Patent Application
20080102175
This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2006-0105133, filed on Oct. 27, 2006, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooking apparatus and method of displaying caloric information. More particularly, a cooking apparatus and method of displaying caloric information, capable of calculating fat removed by cooking in terms of caloric value to display information on a removed caloric value to a user, and displaying caloric information of food after cooking.
2. Description of the Related Art
Food is cooked, for instance, by inserting the food into a gas oven or an electrical oven and directly applying heat to the food, by heating a stew container in which the food is contained, or by inserting the food into a microwave oven and exposing the food to high-frequency radio waves. In addition to the gas oven, the electrical oven, and the microwave oven, a conventional cooking appliance such as a steam oven that cooks the food in a cooking chamber with steam has recently come into the market. Thus, when the food is cooked with steam, the steam is uniformly transmitted to the entire surface of the food, and therefore, the food can be cooked while preserving proper moisture without being burned or undercooked, so that the food is delicious and healthy.
Recently, with regard to cooking the food, the consumers attach more importance to flavor and nutrition of the cooked food rather than cooking method or speed, and pay more attention to various kinds of health information on the food. In particular, a person who wants to adjust his/her weight attempts to track the caloric value of the food ingested, and then ingest the food having a proper caloric value. In this case, the consumers must find and remember information on the caloric value per unit weight of the food ingested, and thus, know the weight of the food ingested.
In order to remove this inconvenience, a cooking appliance displaying caloric information is proposed in Korean Patent Application Publication No. 1992-3804. In this publication, the cooking appliance includes a device of designating type and weight of food by means of automatic cooking. Therefore, information on a caloric value per unit weight of the food, which is stored in a microcomputer, is read out, and thus, the caloric information of the food is obtained. The obtained caloric information is displayed to the consumer.
However, when the food, particularly meat or fish, is cooked, part of oil (fat) is generally removed. The conventional cooking appliance provides only the caloric information of the food before cooking, and thus fails to exactly provide the caloric information of the food after cooking. Further, the conventional cooking appliance does not provide any caloric information on the fat removed in the cooking process. The amount of the fat removed from the food is varied depending on the type of cooking appliance, cooking heat source, and cooking process. As such, when the caloric information on the fat removed in the cooking process is provided to the consumer, the consumer can select the cooking heat source or the cooking process which is more healthful.
Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a cooking apparatus and method of displaying caloric information, capable of displaying information on a caloric value of fat removed during a cooking operation, to a consumer.
It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a cooking apparatus and method of displaying caloric information, capable of providing a consumer with accurate information on the caloric value contained in various types of food after each type of food is cooked.
Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present invention are achieved by providing a cooking apparatus which includes a main body having a cooking chamber and a display unit displaying information thereon, a dripping tray placed in the cooking chamber collecting fat discharged from the food during a cooking operation of the cooking apparatus, at least one weight sensor detecting a weight of the dripping tray, and a controller calculating the weight of fat collected in the dripping tray, the weight of which is detected by the weight sensor for the dripping tray, in terms of caloric value, and displaying the calculated result on the display unit.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the weight sensor for the dripping tray is installed under the dripping tray, and detects the weight of the fat collected in the dripping tray. Further, the weight sensor for the dripping tray is set a zero point when the dripping tray is placed thereon.
Further, according to an aspect of the present invention, the controller controls the weight sensor for the dripping tray to detect the weight of the fat in the dripping tray when a caloric information display order is input by a user, and displays the caloric value corresponding to the detected weight of the fat.
It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a method of displaying caloric information, in which a caloric value of fat removed from food is displayed. The method includes cooking the food, detecting a weight of the fat removed during cooking, calculating the detected weight of the fat in terms of caloric value, and displaying the caloric value corresponding to the weight of the removed fat. According to an aspect of the present invention, detecting a weight of the fat removed in the cooking step includes detecting a weight of a dripping tray that is installed under the food and collects the fat discharged from the food. Further, according to an aspect of the present invention, the caloric value corresponding to the weight of the removed fat is displayed when a caloric information display order is input by a consumer or automatically displayed when the cooking is completed.
It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a cooking apparatus, which includes a main body having a cooking chamber and a display unit displaying information thereon, a dripping tray placed in the cooking chamber collecting fat discharged from the food during a cooking operation of the cooking apparatus, at least one first weight sensor detecting a weight of the dripping tray, at least one second weight sensor detecting a weight of food, and a controller subtracting a caloric value based on a weight of fat collected in the dripping tray from a caloric value based on an initial weight of the food, and displaying the subtracted result after cooking the food on the display unit.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the food includes at least one type that is selected from a cooking menu set in the cooking apparatus by means of a user, or is input through a bar code reader or a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader that reads out the type of the food.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the cooking apparatus further includes a shelf on which the food is placed. According to an aspect of the present invention, the second weight sensor for the food is installed under the shelf, and detects the initial weight of the food.
