Microwave oven that recognizes position of food item within cavity for cooking and method of operating the same

A microwave oven comprising:

• a cavity configured to accept a food item for heating, the cavity providing an array of positions at which the food item can be placed;
• an infrared sensor comprising an array of pixels, each pixel configured to generate an output and each pixel corresponding to a different position of the array of positions of the cavity;
• a human-machine interface configured to provide an instruction to the user;
• and
• a controller in communication with the infrared sensor and the human-machine interface, the controller configured:
• (i) to determine a temperature at each position of the array of positions of the cavity as a function of the output of each pixel of the array of pixels;
• (ii) to recognize a rise and fall in the temperature at one or more positions of the array of positions within the cavity;
• (iii) to estimate the position or positions of the array of positions within the cavity that a food item occupies as a function of the one or more positions of the array of positions within the cavity where the controller recognized a rise and fall in temperature occurred;
• and
• (iv) to determine whether the position or positions that the food item is estimated to occupy is adequate for the controller to determine accurately a temperature of the food item during an automatic heating operation that utilizes the infrared sensor.