Automatic cooking controlling apparatus and method employing a narrow viewing angle of an infrared absorptive thermopile sensor

Abstract

In an automatic cooking controlling apparatus and method for a cooker, the apparatus includes a turntable installed within a chamber of the cooker for placing a to-be-cooked object thereon, an infrared filter for filtering only the infrared wavelength bands reflected from the to-be-cooked object, an infrared adjusting lens means for adjusting the wavelength filtered by the infrared filter, a magnetron for heating the to-be-cooked object, a driving motor for rotating the turntable, a thermopile sensor for detecting an infrared signal generated from the to-be-cooked object, a signal processor for processing the signal detected from the infrared sensor, and a controller for controlling the oscillation mode of the magnetron. In the controlling method, a defrost mode control is performed such that periodicity of output signals input from the sensor according to a constant period is checked to determine the size of the to-be-cooked object, the periodic signals are analyzed based on the presence of the periodicity, and then a cooking reference value suitable for the defrost mode is taken, thereby controlling the oscillation of the magnetron. A general cooking mode control is performed such that periodicity of detection signals input from the sensor according to a constant period is checked to determine the size of the to-be-cooked object, the periodic signals are analyzed based on the presence of the periodicity, and then a cooking reference value suitable for the general cooking mode is taken, thereby controlling the oscillation of the magnetron.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.