JPH06123A - rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] An object of the present invention is to provide a rice cooker having a function of determining the rice cooking process according to the freshness of rice. [Structure] The heating means 3 is provided at the bottom of the main body 1, and the heating means 3 is provided.
Further, a control means 7 for controlling the rice is provided, and a time measuring means 6 for measuring time, a fresh rice degree input means 8 for the user to input the freshness degree of rice, and a freshness degree as an input to determine the rice cooking process. It is equipped with a cooking process determination means 9 for performing. A temperature detecting element 4 is provided at the center bottom of the inner pot 2. The rice cooking process determining means 9 determines rice cooking process parameters by inputting the freshness degree. In cooking rice, the control means 7
The heating means 3 is controlled according to the rice cooking process determined by the rice cooking process determining means 9 by inputting the temperature detected by the temperature detecting means 4 and the time by the time measuring means 6.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rice cooker which detects the freshness of rice and cooks rice according to the freshness.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional rice cooker has two types of rice courses, a new rice cooked course and a normal rice cooked course, as a course selection relating to the freshness of rice.
It had only one rice cooking course and no means for detecting the degree of new rice.

[0003]

The conventional rice cooker has only two rice cooking courses, a new rice cooking course and a normal rice cooking course, in response to continuously changing rice freshness. There is a problem that rice cannot be cooked. Further, there is a problem that the degree of fresh rice of rice cannot be detected, and the user must judge the rice cooking process from the two courses by himself.

The present invention is intended to solve such conventional problems, and a first object thereof is to provide a rice cooker having a function of determining a rice cooking process according to the freshness of rice. To do.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a rice cooker having a function of judging the freshness of rice from the output of a calendar.

A third object of the present invention is to provide a rice cooker having a function of allowing a user to reset the freshness degree judged from the output of a calendar when the new rice is purchased.

Furthermore, the freshness degree judged from the output of the calendar is calculated by comparing the temperature change data and the weight during the cooking up to the last time,
A fourth object of the present invention is to provide a rice cooker having a function of resetting at the time of new rice cooking based on the temperature change data and the weight at the time of rice cooking.

A fifth object is to provide a rice cooker having a function of determining and displaying the optimum amount of water according to the degree of fresh rice.

[0009]

[Means for Solving the Problems] A first means of the present invention for achieving the above-mentioned first object is a heating means, a temperature detecting element for detecting the temperature of an object to be cooked, and a time measurement. Using the time measuring means, the rice cooking process determining means for determining the rice cooking process according to the freshness of the rice, and the temperature detected by the temperature detecting element and the time measured by the time measuring means, the heating is performed according to the rice cooking process determined by the rice cooking process determining means. The rice cooker is provided with a control means for controlling the energization ratio of the means.

The second means of the present invention for achieving the above-mentioned second object, in addition to the configuration of the first means of the present invention, determines the freshness degree from the calendar and the output of the calendar. The rice cooker is provided with a freshness degree determining means.

Next, a third means of the present invention for achieving the above third object is, in addition to the configuration of the first means of the present invention, a calendar and a new rice switch for resetting freshness. The rice cooker is provided with a freshness degree judging means for judging the freshness degree from the calendar output and the input from the new rice switch.

Further, in addition to the constitution of the first means of the present invention, a fourth means of the present invention for achieving the above-mentioned fourth object is a calender and a weight for measuring the weight of an object to be cooked. The measuring means, the rice cooking data storage means for storing the time change data of the weight of the cooked food and the cooking temperature, and the measurement result of the weight measuring means and the data stored in the rice cooking data storage means A rice cooker equipped with rice cooking data estimating means for estimating a time change, and rice freshness judging means for judging the freshness of rice by inputting the estimated data of the rice cooking data estimating means, the rice cooking data by the temperature detecting element and the output of the calendar. It is what

The fifth means of the present invention for achieving the above fifth object is a proper water level determination means for determining the amount of water according to the freshness of rice, and a determination result of this proper water level determination means. And a display means for displaying.

[0014]

The first means of the present invention is to cook rice according to the rice cooking process determined by the rice cooking process determining means according to the freshness of rice.

The second means of the present invention is, in addition to the function of the first means of the present invention, to judge the freshness of rice from the output of the calender and cook rice.

A third means of the present invention is that, in addition to the action of the first means of the present invention, the user resets the freshness degree judged from the output of the calendar when the new rice is purchased. Is something that can be done.

Further, the fourth means of the present invention is, in addition to the function of the first means of the present invention, the freshness degree judged from the output of the calendar, the temperature change data and the weight at the time of cooking until the last time, and the current time. It can be reset at the time of new rice cooking from the temperature change data and the weight of the rice cooking.

