Automatic cooking device and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11622651-B2
Application number	US-201816643397-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2018
Priority date	Sep 29, 2017
Publication date	Apr 11, 2023
Grant date	Apr 11, 2023

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an artificial intelligence (AI) system for simulating functions, such as recognition and determination, of the human brain by using a machine learning algorithm such as deep learning, and an application thereof. Provided are an automatic cooking device and method for selectively emitting light of different wavelength bands to a food material, identifying the food material by obtaining information about the food material, based on reflected light, and controlling a cooking process of the food material.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An automatic cooking device comprising:
a light emitter configured to emit light of different wavelength bands;
a photographing unit including an image sensor;
a memory storing computer executable instructions;
at least one processor configured to execute the computer executable instructions to control the light emitter and the photographing unit to obtain information about a kind of a food material by performing vision recognition based on a captured image of the food material, obtain characteristic information of the food material by performing spectroscopic analysis based on light reflected by emitting light of a wavelength band selected from among the different wavelength bands according to the information about the kind of the food material, and control a cooking process of the food material, based on the information about the kind of the food material and the characteristic information of the food material; and
a probe configured to obtain information about internal temperature and composition of the food material;
a cooker configured to operate according to the cooking process of the food material,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to identify a position of the probe by using the photographing unit, and to control the cooking process of the food material by identifying a cooked state of the food material, based on the characteristic information of the food material and the information about the internal temperature and composition of the food material, and
wherein the position of the probe is changeable by a user.

2. The automatic cooking device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
select a wavelength band corresponding to the information about the kind of the food material;
identify an amount of light of the selected wavelength band according to a position of the food material and an intensity of external light and emit the light of the selected wavelength band to the food material;
perform calibration according to the position of the food material and the intensity of the external light during the spectroscopic analysis based on the reflected light; and
obtain the characteristic information of the food material.

3. The automatic cooking device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to obtain an optimum recipe using the food material and control the cooking process according to the recipe by comparing the information about the kind of the food material and the characteristic information of the food material before cooking with a database of food material information.

4. The automatic cooking device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to estimate the cooked state of the food material or an end of a cooking time by selectively emitting light of a wavelength band used for obtaining predefined sensing information according to a progress of the cooking process of the food material.

5. The automatic cooking device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to control the cooking process of the food material by identifying the cooked state of the food material, based on the characteristic information of the food material and volume change information regarding a difference between a volume of the food material before cooking and the volume of the food material when heated.

6. An automatic cooking method comprising:
obtaining information about a kind of a food material by performing vision recognition based on a captured image of the food material;
obtaining characteristic information of the food material by performing spectroscopic analysis based on light reflected by emitting, to the food material, light of a wavelength band selected from among different wavelength bands according to the information about the kind of the food material;
obtaining information about internal temperature and composition of the food material by identifying a position of a probe configured to obtain the information about the internal temperature and composition of the food material; and
controlling a cooking process of the food material, based on the information about the kind of the food material and the characteristic information of the food material,
wherein the information about the kind of the food material and the characteristic information of the food material are obtained by a light emitter which emits light of the different wavelength bands and a photographing unit including an image sensor,
wherein the controlling of the cooking process of the food material comprises controlling the cooking process of the food material by identifying a cooked state of the food material, based on the characteristic information of the food material and the information about the internal temperature and composition of the food material, and
wherein the position of the probe is changeable by a user.

7. The automatic cooking method of claim 6 , wherein the obtaining of the characteristic information of the food material by performing the spectroscopic analysis comprises:
selecting a wavelength band according to the information about the kind of the food material;
emitting light of the selected wavelength band to the food material by determining an amount of the light according to a position of the food material and an intensity of external light;
performing calibration according to the position of the food material and the intensity of the external light during the spectroscopic analysis based on the reflected light; and
obtaining the characteristic information of the food material.

8. The automatic cooking method of claim 6 , wherein the controlling of the cooking process of the food material comprises:
obtaining an optimal recipe using the food material by comparing the information about the kind of the food material and the characteristic information of the food material before cooking with a database of food material information; and
controlling the cooking process according to the obtained recipe.

9. The automatic cooking method of claim 6 , wherein the controlling of the cooking process of the food material comprises estimating athe cooked state of the food material or an end of a cooking time by selectively emitting light of a wavelength band used for obtaining predefined sensing information according to a progress of the cooking process of the food material.

10. The automatic cooking method of claim 6 , further comprising obtaining volume change information regarding a difference between a volume of the food material before cooking and the volume of the food material when heated, and
wherein the controlling of the cooking process of the food material comprises controlling the cooking process of the food material by identifying the cooked state of the food material, based on the characteristic information of the food material and the volume change information.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program for executing the method of claim 6 in a computer.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jung Hyun-Ki
• Han Jun-Beom
• Lee Sang-Min
• Kwak Byeong-Hoon
• Lee Joon-Hyun
• Yim Sung-Hoon

Classifications

• G06N3/0464

  Convolutional networks [CNN, ConvNet] · CPC title

• G06N3/09

  Supervised learning · CPC title

• G06V20/00

  Scenes; Scene-specific elements (control of digital cameras H04N23/60) · CPC title

• G06V10/10

  Image acquisition (document image scanning and transmission H04N1/00; control of digital cameras H04N23/60) · CPC title

• G06Q50/12

  Hotels or restaurants · CPC title