HK1200677B - Cooking apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

This cooking apparatus comprises a heating device (2), a menu selection unit (4), a wireless communication unit (7), a control unit (3), and a display unit (6). When the wireless communication unit (7) receives change information of a control condition from a wireless communication terminal (30) and a cooking menu is selected with the menu selection unit (4) corresponding to the change information, the control unit (3) controls the heating device (2) to carry out a heating process of an object to be cooked, on the basis of the post-change control condition wherein a control condition which is linked to the cooking menu is changed on the basis of the change information, and makes the display unit (6) display, in addition to the cooking menu which is selected with the menu selection unit (4), modification information which denotes that the wireless communication unit (7) has received the change information.

Description

Cooking device

Technical Field

The invention relates to a cooking device capable of implementing various cooking menus.

Background

Conventionally, as such a cooking device, for example, a cooking device having a structure shown in fig. 8 is known (for example, refer to patent document 1). Fig. 8 is a block diagram showing a structure of a conventional rice cooker.

As shown in fig. 8, the conventional rice cooker includes a pot 101, a heating device 102 for induction-heating the pot 101, and a control unit 103 for controlling the heating device 102. The heating device 102 has a heating coil 121 and an inverter circuit 122.

In addition, the conventional rice cooker includes: a menu selection unit 104 for selecting a specific cooking menu from a plurality of cooking menus such as a rice menu and a porridge menu; a start instruction part 105 for instructing the start of cooking; and a display unit 106 for displaying the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit 104. When a specific cooking menu is selected by menu selection unit 104 and the start of cooking is instructed by start instruction unit 105, control unit 103 controls heating device 102 based on the selected cooking menu.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2006-141763

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

In a conventional rice cooker, the menu selection unit 104 is generally configured to be able to select about 10 cooking menus such as a rice menu and a porridge menu. For example, the following are provided: when the white rice menu is selected as the cooking menu, the rice is cooked based on a cooking process that is preset to enable optimal cooking for a representative white rice variety (e.g., lighter rice).

However, depending on the type of white rice, there is a problem that the original taste of rice cannot be sufficiently cooked when cooking is performed in a cooking process optimal for a typical type of white rice. For example, when the rice of variety B is cooked in the optimal cooking process for the rice of variety a, cooked rice with a sticky surface or cooked harder rice may be cooked. This is because the structure of starch and protein differs depending on the rice variety, and the difference in structure makes it difficult to absorb water and to cook rice.

Therefore, it is considered to configure the rice cooker such that cooking menus corresponding to the number of rice varieties are prepared and rice is cooked in an optimum cooking process for each rice variety.

However, there are several hundreds of varieties of rice in japan alone. It is virtually impossible to construct the rice cooker so that the cooking menu corresponding to all the varieties of the white rice can be selected.

That is, since the display portion of the rice cooker is low in cost, small in space, and excellent in operability, a display portion of a fixed display system that displays predetermined characters (characters, numbers, or the like) is generally used. In order to select more cooking menus using the display unit of the fixed display system, it is considered that only the display unit is increased or the characters to be displayed are decreased. However, considering operability, visibility, and the like, there is a limit to the size increase of the display unit and the size reduction of the characters.

In addition, although the above description has been made by taking the variety of white rice as an example, not only the variety but also the place of production, year of harvest, and the like may be important factors that greatly affect the taste. In addition, the rice cooker is used not only for cooking rice but also for cooking brown rice, porridge, and the like. Therefore, there is an optimum cooking process for brown rice, porridge, and the like depending on the variety, the place of production, and the like, and it is desirable to be able to select a cooking menu corresponding to the variety, the place of production, and the like.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-described conventional problems and to provide a cooking device capable of cooking an object to be cooked even in a cooking device having a display unit of a fixed display system.

Means for solving the problems

In order to solve the above conventional problems, a cooking device according to the present invention includes:

a heating device for heating the cooking object;

a menu selection unit for selecting a specific cooking menu from the plurality of cooking menus;

a wireless communication unit that performs wireless communication with a wireless communication terminal;

a control unit for controlling the heating device to heat and cook the cooking object according to a control condition associated with the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit; and

a display unit for displaying information related to the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit,

when the wireless communication unit receives change information of the control condition from the wireless communication terminal and the menu selection unit selects a cooking menu corresponding to the change information, the control unit performs heating cooking of the cooking object based on the changed control condition in which the control condition associated with the cooking menu is changed based on the change information, and causes the display unit to display decoration information indicating that the wireless communication unit has received the change information in addition to the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF INVENTION

According to the cooker of the present invention, even a cooker having a display unit of a fixed display system can cook an object to be cooked.

