Method and cooking apparatus for controlling a food cooking process

1. A method of controlling a process for cooking food having a cooking parameter dependent on an initial temperature of the food to be cooked, the method comprising the steps of:

detecting the initial temperature of the food;

determining a state of said food based on the initial temperature of said food;

determining, from the state of said food, a plurality of food state categories, wherein each of said plurality of food state categories is associated with a temperature range and each of said plurality of temperature ranges having a preset cooking parameter;

obtaining probabilities associated with each of said determined plurality of food state categories, wherein said probabilities represent a likelihood of said state of said food being in one of the plurality of food state categories;

obtaining said preset cooking parameters associated with each of said determined plurality of food state categories;

determining a cooking time of said food based on a combination of the obtained probabilities for each of said plurality of food state categories and said obtained preset cooking parameters for each of said plurality of food state categories; and

controlling the cooking process based on the determined cooking time.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of temperature ranges are continuous without overlap.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining a cooking time comprises:

calculating a product of each of said preset cooking parameters and a corresponding probability; and

summing the calculated products.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining a cooking time comprises:

assigning different numerical values to the plurality of temperature ranges;

calculating a product of each numerical value and a corresponding probability; and

summing said products and a continuous cooking parameter function with respect to temperature.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprises:

generating the continuous cooking parameter function with respect to the temperature based on the preset cooking parameters and the plurality of temperature ranges.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of controlling the cooking process comprises:

controlling at least one of: a cooking temperature, a cooking time, a cooking humidity, and a cooking pressure during the cooking process.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of temperature ranges is above 0° C.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of detecting an initial temperature comprises:

estimating the initial temperature of the food based on a measurement of a moisture loss rate of the food during the cooking process.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of food state categories comprises one or more of a partially frozen, a defrosted, a defrosted but cold, and at a room temperature.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of food state categories is determined based on a surface temperature, a core temperature, and an average temperature of the food.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the average temperature is determined based on the surface temperature and the core temperature.

12. An apparatus for cooking food having a cooking parameter dependent on an initial temperature of the food to be cooked, the cooking apparatus comprising:

a detector configured to detect the initial temperature of the food;

an evaluator configured to:

determine a state of said food based on the initial temperature of said food;

determine, from the state of said food, a plurality of food state categories, wherein each of said plurality of food state categories being associated with a temperature range and each of said plurality of temperature ranges having a preset cooking parameter;

obtain probabilities associated with each of said determined plurality of food state categories, wherein said probabilities represent a likelihood said state of said food is in one of the plurality of food state categories; and

obtain the preset cooking parameters associated with each of said determined plurality of food state categories; and

a controller configured to:

determine a cooking time of said food based on a combination of said obtained probabilities for each of the plurality of food state categories and said obtained preset cooking parameters for each of the plurality of food state categories; and

control the cooking process based on the determined cooking time.

13. The cooking apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of temperature ranges are continuous without overlap.

14. The cooking apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the controller is further configured to:

calculate a product of each of said preset cooking parameters and a corresponding probability; and

control the cooking process by summation of the calculated products.

15. The cooking apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the controller is further configured to:

assign different numerical values to the plurality of temperature ranges;

calculate a product of each numerical value and a corresponding probability; and

control the cooking process by summation of the products and a continuous cooking parameter function with respect to temperature.

16. The cooking apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the controller is further configured to:

control at least one of: a cooking temperature, a cooking time, a cooking humidity and a cooking pressure during the cooking process.

17. The cooking apparatus of claim 12 , wherein at least one of the plurality of temperature ranges is above 0° C.

18. The cooking apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the detector is further configured to:

estimate the initial temperature of the food based on a measurement of a moisture loss rate of the food during the cooking process.