Food preparation system

1. A food preparation system, comprising:

a food support platform configured to support food;

a camera with a field of view directed to the food support platform;

one or more heating units that are configured to heat food placed on the food support platform; and

a food preparation control unit for controlling the camera and the one or more heating units, the food preparation control unit including one or more processors and memory storing instructions, the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors cause the processors to perform operations comprising:

triggering image capturing of the camera to obtain one or more images of the food support platform while the food support platform supports a first food item;

performing ingredient recognition for the first food item based on the one or more images of the food support platform, including:

classifying a feature tensor of a respective image of the one or more images in a general classifier to identify one or more first-level food ingredient categories corresponding to the first food item; and

classifying the feature tensor of the respective image in a respective detailed classifier corresponding to each of the one or more first-level food ingredient categories to identify a corresponding second-level food ingredient category corresponding to the first food item, wherein the second-level food ingredient category is a sub-category of said each first-level food ingredient category; and,

adjusting the one or more heating units for heating the first food item in accordance with the ingredient recognition that has been performed.

2. The food preparation system of claim 1 , wherein the operations include:

monitoring content in the field of view of the camera; and

detecting a change in the field of view of the camera during the monitoring, wherein triggering image capturing of the camera to obtain the one or more images of the food support platform includes capturing a series of images over a period of time in response to detecting the change in the field of view of the camera.

3. The food preparation system of claim 2 , wherein the operations include:

prior to performing ingredient recognition for the first food item based on the one or more images of the food support platform, filtering each respective image of the one or more images of the food support platform using a baseline image captured before the first food item is placed on the food support platform.

4. The food preparation system of claim 1 , wherein classifying the feature tensor of the respective image of the one or more images in the general classifier to identify one or more first-level food ingredient categories corresponding to the first food item further includes:

sorting the one or more first-level food ingredient categories based on a respective food quantity corresponds to each of the one or more first-level food ingredient categories that have been identified for the first food item; and

selecting a predefined number of first-level food ingredient categories from the one or more first-level food ingredient categories for performing the classification using the respective detailed classifier corresponding to each of the predefined number of first-level food ingredient categories.

5. The food preparation system of claim 4 , wherein the operations further include:

identifying a first food recipe that includes the respective second-level food ingredient categories that are identified for the predefined number of first-level food ingredient categories; and

determining additional ingredients of the first food item based on the first food recipe, wherein the additional ingredients are not among the respective second-level food ingredient categories that are identified for the predefined number of first-level food ingredient categories.

6. The food preparation system of claim 5 , wherein the operations further include:

determining nutritional information for the first food item based on the respective second-level food ingredient categories that are identified for the predefined number of first-level food ingredient categories and the additional ingredients identified based on the first food recipe.

7. The food preparation system of claim 5 , wherein the operations further include:

identify a second food recipe that includes the respective second-level food ingredient categories that are identified for the predefined number of first-level food ingredient categories;

comparing nutritional information for the first food recipe and the second food recipe; and

providing a recommendation for adjusting cooking method based on the comparison of the nutritional information for the first food recipe and the second food recipe.