Patent Publication Number: US-7723655-B2

Title: Microwave oven using bar code and method for controlling the same

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2005-55692, filed Jun. 27, 2005, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to a microwave oven which scans data from a bar code attached to food and cooks the food based on the scanned data of the bar code, and more particularly, to a microwave oven which obtains proper cooking data suitable thereto using data stored in the bar code according to different cooking sets, and obtains cooking data stored in a main body thereof when the cooking data of the corresponding microwave oven are not stored in the bar code, and a method for controlling the microwave oven. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   A microwave oven which cooks food using a bar code attached to the food is known in the art. The bar code includes cooking data, thus decreasing the user inconvenience of separately setting cooking conditions. 
   A conventional cooking apparatus using a bar code has the same cooking data regardless of the kind or size of the cooking apparatus. This conventional cooking apparatus is disadvantageous in that the cooking apparatus cannot obtain the optimum cooking data according to the kind or size of the cooking apparatus. Further, although the conventional cooking apparatus has different cooking data according to the kind or size of the cooking apparatus, when a new cooking set is developed and enters the market, the newly developed cooking set cannot perform the proper cooking of food based on the data obtained from the bar code attached to the food. That is, the kind of food, which is optimally cooked by the cooking set, is limited. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. 
   Therefore, an aspect of the present invention is to provide a microwave oven using a bar code, which receives optimum cooking data according to a kind or a volume of the microwave oven, and appropriately cooks not only currently available food but also food, which may enter the market after the manufacture of the microwave oven, and a method of controlling the microwave oven. 
   In accordance with an aspect, the present invention provides a microwave oven cooking food using a bar code, comprising: a bar code scanner obtaining bar code data from the bar code attached to the food; and a controller obtaining cooking data corresponding to the microwave oven from the bar code data, setting cooking conditions based on the obtained cooking data, and performing the cooking of the food according to the set cooking conditions. 
   The microwave oven may further comprise a memory storing cooking data of foods corresponding to the microwave oven, wherein, when the controller does not obtain the cooking data corresponding to the microwave oven from the bar code data, food data are obtained from the bar code data, the cooking data corresponding to the obtained food data are obtained from the memory, and the cooking of the food is performed based on the obtained cooking data. 
   The bar code may comprise a plurality of cooking data according to kind and volume of the microwave oven. 
   The bar code may further comprise a food ID code. 
   In accordance with another aspect, the present invention provides a method of controlling a microwave oven for cooking food using a bar code comprising: obtaining bar code data by scanning the bar code; determining whether the obtained bar code data includes cooking data of the corresponding microwave oven; obtaining the cooking data when it is determined that the bar code data include the cooking data of the corresponding microwave oven; and performing the cooking of the food based on the obtained cooking data. 
   In accordance with yet another aspect, the present invention provides a method of controlling a microwave oven for cooking food using a bar code comprising: obtaining bar code data by scanning the bar code; determining whether the obtained bar code data includes cooking data of the corresponding microwave oven; obtaining food ID data from the bar code data when it is determined that the bar code data do not include the cooking data of the corresponding microwave oven; obtaining the cooking data of the corresponding food, stored in a memory of a main body of the microwave oven, using the food ID data; and performing the cooking of the food based on the obtained cooking data. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a microwave oven in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a bar code scanner of the microwave oven of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 3A  is a view illustrating a two-dimensional bar code of a food applied to the present invention; 
       FIG. 3B  is a view illustrating a system of the two-dimensional bar code of  FIG. 3A ; 
       FIG. 4A  is a block diagram of the microwave oven of the present invention; 
       FIG. 4B  is a view illustrating a system of a memory of the microwave oven of  FIG. 4A ; 
       FIG. 5A  is a view illustrating a two-dimensional bar code of another food applied to the present invention; 
       FIG. 5B  is a view illustrating a system of the two-dimensional bar code of  FIG. 5A ; and 
       FIG. 6  is a flow chart illustrating a method for controlling a microwave oven using a bar code in accordance with the present invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below to explain the present invention by referring to the figures. 
   As shown in  FIG. 1 , a cooking set  10 , i.e., a microwave oven  10 , in accordance with the present invention comprises a main body  100  defining the external appearance thereof and provided with a cooking chamber  120  installed therein, and a door  110  and an operating panel  200  installed on the front surface of the main body  100 . 
   The operating panel  200  comprises a display unit  210  displaying operating data for performing a cooking operation and operating state of the microwave oven  10 , an input unit  211  allowing a user to input instructions set by a user, and a bar code scanner  220  scanning a bar code attached to a package of food. 
