Granted Patent B2

US 12,513,235 · App. 18/469,185 · Granted Dec 30, 2025

Inventor: Michael V. Colston (Salt Lake City, UT)

Assignee: Traeger Pellet Grills, LLC

H04M1/72415A47J36/321G08C17/02H04L67/125H04Q9/00H04W4/80H04W68/005G08C2201/30G08C2201/42G08C2201/93

Abstract

Claims (36)

1 . An outdoor cooking appliance, comprising:

a hopper;

a combustion area, wherein the hopper is configured to provide combustible pellets to the combustion area; and

a controller comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the outdoor cooking appliance to:

receive one or more control instructions from one or more remote computing systems;

adjust at least one cooking characteristic of the outdoor cooking appliance based, at least in part, on the one or more control instructions;

monitor usage of the outdoor cooking appliance;

transmit usage data representative of the monitored usage to the one or more remote computing systems; and

instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the controller of the outdoor cooking appliance to collect remote diagnostic information.

2 . The outdoor cooking appliance of claim 1 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the controller of the outdoor cooking appliance to connect with at least one third party system.

3 . The outdoor cooking appliance of claim 1 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the controller of the outdoor cooking appliance to establish an initial connection with a mobile computing device prior to adjusting the at least one cooking characteristic of the outdoor cooking appliance.

4 . The outdoor cooking appliance of claim 3 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the controller of the outdoor cooking appliance to, responsive to establishing network communication with the one or more remote computing systems, terminate the initial connection with the mobile computing device.

5 . A cloud computing system for communicating with and controlling operation of an outdoor cooking appliance comprising a hopper configured to provide combustible pellets into a combustion area of the outdoor cooking appliance, the cloud computing system comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing system to:

responsive to receiving one or more communications, from a remote device, determine a location of the remote device relative to the outdoor cooking appliance;

responsive to determining that the location of the remote device is within a certain distance of the outdoor cooking appliance, enable control information to be transmitted to the outdoor cooking appliance;

transmit the control information to the outdoor cooking appliance; and

instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing system to receive usage information from the outdoor cooking appliance.

6 . The cloud computing system of claim 5 , wherein the outdoor cooking appliance is authorized to communicate with the cloud computing system based on configuration information received by the outdoor cooking appliance from a mobile computing device over direct connection between the outdoor cooking appliance and the mobile computing device.

7 . The cloud computing system of claim 5 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing system to, responsive to establishing a wireless connection with the outdoor cooking appliance, transmit an indication to a mobile computing device indicating that the wireless connection with the outdoor cooking appliance has been established.

8 . The cloud computing system of claim 5 , wherein the control information comprises instructions to change burn rate, temperature, cooking cycle, fuel dispensing, controlling timers, accessing recipes, displaying probe temperatures or alerts, turning the device on or off.

9 . The cloud computing system of claim 5 , wherein the cloud computing platform is configured to communicate with eCommerce services, social media, and customer service assistance.

10 . The cloud computing system of claim 5 , wherein the usage information comprises information related to parts of the outdoor cooking appliance that are likely to fail.

11 . The cloud computing system of claim 10 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing system to transmit the information related to parts of the outdoor cooking appliance that are likely to fail to a mobile computing device.

12 . The cloud computing system of claim 10 , wherein the adjusted cooking characteristic further comprises a custom cooking cycle for the outdoor cooking appliance.

13 . A method for controlling an outdoor cooking appliance using a software application on a remote device, the outdoor cooking appliance comprising at least one hardware controller and a hopper for providing combustible pellets into a combustion area of the outdoor cooking appliance, the method comprising:

determining a plurality of locations of the remote device relative to the outdoor cooking appliance;

transmitting an indication to the remote device indicating that the outdoor cooking appliance has established network communication with one or more remote computing systems; and

in response to determining that the remote device is within a certain distance of the outdoor cooking appliance based on a current location of the plurality of locations, directly transmitting one or more instructions to the outdoor cooking appliance from a cloud computing system.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein configuration information is transmitted from the remote device to the outdoor cooking appliance over a direct connection between the remote device and the outdoor cooking appliance.

15 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising registering the outdoor cooking appliance to an account associated with a user.

16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the communication authorizes the outdoor cooking appliance to establish network communication with the one or more remote computing systems.

17 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising the step of receiving a request from the outdoor cooking appliance for permission to establish network communication with the one or more remote computing systems.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (11)

References Cited (377)