Drawings

These and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the context of the present drawing, it is,

fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a structure of a rice cooker according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an explanatory view showing the transition of the operation state of the rice cooker according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a view for explaining a cooking process associated with a rice menu in the rice cooker according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 4A is a full lighting view of a display portion of the rice cooker according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 4B is a diagram showing an example of information displayed on the display unit shown in fig. 4A when the cooking menu is selected by the menu selection unit in a state where the wireless communication unit has not received the change information.

Fig. 4C is a diagram showing an example of information displayed on the display unit shown in fig. 4A when the cooking menu is selected by the menu selection unit in a state where the wireless communication unit has received the change information.

Fig. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a cooking menu.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram showing a structure of a rice cooker according to embodiment 2 of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a block diagram showing a structure of a rice cooker according to embodiment 3 of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is a block diagram showing a structure of a conventional rice cooker.

Detailed Description

(insight underlying the present invention)

The present inventors have made extensive studies to realize a cooking device capable of cooking an object to be cooked even with a display unit of a fixed display system, and as a result, have found the following findings.

In recent years, multifunctional and high-performance wireless communication terminals such as smartphones have become widespread. Such a wireless communication terminal generally has a dot matrix type display unit capable of displaying various graphics and characters. According to such a wireless communication terminal, even when there are a plurality of cooking menus, a specific cooking menu can be easily selected from the plurality of cooking menus. Further, since the user can confirm the selected cooking menu through the display unit of the wireless communication terminal, it is considered that the user can suppress the deterioration of the convenience of use as long as the user can confirm whether or not the cooker recognizes the selected cooking menu. The present inventors have conducted intensive studies based on these new findings, and as a result, have completed the following inventions.

According to the 1 st aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cooking device comprising:

a heating device for heating the cooking object;

a menu selection unit for selecting a specific cooking menu from the plurality of cooking menus;

a wireless communication unit that performs wireless communication with a wireless communication terminal;

a control unit for controlling the heating device to heat and cook the cooking object according to a control condition associated with the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit; and

a display unit for displaying information related to the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit,

when the wireless communication unit receives change information of the control condition from the wireless communication terminal and the menu selection unit selects a cooking menu corresponding to the change information, the control unit performs heating cooking of the cooking object based on the changed control condition in which the control condition associated with the cooking menu is changed based on the change information, and causes the display unit to display decoration information indicating that the wireless communication unit has received the change information in addition to the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit.

According to the invention of claim 2, there is provided the cooking device of claim 1, wherein the display unit is a display unit of a fixed display system.

According to the 3 rd aspect of the present invention, in the cooking device according to the 1 st or 2 nd aspect, the cooking device further includes a storage unit that stores the change information, and when the cooking menu corresponding to the change information is selected by the menu selection unit in a state where the change information is stored in the storage unit, the control unit causes the display unit to display the decoration information in addition to the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit.

According to the 4 th aspect of the present invention, there is provided the cooking device according to the 3 rd aspect, wherein the cooking device further includes a start instruction unit for instructing a start of cooking, and the control unit causes the display unit to display the decoration information in addition to the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit, before the start instruction unit instructs the start of cooking.

According to the invention of claim 5, in the cooking device of claim 3 or 4, the storage unit stores material information related to the cooking menu corresponding to the change information, and the wireless communication unit outputs the material information stored in the storage unit to the wireless communication terminal when receiving an inquiry request for the material information from the wireless communication terminal.

According to the 6 th aspect of the present invention, there is provided the cooking device according to any one of the 1 st to 5 th aspects, wherein the cooking device is a rice cooker.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the embodiment.

(embodiment 1)

Hereinafter, a rice cooker as an example of a cooker according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a structure of a rice cooker according to embodiment 1. The rice cooker of embodiment 1 is configured to be able to select a cooking menu using a wireless communication terminal 30 such as a smartphone.

In fig. 1, the rice cooker of embodiment 1 includes a pot 1, a heating device 2 for induction-heating the pot 1, and a control unit 3 for controlling the heating device 2. The pot 1 is a magnetic vessel in which a cooking material such as rice and water is placed. The heating device 2 includes a heating coil 21 and an inverter circuit 22 that supplies a high-frequency current to the heating coil 21. The heating coil 21 is disposed near the bottom surface of the pan 1, for example. A temperature sensor (not shown) for detecting the temperature of the pan 1 is provided near the bottom surface of the pan 1.

