Device and a method of sensing characteristics of a food material and a machine and a method of brewing coffee having a wave source with wavelength range comprising visible band and near infrared band

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9804081-B2
Application number	US-201414891798-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 22, 2014
Priority date	May 27, 2013
Publication date	Oct 31, 2017
Grant date	Oct 31, 2017

Abstract

A device and a method of sensing characteristics of a food material and a machine and a method of brewing coffee. The device comprises: a wave source ( 20 ) configured for emitting waves to said food material ( 22 ), with the wavelength range of said waves comprising a selected near infrared band neighboring a visible band; a detector ( 26 ), configured for detecting intensities of the waves reflected by said food material; and an analysis module ( 28 ), configured for determining said characteristics according to the detected intensity of the reflected waves. Preferably, the food material comprises coffee powder, and the characteristics comprise at least any one of: color of the coffee powder (corresponding to the roasting degree of coffee powder); and grind fineness of the coffee powder.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device of sensing at least any one of roasting degree of coffee powder and grind fineness of coffee powder, comprising:
a wave source configured for emitting waves to said coffee powder, the wavelength range of said waves comprising at least part of visible band and a selected near infrared band neighboring the visible band;
a detector, configured for detecting intensities of the waves reflected from said coffee powder; and
an analysis module, configured for determining said roasting degree of coffee powder and/or said grind fineness of coffee powder according to the detected intensities of the reflected waves.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said near infrared band is in a wavelength range of 780 nm to 1000 nm.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein said at least part of the visible band is in a wavelength range of 500 nm to 780 nm.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein said detector comprises a silicon-based sensor.

5. The device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a filter, configured for filtering the waves reflected from said coffee powder and obtaining a subset of waves in predetermined subbands, said predetermined subbands being in said wavelength range;
said detector is configured for detecting an intensity subset comprising intensities of each subband wave in said subset of waves;
and said analysis module is configured for determining said roasting degree of coffee powder and/or said grind fineness of coffee powder according to the detected intensity subset.

6. The device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a memory storing a model for calculating said roasting degree of coffee powder and/or said grind fineness of coffee powder according to intensity subsets;
and said analysis module is further configured for inputting the detected intensity subset into the model and obtaining said roasting degree of coffee powder and/or said grind fineness of coffee powder outputted by the model.

7. The device of claim 5 , wherein said filter comprises any one of:
a filter wheel with a plurality of filtering lenses, said lenses corresponding to each of the subbands, said filter wheel configured for being rotated to obtain subband waves; and
a grating configured for separating each subband wave from the reflected waves.

8. A method of sensing at least any one of roasting degree of coffee powder and grind fineness of coffee powder, comprising steps of:
emitting waves to said coffee powder, the wavelength range of said waves comprising at least part of visible band and a selected near infrared band neighboring the visible band;
detecting intensities of the waves reflected by said coffee powder; and
determining said roasting degree of coffee powder and/or said grind fineness of coffee powder according to the detected intensities of the reflected waves.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein said at least part of the visible band is in a wavelength range of 500 nm to 780 nm.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising a step of:
filtering the reflected waves reflected from said coffee powder and obtaining a subset of waves in predetermined subbands, said predetermined subbands being in said wavelength range;
said step of detecting further comprising:
detecting an intensity subset comprising intensities of each subband wave in said subset of waves;
said step of determining further comprising:
determining said roasting degree of coffee powder and/or said grind fineness of coffee powder according to the detected intensity subset.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein said determining step further comprising:
determining said roasting degree of coffee powder and/or said grind fineness of coffee powder by matching said detected intensity subset into a correlation, said correlation being predetermined and reflecting the relationship between said roasting degree of coffee powder and/or said grind fineness of coffee powder and its respective intensity subsets.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein said near infrared band is in a wavelength range of 780 nm to 1000 nm.

Assignees

• Koninklijke Philips Nv

Inventors

• Wang Xiaoxin
• Yin Bin
• Chen Weizhong
• Kelly Declan Patrick
• Li Wei

Classifications

• G01N2201/068

  Optics, miscellaneous · CPC title

• A23N12/125

  Accessories or details · CPC title

• G01N21/359 Primary

  using near infrared light · CPC title

• G01J1/42

  using electric radiation detectors (optical or mechanical part G01J1/04; by comparison with a reference light or electric value G01J1/10) · CPC title

• G01N21/27 Primary

  using photo-electric detection (G01N21/31 takes precedence){; circuits for computing concentration (logarithmic circuits G06G7/24; photometric circuits in general G01J)} · CPC title