Mobile application for controlling outdoor grill

1. A method for controlling a wood-pellet grill using a software application on a remote device, the wood-pellet grill comprising at least one hardware controller and a hopper having an auger and for loading combustible pellets into a combustion area of the wood-pellet grill, the method comprising:

receiving a request from the wood-pellet grill for permission to establish network communication with one or more remote computing systems;

providing a notification with a user interface of the remote device, the notification conveying the request for permission to establish network communication with one or more remote computing systems;

detecting a user interaction with the remote device, the user interaction granting permission to establish network communication with one or more remote computing systems; and

transmitting a data packet to the wood-pellet grill, the data packet authorizing the wood-pellet grill to establish network communication with one or more remote computing systems.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

detecting, at the remote device, a user interaction to initiate the software application on the remote device; and

in response to the detected user interaction, initiating the software application on the remote device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more remote computing systems comprises a cloud service.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more remote computing systems comprises one or more of a data analytics system, a third-party advertisement system, a remote diagnostic system, an eCommerce service, a social media network, or a customer service system.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing, at the remote device, a prompt to a user to input demographic information;

receiving demographic information via one or more detected user interactions; and

transmitting the received demographic information to a cloud platform associated with the cloud service of the one or more remote computing systems to register the wood-pellet grill to a user account.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, via detected user interactions with the remote device, instructions including one or more changes to a cooking procedure that be implemented by the wood-pellet grill.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving usage data regarding the wood-pellet grill from the one or more remote computing systems.

8. The method of claim 1 , further providing at the remote device indications of conditions of monitored functions of the wood-pellet grill.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

detecting, in response to providing the indications of conditions of monitored functions of the wood-pellet grill, a user interaction with the remote device;

generating user-specified control instructions based on the detected user interaction with the remote device; and

transmitting the user-specified control instructions to the wood-pellet grill to be implemented by the wood-pellet grill.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

displaying one or more user-selectable elements related to downloadable recipes;

detecting a user interaction with the one or more user-selectable elements related to downloadable recipes; and

in response to the detected user interaction, downloading one or more recipes and providing the recipe to the wood-pellet grill.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform steps comprising:

receiving, at a remote device, an indication that a wood-pellet grill is attempting to communicate with one or more remote computing systems, wherein the wood-pellet grill comprises a hopper having an auger and for loading combustible pellets into a combustion area of the wood-pellet grill;

detecting, at the remote device, a first user interaction indicating that the wood-pellet grill is permitted to communicate with the one or more remote computing systems;

transmitting an indication of permission to one or more of the wood-pellet grill or the one or more remote computing systems;

receiving confirmation from at least one of the one or more remote computing systems indicating that the wood-pellet grill is in network communication with the one or more remote computing systems;

providing a notification with a user interface of the remote device that the wood-pellet grill is available to receive instructions;

detecting, at the remote device, a second user interaction indicating that a particular operation is to be taken by the wood-pellet grill;

generating one or more instructions to cause the hopper of the wood-pellet grill to adjust a rate at which wood pellets are fed into the combustion area of the wood-pellet in order to achieve the particular operation; and

transmitting the one or more generated instructions to the wood-pellet grill.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising instructions thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the processor to further perform a step of provide one or more of an timer alert, a probe alert, or a temperature alert with the user interface of the remote device.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising instructions thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the processor to further perform a step of displaying, via the remote device, a custom cooking cycle graphical user interface.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 , further comprising instructions thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the processor to further perform steps of:

detecting a user interaction with user-selectable elements of the custom cooking cycle graphical user interface;

based on the detected user interaction, generating instructions for a customized smoking cycle; and

transmitting the instructions for the customized smoking cycle to the wood-pellet grill.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising instructions thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the processor to further perform a step of, in response to detecting a user interaction to save a customize cooking cycle, storing a data structure representing the customized cooking cycle within one or more of a storage system of the one or more of the remote computing systems, a memory of the wood-pellet grill, or a memory of the remote device.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising instructions thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the processor to further perform a step of, in response to detecting a user interaction to initiate a recipe on the wood-pellet grill, generating and transmitting instructions to the wood-pellet grill to adjust one or more smoking settings of the wood-pellet grill.

17. A wood-pellet grill, comprising:

a hopper and an auger;

a combustion area, wherein the hopper and auger are configured to load combustible pellets into the combustion area; and

a controller comprising:

at least one processor

at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the wood-pellet grill to:

attempt to establish network communication with one or more remote computing systems;

receive authorization from a remote device to establish network communication with the one or more remote computing systems;

establish network communication with the one or more remote computing systems;

communicate wirelessly with the remote device to link the wood-pellet grill with the remote device;

receive one or more communications from the remote device, the one or more communications comprising instructions for controlling the wood-pellet grill;

in response to receiving the one or more communications, adjust at least one cooking characteristic of the wood-pellet grill based on the instructions of the one or more communications;

monitor usage of the wood-pellet grill; and

transmit usage data representative of the monitored usage to one or more of the one or more remote computing systems or the remote device.

18. The wood-pellet grill of claim 17 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the controller of the wood-pellet grill to, in response to receiving instructions to perform a custom cooking cycle from the remote device, initiate the custom cooking cycle.

19. The wood-pellet grill of claim 17 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the controller of the wood-pellet grill to:

in response to receiving instructions to perform a user-selected recipe from the remote, implement the user selected recipe; and

adjust an amount of wood pellets to be delivered to the combustion area of the wood-pellet grill to implement the user selected recipe.

20. The wood-pellet grill of claim 19 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the controller of the wood-pellet grill to further adjust the amount of pellets to be delivered to the combustion area of the wood-pellet grill based on one or more of a time interval identified in the user-selected recipe or temperature data received from a temperature probe of the wood-pellet grill.