The control Unit 3 includes a semiconductor device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit). A storage unit 10 for storing various information is connected to the control unit 3. The storage unit 10 includes, for example, an electrically rewritable ROM (Read only memory). The storage unit 10 stores a control program for the control unit 3 to perform cooking for heating a cooking object, a plurality of cooking processes as an example of control conditions, tag information for specifying a cooker, and the like. Here, the "cooking process" refers to a cooking process as follows: in the case where the four main steps of water absorption, temperature rise, boiling maintenance, and steaming are performed in this order, the energization time, heating temperature, heating time, heating output, and the like are set in advance in each step. Each cooking process is associated with any one of a plurality of cooking menus.

In embodiment 1, 10 kinds of cooking menus are stored in the storage unit 10 in association with the numbers (1) to (10). More specifically, the storage unit 10 stores information on cooking menus of (1) white rice, (2) wash-free rice, (3) quick cooking, (4) a small amount of (5) stewing, (6) porridge, (7) brown rice, (8) sushi, (9) germinated brown rice, and (10) coarse cereal rice.

Further, the rice cooker of embodiment 1 includes: a menu selection unit 4 for selecting a specific cooking menu from the plurality of cooking menus; a start instruction unit 5 for instructing the start of cooking (start of cooking); and a display unit 6 for displaying information related to the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit 4.

The menu selection unit 4 has, for example, a single switch. The menu selection unit 4 is configured to, for example: every time the user operates the switch, the selection of the cooking menu is changed in order of the number from small to large. For example, if the switch of the menu selection unit 4 is operated 1 time, (1) white rice is selected. Further, if the switch of the menu selecting part 4 is operated 10 times, the coarse cereal rice is selected (10). If the switch of the menu selection part 4 is operated 1 time after the coarse grain rice is selected (10), the selection of the cooking menu returns to (1) white rice.

The display unit 6 displays the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit 4. The Display unit 6 is constituted by, for example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) Liquid Crystal Display device. Fig. 4A is a full lighting view of the display unit 6. In embodiment 1, the display unit 6 is a display unit of a fixed display system that displays predetermined characters (characters, numbers, and the like). The display unit 6 includes a cooking menu display unit 6a and a time display unit 6 b.

The cooking menu display unit 6a displays the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit 4. Each time the user operates the switch of the menu selection unit 4, the cooking menu displayed (lit) on the cooking menu display unit 6a is switched. The cooking menu displayed on the cooking menu display unit 6a is the cooking menu currently selected by the menu selection unit 4. As shown in fig. 4B, when (1) white rice is selected by the menu selection unit 4, the character "white rice" is displayed (lighted up) on the cooking menu display unit 6 a. As shown in fig. 4C, the cooking menu display unit 6a is configured to be able to display (light up) a character of "adjustment" as an example of decoration information. The modification information will be described in detail later.

The time display unit 6b displays various times. For example, when the reservation function for cooking is used at a desired time, the time display unit 6b displays the cooking completion time. Further, the time display unit 6b displays the time required for cooking corresponding to the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit 4 when the reservation function is not in use and before cooking is started. Further, when the reservation function is not used and after the cooking is started, the time display portion 6B displays the remaining time until the cooking is completed, as shown in fig. 4B and 4C.

The start instruction unit 5 includes, for example, a cooking start switch and a reservation setting switch. When the user operates the rice cooking start switch after selecting the cooking menu by the menu selection unit 4, the control unit 3 controls the heating apparatus 2 according to the selected cooking menu. More specifically, the control unit 3 controls the power of the inverter circuit 22 of the heating device 2 based on the cooking process associated with the selected cooking menu and the temperature detected by the temperature sensor, and executes a cooking step (heating cooking of the cooking object).

When the user operates the reservation setting switch after selecting the cooking menu by the menu selection unit 4, the control unit 3 controls the heating device 2 based on the selected cooking menu after the lapse of the time set by the reservation setting switch.

The rice cooker according to embodiment 1 further includes a device setting switch (not shown) for setting the current time, changing the holding temperature, changing the temperature for adjusting the degree of scorching during cooking, and the like.

Further, the rice cooker of embodiment 1 includes: a wireless communication unit 7 that performs wireless communication with the wireless communication terminal 30; a transmission unit 8 that transmits and receives information to and from the wireless communication unit 7; and a received information decoding unit 9 that decodes the information received by the transmission unit 8.