   The operating panel  200 , as shown in  FIG. 2 , further comprises an outer case  201  and an inner case  202 . The bar code scanner  220  comprises a window  222  fixed to the outer case  201  by a holder  221 , a substrate  223  disposed in the rear of the window  222  and provided with a hole  224  formed through the central area thereof, and a plurality of infrared lamps  225  disposed in a circular shape on the substrate  223  for projecting infrared light through the window  222 . A camera, which will be described later, is located in the rear of the hole  224 . The camera serves to receive the image of the bar code reflected by the light. 
     FIG. 3A  is a view illustrating a two-dimensional bar code attached to a package of a food applied to the present invention, and  FIG. 3B  is a view illustrating a system of the two-dimensional bar code of  FIG. 3A . Hereinafter, cooking sets are microwave ovens, which have respectively cooking chambers with different volumes, thereby having different optimum cooking conditions of the same food. However, the present invention is not limited to cooking sets as microwave ovens. 
   A two-dimensional bar code  400  is attached to a package of an A 1  food  300 . Conventional bar codes are one-dimensional bar codes having small data capacity, thus being limited in their ability to provide detailed cooking data. In an embodiment of the present invention, the two-dimensional bar code  400  is applied to the present invention. The two-dimensional bar code  400  is a bar code in which data are expressed on a plane in the directions of X and Y axesThe two-dimensional bar code  400  also has a capacity for exhibiting cooking data corresponding to multiple cooking sets, i.e., plural microwave ovens  10 . In an example of the two-dimensional bar code  400 , the capacity of the two-dimensional bar code  400  is set to approximately 100 bytes. 
   The system of the two-dimensional bar code  400 , as shown in  FIG. 3B , comprises a common region  401  storing common code data, such as a food ID, and a cooking set region  402  storing cooking data regarding the plural cooking sets. Although this embodiment describes the cooking set region  402  having a size for storing cooking data of at most four cooking sets, the size of the cooking set region  402  is not limited thereto and is set according to the number of the cooking sets. 
   The cooking set region  402  stores cooking data for setting cooking conditions of the food in at least one cooking data region selected from first to fourth cooking data regions  410 ,  420 ,  430 , and  440 . For example, when only the first cooking set is an object for cooking the A 1  food  300 , the cooking data are stored only in the first cooking data region  410  of the cooking set region  402  of the two-dimensional bar code  400 . The first cooking data region  410  comprises a time data region  411  storing data for setting the cooking time of the food, a temperature data region  412  storing data for setting the cooking temperature of the food, and an output level data region  413  storing data for setting the output level for cooking the food. 
   In the case that the second to fourth cooking sets are not yet developed, the cooking data regarding the second to fourth cooking sets are not set. Accordingly, the second to fourth cooking data regions  420 ,  430 , and  440  do not store cooking data if the second to fourth cooking sets have not yet been developed. 
     FIG. 4A  is a block diagram of the microwave oven  10  of the present invention. The microwave oven  10  comprises the bar code scanner  220  for scanning a bar code, and a main controller  240  controlling the overall operation of the microwave oven  10 . 
   The bar code scanner  220  comprises scanner controller  230  controlling the bar code scanning operation. The scanner controller  230  controls lamp driving unit  229  so that the lamp driving unit  229  operates ultraviolet lamps  225 , and controls a camera  226  so that the camera  226  supplies the image of the bar code to the scanner controller  230 . 
   The scanner controller  230  interfaces to the main controller  240 , thus transmitting and receiving control instructions regarding the scanning operation, and outputting a scan-ON signal and a scan-OFF signal for operating the lamp driving unit  229  according to the control instructions. 
   The lamp driving unit  229  turns on and off the plural infrared lamps  225  under the control of the scanner controller  230 . 
   The lamp driving unit  229  turns on the plural infrared lamps  225  according to the scan-ON signal output by the scanner controller  230 . In response, the infrared lamps  225  emit infrared light through the window  222  to an area in front of the operating panel  200 . At this time, when the Al food  300  approaches the window  222 , the emitted infrared light is reflected by the two-dimensional bar code  400  and is inputted to the camera  226 , which is located in the rear of the window  222 . The camera  226  outputs the image of the bar code  400  to the scanner controller  230 , and the scanner controller  230  decodes the image of the bar code  400  and transmits the decoded image to the main controller  240 . 
   The main controller  240  temporarily stores the decoded image of the bar code  400  in a RAM  270 , and interprets the decoded image of the bar code  400 . That is, the main controller  240  recognizes the ID of the Al food  300 , which is stored in the common region  401  of the two-dimensional bar code  400 , and, in the case that the cooking set region  402  stores cooking data regarding the corresponding microwave oven, recognizes the cooking data. 
