Monitoring And Controlling A Cooking Environment

Abstract

Various embodiments are disclosed. A cooking vessel may include a cover, thermionic power converter, and a handle having a memory, a transmitter, and an IR light emitting diode. An infrared image sensor may be used with the IR light emitting to determine a location of the cooking vessel. A sensor and a transmitter may be disposed in the vessel cover to detect and transmit an indication of a boil condition. A system may include a sensor to detect a weight of a cooking vessel and a receiver to receive from the cooking vessel a memory-stored property of the cooking vessel, and a processing unit. The processing unit may determine a weight of the food and a predicted cooking time. The system may include a projected user interface and a proximity sensor. An apparatus may include an image sensor to capture a reference image and current images of a surface. A location of a cell on the surface may be determined from the images.

1 . A cooking vessel, comprising:
 a vessel handle;   a memory disposed in the vessel handle to store a vessel parameter;   a transmitter disposed in the vessel handle to transmit the vessel parameter; and   a thermionic power converter to provide electrical energy to the memory and transmitter.   
     
     
         2 . The cooking vessel of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one IR light emitting diode disposed in the vessel handle, wherein a location of the cooking vessel is determined with the infrared image sensor. 
     
     
         3 . The cooking vessel of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a cooking vessel cover;   a sensor disposed in the cooking vessel cover to detect a boil condition in the cooking vessel;   a transmitter disposed in the cooking vessel cover to transmit a message indicative of a detected boil condition.   
     
     
         4 . The cooking vessel of  claim 3 , wherein the sensor includes a gyroscopic sensor. 
     
     
         5 . The cooking vessel of  claim 3 , wherein the sensor includes an acceleration sensor. 
     
     
         6 . A cooking vessel, comprising:
 a handle; and   at least one IR light emitting diode disposed in the handle,   wherein a location of the cooking vessel is determined with an infrared image sensor.   
     
     
         7 . The cooking vessel of  claim 6 , further comprising a thermionic power converter to provide electrical energy to the at least one IR light emitting diode. 
     
     
         8 . The cooking vessel of  claim 6 , wherein the at least one IR light emitting diode includes at least two IR light emitting diodes arranged in a pattern, the pattern corresponding with a particular one of two or more cooking vessels. 
     
     
         9 . The cooking vessel of  claim 6 , wherein the at least one IR light emitting diode emits a particular sequence of IR light pulses identifying the cooking vessel 
     
     
         10 . The cooking vessel of  claim 6 , wherein the at least one IR light emitting diode emits radiation at a single frequency. 
     
     
         11 . The cooking vessel of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 a cooking vessel cover;   a sensor disposed in the cooking vessel cover to detect a boil condition in the cooking vessel; and   a transmitter disposed in the cooking vessel cover to transmit a message indicative of a detected boil condition.   
     
     
         12 . The cooking vessel of  claim 11 , wherein the sensor includes a gyroscopic sensor. 
     
     
         13 . The cooking vessel of  claim 11 , wherein the sensor includes an acceleration sensor. 
     
     
         14 . The cooking vessel of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 a cooking vessel cover including a vessel cover handle; and   at least one IR light emitting diode disposed in the vessel cover handle,   wherein the presence of the cooking vessel cover is determined with the infrared image sensor.   
     
     
         15 . A system, comprising:
 a user interface to receive an input of a type of food;   a sensor to detect a weight of a cooking vessel;   a receiver to receive from a cooking vessel a property of the cooking vessel; and   a processing unit to determine a weight of the food in the cooking vessel from the sensed weight of the cooking vessel and the received property of the vessel, the received property including a tare weight of the vessel, and a predicted cooking time based on the input food type and the weight of the food.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 a cooking vessel having a vessel handle;   a memory disposed in the vessel handle to store a vessel property; and   a transmitter disposed in the vessel handle to transmit the vessel property to the receiver.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the vessel property includes a vessel size and the processing unit determines the predicted cooking time based the input food type, the weight of the food, and the vessel size. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 a projector to project the user interface onto a display surface; and   a proximity sensor to detect whether a user is present in a particular area and to provide a signal to a device indicative of whether the user is present in the particular area; and   the device, communicatively coupled with the projector and the proximity sensor, to control the projector to scale the size of the projected user interface according to whether the user is detected in the particular area.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the display surface is a surface of the appliance. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the display surface is a surface adjacent to the appliance. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 a sheet of glass-ceramic material having a top surface;   at least one heating element;   an electrical conductor apparatus disposed parallel to the top surface in the sheet of glass-ceramic; and   a detection circuit coupled with the electrical conductor apparatus, the detection circuit to determine whether moisture is present on the top surface and to signal the processing unit if the detection circuit determines that moisture is present on the top surface.   
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the processing unit, in response to receipt of the moisture detection signal, causes an indication to be rendered in a user interface indicating that moisture is detected on the cooktop surface. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the processing unit, in response to receipt of the moisture detection signal, causes an indication to be rendered in a user interface of a portable multifunction computing and communication device indicating that moisture is detected on the cooktop surface. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the processing unit, in response to receipt of the moisture detection signal, causes a command to be sent to an appliance to control the appliance. 
     
     
         25 . An apparatus, comprising:
 an image sensor to capture a reference image and one or more current images of a surface, a location of a cell on the surface being positionally defined in the reference and current images; and   a device communicatively coupled with the image sensor, the device to determine whether pixels of the cell in the reference image and pixels of the cell in a current image differ and to provide a signal if the pixels of the cells in the respective images differ.   
     
     
         26 . The apparatus of  claim 25 , wherein the signal includes an indication of the location of the cell on the surface. 
     
     
         27 . The apparatus of  claim 26 , further comprising a processing unit communicatively coupled with the device to receive the signal, the processing unit, in response to the signal, to enable a heating element corresponding with the location of the cell to be energized. 
     
     
         28 . The apparatus of  claim 27 , wherein the heating element may be configured to heat a particular one of two or more regions and the processing unit, in response to the signal, enables a particular one of the two or more regions to be energized. 
     
     
         29 . The apparatus of  claim 25 , wherein the device determines whether a parameter corresponding with the number of pixels of the cell in the current image that differ from corresponding pixels of the cell in the reference image exceeds a particular threshold, and provides the signal when the parameter corresponding with the number of pixels of the cell in the current image that differ from corresponding pixels of the cell in the reference image exceeds the particular threshold. 
     
     
         30 . The apparatus of  claim 29 , wherein the device identifies a reference cooking vessel based on one or more of the size, shape, and value of the pixels of the cell in the current image.