Abstract:
A cabinet for holding food having a housing and a plurality of slots is provided. A tray is receivable in each of the plurality of slots for receiving food. A controller is operatively associated with each of the plurality of slots to independently control cooking instructions for each of the plurality of slots. A cabinet for holding food having a housing with a plurality of slots is provided. A tray is receivable in each of the plurality of slots for receiving food. The cabinet has an inputting device and a controller, wherein the controller receives instructions from the inputting device to control cooking instructions in each of the plurality of slots.

Description:
[0001]     This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/742,848 filed on Dec. 6, 2005, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein. 
     
    
     1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     This invention relates to a holding cabinet for food, trays that are inserted into the cabinet and the electronic controls for the preprogramming the cabinet to optimize food preparation and holding.  
       2. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     In the commercial food industry and in particular, in the fast food industry, proper food preparation and readiness are a necessity. Maintaining the food for immediate consumption or near immediate consumption a challenging and evolving area. The challenge is to maintain the food at a proper serving temperature and maintaining optimal flavor.  
         [0004]     Typically, holding cabinets are slotted metal cabinets that have heaters to prevent the contents from becoming cool. However, such cabinets risk drying the food so that it is no longer palatable or heating the food such that it is either too hot or too cool. Additionally, such cabinets must hold food that must be assembled or partially cooked. In this instance, the different components of the final food product must each be at the proper temperature. Finally, the food must also be visible during the holding time to be readily accessible by the food service professionals and for restocking purposes.  
         [0005]     Accordingly, there is a need for an automated pre-programmed open holding cabinet that incorporates heated regions, electronic controls and trays that maintain the food product at a desired temperature for immediate/near immediate consumption and for rapid preparation .  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     A cabinet for holding food having a housing and a plurality of slots is provided. A tray is receivable in each of the plurality of slots for receiving food. A controller is operatively associated with each of the plurality of slots to independently control cooking instructions for each of the plurality of slots.  
         [0007]     A cabinet for holding food having a housing with a plurality of slots is provided. A tray receivable in each of the plurality of slots for receiving food is provided. The cabinet has an inputting device and a controller, wherein the controller receives instructions from the inputting device to control cooking instructions in each of the plurality of slots. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]     Other and further object, advantages and features of the present invention will be understood by reference to the following specification in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters denote like elements of structure and:  
         [0009]      FIG. 1  illustrates a front perspective view of the cabinet according to the present invention;  
         [0010]      FIG. 2  illustrates a front view of the cabinet of  FIG. 1  of the present invention;  
         [0011]      FIG. 3  illustrates a cross-section side view of the cabinet of  FIG. 1 , according to the present invention;  
         [0012]      FIG. 4  illustrates a tray of the present invention;  
         [0013]      FIG. 5  illustrates a perspective top view of the cabinet of  FIG. 1 , according to the present invention with the top covers removed; and  
         [0014]      FIG. 6  illustrates a schematic view of the main controller and the RFID controller of he cabinet according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0015]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a holding cabinet of the present invention is shown and is generally represented by reference numeral  10 . Holding cabinet  10  of the present invention is a pass through cabinet that allows food trays to be inserted and removed from cabinet front  15  or cabinet back  20 . Another manifestation wold featuere access to the heated slots  25  from on side of cabinet  10  only. Cabinet  10  has slots  25  to receive holding trays  50  of the present invention. Cabinet  10  has a touch screen  30  that is capable of receiving commands from an operator to program cabinet  10  with cooking instructions. Cabinet  10  also has cooling air inlets at its bottom to prevent air in cabinet  10  from becoming excessively hot. Cooling air enters slots on side and exits across entire face on the font and rear above the power switch and touch screen  30 .  
         [0016]     Referring to  FIG. 2 , cabinet  10  allows the food in a tray  50  to be held and kept warm without having to keep tray  50  close to upper heater  40 . The distance between the food in tray  50  and upper heater  40  prevents the food from becoming dehydrated. While  FIG. 1  shows three slots  25 , other configurations of slots could also be used. Cabinet  10  holds food temperature between 135° F. to 200° F. for long periods of time. For safety reasons, the outside temperature of holding cabinet  10  should not exceed 140° F.  