The wireless communication unit 7 includes: an antenna 71 that transmits and receives radio signals to and from the radio communication terminal 30; and a radio signal processing unit 72 that performs processing such as modulation, demodulation, encoding, and decoding of the radio signal transmitted and received by the antenna 71.

The antenna 71 is configured to transmit and receive radio waves when the radio communication terminal 30 approaches, for example.

The Radio signal processing unit 72 includes a semiconductor device such as an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag LSI. The wireless signal processing unit 72 is a relay device having a function of an RF communication interface and a function of a serial communication interface. The antenna 71 is connected to a portion of the wireless signal processing unit 72 that functions as an RF communication interface.

The transmission unit 8 includes, for example, a UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) serial communication circuit. The transmission unit 8 is wired to the wireless signal processing unit 72.

The received information decoding unit 9 decodes the information received by the transmission unit 8, and when the decoded information includes the information about the change of the cooking process, the received information decoding unit causes the storage unit 10 to store the information about the change. In addition, when there is no information stored in the storage unit 10 (when the initial value is 0), it means that there is no change information.

In embodiment 1, the information exchange with the wireless signal processing unit 72 is performed by UART serial communication via the transmission unit 8. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be performed by synchronous serial communication.

Next, the operation of the rice cooker of embodiment 1 will be described with reference to fig. 2. Fig. 2 is an explanatory view showing the transition of the operation state of the rice cooker of embodiment 1.

As shown in fig. 2, the rice cooker of embodiment 1 has 6 operating states, i.e., a standby state a1, a menu selection state a2, a rice cooking state a3, a keep warm state a4, a reservation standby state a5, and an equipment setting state a 6.

The standby state a1 is a state in which power is turned on but no operation is performed. That is, in the standby state a1, the heating operation of the heating device 2 is not performed. The control unit 3 waits for the selection of a cooking menu by the menu selection unit 4, for example. In the standby state a1, when a cooking menu is selected by the menu selection part 4, the operation state of the rice cooker is shifted to the menu selection state a 2. In the standby state a1, when the device setting switch is operated, the operating state of the rice cooker is shifted to the device setting state a 6. In the device setting state a6, the current time setting, the temperature holding change, and the temperature change for adjusting the degree of scorching during cooking can be performed.

In the menu selection state a2, information on the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit 4 is displayed on the display unit 6. In the menu selection state a2, the heating operation of the heating device 2 is not performed. In the menu selection state a2, when an instruction to start cooking is given by the start instruction part 5, the operating state of the rice cooker is shifted to a cooking state a 3. Further, in the menu selection state a2, when a cooking reservation is instructed through the reservation setting switch, the operating state of the rice cooker shifts to the reservation standby state a 5.

The reservation standby state a5 is a state in which cooking is started in order to start cooking at a desired timing. For example, when it is desired to finish cooking at 7 am, the control unit 3 sets the cooking start time 1 hour before, i.e., 6 am, and maintains the reservation standby state a5 until the cooking start time is reached. In the reservation standby state a5, the heating operation of the heating device 2 is not performed.

When the cooking start time is reached in the reservation standby state a5, the operating state of the rice cooker is shifted to a cooking start state a 3.

In the cooking state a3, the control unit 3 controls the heating operation of the heating device 2 based on the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit 4. In the cooking state a3, when the heating operation of the heating device 2 based on the cooking menu is finished, the operating state of the rice cooker is shifted to the heat-retaining state a 4.

In the heat preservation state a4, the controller 3 controls the heating device 2 so as to maintain the inside of the pot 1 at about 70 ℃.

Next, a cooking procedure in a case where (1) white rice (hereinafter, referred to as a white rice menu) is selected as a cooking menu by the menu selection unit 4 will be described. Fig. 3 is a view for explaining a cooking process associated with a rice menu in the rice cooker of embodiment 1. The cooking step is performed under the control of the control unit 3.

After the cooking step is started, the water absorption step is started first. The water absorption step comprises the following steps: in order to sufficiently gelatinize the rice to the center thereof in the subsequent step, the rice is immersed in water having a temperature lower than the gelatinization temperature, and the rice is preliminarily made to absorb water. In this water absorption step, the control unit 3 controls the heating device 2 based on the temperature detected by the temperature sensor as follows: after raising the temperature of the water in the pot 1 to a temperature (for example, 55 ℃) close to the gelatinization start temperature (for example, 60 ℃) of rice, the temperature after the raising is maintained. For example, the heating device 2 is continuously driven at an output of 1200W, and is intermittently driven at an output of 1000W (on/off control) after the pot temperature reaches 55 ℃. After a predetermined time (for example, 20 minutes) has elapsed from the pot temperature reaching 55 ℃, the process shifts to a temperature increasing step.