Further, according to an aspect of the present invention, the controller controls the second weight sensor for the food to detect the initial weight of the food before cooking to thereby obtain a caloric value of the food before cooking, controls the first weight sensor for the dripping tray to detect the weight of the fat in the dripping tray, when a caloric information display order is input by a consumer, to thereby obtain a caloric value corresponding to the weight of the removed fat, subtracts the caloric value corresponding to the weight of the removed fat from the caloric value of the food before cooking, and displays a current caloric value of the food.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the cooking apparatus further includes a memory storing information on the caloric value per unit weight of each type of food. According to an aspect of the present invention, the controller obtains the caloric value of the food before cooking based upon the information stored in the memory, on the caloric value per unit weight of each type of food and based upon input information on the type of food. Further, according to an aspect of the present invention, the controller reads out information on a type of the food and the caloric value per unit weight of the food from a bar code or radio frequency identification (RFID), and obtains the caloric value of the food before cooking.
Furthermore, according to an aspect of the present invention, the controller displays any one of the caloric value of the food before cooking, the caloric value of the food after cooking, and a removed caloric value by means of an order of a user or automatically
It is yet another aspect of the invention to provide a method of displaying caloric information, in which a caloric value of food is displayed. The method includes detecting an initial weight of the food to obtain the caloric value of the food before cooking, cooking the food, detecting a weight of the fat removed during cooking to obtain removed caloric value, subtracting the removed caloric value from the caloric value of the food before cooking to obtain the caloric value of the food after cooking, and displaying the caloric value of the food after cooking.
According to an aspect of the present invention, obtaining the caloric value of the food before cooking includes obtaining the caloric value of the food before cooking based upon the information on the type of food, on the initial weight of the food, and on the caloric value per unit weight of each type of food.
Further, according to an aspect of the present invention, the type of food is selected from a cooking menu or be read out from a bar code or radio frequency identification (RFID).
Also, according to an aspect of the present invention, the information on the caloric value per unit weight of each type of food may be stored in a memory of a cooking apparatus or be read out from a bar code or a radio frequency identification (RFID) of each type of food.
Meanwhile, according to an aspect of the present invention, obtaining the caloric value removed by the cooking includes detecting a weight of a dripping tray that is installed below the food and collects the fat discharged from the food, and calculating the caloric value corresponding to the detected weight of the fat.
Further, according to an aspect of the present invention, the caloric value of the food after cooking is displayed when a caloric information display order is input by a consumer or be automatically displayed when the cooking is completed. Also, according to an aspect of the present invention, the method further includes displaying the caloric value of the food before cooking or a removed caloric value.
These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.
The cooking chamber 106 further comprises shelf struts 324 on opposite sidewalls thereof, which support a shelf 304 on which the food is placed. The cooking chamber 106 comprises a dripping tray 302, which collects moisture or fat dripping down from the food placed on the shelf 304 in the cooking process. The shelf 304 is constructed in such a manner that transverse ribs 306 intersect with longitudinal ribs 308. The structure of the shelf 304 may vary as long as moisture or fat falling out of the food placed on the shelf 304 can pass through the shelf 304. Further, the dripping tray 302 can be constructed in various structures.
The cooking chamber 106 further comprises a high-frequency heater 122 heated by a magnetron on one side thereof. The cooking chamber 106 further comprises a radiant heater 124 such as a grill heater on an upper portion thereof. Further, a steam heater 126 that heats water to form steam and supplies the formed steam into the cooking chamber 106 is installed between the main body 100 and the cooking chamber 106. In addition, various heat sources capable of cooking the food in the cooking chamber may be installed as needed. Among the above-described heaters, some may be installed.
The construction of the cooking apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be functionally described with reference to
The control operation of the cooking apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
Next, from operation 102, the process move to operation 104, where it is determined whether a caloric information display order is input by the user during or after cooking. Alternatively, when the information on the removed caloric value is adapted to be automatically displayed to the user when the cooking is completed, it is determined whether the cooking is completed. Therefore, the caloric information can be manually displayed only when the user's display order is input, or automatically displayed when the cooking is completed. In this manner, the present invention includes both automatically displaying the caloric information when the cooking is completed and manually displaying the caloric information only when the user's display order is input, for example.
When it is determined that the cooking is completed, or when the caloric information display order of the user is input in operation 104, the process moves to operation 106, where the controller 140 controls the weight sensor 312 for the dripping tray to detect a weight of the fat collected in the dripping tray 302. Thus, when receiving a detection order signal from the controller 140, the weight sensor 312 for the dripping tray is operable and then detects the weight of the fat. Alternatively, while continuing to detect the weight of the fat, when receiving a detection order signal from the controller 140, the weight sensor 312 for the dripping tray may send the weight of the fat detected at that time to the controller 140.
