JP2005265237A - Microwave oven - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a microwave oven allowing a user to understand operation procedures on an operation panel easily. <P>SOLUTION: Operation keys 17 on the operation panel 6 are classified into a first group 30 of operation inputting means, a second group 31 of operation inputting means, and a third group 32 of operation inputting means per operation procedure for operating cooking setting and are arranged in parallel from above. Numbers A, B, C for letting the user know the operation procedures are arranged in the vicinity of each group 30, 31, 32 of operation inputting means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a microwave oven provided with an operation panel.

  In recent years, functions of microwave ovens have been diversified due to improved performance, and cooking menus have been increasing. At the same time, the types and number of operation keys are increasing, and many operation keys are arranged on the operation panel in addition to operation keys for setting cooking time, cooking temperature, starting cooking, and canceling. However, at the same time, there is a demand for an increase in the capacity of the heating chamber and an enlargement of the opening in the front of the heating chamber without causing an increase in the size of the entire microwave oven. It must be avoided and at least size increase must be avoided.

Therefore, in order to reduce the number of operation keys while maintaining multiple functions, it is unavoidable to press the operation keys a plurality of times and set the cooking by combining the operation keys. Therefore, in order to complicate such operations, a method is adopted in which a setting operation is performed by looking at menus and numerical values displayed on the display unit while operating the operation dial. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).
JP-A-6-88618 (2nd to 3rd pages, FIG. 2)

  However, it is difficult to remember the complicated operation, and it is difficult to remember such a complicated operation. Even a single-function type microwave oven as well as a conventional multi-function microwave oven can be used by elderly people and daily life. In fact, it is difficult for a person who is not familiar with the microwave oven to know which operation key to press to set and start cooking. Also, as a result of being prepared separately, it is not easy to read and understand the instruction manual, so it takes a lot of time to use it, sometimes it fails to cook and ruin the object to be heated Even there was.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and therefore the object is to arrange numbers and the like indicating operation procedures in the vicinity of operation keys and the like so that even an elderly person or an unfamiliar person can easily and reliably. It is to provide a microwave oven that can be operated.

  In order to achieve the above object, a microwave oven according to the present invention covers a heating chamber that accommodates an object to be heated, an opening that is formed on the front surface of the heating chamber and that allows the object to be heated in and out, and covers the opening. A door body that can be opened and closed, a heating cooking means for heating an object to be heated in the heating chamber, a control device for controlling the heating cooking means, and input to the control device for setting of heating cooking An operation panel provided with a plurality of operation input means to be provided, and the operation panel is configured to arrange numbers, characters, etc. indicating operation procedures on or near each operation input means. This is the main feature.

  As an effect of the present invention, numbers and the like indicating the operation procedure are displayed near the user's hand, and the user can easily see the operation procedure and perform setting operations. Since it is possible to know in which order the operation should be performed without opening a book or the like and viewing the operation procedure, the cooking intended by the user can be performed easily and reliably.

(First embodiment)
A first embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a microwave oven will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of the microwave oven. The microwave oven is a combination of oven cooking and microwave cooking by two heating means. As shown in FIG. 1, an outer casing 1 and a metal box are arranged inside the casing 1. The heating chamber 2 has an opening 2a on the front surface, and the housing 1 is supported by four legs 3 provided on the bottom surface. A hinge 5 is attached to the lower side of the opening 2a, and the door 4 is rotatably attached by the hinge 5. The door body 4 electrostatically shields the inside and outside of the heating chamber 2 and closes the opening 2a. An operation panel 6 is arranged on the right side of the door 4 on the front surface of the housing 1.

  Further, among the two heating means for heating the object to be heated in the heating chamber 2, the magnetron 7 (see FIG. 3) used for the range cooking is disposed below the machine chamber 8 adjacent to the heating chamber 2. Further, a flat glass mounting table 9 on which the object to be heated is mounted is provided on the bottom surface of the heating chamber 2, and an excitation port and a waveguide (not shown) are provided below the mounting table 9, The microwave from the magnetron 7 can be taken into the heating chamber 2. Further, an antenna 11 is disposed below the mounting table 9, and is rotated by a motor 29 (see FIG. 3) via a rotating shaft 12. In addition, by rotating this antenna 11, the microwave taken in the heating chamber 2 is reflected and diffused, and the heating spots of the food that is the object to be heated are suppressed.

  As another heating means, a sheathed heater 13 is provided below the mounting table 9 in the heating chamber 2, and a flat plate heater 14 is provided on the ceiling of the heating chamber 2. By these heaters 13 and 14, so-called oven cooking is performed in which the atmospheric temperature in the heating chamber 2 is raised and kept high.

  Further, a mounting portion (not shown) of the infrared sensor 27 (see FIG. 3) is formed above the side surface of the heating chamber 2, and the food placement of the infrared sensor 27 is performed by the recess 15 protruding toward the machine chamber 8 side. The field of view is secured. The infrared sensor 27 is composed of eight infrared temperature detecting elements arranged in a straight line. The eight elements have a field of view on one side in the depth direction of the mounting table 9, and the drive area of the infrared sensor 27 extends in the left-right direction. The temperature detection range is scanned so as to be driven, so-called swingable, and the surface temperature of the entire mounting table 9 can be detected.

