2 , wherein:
the body type is such that the body defines a cooking surface;
the device type includes a heating element; and
the device component configuration includes the heating element being positioned beneath the cooking surface.

4. The powered cooking accessory of claim 2 , wherein:
the body type is such that the body defines a cooking vessel;
the device type includes a heating element; and
the device component configuration includes the heating element being positioned within the cooking vessel.

5. The powered cooking accessory of claim 2 , wherein:
the body type is such that the body defines a rotisserie; and
the device type includes a motor; and
the device component configuration includes the motor being operatively coupled with the rotisserie to drive rotation thereof.

6. The powered cooking accessory of claim 2 , wherein:
the body type is such that the body defines a grill grate; and
the device type includes a heating element; and
the device component configuration includes the heating element being positioned beneath the grill grate.

7. The powered cooking accessory of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the pins are included within the power coupling.

8. The powered cooking accessory of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of pins are distributed among a first group of pins and a second group of pins, the pins included within the power coupling being in the first group and the pins included within the identification element being within the second group of pins.

9. The powered cooking accessory of claim 1 , wherein the identification element further includes a wireless communication element.

10. The powered cooking accessory of claim 1 , wherein the device coupling comprises a plurality of pins, a first one and a second one of the pins being electrical connections, and a third one of the pin being a ground pin, the ground pin comprising the identification element and having a length thereof configured to encode the information regarding the at least one characteristic of the accessory.

11. The powered cooking accessory of claim 10 , wherein the ground pin is disposed between the electrical connections.

12. A cooking system, comprising:
an oven defining an interior cavity and including a connection port on a surface of the interior cavity; and
a powered cooking accessory, including:
a rack portion having a width spanning the cavity of the oven to slidably engage within the cavity of the oven, the rack defining a receiving portion therein with an at least partially open rack area surrounding the receiving portion;
a body removably positioned within the receiving portion of the oven rack;
a first electronic device coupled with the body; and
a device coupling extending from the body and having a power coupling exposed thereon and electrically connected with the electronic device, the device coupling further having an identification element encoded with information distinguishing at least two fixed device characteristics of the accessory among a selection of accessories that may alternately be coupled with the oven;

wherein the device coupling is receivable by the connection port, the connection port providing electrical power to the power coupling, the information encoded with the identification element being communicated to the oven by connection between the device coupling and the connection port;
wherein the device coupling comprises a plurality of pins, at least some of the plurality of pins being included within the identification element and having respective lengths thereof; and
wherein the connection port determines the respective lengths of the pins included within the identification element to receive the information encoded with the identification element.

13. The cooking system of claim 12 , wherein the oven includes electronic circuitry programmed to provide a selected list of cooking program options corresponding to an electronic device type included within the information communicated by the identification element.

14. The cooking system of claim 12 , wherein:
the body of the powered cooking accessory defines a body type;
the electronic device of the powered cooking accessory defines one of a device type or a device component configuration; and
the information that distinguishes at least two fixed device characteristics of the accessory includes at least two of the body type, the device type, and the device component configuration.

15. The cooking system of claim 14 , wherein, when the device coupling is received with the connection port, the oven provides electrical power to the electronic device through the power coupling, the oven operating within an output range at which the electrical power is provided based on one of the at least two fixed device characteristics of the accessory.

16. The cooking system of claim 12 , wherein the connection port includes a power connection and at least one communication element, the connection port coupling with the power coupling when the device coupling is received within the connection port and the communication element receiving the information from the identification element.

17. The cooking system of claim 16 , wherein:
at least some of the pins of the device coupling are further included within the power coupling; and
the connection port includes at least one power connection receiving the pins included within the power coupling.

18. The cooking system of claim 12 , wherein the device coupling comprises a plurality of pins, a first one and a second one of the pins being electrical connections, and a third one of the pins being a ground pin, the ground pin comprising the identi

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Gregory Christopher A
• Wier Nathan C

Classifications

• A47J36/32 Primary

  Time-controlled igniting mechanisms or alarm devices · CPC title

• F24C15/166

  with integrated heating means · CPC title

• F24C7/06 Primary

  Arrangement or mounting of electric heating elements · CPC title

• A47J37/06

  Roasters; Grills; Sandwich grills · CPC title

• A47J37/041

  with food supports rotating about a horizontal axis (A47J37/042 takes precedence) · CPC title