Patent ID: 7015440

Claim:
A microwave oven with a cooking cavity therein and a magnetron therein to oscillate at a high frequency and a cooking unit disposed in the cooking cavity to heat food, comprising: a power control unit to control an operation of the magnetron: a moving unit to move the cooking unit into a cooking position; and a control unit to control both the power control unit and the moving unit such that the magnetron heats the food before and only after the cooking unit is moved to the cooking position, and operation of the magnetron is prohibited when the moving unit is moving the cooking unit, the magnetron and the cooking unit being disposed to heat the food together after the movement of the cooking unit, wherein the cooking unit comprises: plural heaters; and the control unit comprises: a first switch and a second switch, which are selectively turned on or turned off to supply the power to or cut the power off from a selected one or ones of the plural heaters, and wherein the control unit further comprises: a relay drive unit, wherein the first switch is turned off in response to a first electrical signal generated by the relay drive unit and closes an electrical passage between one of the plural heaters and a power supply, and the first switch is turned on in response to a second electrical signal generated by the relay drive unit and opens the electrical passage between the one heater and the power supply, and the second switch is turned off in response to a third electrical signal generated by the relay drive unit and closes an electrical passage between a remaining one or ones of the plural heaters and the power supply, and the second switch is turned on in response to a fourth electrical signal generated by the relay drive unit and opens the electrical passage between the remaining one or ones of the plural heaters and the power supply.