Edible oil deterioration degree determination device, edible oil deterioration degree determination system, edible oil deterioration degree determination method, edible oil deterioration degree learning device, and learned model for use in edible oil deterioration degree determination

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024386538-A1
Application number	US-202218691537-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 21, 2022
Priority date	Sep 29, 2021
Publication date	Nov 21, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

Provided is an edible oil deterioration level determination device etc., which enable the types of surface air bubbles of frying oil to be accurately distinguished and thus the deterioration level of the frying oil to be accurately determined. An edible oil deterioration level determination device 5 , comprising: an oil surface image acquisition section 50 configured to acquire an oil surface image; a filter processing section 53 configured to apply, to the oil surface, filter processing for identifying an area of fine air bubbles β characterizing deterioration of the frying oil Y; a feature parameter calculation section 54 configured to calculate a feature parameter characterizing the deterioration of the frying oil Y; a deterioration indicator estimation section 55 configured to estimate a deterioration indicator DI of the frying oil Y; and a deterioration level determination section 56 configured to determine the deterioration level of the frying oil Y.

First claim

1 . An edible oil deterioration level determination device for determining a deterioration level of an edible oil, comprising:
an oil image acquisition section configured to acquire an oil image that is an image of the edible oil; a filter processing section configured to apply filter processing to the oil image acquired by the oil image acquisition section, the filter processing being carried out for identifying a feature area that is an area of predetermined air bubbles characterizing deterioration of the edible oil based on a range of a color of air bubbles included in the oil image; a feature parameter calculation section configured to calculate a feature parameter that is a parameter characterizing the deterioration of the edible oil in the feature area identified by the filter processing section; a deterioration indicator estimation section configured to estimate a deterioration indicator of the edible oil based on the feature parameter calculated by the feature parameter calculation section; and a deterioration level determination section configured to determine the deterioration level of the edible oil based on the deterioration indicator estimated by the deterioration indicator estimation section.

2 . The edible oil deterioration level determination device according to claim 1 , wherein
the filter processing includes:
first filter processing using a first threshold range set to a specific color range allowing the predetermined air bubbles that are portions of the air bubbles from the oil image; and
second filter processing using a second threshold range of which a specific color range is set to be broader than that of the first threshold range, and
the filter processing section applies the second filter processing to the oil image based on a result of the first filter processing that has been applied to the oil image.

3 . The edible oil deterioration level determination device according to claim 2 , wherein
the filter processing section applies the second filter processing to the oil image upon determining that the oil image includes the predetermined air bubbles as a result of applying the first filter processing to the oil image.

4 . The edible oil deterioration level determination device according to claim 1 , further comprising an air bubble image extraction section configured to extract an air bubble image that is an image of a portion corresponding to air bubbles from the oil image acquired by the oil image acquisition section, wherein
the filter processing section applies the filter processing to the air bubble image extracted by the air bubble image extraction section.

5 . The edible oil deterioration level determination device according to claim 1 , wherein
the feature parameter includes one or more parameters selected from an area ratio of the feature area relative to a whole area of the oil image, a cumulative value of the area ratio of the feature area relative to the whole area of the oil image, the number of the predetermined air bubbles included in the feature area, disappearance speed of the predetermined air bubbles included in the feature area, and presence or absence of a stream of the predetermined air bubbles included in the feature area.

6 . The edible oil deterioration level determination device according to claim 1 , wherein
the deterioration indicator includes one or more indicators selected from a viscosity of the edible oil, an increase rate of viscosity of the edible oil, an acid value (AV) of the edible oil, a color of the edible oil, an anisidine value of the edible oil, a polar compound value of the edible oil, a carbonyl value of the edible oil, a smoke point of the edible oil, a tocopherol content of the edible oil, an iodine value of the edible oil, a refractive indicator of the edible oil, a quantity of volatile compounds of the edible oil, a composition of volatile compounds of the edible oil, a flavor of the edible oil, a quantity of volatile compounds of a fried food obtained by deep-fry cooking using the frying oil, a composition of volatile compounds of the fried food obtained by deep-fry cooking using the frying oil, and a flavor of the fried food obtained by deep-fry cooking using the frying oil.

7 . The edible oil deterioration level determination device according to claim 1 , further comprising a notification section configured to output, to a notification device, a notification signal related to the deterioration level of the edible oil determined by the deterioration level determination section.

8 . The edible oil deterioration level determination device according to claim 7 , further comprising a selection section configured to select a type of a fried food that can be deep-fried using the edible oil and the number for each type thereof based on the deterioration level of the edible oil determined by the deterioration level determination section, wherein
the notification section further outputs a notification signal related to a content selected by the selection section to the notification device.

9 . The edible oil deterioration level determination device according to claim 7 , further comprising a change timing decision section configured to decide whether it is time to change the edible oil based on the deterioration level of the edible oil determined by the deterioration level determination section, wherein
when the change timing decision section decides that it is time to change the frying oil, the notification section further outputs a notification signal related to a result of decision that has been made by the change timing decision section.

10 . An edible oil deterioration level determination system for determining a deterioration level of an edible oil, comprising:
an image capturing device that is installed above an oil vat in which the edible oil is stored to capture an oil image that is an image of the edible oil; and a deterioration level determination device for determining the deterioration level of the edible oil based on the oil image, the deterioration level determination device being configured to:
acquire the oil image output from the image capturing device;
apply filter processing to the oil image, the filter processing being carried out for identifying a feature area that is an area of predetermined air bubbles characterizing deterioration of the edible oil based on a range of a color of air bubbles included in the oil image;
calculate a feature parameter that is a parameter characterizing the deterioration of the edible oil in the feature area;
estimate a deterioration indicator of the edible oil based on the feature parameter as calculated; and
determine the deterioration level of the edible oil based on the deterioration indicator as estimated.

11 . An edible oil deterioration level determination method of determining a deterioration level of an edible oil, comprising:
acquiring an oil image that is an image of the edible oil; applying filter processing to the oil image as acquired, the filter processing being carried out for identifying a feature area that is an area of predetermined air bubbles characterizing deterioration of the edible oil based on a range of a color of air bubbles included in the oil image; calculating a feature parameter that is a parameter characterizing the deterioration of the edible oil in the feature area; estimating a deterioration indicator of the edible oil based on the feature parameter as calculated; and determining the deterioration level of the edible oil based on the deterioration indicator as estimated.

12 .- 15 . (canceled)

Assignees

• J Oil Mills Inc

Inventors

• Kakimoto Kenichi
• Watanabe Ryohei
• TAKASAKI Ayato
• Inoue Masami

Classifications

• G06T7/0002 Primary

  Inspection of images, e.g. flaw detection · CPC title

• G06T7/0004

  Industrial image inspection · CPC title

• G06V10/26

  Segmentation of patterns in the image field; Cutting or merging of image elements to establish the pattern region, e.g. clustering-based techniques; Detection of occlusion · CPC title

• G06V10/443

  by matching or filtering · CPC title

• G06V10/56

  relating to colour · CPC title