The fifth means of the present invention is capable of determining and displaying the optimum amount of water according to the freshness.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the first means of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the overall configuration of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 1 denotes a main body, which has a lid 5 at the top and an inner pot 2 inside. At the bottom of the main body 1, a heating means 3 such as a heater and a triac or a heater and a current control circuit, and a control means 7 for controlling the heating means 3 are provided.
Further, on the side portion of the main body 1, a time measuring means 6 for measuring time,
The user is provided with a freshness degree input means 8 for the user to input the freshness degree of rice and a rice cooking process determination means 9 for determining the rice cooking process by inputting the freshness degree. Also, in the center bottom of the inner pot 2,
A temperature detecting element 4 such as a thermistor for detecting the temperature of the food is provided. The control means 7 controls the heating means 3 with the temperature signal of the temperature detecting element 4 and the time from the time measuring means 6 as inputs. The time measuring means 6, the control means 7, and the rice cooking process determining means 9 are constituted by a microcomputer in this embodiment.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below. The user puts an appropriate amount of rice and water corresponding to this amount of rice in the inner pot 2,
Set the inner pot 2 to the main body 1. Next, the user turns on a power source (not shown) and inputs the freshness degree of rice from the freshness degree input means 8. The freshness of rice is represented by a number from 0 to 1.
New rice degree 1 is new rice, 0 is old rice, and new rice degree decreases as new rice ages. The rice cooking process determining means 9 determines rice cooking process parameters by inputting the freshness degree.
The rice cooking process is pre-cooking, cooking, and additional cooking (steaming)
Can be roughly divided into In the pre-cooking process, the temperature is kept below the gelatinization temperature of rice starch so that the rice absorbs water. In the cooking process, boiling is maintained after raising the temperature to boiling. The additional cooking (steaming) process removes excess water from the cooked rice. What is the cooking process parameter?
Parameters such as time and heating power.

In rice cooking, the control means 7 controls the heating means 3 according to the rice cooking process determined by the rice cooking process determining means 9 by inputting the temperature detected by the temperature detecting means 4 and the time by the time measuring means 6. In other words, rice can be cooked according to the freshness.

Next, the rice cooking process determining means 9 of this embodiment
The operation will be described with reference to FIG. The rice cooking process determining means 9 of the present embodiment is configured by fuzzy inference that inputs the fresh rice degree and outputs the pre-cooking time. The inference rules consist of two rules: "If the freshness is high, the precooking time is shortened" and "If the freshness is low, the precooking time is extended". The qualitative concept that the freshness is “small” or the precooking time is “short” is quantitatively expressed by the membership function shown in FIG.

As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to provide a rice cooker having a function of determining the rice cooking process according to the degree of fresh rice and cooking rice.

In the present embodiment, the example of using the pre-cooking time as the rice cooking process parameter determined by the rice cooking process determining means 9 is shown, but other rice cooking process parameters,
For example, it is conceivable to determine the precooking temperature, the heating power used to maintain boiling, the heating power in the additional cooking step, and the like.
Although an example of using fuzzy reasoning as a means for determining the rice cooking process has been shown, a method of expressing it by a neural network or a function of freshness is also conceivable.

An embodiment of the second means of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. First, the overall configuration of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 10 is a calendar, which outputs the month and day at that time. Reference numeral 11 is a first freshness degree judging means for judging the freshness degree by inputting the date output by the calendar 10. Here, the calendar 10 and the first freshness degree judging means 11 are constituted by a microcomputer in this embodiment. It should be noted that those having the same functions as those in the embodiment of FIG.

Hereinafter, the first freshness degree judging means 1 of this embodiment will be described.
The operation of No. 1 will be described. For the operation of other functions,
This is similar to the embodiment of the first means of the present invention. The calendar 10 is operated by a battery (not shown) even when the power is not turned on, but when the user turns on the calendar 10, the calendar 10 outputs the date T1 to the first new rice degree judging means 11. To do. The first freshness degree judging means 11 has the data T0 of the date on which the new rice is sold in advance in a memory in the microcomputer. Where T1
And T2 is January 1 as 1 and December 31 as 365
Is integer data from 1 to 365. The inputted date T1 is compared with the date T0 when the new rice is released, and the number T2 of days elapsed from the new rice release date is calculated. That is, T1 is subtracted from T1, and when the subtracted value is positive, this value is set to T2, and when it is negative, this value is set to 3
The value obtained by adding 65 is T2. The new rice degree is represented by a function of T2. On the day when the two data match, T2 is 0, and at this time, new rice degree 1 is output. Immediately before the release date of new rice, T2 is 365, and at this time, the new rice degree is 0. In the meantime, the freshness degree is a value between 1 and 0 in 0.1 steps. In this embodiment, the freshness degree is represented by the following T2 function.

