Calibration of a thermal imaging device for a surface cooking appliance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11506540-B2
Application number	US-201916352098-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 13, 2019
Priority date	Mar 13, 2019
Publication date	Nov 22, 2022
Grant date	Nov 22, 2022

Abstract

A thermal imaging system for a cooking appliance is capable of being calibrated for any arrangement of cooktop burners disposed on a surface of a cooking appliance. A thermal imaging system can be calibrated by processing a received thermal scan of a surface of a cooking appliance having a particular cooktop arrangement to identify a plurality of cooktop burners on the surface of the cooking appliance for the particular arrangement, determine a number of cooktop burners in the particular arrangement, and determine one or more locations of the cooktop to assign to each of the cooktop burners. Further, the determined one or more locations assigned to each of the cooktop burners can be stored in association with a respective cooktop burner. Once calibrated, the thermal imaging system can calculate a temperature for each of the cooktop burners to be used in performing subsequent control and/or safety functions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
calibrating a thermal imaging device for a surface cooking appliance including a plurality of cooktop burners, wherein calibrating the thermal imaging device includes:
receiving, by one or more processors and from the thermal imaging device, a first thermal scan of the surface cooking appliance captured while the plurality of cooktop burners are active, the first thermal scan including a plurality of data values, each of the data values associated with a temperature at an associated location among a plurality of locations in a field of view of the thermal imaging device;
processing, by one or more of the processors, the plurality of data values of the first thermal scan of the surface cooking appliance to:
identify each of the plurality of cooktop burners of the surface cooking appliance,
determine therefrom a number of cooktop burners in the plurality of cooktop burners, and
determine therefrom one or more locations from among the plurality of locations in the field of view of the thermal imaging device to assign to each cooktop burner; and

storing, by one or more of the processors, the determined one or more locations for each of the plurality of cooktop burners; and

after storing the determined one or more locations and after the plurality of cooktop burners are deactivated, calculating a temperature for a first cooktop burner among the plurality of cooktop burners during subsequent operation of the surface cooking appliance, wherein calculating the temperature for the first cooktop burner includes:
receiving, by one or more of the processors and from the thermal imaging device, a second thermal scan captured during operation of the surface cooking appliance;
retrieving the stored one or more locations for the first cooktop burner; and
determining, by one or more of the processors, a temperature for the first cooktop burner using at least one data value from the second thermal scan that is associated with the retrieved one or locations for the first cooktop burner.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the plurality of data values of the first thermal scan of the surface cooking appliance comprises:
generating a two dimensional array of pixels, each pixel in the array of pixels corresponding to a location among the plurality of locations in the field of view of the thermal imaging device and having a value determined based on the data value for the corresponding location, and
scanning the array of pixels to identify each of the cooktop burners of the surface cooking appliance.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein generating the array of pixels comprises marking each pixel in the array of pixels for which the data value in the thermal scan for the corresponding location meets a threshold, and wherein scanning the array of pixels includes scanning through the array of pixels to determine a span for each cooktop burner in each of first and second dimensions based upon which pixels are marked.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein scanning the array of pixels includes:
scanning through the array of pixels to determine a span for a first cooktop burner among the plurality of cooktop burners in each of the first and second dimensions,
thereafter clearing a plurality of pixels corresponding to the first cooktop burner, and
thereafter scanning through the array of pixels to determine a span for a second cooktop burner among the plurality of cooktop burners in each of the first and second dimensions.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining one or more locations from among the plurality of locations in the field of view of the thermal imaging device to assign to each cooktop burner includes, for a first cooktop burner among the plurality of cooktop burners, determining a single center location to assign to the first cooktop burner using the determined spans for the first cooktop burner in the first and second dimensions.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining one or more locations from among the plurality of locations in the field of view of the thermal imaging device to assign to each cooktop burner includes, for a first cooktop burner among the plurality of cooktop burners, determining a plurality of center locations to assign to the first cooktop burner using the determined spans for the first cooktop burner in the first and second dimensions.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining one or more locations from among the plurality of locations in the field of view of the thermal imaging device to assign to each cooktop burner includes, for a first cooktop burner among the plurality of cooktop burners, determining a plurality of internal locations to assign to the first cooktop burner using the determined spans for the first cooktop burner in the first and second dimensions.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the temperature for the first cooktop burner comprises determining the temperature using a single center location for the first cooktop burner.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the temperature for the first cooktop burner comprises determining the temperature using a plurality of center locations for the first cooktop burner.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the temperature for the first cooktop burner comprises determining the temperature using a plurality of internal locations for the first cooktop burner.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
regulating an energy output of the first cooktop burner based upon the determined temperature for the first cooktop burner.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting an occurrence of a safety event for the first cooktop burner based upon the determined temperature for the first cooktop burner; and
subsequent to detecting the occurrence of the safety event, automatically turning off the first cooktop burner and/or providing an audible and/or visual alert of the safety event.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the safety event is a boil-dry event or a boil-over event.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
prior to receiving the first thermal scan of the surface cooking appliance from the thermal imaging device:
receiving, by one or more of the processors, an indication to initiate calibration of the thermal imaging device, wherein the indication to initiate calibration of the thermal imaging device is received from at least one of:
a user device via one or more networks,
a user control of the surface cooking appliance,
a user control of an additional cooking appliance in communication with the surface cooking appliance, or
the thermal imaging device upon installation.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the thermal imaging device is mounted above the surface cooking appliance, and wherein the surface cooking appliance is in the field of view of the thermal imaging device.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein calibrating the thermal imaging device further includes:
prior to receiving the first thermal scan of the surface cooking appliance, automatically activating all of the plurality of cooktop burners; and
after determining the one or more locations for each of the plurality of cooktop burners, automatically deactivating all of the plurality of cooktop burners.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein calibrating the thermal imaging device further includes:
prior to receiving the first thermal scan of the surface cooking appliance, instructing a user to activate all of the plurality of cooktop burners; and
after determining the one or more locations for each

Assignees

• Midea Group Co Ltd

Inventors

• Hooker John Kenneth
• Copple Dane Andrew

Classifications

• G01J5/03

  Arrangements for indicating or recording specially adapted for radiation pyrometers · CPC title

• F24C7/083

  on tops, hot plates · CPC title

• G01J2005/0077

  Imaging · CPC title

• G01J5/07

  Arrangements for adjusting the solid angle of collected radiation, e.g. adjusting or orienting field of view, tracking position or encoding angular position (optical collimating elements G01J5/0806) · CPC title

• G01J5/53

  Reference sources, e.g. standard lamps; Black bodies · CPC title