The temperature raising step is a step of always heating the pot 1 with strong fire to keep the water in the pot 1 in a boiling state (about 100 ℃). In this temperature raising step, the control unit 3 controls the heating device 2 to rapidly heat the boiler 1 so that the water in the boiler 1 is in a boiling state. For example, the heating device 2 is continuously driven at an output of 1200W during the temperature raising step. After the temperature raising step is performed so that the inside of the pot 1 is brought into a boiling state (for example, the lid temperature is 80 ℃), the process proceeds to the boiling maintaining step.

As shown in fig. 3, the lid temperature does not increase much in the first half of the water absorption step and the temperature increase step, but increases rapidly in the second half of the temperature increase step. This is because the water in the pot 1 starts boiling in the middle of the temperature raising step by continuously driving the heating device 2, and the lid is heated by the heat of the steam generated by the boiling. The time from the rise of the lid temperature to the boiling temperature of the steam (for example, 80 ℃) becomes longer in proportion to the total amount of rice and water put into the pot 1, that is, the amount of rice to be cooked. Therefore, the rice cooking amount can be determined based on the time.

In embodiment 1, the control unit 3 measures a time ts from when the pot temperature reaches 70 ℃ to when the lid temperature reaches 80 ℃, and determines the amount of rice cooked based on the time ts. More specifically, the control unit 3 determines to which range the time ts belongs, for example, based on threshold information recorded in advance in the storage unit 10, as shown in table 1 below. The rice cooker of embodiment 1 is a rice cooker capable of cooking rice from 1 to 5 portions. For example, when the time ts is 120 seconds, the control unit 3 determines that the rice cooking amount is "2" in. The amount of rice boiled as determined by the control portion 3 is used for control of the heating device 2 in the boiling maintaining step. In addition, although the rice cooking amount is generally the total amount of rice and water, the rice cooking amount is treated as the amount indicating rice for convenience of explanation.

[ TABLE 1 ]

ts range	Determination of cooked rice amount
		ts＜100	1 in
100≤ts＜150	2 in
		150≤ts＜200	3 in
200≤ts＜250	4 in
		250≤ts	5 in

The boiling maintenance step is as follows: the boiling state of the water in the pot 1 is maintained, the starch of the rice is gelatinized, and the gelatinization degree is increased to about 50 to 80 percent. In the boiling maintaining step, the control unit 3 controls the heating device 2 so as to maintain the boiling state of the water in the pot 1, based on the rice cooking amount determined in the temperature increasing step. For example, the heating device 2 is intermittently driven (on/off control) at an output of 1000W for a period of 30 seconds. The time (on time) for which the heating device 2 was driven is shown in table 2 below. For example, when it is determined that the amount of rice cooked is 2, the heating device 2 is driven for 16 seconds in a cycle of 30 seconds.

[ TABLE 2 ]

Amount of cooked rice	On-time
		1 in	12 seconds
2 in	16 seconds
		3 in	22 seconds
4 in	27 seconds
		5 in	30 seconds

Further, in the boiling maintaining step, water is continuously boiled, and thus, steam of about 100 ℃ is generated in a large amount. The steam is discharged to the outside of the rice cooker through a steam discharge hole (not shown) provided at the lid. Thus, when most of the water in the boiler 1 disappears, the boiler temperature rises above the boiling point of water. When the temperature sensor detects that the pot temperature has reached a boiling point or higher (for example, 130 ℃), the process proceeds to the steaming step.

The steaming step comprises the following steps: preheating is used to evaporate excessive water and raise the gelatinization degree of rice to near 100%. In this steaming step, the controller 3 drives the heating device 2 for a predetermined time at least 1 time or more to evaporate the water accumulated in the bottom of the pot 1. After a time (for example, 10 minutes) set in advance according to the amount of rice to be cooked has elapsed from the start of the steaming step, the steaming step is ended (i.e., the cooking step is ended).

After the steaming step is completed, the control unit 3 may control the heating device 2 to perform a heat-keeping step of keeping the cooked rice at a constant temperature. For example, the control unit 3 may stop the driving of the heating device 2 when the pot temperature exceeds 75 ℃, and drive the heating device 2 with an output of 600W when the pot temperature is 75 ℃ or lower.