New rice degree = 1-T2 / 364 For example, assume that the data T0 of the new rice release date is 280. T1
Is 316, T2 is 36, and the new rice degree is (1-3
6/364) or 0.9.

As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to provide a rice cooker having a function of judging the freshness of rice according to the date. In this embodiment, the first freshness degree judging means 1
Although No. 1 has the data of the date of release of the new rice in the memory in the microcomputer in advance, a method of inputting from the outside or a method of once inputting from the outside and storing it in the non-volatile memory is also conceivable. Further, although the linear function is used as the function indicating the degree of freshness, it may be expressed by a higher-order function or fuzzy inference.

An embodiment of the third means of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. First, the overall configuration of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 13 is a new rice switch, and 12 is a second new rice degree judging means for judging the new rice degree by inputting the signal input from the new rice switch 13 and the date output by the calendar 10. Here, the second freshness degree judging means 12 is composed of a microcomputer in this embodiment. It should be noted that those having the same functions as those in the embodiment of FIG.

Hereinafter, the second freshness degree judging means 1 of this embodiment
The operation of No. 2 will be described. Regarding the operation of other functions,
This is similar to the embodiment of the first means of the present invention. The calendar 10 and the second freshness degree judging means 12 are operated by a battery (not shown) even when the power is off. The second freshness degree judging means 12 resets the freshness degree to 1 when a signal is inputted from the new rice switch 13, and thereafter reduces the freshness degree every day, and operates as follows. Date T1 from calendar 10
Is input to the second freshness degree judging means 12. The second degree of freshness determination means 12 is the date T output by the calendar 10.
Every time 1 changes, that is, once a day, a value obtained by subtracting (1/365) from the current freshness is set as a new freshness. The second freshness degree judging means 12 rounds the freshness degree to 0.1.
It outputs the data in increments, and outputs 0 when the new rice degree becomes 0 or less. The user turns on a power source (not shown) before use and inputs a signal from the new rice switch 13 once before cooking rice for the first time in the year. The second freshness degree judging means 12 resets the freshness degree to 1 when a signal is inputted from the new rice switch 13. That is, the user resets the freshness degree judged from the output of the calendar when the new rice is purchased. When a signal is input from the new switch 13, the output T1 of the calendar 10 is referred to, and if it is between September and November, the reset is performed. In other cases, it is regarded as an erroneous input and the reset is not performed. .

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide a rice cooker having a function of judging the freshness of rice based on the first new rice cooked day which is different for each household and each year.

An embodiment of the fourth means of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. First, the overall configuration of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 10 is a calendar, 17 is a weight measuring means such as a strainmeter for measuring the weight of the cooked food, 14 is a cooked rice data storage means for storing the time change data of the weight of the cooked food and the temperature at the time of cooking rice, and 15 is a weight. Cooked rice data estimating means for estimating the time change of the temperature during cooking rice from the measurement result of the measuring means 17 and the data stored in the cooked rice data storing means 14,
Reference numeral 16 is a third freshness degree judging means for judging the freshness degree by inputting the estimation data of the rice cooking data estimation means 15 and the rice cooking data by the temperature detecting element 4. Here, the cooked rice data storage means 14, the cooked rice data estimation means 15, and the third freshness degree judging means 16 are constituted by a microcomputer in this embodiment. It should be noted that those having the same functions as those in the embodiment of FIG. The operation of this embodiment will be described below. The calendar 10 and the third freshness degree judging means 16 are operated by a battery (not shown) even when the power is off. From calendar 10,
The date T1 is input to the third new rice degree judging means 16. The third freshness determination means 16 is the calendar 10.
Each time the month and day T1 output by is changed, that is, once a day,
The value obtained by subtracting (1/365) from the current freshness is set as the new freshness. The third freshness degree judging means 16 outputs the data in increments of 0.1 rounding the freshness degree, and outputs 0 when the freshness degree becomes 0 or less. The user puts an appropriate amount of rice and water corresponding to this amount of rice in the inner pot 2, and then puts the inner pot 2 on the main body 1
Set to. Next, when the user turns on a power source (not shown), the weight measuring means 17 measures the total weight of rice and water as the food to be cooked, and outputs it to the cooked rice data storage means 14 and the cooked rice data estimation means 15. . After that, cook rice.