Next, from operation 106, the process moves to operation 108, where the controller 140 calculates a caloric value corresponding to the weight of the removed fat which is detected by the weight sensor 312 for the dripping tray. As described above, the caloric value of the fat can be calculated by multiplying by approximately 9 kcal/g regardless of the type of food from which the fat is extracted. Subsequently, the process then moves to operation 110, where the calculated caloric value of the fat is displayed on the display unit 102, so that the user is informed of how much the caloric value of the fat is removed during cooking.
Thus, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the cooking apparatus informs the consumer, who is interested in the caloric value of the food for the purpose of medical treatment or weight control, of the caloric value of the removed fat with accuracy. Furthermore, the consumer can directly compare and verify the caloric value of the fat that is removed from the food and is varied depending on a type of cooking appliance, a type of cooking heat source, and a cooking process, so that he/she can be provided with the information on the cooking heat source or the cooking process which is more healthful.
Hereinafter, a cooking apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention and a method of displaying caloric information will be described with reference to
The bar code reader 160 is an input device to read out information from a bar code that is attached to the container of the food and contains the manufacturer details and type of the food as well as other pieces of cooking information. Although the bar code reader 160 illustrated in
The construction of the cooking apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be functionally described with reference to
Herein, the type of food can be directly selected and input from the cooking menu by the consumer, or read out from the bar code. However, the type of food is selected and input from the automatic cooking menu stored in the memory 180 without the bar code reader. Further, the type of food may be input through the bar code reader or the RFID reader without the automatic cooking menu.
Herein, the memory 180 stores information on the caloric value per weight of each food in addition to the type of food based on the automatic cooking menu and the optimal cooking conditions, as follows. The following data is information on the standard caloric value of each food used in the Korean Dietetic Association.
Herein, the case in which the information on the caloric value per unit weight of each food is stored in the memory 180 has been described. However, if the bar code has the information on the type of each food and the information on the caloric value per unit weight of the corresponding food, it does not matter that the information on the caloric value per unit weight of each food is provided to the controller 140 through the bar code reader 160.
The control operation of the cooking apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
Next, in operation 206, it is determined whether a cooking start order is input. When the cooking start order is input, the process moves to operation 208 where the controller 140 operates at least one of the heaters 122, 124 and 126 according to cooking conditions, thereby cooking the food. When the food begins to be cooked, moisture, fat, etc. are removed from the food placed on the shelf 304, and are then collected into the dripping tray 302. Next, in operation 210, it is determined whether a caloric information display order is input by the user during or after cooking.
Alternatively, when the information on the caloric value of the removed fat is adapted to be automatically displayed to the user when the cooking is completed, it is determined whether the cooking is completed in operation 210.
Subsequently, when it is determined that the cooking is completed in operation 210, or when the caloric information display order of the user is input, the process moves to operation 212 where the controller 140 controls the weight sensor 312 for the dripping tray to detect a weight of the fat collected in the dripping tray 302. When receiving a detection order signal from the controller 140, the weight sensor 312 for the dripping tray can be operated and then detect the weight of the fat. Alternatively, while continuing to detect the weight of the fat, when receiving a detection order signal from the controller 140, the weight sensor 312 for the dripping tray sends the weight of the fat detected at that time to the controller 140.
Next, the process moves to operation 214 where the controller 140 calculates the caloric value corresponding to the weight of the removed fat which is detected by the weight sensor 312 for the dripping tray. As described above, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the caloric value of the fat is calculated by multiplying by approximately 9 kcal/g regardless of the type of food from which the fat is extracted. Then, the process moves to operation 216, where the controller 140 calculates the caloric value of the food after cooking from both the caloric value, calculated in operation 204, of the food before cooking and the caloric value of the removed fat obtained in operation 214. The process then moves to operation 218, where the calculated caloric value, calculated in operation 216, of the food after cooking is displayed on the display unit 102, so that the user is informed of how much the caloric value of the food has changed. In operation 218 of displaying the caloric information, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the display unit 102 alternately and automatically displays information on the caloric value of the removed fat and initial information on the caloric value of the food before cooking in addition to the information on the caloric value of the food after cooking, or displays each piece of caloric information in a toggle way when the user repetitively pushes a caloric information display order button.
Thus, according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the cooking apparatus can accurately provide the information on the caloric value that the food ingested finally by the consumer has.
As described above, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the caloric information of the fat removed in the cooking process of the cooking apparatus can be displayed to the consumer. Further, the consumer can directly compare the caloric values of the fat that is removed from the food depending on the type of cooking appliance, cooking heat source, and cooking process, so that he/she can be provided with the information on the cooking heat source or the cooking process which is healthiest.
In addition, according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the caloric information of the food after cooking and that the consumer actually takes rather than that of the food before cooking can be accurately provided.
Although few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may by made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2006-0105133 | Oct 2006 | KR | national |