Next, an example of an operation of selecting a specific cooking menu from a plurality of cooking menus using the wireless communication terminal 30 in the rice cooker according to embodiment 1 will be described. Here, the control unit 3 is configured to cook rice in an optimal cooking process for the white rice of the variety a. Further, the rice cooking process optimized for the white rice of variety B is slightly higher in pot temperature and longer in the water absorption step than the rice cooking process optimized for the white rice of variety a. Here, the cooking menu (for example, rice menu and porridge menu) selectable by the menu selection unit 4 is referred to as "main menu".

First, the user selects a main menu and a variety using a dedicated application program running on the wireless communication terminal 30.

The wireless communication terminal 30 stores in advance the change information of the cooking process associated with the main menu and the combination of the items. In embodiment 1, the wireless communication terminal 30 stores, in association with each other, (1) a main menu of a target, (2) a variety of target rice, (3) a step of the target, (4) 1 st change information of a rice cooking process in the target step, and (5) 2 nd change information of a rice cooking process in the target step. For example, for a rice of the variety B, the following information is stored in the wireless communication terminal 30: (1) rice menu, (2) variety B, (3) water absorption step, (4) pot temperature was changed from 55 ℃ to 58 ℃, and (5) execution time was changed from 20 minutes to 22 minutes.

When the user selects the "rice menu" as the main menu and selects the item B as the rice item using the dedicated application, the wireless communication terminal 30 is in a state capable of transmitting the cooking process change information associated with the rice menu and the item B. The wireless communication terminal 30 and the wireless communication unit 7 communicate with each other by a predetermined communication protocol. When the wireless communication terminal 30 approaches the wireless communication section 7, the wireless communication section 7 receives wireless information from the wireless communication terminal 30 via the antenna 71.

When receiving the wireless information instructing to read the tag information from the wireless communication terminal 30, the wireless signal processing unit 72 reads the tag information stored in the storage unit 10 and transmits the read tag information to the wireless communication terminal 30 via the antenna 71. The wireless communication terminal 30 determines whether or not the target rice cooker (rice cooking target) is based on the tag information, and transmits information including the change information to the rice cooker when the target rice cooker is determined. Hereinafter, information exchanged between the radio communication terminal 30 and the radio communication unit 7 is referred to as a text message.

The wireless signal processing unit 72 transmits the text message received via the antenna 71 to the transmission unit 8 by UART serial communication in a wired manner. The transmission unit 8 transmits the message to the reception information decoding unit 9. The received information decoding unit 9 decodes the transmitted message.

Since the text transmitted from the wireless communication terminal 30 is transmitted according to the communication protocol, it needs to be decoded by the received information decoding unit 9. For example, a 1-byte request command, n-byte data (the number of bytes n is defined according to the type of the request command), and a 1-byte communication error detection checksum are transmitted as 1 group. Further, for example, a request command for a change of a cooking process is set to "0 x 90", and then data of a number (for example, 16 system) assigned to the change information is transmitted. In this case, the received information decoding unit 9 first decodes the transmitted request command for the text message, and if "0 x 90", stores the next data in the storage unit 10 as the change information.

When the rice menu is selected by the menu selection unit 4, the control unit 3 checks whether or not the storage unit 10 stores change information for the rice menu. Here, since the storage unit 10 stores the change information, as shown in fig. 4C, the control unit 3 causes the cooking menu display unit 6a to display not only the character "white rice" but also the character "adjustment" as decoration information indicating that the wireless communication unit 7 has received the change information. Thus, the user can confirm whether the rice cooker recognizes the cooking menu selected through the wireless communication terminal 30. When the change information is not stored in the storage unit 10, the control unit 3 causes the cooking menu display unit 6a to display only the character "white rice" as shown in fig. 4B.

Then, when the start of cooking is instructed by the start instruction unit 5, the control unit 3 changes the cooking process based on the change information. That is, the optimal cooking process for the white rice of variety a is changed to the optimal cooking process for the white rice of variety B. The control unit 3 controls the heating device 2 according to the changed cooking process to execute the cooking step.

According to the rice cooker of embodiment 1, a specific cooking menu is selected from a plurality of cooking menus through the wireless communication terminal 30. This allows the user to easily select the specific cooking menu.

Further, according to the rice cooker of embodiment 1, when the wireless communication unit 7 receives the change information of the cooking process from the wireless communication terminal 30 and the cooking menu corresponding to the change information is selected by the menu selection unit 4, the cooking process associated with the cooking menu is changed based on the change information. At this time, the cooking menu display unit 6a displays the character of "adjustment" as decoration information in addition to the cooking menu. Thus, the user can confirm whether the rice cooker recognizes the cooking menu selected through the wireless communication terminal 30, and can cook rice suitable for the cooked object by performing the cooking procedure according to the changed cooking process.

