Cooker

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9801489-B2
Application number	US-201314410133-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 17, 2013
Priority date	Jun 27, 2012
Publication date	Oct 31, 2017
Grant date	Oct 31, 2017

Abstract

A cooker comprises a cooking chamber configured to cook food with water; a first unit configured to feed water to the cooking chamber; a second unit configured to obtain information related to an interruption of the cooking; and a controller configured to operate the first unit according to the information related to the interruption, after the cooking recovers from the interruption. With the cooker, the influence of the interruption on the cooking process, in particular on the water fed to the cooking chamber, is taken into account, which helps to improve the taste of the cooked food.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cooker, comprising:
a cooking chamber configured to cook food with water;
a first unit that comprises a water feeding device configured to feed water to the cooking chamber and a water discharging device configured to discharge water from the cooking chamber;
a second unit, responsive to an interruption of a cooking program for cooking the food in the cooking chamber, for obtaining information related to the interruption, wherein the interruption comprises a stop of cooking temporarily which is not according to the cooking program; and
a controller configured to (i) control an operation of operate the first unit according to the cooking program alone in response to an absence of the interruption, and (ii) control the operation of the first unit according to a combination of both (a) the cooking program and (b) the obtained information related to the interruption of the cooking program, in response to a recovery of the cooking program from the interruption for cooking in the cooking chamber recovers from the interruption, wherein the recovery includes at least one of a power recovery or a user movement of the cooking chamber back in contact with a heater,
wherein the information related to the interruption comprises at least one of
(i) a cooking phase of the food at a time of the interruption,
(ii) a time duration of the interruption,
(iii) a first temperature of the food when the cooking program for cooking in the cooking chamber recovers from the interruption, and
(iv) a detection of the interruption.

2. The cooker according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to determine a second temperature based on the first temperature, and operate the first unit to feed water at the second temperature after the cooking program for cooking in the cooking chamber recovers.

3. The cooker according to claim 1 , wherein the first unit is configured to feed the water to the cooking chamber according to a first scheme in case that no interruption occurs,
the controller is further configured to operate the first unit to feed the water according to the first scheme after the cooking program for cooking in the cooking chamber recovers from the interruption if the cooking phase at the time of the interruption is a heat preserving phase; and
the controller is further configured to operate the first unit to feed the water according to a second scheme different from the first scheme after the cooking program for cooking in the cooking chamber recovers from the interruption if the cooking phase at the time of the interruption is one of a heating phase, a boiling phase, or a saturation phase.

4. The cooker according to claim 1 , wherein the first unit is configured to feed the water to the cooking chamber according to a first scheme in case that no interruption occurs,
wherein the controller is further configured to determine whether the interruption is shorter than a time duration threshold, and operate the first unit to feed the water according to the first scheme if the interruption is shorter than the time duration threshold, and
the controller is further configured to operate the first unit to feed the water according to a second scheme different from the first scheme if the interruption is not shorter than the time duration threshold.

5. The cooker according to claim 4 , wherein the food comprises starch-containing food, and a cooking phase of the food at a time of the interruption comprises at least one of a leaching-out phase, a heating phase, a boiling phase and a saturation phase, and
wherein the time duration threshold is dependent on a corresponding cooking phase of the food at the time of the interruption.

6. The cooker according to claim 4 , wherein according to the first scheme, the first unit is configured to feed a first amount of water to the cooking chamber after the time of interruption,
wherein according to the second scheme, a second amount of water is fed to the cooking chamber after the cooking program for cooking in the cooking chamber recovers, and wherein the second amount is less than the first amount.

7. The cooker according to claim 1 , wherein according to a first scheme the cooking chamber is configured to cook the food in a current cooking phase for a remained time duration, when the current cooking phase is interrupted, and
wherein the controller is further configured to control the cooking chamber to resume the interrupted current cooking phase for a time period shorter than the remained time period.

8. The cooker according to claim 7 , wherein the controller is configured to control the cooking chamber to resume the interrupted current cooking phase for a time period shorter than the remained time period if the interrupted current cooking phase is at least one of a leaching-out phase, a heating phase, a boiling phase, and a saturation phase.

9. The cooker according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a backup power module for providing electricity to the controller and first unit for supplying water, via the first unit, to the cooking chamber within the interruption, wherein the backup power module guarantees that a process of feeding water continues when the interruption occurs just at a moment that the first unit is feeding water.

Assignees

• Koninklijke Philips Nv

Inventors

• Tan Jingwei
• Chen Yun

Classifications

• A23L5/13

  using water or steam · CPC title

• A23V2002/00

  Food compositions, function of food ingredients or processes for food or foodstuffs · CPC title

• A47J27/21 Primary

  Water-boiling vessels, e.g. kettles · CPC title

• A47J27/00 Primary

  Cooking-vessels (A47J29/00 - A47J33/00 take precedence) · CPC title