automated pizza preparation apparatus

Abstract

Automated apparatus for preparing pizza, and method of operating same. A customer selects a type of pizza, such as toppings or crust style. The apparatus slices and defrosts dough, applies cheese, slices and applies toppings, and cooks the pizza to order. The cooked pizza is packaged for delivery to the customer and may include a separate cutting apparatus. Proper temperature of hot and cold sections is maintained while ingredients are stored and as the pizza is cooked. The process is monitored and controlled by one or more processors.

1 . An apparatus for preparing and cooking pizza comprising:
 a refrigerated dough handling module comprising:
 a dough canister holder adapted to removably hold a plurality of dough canisters; and 
 a dough pusher configured to engage with at least one of the dough canisters to extrude dough therefrom; 
   a cutting mechanism disposed adjacent to at least a portion of the dough canister holder and configured to slice extruded dough to produce a sliced dough portion;   a press module configured to form the sliced dough portion to create an intermediate dough portion from the sliced dough portion;   an ingredients dispensing module configured to dispense at least an ingredient onto the intermediate dough portion;   an oven configured to cook the intermediate dough portion into a cooked pizza; and   a transfer mechanism configured to move the intermediate dough portion from the ingredients dispensing module to the oven.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the ingredients dispensing module is thermally connected to the refrigerated dough handling module to cool the ingredients dispensing module. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the dough handling module further comprises at least one sensor configured to determine a thickness of the extruded dough for cutting by the cutting mechanism. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 3  wherein the at least one sensor comprises a plurality of sensors that are arranged linearly and at an angle that is not parallel to a forward face of the extruded dough. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the dough handling module further includes a lid remover to remove a lid from at least one of the dough canisters held in the dough canister holder. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the dough handling module comprises a rotatable wheel comprising a plurality of cradles for holding respective dough canisters. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the transfer mechanism includes a lifting device comprising a plurality of tines and configured to retrieve the intermediate dough portion from a toppings plate of the ingredients dispensing module, the toppings plate comprising a top surface upon which the intermediate dough portion is disposed, the top surface comprising a plurality of ridges between which the tines are capable of being disposed. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 7  wherein the toppings plate is movably disposed within the ingredients dispensing module. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 8  wherein the apparatus is configured to change at least one of:
 a rate at which at an ingredient is dispensed towards the toppings plate as a function of at least one of a position of the toppings plate in the ingredients dispensing module and a rotational speed of the toppings plate; and 
 a rate of change of the rotational speed of the toppings plate as a function of the position of the toppings plate in the ingredients dispensing module. 
 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the ingredients dispensing module includes at least one of a cheese dispenser, a sauce dispenser and a toppings dispenser. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 10  wherein the cheese dispenser comprises:
 a rotatable carousel, the rotatable carousel configured to removably engage with a plurality of cheese tubs and rotate a selected cheese tub to a cheese-dispensing position; 
 a measuring tube positioned in the cheese-dispensing position and configured for measuring a predetermined amount of cheese dispensed from at least one of the cheese tubs; and 
 a cheese dispensing tube positioned to accept cheese from the measuring tube and dispense the cheese towards the toppings plate. 
 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 11  wherein a lower portion of the cheese dispensing tube comprises a predetermined pattern of openings that facilitate uniform spreading of cheese over the intermediate dough portion. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 11  further comprising a movable door disposed between the measuring tube and the cheese dispensing tube. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 11  further comprising an actuator configured to engage with at least one of the cheese tubs to activate an agitator disposed within the cheese tub, the agitator urging cheese out of an opening in the cheese tub. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the ingredients dispensing module includes a toppings carousel comprising:
 a base portion disposed adjacent to and in rotatable relationship with a slicer portion, the slicer portion comprising a blade; and 
 at least a tube extending away from the base portion, the tube configured to hold a tube-shaped food product; 
 wherein at least an opening in the base portion in register with the tube enables the tube-shaped food product to contact the blade. 
 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 15  further comprising a weight disposed in the tube to exert downward pressure on the tube-shaped food product. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the oven is rotatably disposed in the apparatus. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 17  wherein the rotatable oven comprises at least an opening and is configured to have at least:
 a first rotation position in which the intermediate dough portion is loaded into the oven by the transfer mechanism through the opening, and 
 a second rotation position for baking in which the opening is closed. 
 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 18  wherein the rotatable oven is further configured to have a third rotation position in which the opening aligns with a boxing module for extracting the cooked pizza from the oven and boxing the cooked pizza. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 19  wherein the boxing module comprises:
 a first positioner for moving an unloading shovel along a first direction into and out of the opening while the oven is in the third position to extract the cooked pizza from the oven; and 
 a second positioner for moving the cooked pizza off of the unloading shovel and into a box present in a box staging area. 
 
     
     
         21 . The apparatus of  claim 20  wherein the first positioner further comprises a tilting mechanism to tilt the unloading shovel. 
     
     
         22 . The apparatus of  claim 20  wherein the boxing module further comprises:
 a box storage for storing boxes; 
 a transfer arm for moving a box from the box storage area to the box staging area, the transfer arm comprising a suction device for grabbing a box present in the box storage area; and 
 an elevator for bringing the box present in the box storage area and the suction device into contact with each other. 
 