In the rice cooker of embodiment 1, only decoration information is additionally displayed on the display unit 6, and therefore, a display unit of a fixed display system can be used as the display unit 6. The decoration information is not limited to the character of "adjustment", and may be any information indicating that the wireless communication unit 7 has received the information for changing the cooking process from the wireless communication terminal 30. For example, the modification information may be a word such as "change" or "variety".

In addition, since the purchase and purchase of rice are generally in units of kilograms, the rice cooker cooks the same rice for several days in many cases. Since the rice cooker according to embodiment 1 includes the storage unit 10 for storing the change information, it is not necessary to select a cooking menu through the wireless communication terminal 30 every time rice is cooked, and thus, the convenience of use can be improved.

Further, according to the rice cooker of embodiment 1, before the start of cooking is instructed by the start instruction unit 5, the decoration information is displayed on the display unit 6 in addition to the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit 4. Thus, the user can confirm whether the rice cooker recognizes the cooking menu selected by the wireless communication terminal 30 before the start of cooking, and can avoid waste of cooked food due to the cooking step being ended halfway.

In embodiment 1, the main menu and the rice items are selected as the cooking menu by the wireless communication terminal 30, and the cooking process is changed and displayed on the display unit 6 according to the selected cooking menu. For example, the raw material information of rice such as "place of production (harvest area)" or "year of harvest (harvest time)" may be selected by the wireless communication terminal 30, and the cooking process may be changed and displayed on the display unit 6 according to the selected cooking menu. For example, the wireless communication terminal 30 stores a table as shown in fig. 6, and allows the user to select a main menu, a variety, a place of production, and a year of harvest as a cooking menu, and change a cooking process and display on the display unit 6 according to the selected cooking menu. This enables cooking more suitable for the cooked food.

(embodiment 2)

Fig. 6 is a block diagram showing a structure of a rice cooker according to embodiment 2 of the present invention. The rice cooker of embodiment 2 differs from the rice cooker of the above-described embodiment in that: the cooking menu selected by the wireless communication terminal 30 is displayed on the cooking menu display unit 6a as the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit 4.

In embodiment 2, the transmission unit 8 receives information on the cooking menu selected by the wireless communication terminal 30 via the wireless communication unit 7. The received information decoding unit 9 decodes the information received by the transmission unit 8, and when the decoded information includes the change information, causes the storage unit 10 to store the change information. The received information decoding unit 9 decodes the information received by the transmission unit 8, and transmits the cooking menu information included in the decoded information to the menu selection unit 4. The menu selection unit 4 transmits the information of the cooking menu received from the received information decoding unit 9 to the control unit 3 as the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit 4. Upon receiving the information on the cooking menu from the menu selection unit 4, the control unit 3 checks whether or not the storage unit 10 stores the change information on the cooking menu. When the change information is stored in the storage unit 10, the control unit 3 causes the cooking menu display unit 6a to display the cooking menu and decoration information received from the menu selection unit 4. On the other hand, when the change information is not stored in the storage unit 10, the control unit 3 causes the cooking menu display unit 6a to display only the cooking menu received from the menu selection unit 4.

According to the rice cooker of embodiment 2 of the present invention, since the cooking menu selected by the wireless communication terminal 30 is displayed on the cooking menu display unit 6a as the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit 4, it is not necessary to operate the menu selection unit 4.

(embodiment 3)

Fig. 7 is a block diagram showing a structure of a rice cooker according to embodiment 3 of the present invention. The rice cooker of embodiment 3 differs from the rice cooker of embodiment 1 in that: the rice cooker is further provided with a transmission information generating part 11, the storage part 10 stores raw material information related to a cooking menu corresponding to change information of a cooking process, and the raw material information stored in the storage part 10 can be confirmed through the wireless communication terminal 30.

The transmission information generating unit 11 generates transmission information from the information stored in the storage unit 10, and is constituted by, for example, a CPU.

In embodiment 3, the transmission unit 8 receives information on the cooking menu selected by the wireless communication terminal 30 via the wireless communication unit 7. The received information decoding unit 9 decodes the information received by the transmission unit 8, and when the decoded information includes the change information and the material information (for example, the rice variety, the place of production, the year of harvest, and the like), causes the storage unit 10 to store the change information and the material information.