         [0017]     Referring to  FIG. 3 , slots  25  are heated independently from a slot top surface by upper heaters  40  and a slot lower surface by lower heater  45 . Independent heating of slots  25  permits an upper surface, a lower surface or both an upper surface and a lower surface to be heated for each slot.  
         [0018]     Slots  25  each have an upper surface mounting bracket  60  and a flexible sheet  65  that extends downward from mounting bracket  60 . Slot openings  70  at either end of slots  25  are partially covered by flexible sheets  65  prevent air movement through slots  25 . Flexible sheet  65  prevents the hot, humid air in the cabinet  10  from escaping to the outside environment. Slot openings  70  are partially covered with sheets  65 , but the remainder of the opening  70  permits tray  50  to be inserted or removed. The sheets  65  are flexible so that the food can be accessed without removal of the tray  50 . The sheet material, preferably TEFLON, is durable and transparent.  
         [0019]     The are further benefits associated with the flexible sheets  65 . Sheets  65  allow food to be more accessible and prevent the operator from having to having to remove tray  50  from cabinet  10  to observe the contents. The operator is able to assemble sandwiches more efficiently and reduce the length of time that a customer waits for food. Additionally, the operator sees when a tray is getting close to being empty without pulling the tray, thereby minimizing interruptions in assembly and customer service. Further, the sheets  65  cover the opening  70  and the aluminum tray. The sheet provides a movable barrier that keeps the holding environment hot, but still allows access to the food for serving.  
         [0020]     Referring to  FIG. 4 , tray  50  is a metal tray that is designed to fit cabinet  10 . Tray  50  allows superior holding and versatility over trays that are currently being used because it can be used with multiple products. Present holding cabinets require four different trays along with extra wire-formed accessories to hold food product successfully. Further, trays  50  are made from aluminum and allow quick transfer of heat to the food product being held. Cabinets are equipped with plastic trays that cool the product down when initially used. The ridges in the bottom of the tray provide minimal contact to the food product while maximizing contact area to the heaters to allow the food to maintain its original heat from cooking.  
         [0021]     Trays  50  are configured to accept a variety of food types for warming and heating. Trays  50  are sized to easily fit in slots  25  to ensure quick ingress and egress from either side of cabinet  10  during food service. Trays  50  also have embedded chips  52  to activate timers in respective slots  25  when the trays  50  are inserted. Chips  52  have radio frequency (RF) tags that are associated with a particular food item that is placed therein. A controller recognizes tag from being pre-programmed by operator using touch screen. When a tray for a particular food item is placed in cabinet  10 , timer and heater automatically commence at preprogrammed time and temperature, respectively.  
         [0022]     A touch screen  30  is located at the front of cabinet  10 . Touch screen  30  permits an operator to enter into memory the individual foods that will be kept in the cabinet and their respective parameters, such as heating times and temperatures. In a first mode, touch screen  30  permits entire cabinet  10  and individual slots  25  to be preprogrammed to ensure that heaters are activated at specified temperatures and for specified lengths of time. This touch screen display allows a user to also program tray and cabinet contents. Slot  25  is programmed to accept certain food. When tray  50  is placed in slot  25 , upper and/or lower heaters commence proper operation based on the particular food, a timer commences according to the food properties.  
         [0023]     Slot  25  is equipped with RF sensors to detect the signal from chip in tray  50  and to activate the timers. In a second mode, tray  50  has an RF identifier that is recognized by controller. Controller recognizes the RF tag that is associated with a particular food to be heated at a pre-programmed temperature for a preprogrammed time. In this mode when tray  50  is placed in slot  25 , timer automatically starts and food is warmed to preprogrammed temperature. In an alternative move, the slot is already at a particular temperature, and the controller sends a warning to the user if a tray is inserted that requires a different set point other than that for which the slot is set. The user wold then have to insert the tray into a different slot. Touch screen  30  permits cabinet  10  to be changed from one mode to another. Additionally, touch screen permits changing between “Breakfast” and “Lunch” modes, for example. There could also be other menus that are available based upon, for example, seasonal food items.  