Regarding the operation of this embodiment during rice cooking, the operation of the rice cooking data storage means 14 will be described first. The cooked rice data storage means 14 stores time change data of the temperature of the temperature detection element 4 during cooking rice. That is, the time change data of the weight of the food to be cooked and the temperature during rice cooking were stored as rice cooking data. Since the cooked rice data storage means 14 stores the data by a battery (not shown) even when the power is not turned on, the stored cooked rice data is accumulated without being erased. The cooked rice data storage means 14 stores a predetermined number, for example, 10 sets of cooked rice data in order from the newest data.

Next, the operation of the cooked rice data estimation means 15 will be described. The cooked rice data estimation means 15 estimates the time change of temperature during cooked rice from the measurement result of the weight measurement means 17 and the data stored in the cooked rice data storage means 14. In this example, the temperature rise rate in the process of boiling the cooked rice at the beginning of the cooking process was used as the estimated time change of the temperature during cooking rice. First, the temperature rise rate in the process of boiling the cooked rice at the beginning of the cooking process is determined from the cooked rice data stored in the cooked rice data storage means 14. This is the past 10
Data on the weight of cooked rice and the rate of temperature rise can be obtained for each cooked rice. By linearly regressing this data, a linear function representing the relationship between the weight of cooked rice and the rate of temperature rise can be obtained.
By inputting the measurement result by the weight measuring means 17 before the current rice cooking to this linear function, the temperature rise rate of the current rice cooking can be estimated.

Next, the operation of the third freshness degree judging means 16 will be described. The third freshness degree judging means 16 compares the temperature increase rate estimated by the cooked rice data estimating means 15 with the temperature increase rate measured by the temperature detecting element 4. When the rice changes from old rice to new rice, the temperature increase rate estimated by the cooked rice data estimation means 15 and the temperature increase rate measured by the temperature detection element 4 do not match due to the difference in the moisture content of the rice. Therefore, if the temperature rise rate estimated by the cooked rice data estimation means 15 and the temperature rise rate measured by the temperature detection element 4 do not match, the third freshness degree judging means 16 judges that the old rice has changed to new rice. , New rice degree 1
Reset to. That is, the freshness degree judged from the output of the calendar is reset at the time of new rice cooking based on the temperature change data and weight at the previous rice cooking and the temperature change data and weight at the current rice cooking. However, if the number of cooked rice is less than 10, the cooked rice data estimation unit 15 does not function and the freshness degree is not reset.

In this embodiment, the rice-cooking data storage means uses a method of storing a predetermined number of rice-cooking data in order from the newest data, but a method of storing rice-cooking data for a certain past period, for example, one month, is also possible. Conceivable. Further, the rice cooking data estimation means uses a linear function in which the data of the weight and the rate of temperature rise of the rice to be cooked are linearly regression, but a method using a higher order function or a neural network is also conceivable.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, a rice cooker having a function of judging the degree of fresh rice based on the first new rice cooked day which differs depending on each household and each year without requiring user input is provided. be able to.

The embodiment of the fifth means of the present invention is shown in FIGS.
It will be explained based on. First, the overall configuration of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 18 is an appropriate water level determination means for determining the amount of water according to the freshness, and 19 is a display means such as an LCD for displaying the determination result of the appropriate water level determination means 18. Inner pot 2
The water level lines of six types shown in FIG. Here, the proper water level determination means 18 is composed of a microcomputer in this embodiment. It should be noted that components having the same functions as those of the embodiment of the first means and the embodiment of the third means are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below. When the user turns on a power source (not shown), the second freshness degree determining means 12 determines the freshness degree. The appropriate water level determination means 18 determines the appropriate amount of water by inputting the freshness degree. In this embodiment, the side surface of the inner pot 2 is engraved with five water level lines shown in FIG. 7, and the appropriate water level determination means 18 determines which of these five water level lines is appropriate. The determination result is displayed on the display means 19
Is displayed as a water level line number from 1 to 5. The user looks at the displayed water level line number, puts rice in the inner pot 2,
Water is added using the designated water level line number 4. Set the inner pot 2 to the main body 1 and cook rice.

Next, the operation of the proper water level determination means 18 will be described. Judgment is performed by converting the numerical value of the freshness degree into the water level line number. For example, water level line number 1 when freshness is 0 or more and less than 0.2, water level line number 2 when freshness is 0.2 or more and less than 0.4, water level when freshness is 0.4 or more and less than 0.6 The conversion is line number 3, water level line number 4 when the freshness degree is 0.6 or more and less than 0.8, and water level line number 5 when the freshness degree is 0.8 or more. For example, when the degree of freshness is 0.7, the water level line number is 4.

