IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,502,027
Granted Patent B2
US 12,502,027 · App. 17/279,109 · Granted Dec 23, 2025

Method for treating products to be cooked, and domestic cooking appliance

Inventors: Hans-Martin Eiter (Kirchweidach, DE); Stefan Schürf (Siegsdorf, DE)
Assignee: BSH Hausgeräte GmbH
A47J36/32A23L5/15F24C7/046F24C7/087G01K13/00G01N33/02A23V2002/00
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,502,027
App. No.
17/279,109
Granted
Dec 23, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

In a method for treating food to be cooked in a household cooking appliance, a sensor measures a local distribution of a surface condition of the food to be cooked. A measure of deviation is calculated from the measured local distribution and multiple local power distributions that are known in advance in the region of the food to be cooked in correspondence with different sets of setting values of a unit for treating the food to be cooked. A unit for treating the food to be cooked is operated by using the set of setting values of the one of the power distributions for which the measure of deviation fulfills a predetermined criterion.

Claims (31)

1 . A method for treating food to be cooked in a household cooking appliance, the method comprising:

measuring by a sensor a local distribution of a degree of browning of the food to be cooked;

calculating a respective measure of deviation between the measured local distribution and each one of multiple local power distributions that are known in advance in the region of the food to be cooked, wherein each of the multiple local power distributions corresponds with different sets of setting values of a unit for treating the food to be cooked; and

operating the unit for treating the food to be cooked using the set of setting values of the one of the local power distributions for which the respective measure of deviation fulfills a predetermined criterion.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined criterion corresponds to a greatest deviation between the measured local distribution and the multiple local power distributions.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the measure of deviation is a comparative summation or a difference value between the measured local distribution and the multiple local power distributions.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the unit for treating the food to be cooked is a member selected from the group consisting of an electric radiant heating body, an induction coil, a microwave facility, a radiant-oriented cooling air blower, a radiant-oriented hot air facility, and a radiant-oriented water supplying facility.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the unit for treating the food to be cooked is an electric radiant heating body comprising at least two radiant heating bodies, with the set of setting values comprising setting values for at least two of the radiant heating bodies.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein one of the at least two radiant heating bodies provides a bottom heating function, and another of the at least two radiant heating bodies provides an upper heating function.

7 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising determining the one of the power distributions that is known in advance only for a set of setting values of the at least two radiant heating bodies.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising executing the steps cyclically.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises an optical sensor or an infrared sensor.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined criterion is based on providing the food to be cooked with either a uniform distribution or a predetermined non-uniform distribution of the degree of browning.

11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a position of the food to be cooked in a cooking compartment; and

using only the local power distributions that relate to said position to calculate the measure of deviation.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the local distribution of the degree of browning is measured by the sensor for multiple items of food to be cooked, with the measure of deviation for the items of food to be cooked being calculated jointly from the measured distribution of the degree of browning and the multiple local power distributions that are known in advance in the region of the items of food to be cooked, and with the unit for treating the food to be cooked being operated using the set of setting values of the one of the power distributions for which the measure of deviation fulfills the predetermined criterion.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the measure of deviation is calculated for different part regions of the food to be cooked having different target values of the degree of browning from the measured local distribution of the degree of browning and the multiple local power distributions that are known in advance, with the unit for treating the food to be cooked being operated using the set of setting values of the one of the power distributions for which the measure of deviation fulfills the predetermined criterion.

14 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a position of the food to be cooked; and

adapting the known power distributions to the determined position of the food to be cooked.

15 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising adapting a height position of the food to be cooked to a group of known ones of the power distributions which group matches said height position.

16 . A household cooking appliance, comprising:

a cooking compartment;

a unit for treating a food to be cooked in the cooking compartment;

a sensor for determining a local distribution of a degree of browning of the food to be cooked; and

a control facility operably connected to the sensor and configured to calculate a respective measure of deviation between the local distribution and each of multiple local power distributions that are known in advance in the region of the food to be cooked, wherein each of the multiple local power distributions corresponds in correspondence with different sets of setting values of the unit for treating the food to be cooked, and to operate the unit for treating the food to be cooked using the set of setting values of the one of the local power distributions for which the respective measure of deviation fulfills a predetermined criterion.

17 . The household cooking appliance of claim 16 , wherein the unit for treating the food to be cooked is a member selected from the group consisting of an electric radiant heating body, an induction coil, a microwave facility, a radiant-oriented cooling air blower, a radiant-oriented hot air facility, and a radiant-oriented water supplying facility.

18 . The household cooking appliance of claim 16 , wherein the unit for treating the food to be cooked is an electric radiant heating body comprising at least two radiant heating bodies, with the set of setting values comprising setting values for at least two of the radiant heating bodies.

19 . The household cooking appliance of claim 18 , wherein one of the at least two radiant heating bodies provides a bottom heating function, and another of the at least two radiant heating bodies provides an upper heating function.

20 . The household cooking appliance of claim 16 , wherein the sensor comprises an optical sensor or an infrared sensor.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 24, 2021
From: EITER, HANS-MARTIN; SCHÜRF, STEFAN
To: BSH HAUSGERAETE GMBH
Reel/Frame 055694/0739 →
Priority Claims (2)
DE 10 2018 217 207.2 · Oct 9, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 217 811.9 · Oct 18, 2018 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20210386239A1 · Dec 16, 2021
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