     
     
         23 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a pusher disposed in a predetermined relationship to the oven to keep the intermediate dough portion in the oven when the transfer mechanism withdraws from the oven. 
     
     
         24 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the press module comprises:
 a bottom press plate; 
 a top press plate; 
 an actuator for urging the top and bottom press plates together; and 
 a transfer arm movably disposed in the press module to urge the an intermediate dough portion towards the ingredients dispensing module. 
 
     
     
         25 . The apparatus of  claim 24  wherein at least one of the bottom press plate and the top press plate is heated to par-bake the intermediate dough portion. 
     
     
         26 . The apparatus of  claim 24  wherein the actuator is configured to move the bottom press plate to a position at which a top surface of the bottom press plate is below a top surface of the transfer arm. 
     
     
         27 . The apparatus of  claim 24  wherein at least one of the bottom press plate and the top press plate comprises a plurality of air outlets for discharging air towards the intermediate dough portion. 
     
     
         28 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising an elevator positioned between the cutting mechanism and the press module, the elevator comprising a collection plate movable between a first position adjacent the cutting mechanism to accept the sliced dough portion from the cutting mechanism and a second position adjacent the press module to provide the sliced dough portion to the press module. 
     
     
         29 . The apparatus of  claim 28  further comprising a rotary arm positioned substantially at the second position, the rotary arm movable to push the sliced dough portion into the press module. 
     
     
         30 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a user interface for accepting an order from a customer. 
     
     
         31 . A method for dispensing a freshly-baked pizza comprising:
 utilizing a user interface of a pizza vending machine to accept an order from a customer;   warming a hot press in response to the customer's order;   extruding dough from a dough canister by utilization of an automated plunger in response to the customer's order;   utilizing at least a sensor to determine a thickness of the extruded dough;   in response to the sensor determination, cutting the extruded dough utilizing an automated cutting mechanism;   utilizing the hot press to press and warm the cut dough to form a par-baked pizza crust;   applying toppings to the par-baked pizza crust by utilization of an ingredients dispensing module in response to the customer's order;   utilizing an automated transfer mechanism to move the par-baked pizza crust with toppings into the oven;   baking the par-baked pizza crust with toppings to create a freshly-baked pizza;   boxing the freshly-baked pizza; and   dispensing the freshly-baked pizza to the customer.   
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31  further comprising rotating a dough canister into a position to couple with the automated plunger and the automated cutting mechanism. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 32  wherein a plurality of dough canisters are disposed on a rotatable wheel and the method further comprises selecting a dough canister for rotation into the position to couple with the automated plunger and the automated cutting mechanism according to a weight distribution of the dough canisters in the rotatable wheel. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 31  further comprising the steps of:
 compressing the cut dough between a top press plate and a bottom press plate of the hot press to thaw the dough and create the par-baked pizza crust; and 
 measuring an amount of time taken to compress the cut dough; and 
 utilizing the measurement in a subsequent iteration of compressing cut dough. 
 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 31  wherein cutting the extruded dough is performed in a refrigerated compartment located at a height that is different from a height of the hot press, and the method further comprises:
 utilizing an elevator to move the cut dough to the hot press, the elevator passing through an opening in a wall of the refrigerated compartment; and 
 subsequently stopping the elevator so that at least a portion of the elevator is disposed in the opening to further thermally insulate the refrigerated compartment. 
 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 31  wherein the oven comprises an opening for accepting the par-baked pizza crust with toppings and the method further comprises rotating the oven so that the opening abuts a shroud to close the opening. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 31  further comprising blowing air through air holes in an oven plate so as to lift the freshly-baked pizza off of the oven plate. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 37  further comprising blowing air through the air holes to facilitate removing the freshly-baked pizza from the oven or to prevent the par-baked pizza crust with toppings from sticking to a cooking surface. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 31  further comprising displaying advertisements on the user interface while forming the freshly-baked pizza. 
     
     
         40 . A vending machine for delivering a freshly-baked pizza to a customer, the vending machine comprising:
 at least a processor; and   memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising program code executable by the processor to cause the processor to perform the following steps:   accepting information from a user interface to obtain a customer order for a pizza;   in response to the customer order, causing a hot press to warm;   causing a dough pusher to extrude dough from a canister;   accepting information from at least a first sensor configured to determine a thickness of the extruded dough;   in response to the first sensor, causing an automated cutting mechanism to cut the extruded dough;   causing a first transfer mechanism to transfer the cut dough to the hot press;   causing the hot press to press and par-bake the cut dough to form an intermediate dough portion;   causing a second transfer mechanism to transfer the intermediate dough portion to an ingredients dispensing module;   causing the ingredients dispensing module to apply toppings to the intermediate dough portion;   causing a third transfer mechanism to transfer the intermediate dough portion with toppings into a rotatable oven via an opening in the oven;   causing the oven to rotate to close the opening;   causing the intermediate dough portion with toppings to remain in the oven for a period of time to bake the intermediate dough portion with toppings to form a freshly-baked pizza;   causing the rotatable oven to rotate so that the opening faces a boxing mechanism; and   causing a fourth transfer mechanism of the boxing mechanism to move the freshly-baked pizza from the oven and into a box.