         [0024]     Touch screen  30  displays particular foods in slots of cabinet  10  to permit operator to read the status and location of the food in the respective trays. Touch screen  30  shows the amount of time that each tray  50  has been held along with all other pertinent information about the food product in tray. Touch screen  30  provides a physical representation of cabinet  10  to readily inform user of contents of each tray and tray status and shows the status of the cabinet without having a separate/unique display for each tray position. Presently, “first in” tray identification is used, which is not always functional. On occasion, the contents of a later inserted tray may expire prior to the contents of a previously inserted tray and inhibit the operator from properly planning replacement product. The programming capability does not require a Personal Data Assistant (PDA) or other external devices. In other embodiments, indicators using different colors, brightness, or duplicity identify trays that contain food that are approaching the end of their useful shelf life.  
         [0025]     In  FIGS. 5 and 6 , main controller  80  controls all aspects of the cabinet operation including storing all user inputted information regarding food type, food temperature and heating times. Main controller  80  controls the upper heaters  40  and the lower heaters  45  of each slot independently. Upper heaters  40  in a given slot will be rated at 750 W to 1000 W. Lower heaters  45  in a given slot will be rated at 300 W to 600 W. While these ratings are provided, other parameters could be used depending on cooking specifications without limiting functionality. Controller  80  regulates the heaters with 1000 ohm RTDs, although other sensors could be used using specifically designed relays called triacs, for example.  
         [0026]     Main controller  80  also interfaces with RFID controller  85  to control timing in each slot  25 . For example, RFID will supply the information through a 9-pin RS-232 port on the status of the tray in each of the sixteen positions. In operation, on each side of cabinet  10 , trays are being inserted from the front and from the back by user. If a user partially pulls tray  50  out of slot  25 , the timers would, in the absence of sensors, turn off and the food would not continue to be warmed. However, the RF sensors allow the timing and heating to continue when tray  50  is placed back in slot  25 . Even if tray  50  is partially removed the timers will not inadvertently shut off. Tray position can be detected up to 1″ away. Main controller  80  is able to monitor the time elapsed on each individual tray  50  that has been inserted. The automatic starting and stopping of timers, and programming of all features through touch screen technology.  
         [0027]     The time expired on each tray  50  is denoted with light emitting diodes  90  (LEDs) that are also shown on the touch screen monitor. Other than the simple LEDs  90 , there are no displays on each individual slot  25 . The LEDs  90  operate to inform user of tray status. For example, when tray  50  is inserted, the timer is to start for that position a green LED illuminates. Green LED is bright if it is signalling the only tray  50  of that product. When tray  50  is partially out (partially inserted or removed), timer is to continue running like in for that particular slot  25 . Screen  30  shows an error message for that position and a buzzer will have steady tone to differentiate from pulsing sound of product expiration. When tray  50  is completely removed, the timer for that slot is stopped. Controller  80  to switch the bright LED to the next first-in-first-out tray for that product. The product in the left most column determines the hold temperatures for that slot.  
         [0028]     In each mode, the LED colors indicate the remaining length of time of a food product before it expires. For example, the LED color Green, may indicate approximately, from 100% usable product life to 26% usable life remaining, and LED color Yellow would indicate approximately 25% usable life remaining to expiration. These percentages are approximate ranges. The LEDs are located at each tray position. The green LED is on top and the yellow LED is on bottom for each position. Both green and yellow LEDs blink and the buzzer will sound (0.5 sec on/0.5 sec off) when food product expires, or if the temperature falls 10° F. below setpoint, or if temperature is 10° F. above setpoint for each location. Each position of slot is identified with a file, such as a .jpd file, that shows a picture of the food product, the RFID tag of the tray and the time remaining. The screen will also have a background color that is the same as the LED identifier at the actual tray position. Audible alarm to indicate expiration has a sound pressure level of approximately 95 dB at 12″.  
         [0029]     The RF sensing capability in cabinet  10 , controlled by RFID controller  85 , allows the automatic detection of tray position and insertion time. By eliminating the human interaction during tray insertion and removal, food product quality is assured. The controller  80  senses the tray location and automatically starts the timing operation when the tray is inserted, and stops timing when the tray is removed. The automatic detection capability eliminates the need for an operator to manually start a timer and a timer switch that could malfunction. Additionally, identifyers/display in the tray signal to the cabinet what food product is in the tray.  
         [0030]     While the instant disclosure has been described with reference to one or more exemplary embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope thereof. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the disclosure without departing from the scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the disclosure not be limited to the particular embodiment(s) disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.