Patent ID: 8689679

Claim:
A method for automatically maintaining a level of cooking medium in a cooking vessel, the method comprising the steps of: heating the cooking medium in the cooking vessel to a predetermined temperature for cooking a food product; detecting temperature data within the cooking vessel when cooking the food product therein, comprising the substeps of: detecting first temperature data at a first level within the cooking vessel by making a plurality of first temperature readings at the first level, and detecting second temperature data at a second level within the cooking vessel, which is below the first level, by making a plurality of second temperature readings at the second level, wherein each of the plurality of second temperature readings corresponds to one of the plurality of first temperature readings taken substantially contemporaneously therewith; comparing the first temperature data and the second temperature data by comparing each of the first temperature readings with each of the corresponding second temperature readings; determining a level of cooking medium in the cooking vessel based on the comparison of the first and second temperature data, the step of determining the level of cooking medium in the cooking vessel comprising the substeps of: determining that a cooking medium level is at a start-fill value when the difference between a pair of substantially contemporaneous first and second temperature readings is greater than a predetermined start-fill value threshold, and determining that the level of cooking medium in the cooking vessel is inadequate when a number of start-fill values equals or is greater than a majority of a number of the comparisons of the first and second temperature readings; adding an amount of cooking medium in the cooking vessel through at least one inlet along a first communication path upon determining that the level of cooking medium in the cooking vessel is inadequate, the step of adding cooking medium comprising the substeps of: adding the cooking medium at a third level within the cooking vessel that is below the second level within the cooking vessel, and adding the amount of cooking medium to be less than an amount that would exceed the capacity of the cooking vessel; determining a fill time, which corresponds to an amount of time elapsed while adding the amount of cooking medium in the cooking vessel; notifying a status of a source of the cooking medium added to the cooking vessel when the fill time exceeds a predetermined value; and filtering cooking medium, the step of filtering cooking medium comprising the substeps of: causing cooking medium to exit the cooking vessel through at least one outlet along a second fluid communication path, filtering the cooking medium exited from the cooking vessel through said at least one outlet, and supplying filtered cooking medium to the cooking vessel through said at least one inlet along said second communication path.