   A memory  250  stores a cooking set identification code for identifying the corresponding microwave oven. In an embodiment of the present invention, a nonvolatile flash memory is used as the memory  250 . The main controller  240  searches the memory  250 , and determines which cooking set out of the first to fourth cooking sets the corresponding microwave oven belongs to. 
   In the case that the cooking data is recognized by interpreting the image of the bar code  400  of the A 1  food  300 , the main controller  240  sets cooking conditions for performing the cooking operation according to the recognized cooking data, and stores the set cooking conditions in the RAM  270 . 
   Thereafter, when a user inputs a cooking start key signal to the microwave oven  10  through the input unit  211  under the condition that the A 1  food  300  is placed in the cooking chamber  120  and the door  110  is closed, the main controller  240  controls the lamp driving unit  229  according to the set cooking conditions so that the lamp driving unit  229  drives loads (not shown), such as a magnetron and a circulation fan. Thereby, the cooking of the A 1  food  300  is performed. 
   In the case that the cooking data regarding the cooking set are stored in a bar code, the cooking data regarding the corresponding cooking set are obtained, and then the cooking of the food in the cooking set is performed according to the cooking data. However, for example, in the case that the second to fourth cooking sets are not yet developed when the A 1  food  300  enters the market, cooking data regarding the above cooking sets cannot be stored in the bar code  400  of the A 1  food  300 . Accordingly, the second to fourth cooking sets, which are improvements of the first cooking set, cannot directly obtain their cooking data from the two-dimensional bar code  400  of the A 1  food  300 , which is circulated on the market (since the second to fourth cooking data regions  420 ,  430 , and  440  do not store the cooking data regarding the corresponding cooking sets). In consideration of the above fact, each of the memories  250  of the cooking sets, which are developed after the A 1  food  300  enters the market, stores cooking data of foods, which enter the market before the development of the cooking sets, according to the IDs of the foods. The memory  250  comprises a plurality of food code regions  251 ,  252 ,  253 , and  254 , which are divided according to IDs of the foods. For example, the first food code region  251  stores the cooking data of the A 1  food regarding the corresponding cooking set. 
   The two-dimensional bar code  400  stores data regarding foods, i.e., data regarding IDs of the foods, as well as cooking data of cooking sets. Accordingly, only when the two-dimensional bar code  400  does not store cooking data regarding the corresponding cooking set, the ID of the corresponding food is read (otherwise, the ID of the corresponding food may be read regardless of whether or not the two-dimensional bar code  400  stores cooking data regarding the corresponding cooking set). Under the above condition, for example, when the third cooking set scans the A 1  food  300 , since the bar code  400  of the food  300  does not store cooking data corresponding to the third cooking set, the third cooking set identifies the A 1  food  300  by reading the food ID from the two-dimensional bar code  400 . Here, the main controller  240  of the third cooking set searches the first food code region  251  of the memory  240  corresponding to the recognized A 1  food  300 , reads the cooking data from the first food code region  251 , and temporarily stores the read cooking data in the RAM  270 . Thereafter, the main controller  240  of the third cooking set sets the conditions for performing the cooking operation of the A 1  food  300  according to the read cooking data, and stores the set cooking conditions in the RAM  270 . Then, the main controller  240  controls the driving unit  260  according to the set cooking conditions, thereby performing the cooking of the A 1  food  300 . 
   Further, an A 2  food  300 - 1 , which is an improvement of the A 1  food, may enter the market under the condition that the A 1  food is circulated on the market and the first and second cooking sets are developed. As shown in  FIG. 5A , a two-dimensional bar code  400 - 1  is attached to the A 2  food  300 - 1 . 
   The two-dimensional bar code  400 - 1  attached to the A 2  food  300 - 1 , as shown in  FIG. 5B , comprises a common region  401 - 1  and a cooking set region  402 - 1 . The cooking set region  402 - 1  comprises first to fourth cooking data regions  410 - 1 ,  420 - 1 ,  430 - 1 , and  440 - 1 . The first cooking data region  410 - 1  of the cooking set region  402 - 1  stores cooking data of the A 2  food  300 - 1  corresponding to the first cooking set, and the second cooking data region  420 - 1  of the cooking set region  402 - 1  stores cooking data of the A 2  food  300 - 1  corresponding to the second cooking set. 
   In the case that the first or second cooking set cooks the A 2  food  300 - 1 , the first or second cooking set obtains the corresponding cooking data from the two-dimensional bar code  400 - 1 . Accordingly, the first or second cooking set sets cooking conditions, and performs the cooking of the A 2  food  300 - 1  according to cooking start instructions. 
