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US 10,617,124 B2Granted
Kitchen appliance and method
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips N.V.
InventorsWei Li, Yuqiang Wu, Zhongchi Luo
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A kitchen appliance (100) is disclosed comprising a compartment (110) for receiving flour, said compartment comprising a sensor (120) for producing a sensor reading indicative of a dielectric property of said flour or a product comprising said flour. The kitchen appliance further comprises a processing arrangement (130) communicatively coupled to the sensor for determining an initial moisture content of said flour or product from said sensor reading and adapted to generate a control signal indicative of an amount of water to be added to the compartment as a function of the determined moisture content. A method of controlling a flour product-based food preparation process is also disclosed.
Claims20
A kitchen appliance comprising:
- a compartment that comprises a floor for receiving a single quantity of flour or a single quantity of product that includes flour, wherein said compartment is provided with a sensor for producing a sensor reading indicative of a dielectric property of said single quantity of flour or said single quantity of product that includes flour, and wherein said compartment is further provided with an interchangeable mixing implement for performing a food processing function with said single quantity of flour or said single quantity of product that includes flour;
- and
- a processing arrangement communicatively coupled to the sensor (i) for determining an initial moisture content of said single quantity of flour or said single quantity of product that includes flour from said sensor reading, and (ii) for determining further moisture content in response to a series of periodic additional sensor readings, wherein said processing arrangement generates a control signal indicative of an amount of water to be added to said single quantity of flour or said single quantity of product that includes flour as a function of a trend in the dielectric property below a threshold value indicative of an optimal value of moisture based upon the determined initial moisture content and the determined further moisture content in response to the series of periodic additional sensor readings,
- wherein the sensor comprises a probe for transmitting a radio-frequency signal and for receiving a reflection of said radio-frequency signal, and wherein said dielectric property is determined as a ratio of reflected radio-frequency power to transmitted radio-frequency power.
1 more element
A method of controlling a flour product-based food preparation process, the method comprising:
- measuring, via a sensor for producing a sensor reading indicative of a dielectric property of flour or a product that includes flour received in a compartment that comprises a floor for receiving a single quantity of the flour or a single quantity of product that includes flour, the dielectric property of the single quantity of flour or the single quantity of product that includes flour during the food preparation process, and wherein the compartment is further provided with an interchangeable mixing implement for performing a food processing function with the single quantity of flour or the single quantity of product that includes flour;
- determining, via a processing arrangement, an initial moisture content of the single quantity of flour or the single quantity of product that includes flour from the measured dielectric property from the sensor reading and determining, via the processing arrangement, further moisture content in response to a series of periodic additional sensor readings;
- and
- generating, via the processing arrangement, a control signal for adding water to the single quantity of flour or the single quantity of product that includes flour as a function of a trend in the dielectric property below a threshold value indicative of an optimal value of moisture based upon said determined initial moisture content and the determined further moisture content in response to the series of periodic additional sensor readings,
- wherein measuring, via the sensor, comprises transmitting, via a probe, a radio-frequency signal and receiving, via the probe, a reflection of said radio-frequency signal, and wherein said dielectric property is determined as a ratio of reflected radio-frequency power to transmitted radio-frequency power.
2 more elements
A kitchen appliance comprising:
- a compartment that comprises a floor for receiving a single quantity of flour or a single quantity of product that includes flour, wherein said compartment is provided with a sensor for producing a sensor reading indicative of a dielectric property of said single quantity of flour or said single quantity of product that includes flour, and wherein said compartment is further provided with an interchangeable mixing implement for performing a food processing function with said single quantity of flour or said single quantity of product that includes flour;
- and
- a processing arrangement communicatively coupled to the sensor (i) for determining an initial moisture content of said single quantity of flour or said single quantity of product that includes flour from said sensor reading, and (ii) for determining further moisture content in response to a series of periodic additional sensor readings, wherein said processing arrangement generates a control signal indicative of an amount of water to be added to said single quantity of flour or said single quantity of product that includes flour as a function of a trend in the dielectric property below a threshold value indicative of an optimal value of moisture based upon the determined initial moisture content and the determined further moisture content in response to the series of periodic additional sensor readings,
- wherein the sensor comprises a probe for transmitting a radio-frequency signal and for receiving a reflection of said radio-frequency signal, and wherein said dielectric property is determined as a ratio of reflected radio-frequency power to transmitted radio-frequency power,
- wherein the sensor is located in one selected from the group consisting of (i) the floor of the compartment, (ii) above said single quantity of flour or said single quantity of product that includes flour in the compartment, and (iii) the interchangeable mixing implement, and
- wherein the processing arrangement comprises a detection stage for detecting the sensor reading, a determination stage for determining the initial moisture content from the detected sensor reading and a water adding stage for generating the control signal.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.