As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to provide a rice cooker having a function of determining and displaying the amount of water according to the freshness of rice.

[0042]

As described above, the first means of the present invention is the heating means, the temperature detecting element for detecting the temperature of the food to be cooked, the time measuring means for measuring the time, and the freshness degree of the rice. And a control means for controlling the energization ratio of the heating means according to the rice cooking process determined by the rice cooking process determination means, by inputting the temperature detected by the temperature detecting element and the time measured by the time measuring means. It was possible to realize a rice cooker that can determine the rice cooking process according to the freshness of rice.

A second means of the present invention is, as a rice cooker, in addition to the structure of the first means of the present invention, a calender and a freshness degree judging means for judging the freshness degree from the output of the calendar. It is possible to judge the freshness degree from the output of the calendar.

Next, the third means of the present invention comprises a calendar, a new rice switch for resetting the new rice degree, and a new rice degree judging means for judging the new rice degree from the output of the calendar and the input from the new rice switch. As a rice cooker, the user can reset the freshness degree judged from the output of the calendar when the new rice is purchased.

Further, a fourth means of the present invention is a cooked rice data storage for storing a calendar, a weight measuring means for measuring the weight of the food to be cooked, and a time change data of the weight of the food to be cooked and the temperature at the time of cooking rice. Means, a rice cooking data estimating means for estimating the time change of the temperature during rice cooking from the measurement result of the weight measuring means and the data stored in the rice cooking data storing means, and the estimated data of this rice cooking data estimating means and the temperature detecting element. As a rice cooker equipped with a rice freshness judging means for judging the freshness of rice by inputting rice cooking data and the output of a calendar, the freshness judged from the output of the calendar is used as the temperature change data and the weight when cooking rice up to the previous time. , It can be reset at the time of new rice cooking, based on the temperature change data and the weight of this time rice cooking.

Further, the fifth means of the present invention is a rice cooker comprising a proper water level judging means for judging the amount of water according to the freshness of rice and a display means for displaying the judgment result of the proper water level judging means. It is possible to determine and display the optimum amount of water according to the freshness.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a rice cooker according to an embodiment of the first means of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a membership function of fuzzy inference which is an embodiment of a rice cooking process determining means of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the rice cooker according to the embodiment of the second means of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view of a rice cooker according to an embodiment of the third means of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view of a rice cooker according to an embodiment of the fourth means of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view of a rice cooker according to an embodiment of the fifth means of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a water level line on the side surface of the inner pot of the rice cooker according to the embodiment of the fifth means of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Heating Means 4 Temperature Detecting Elements 6 Timing Means 7 Control Means 9 Rice Cooking Process Determining Means 10 Calendar 11 First Freshness Determining Means 12 Second Freshness Determining Means 13 New Rice Switch 14 Rice Cooking Data Storage Means 15 Rice Cooking Data Estimating Means 16 Third freshness determination means 17 Weight measurement means 18 Proper water level display means 19 Display means

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Shuji Abe 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (72) Haruo Terai, 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroshi Ohno 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A heating means, a temperature detecting element for detecting the temperature of an object to be cooked, a time measuring means for measuring time, a rice cooking process determining means for determining a rice cooking process according to the freshness of rice, and the temperature. A rice cooker provided with a control means for controlling the energization ratio of the heating means according to the rice cooking process determined by the rice cooking process determination means, with the temperature detected by the detection element and the time measured by the time measuring means as inputs. 2. The rice cooker according to claim 1, further comprising a calendar and a freshness degree determining means for determining the freshness degree from the calendar output. 3. The rice cooker according to claim 1, further comprising a calendar, a fresh rice switch for resetting the fresh rice degree, and a fresh rice degree judging means for judging the fresh rice degree from the output of the calendar and the input from the fresh rice switch. 4. A calendar, a weight measuring means for measuring the weight of the food to be cooked, a cooked rice data storage means for storing time change data of the weight of the cooked food and the temperature at the time of cooking rice, and a measurement result of the weight measuring means. And rice cooking data estimating means for estimating the time variation of the temperature during rice cooking from the data stored in the rice cooking data storing means, and the estimated data of this rice cooking data estimating means, the rice cooking data by the temperature detecting element and the output of the calendar as input The rice cooker according to claim 1, further comprising a freshness degree determining means for determining the freshness degree of rice. 5. The rice cooker according to claim 2, 3 or 4, further comprising: an appropriate water level determination means for determining the amount of water according to the freshness of rice and a display means for displaying the determination result of the appropriate water level determination means. .