   The third and fourth cooking sets, which are developed after the A 2  food enters the market, cannot obtain cooking data directly from the two-dimensional bar code  400 - 1  of the A 2  food  300 - 1 . In order to cook the A 2  food  300 - 1  circulated in the market, the third or fourth cooking set identifies the A 2  food  300 - 1  by reading a food ID of the A 2  food  300 - 1  stored in the common region  401 - 1  of the two-dimensional bar code  400 - 1 , searches cooking data from the food code region  252  of the memory  250  corresponding to the identified A 2  food  300 - 1 , and sets cooking conditions of the A 2  food  300 - 1  according to the searched cooking data. Thereafter, the third or fourth cooking set cooks the A 2  food  300 - 1  according to the set cooking conditions. 
   Hereinafter, the cooking process of the above-described microwave oven  10  will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The case, that food ID data and cooking data corresponding to the cooking set are simultaneously read from a bar code when the bar code is scanned, and the case, that the cooking data corresponding to the cooking set are first read from the bar code and, when the cooking data corresponding to the cooking set are not stored in the bar code, the food ID data are read from the bar code by re-scanning the bar code, will be separately described. 
   With reference to  FIG. 6 , when power is switched on, the main controller  240  determines whether the scan key signal is inputted from the input unit  211  ( 501 ), and, when it is determined that the scan key signal is inputted, the main controller  240  supplies the scan-ON signal to the scanner controller  230 . The scanner controller  230  controls the lamp driving unit  229  so that the lamp driving unit  229  turns on the infrared lamps  225 . The infrared light emitted from the infrared lamps  225  is projected onto an area in front of the operating panel  200  through the window  222 . At this time, when a food with a two-dimensional bar code approaches the window  222 , the bar code scanner  220  scans the two-dimensional bar code ( 503 ). 
   When the bar code is scanned by the bar code scanner  220 , the camera  226  inputs the image of the bar code to the scanner controller  230 , and the main controller  240  stores the image of the bar code, transmitted from the scanner controller  230 , in the RAM  270  ( 505 ). 
   The main controller  240  decodes the image of the bar code, and determines whether the scanned data of the bar code include cooking data regarding the corresponding cooking set ( 507 ). When it is determined that the scanned data of the bar code include the cooking data regarding the corresponding cooking set, i.e., when the cooking data regarding the corresponding cooking set can be obtained directly from the two-dimensional bar code, the main controller  240  sets cooking conditions according to the obtained cooking data ( 509 ). 
   On the other hand, when it is determined, as a result of step  507 , that the scanned data of the bar code do not include the cooking data regarding the corresponding cooking set, the main controller  240  determines whether the scanned data of the bar code include food ID data, i.e., whether or not the food ID data together with the cooking data are obtained from the bar code when the bar code is scanned ( 511 ). When it is determined that the food ID data are obtained from the bar code, the main controller  240  searches the cooking data regarding the corresponding cooking set from the memory  250  using the obtained food ID data ( 513 ), and sets cooking conditions of the corresponding cooking set according to the searched cooking data ( 515 ). 
   On the other hand, when it is determined, as a result of operation  511 , that the food ID data are not obtained from the bar code but only the cooking data are obtained from the bar code when the bar code is scanned, the main controller  240  outputs instructions for obtaining the food ID data to the scanner controller  230  ( 517 ). Thereby, the infrared lamps  225  of the bar code scanner  220  are operated to project infrared light, thereby re-scanning the bar code ( 519 ). Thereafter, operation  511  is carried out. 
   When the cooking conditions of the corresponding cooking set are set according to the cooking data obtained from the bar code in operation  509 , or when the cooking conditions of the corresponding cooking set are set according to the cooking data searched from the memory  250  using the food ID data in operation  515 , the main controller  240  controls the driving unit  260  according to the cooking conditions set in response to the cooking start key signal inputted through the input unit  211 , thereby performing the cooking operation of the food ( 521 ). 
   As apparent from the above description, the present invention provides a microwave oven, which obtains cooking data from a two-dimensional bar code attached to a food, and optimally cooks the food based on the obtained cooking data, and a method for controlling the microwave oven. Particularly, when the microwave oven cannot obtain the cooking data regarding the corresponding microwave oven from the two-dimensional bar code of the food, which is distributed in the market, the microwave oven obtains the cooking data by searching a memory, installed therein, using an ID code of the food. Accordingly, it is possible to optimally cook foods even when a plurality of cooking sets have different cooking conditions, and to develop the cooking sets regardless of whether or not the foods, which separately enter the market, are manufactured. Further, food producers can put foods applied compatibly to plural cooking sets on the market, thereby easily controlling inventory. 
   Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.