When the wireless communication unit 7 receives a request for inquiring the material information from the wireless communication terminal 30, the transmission information generating unit 11 converts the material information stored in the storage unit 10 into transmission data and transmits the transmission data to the wireless communication unit 7 via the transmission unit 6. The wireless communication unit 7 transmits the transmission data received from the transmission unit 8 to the wireless communication terminal 30.

According to the rice cooker of embodiment 3, since the raw material information stored in the storage unit 10 can be easily checked by the wireless communication terminal 30, it is possible to suppress a reduction in usability even when a display unit of a fixed display system is used as the display unit 6.

(embodiment 4)

The rice cooker according to embodiment 4 of the present invention is different from the rice cooker according to embodiment 1 in that: the wireless signal processing unit 72 of the wireless communication unit 7 includes an electrically rewritable storage unit (not shown). The storage unit of the wireless signal processing unit 72 is configured to be able to store the electric signal received by the antenna 71.

According to the rice cooker of embodiment 4, the wireless communication terminal 30 reads the information stored in the storage unit of the wireless signal processing unit 72, and thereby it is possible to easily confirm whether or not the rice cooker accurately recognizes the information transmitted from the wireless communication terminal 30.

In addition, any of the above embodiments can be combined as appropriate, whereby the effects of the embodiments can be obtained.

The present invention has been fully described in connection with the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, but it is apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein. It is to be understood that such changes and modifications are encompassed within the present invention as long as they do not depart from the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

For example, although a rice cooker has been described in the above description, the present invention is also applicable to a cooker such as a microwave oven that can communicate with a wireless communication terminal.

In the above description, the heating device 2 heats the cooking object in the pan 1 by inductively heating the pan 1, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the heating device 2 may be a device that directly heats the cooking object.

The disclosures of the specification, drawings and claims of japanese laid-open application No. 2013-036574, filed on 27/2/2013, are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

Industrial applicability

The present invention is useful for cooking devices such as rice cookers, because it can cook food appropriately even in cooking devices having a display unit of a fixed display system.

Description of the reference symbols

1: cooking; 2: a heating device; 3: a control unit; 4: a menu selection unit; 5: a start instruction unit; 6: a display unit; 7: a wireless communication unit; 8: a conveying section; 9: a received information decoding unit; 10: a storage unit; 11: a transmission information generation unit; 21: a heating coil; 22: an inverter circuit; 71: an antenna; 72: a wireless signal processing unit.

Claims (8)

1. A cooking apparatus, wherein the cooking apparatus has:

a heating device for heating the cooking object;

a menu selection unit for selecting a specific cooking menu from the plurality of cooking menus;

a wireless communication unit that performs wireless communication with a wireless communication terminal;

a control unit for controlling the heating device to heat and cook the cooking object according to a control condition associated with the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit; and

a display unit for displaying information related to the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit,

when the wireless communication unit receives change information of the control condition from the wireless communication terminal and the menu selection unit selects a cooking menu corresponding to the change information, the control unit performs heating cooking of the cooking object based on the changed control condition in which the control condition associated with the cooking menu is changed based on the change information, and causes the display unit to display decoration information indicating that the wireless communication unit has received the change information in addition to the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit.

2. The cooking apparatus according to claim 1,

the display unit is a display unit of a fixed display mode.

3. The cooking apparatus according to claim 1,

the cooking device further includes a storage unit for storing the change information,

when the cooking menu corresponding to the change information is selected by the menu selection unit in a state where the change information is stored in the storage unit, the control unit causes the display unit to display the decoration information in addition to the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit.

4. The cooking apparatus according to claim 2,

the cooking device further includes a storage unit for storing the change information,

when the cooking menu corresponding to the change information is selected by the menu selection unit in a state where the change information is stored in the storage unit, the control unit causes the display unit to display the decoration information in addition to the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit.

5. The cooking apparatus according to claim 3,

the cooker further has a start instruction section for instructing the start of cooking,

before the start of cooking is instructed by the start instruction unit, the control unit causes the display unit to display the decoration information in addition to the cooking menu selected by the menu selection unit.

6. The cooking device according to any one of claims 3 to 5,

the storage unit stores material information associated with a cooking menu corresponding to the change information,

the wireless communication unit outputs the material information stored in the storage unit to the wireless communication terminal when receiving an inquiry request for the material information from the wireless communication terminal.

7. The cooking device according to any one of claims 1 to 5,

the cooker is a rice cooker.

8. The cooking apparatus according to claim 6,

the cooker is a rice cooker.