Kitchen device

A method of permitting delivery of electric power to a mechanism of a kitchen device for processing food, the kitchen device having:

• a base, the mechanism mounted in the base and operable using electrical power to cause processing of food;
• a vessel removably mounted on the base and including a bottom wall, a side wall extending upwardly from the bottom wall to a rim so as to provide a space to receive the food to be processed, with the rim surrounding an opening to the space;
• a lid removably coupled to the rim so as to at least partially close the opening;
• a first interlock circuit located in the vessel;
• and
• a second interlock circuit located in the base,
• the method comprising the steps of:
• coupling the vessel to the base, thereby providing electrical power to the first interlock circuit;
• coupling the lid to the vessel, thereby completing the first interlock circuit;
• and
• after completion of the first interlock circuit, sending a non-contact output that activates the second interlock circuit thereby permitting delivery of electric power to the mechanism.

A motor-operated kitchen device, the kitchen device including:

• a base having a motor;
• a vessel removably received on the base, the vessel having a bottom wall and a sidewall extending upwardly therefrom, the bottom wall and sidewall defining a space to receive ingredients, the sidewall extends upwardly to a rim, the rim defining an opening to the space;
• a shaft drivingly coupled to the motor and extending into the space, the shaft being configured for rotation about an upright axis;
• a translating member at least partly received by the shaft and movable relative to the shaft between a first position and a second position, the translating member being biased towards the first position;
• a lid configured to be received on the rim to close the opening, the lid having an interlock portion located such that the interlock portion moves the translating member to the second position when the lid is received on the rim;
• and
• an interlock sensor configured to determine whether the translating member is in the second position, wherein the motor is only operable when the interlock sensor determines that the translating member is in the second position.

A kitchen device including:

• a base to connect to a mains power source, the base including:
• a motor to receive electrical power from the mains power source, the motor having a motor shaft to turn at a motor speed;
• a base electromagnetic coil to receive electrical power from the mains power source;
• and
• a microprocessor to control the base electromagnetic coil and also to control the motor in accordance with a motor control profile;
• and
• an accessory removably connected to the base so that the accessory is operable by the motor and including:
• a transmission circuit including an accessory electromagnetic coil and to produce an accessory identification signal indicative of a type of accessory,
• wherein the microprocessor is configured to:
• control the base electromagnetic coil to interact with the accessory electromagnetic coil, to thereby receive the accessory identification signal;
• and
• set the motor control profile as a function of the accessory identification signal.

A kitchen device having a base and an accessory removably connected to the base, the kitchen device including:

• a base encoder/decoder located in the base, and
• an accessory encoder/decoder located in the accessory, and
• a microprocessor to control the base and accessory encoder/decoder to interact with each other when the accessory is connected to the base,
• wherein the microprocessor is also configured to:
• control the base encoder to send a first transmission to the accessory decoder, the first transmission containing information encoded in frequency shift keying;
• and
• control the accessory encoder to send a second transmission to the base decoder, the second transmission containing information encoded in amplitude shift keying.