  Next, FIG. 2 is an enlarged front view of the operation panel 6. As shown in this figure, a display device 16 comprising an LCD or the like for displaying the remaining cooking time, set temperature, etc. is disposed above the front surface of the operation panel 6. A plurality of operation keys 17 as operation input means are disposed below the display device 16. The operation key 17 has a “menu” selection dial 18 that allows a specific cooking method to be selected by rotating from above, a “range” key 19 that performs microwave heating with the magnetron 7 as range cooking, and a seed as oven cooking. An “oven” key 20, a “temperature” setting key 21, a “time” setting key 22, and a “start” key for starting cooking by heating the heater 13 and the flat plate heater 14 while keeping the atmospheric temperature of the heating chamber high. 23 and a “cancel” key 24 used for canceling the setting, starting over, interrupting cooking, and the like are arranged side by side. Here, the “menu” selection dial 18 has a plurality of cooking menus such as “warm”, “thaw”, “fry”, “cookie” and “gratin”, for example, in which specific control details are set in advance. The cooking menu is switched and set according to the amount of rotation of the dial, and is displayed on the display device 16. The “temperature” setting key 21 and the cooking “time” setting key 22 are composed of “increase” keys 21 a and 22 a and “decrease” keys 21 b and 22 b, respectively. The temperature is increased or decreased.

  The operation keys 17 on the operation panel 6 as described above constitute an operation input means group for each operation procedure to be described later according to the procedure for setting the cooking contents of the microwave oven, and are color-coded for each operation input means group. The configuration is such that the setting operation can be easily performed in order, such as adopting the same or similar key shape. More specifically, the “menu” selection dial 18, the “range” key 19 and the “oven” key 20 are defined as a first operation input means group 30, and all these operation keys 17 have the same color and are viewed from the front. The configuration is a circular shape.

  Further, in the second operation input means group 31 composed of the “temperature” setting key 21 and the cooking “time” setting key 22, all the operation keys 17 are square and are based on the same color. The keys 21a and 22a are respectively provided with upward arrows, and the "decrease" keys 21b and 22b are provided with downward arrows. In the third operation input means group 32 composed of the “start” key 23 and the “cancel” key 24, the operation keys 17 have the same color and have a large square shape with a corner.

  Further, a number A of “1” is arranged on the left side of the first operation input means group 30 and represents the first operation procedure. Similarly, the left side of the second operation input means group 31 is “2” as the second number B, and the left side of the third operation input means group 32 is “3” as the third number C. 3 "is arranged. The details of the operation procedure will be described later in the description of the operation.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the present embodiment. The control circuit 25 is constituted by a microcomputer or the like, and the control circuit 25 controls the entire cooking including the power supply from the power supply circuit 26 as the power supply means. For example, a detection signal from each infrared temperature detection element of the infrared sensor 27 and an input signal from each key of the operation key 17 are input to the control circuit 25. When any of the operation keys 17 is set and operated by the user, a signal corresponding to each key is input to the control circuit 25. Upon receipt of this input signal, the magnetron 7, the sheathed heater 13, and the flat plate heater 14 are energized and controlled based on a command from the control circuit 25, and the display device 16 and the indicator 28 notify the user of the cooking setting and cooking state. Then, the motor 29 is energized to rotate the antenna 11. The so-called control circuit 25 functions as a control device that controls the overall operation of the microwave oven.

  Next, the operation of the microwave oven configured as described above will be described.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the main part showing the operation procedure up to the start of cooking. First, in a standby state where the power is on, the user is informed that the user selects one of the first operation input means group 30 as the “1” -th operation, and the user follows this display. The cooking method is selected by pressing or rotating the dial (step S1). Now, for example, when either the “range” key 19 or the “oven” key 20 is pressed and set, the characters “range” or “oven” are displayed on the display device 16, and the next step In S2, the process proceeds to step S3 based on the determination of “YES”. In this step 3, as the operation of the number B being “2”, the “temperature” setting key 21 and the “time” setting key 22 which are the second operation input means group 31 are pressed to operate the cooking temperature or cooking. Tells the user to set the time. The cooking temperature and cooking time are displayed on the display device 16, respectively. By pressing the “temperature” setting keys 21a and 21b and the “time” setting key 22, both can be set in the same step. When the “Range” key 19 is selected, the cooking time can be set up to a maximum of 20 minutes. When the “Oven” key 20 is selected, the cooking temperature is within a range of 100 to 250 degrees and a maximum of 90 minutes. The cooking time can be set.

  Then, the process proceeds to step S4, where the number C is “3” as the third operation, and it is informed that the “start” key 23 is pressed from the third operation input means group 32 in this case. Then, heating cooking is started based on the cooking temperature and cooking time set in the preceding step S3. By pressing the “Cancel” key 24, the setting is canceled and returned to the standby state, and the setting is possible again from the beginning.

  On the other hand, when the “menu” selection dial 18 is rotated in step S 1, for example, “gratin” is displayed on the display device 16 as the specific cooking menu selected and set when the dial is rotated by a predetermined amount. In this case, “NO” determination is made in step S2, step S3 is omitted, and the process proceeds to step S4 described above. The control contents of the cooking menu including the “gratin” menu are determined in advance, but the cooking time and temperature are determined based on the surface temperature of the heated object detected by the infrared sensor 27 that scans during cooking. Based on an input of a temperature detection signal or the like, the control circuit 25 automatically controls cooking.

  The first embodiment described above has the following effects.

  Since the user can easily recognize the operation procedure by displaying the procedure indicated by the numbers A, B, and C, the user selects and operates a combination of a plurality of keys among the operation keys 17 on the limited operation panel 6. Therefore, even if it is configured to make various cooking settings, the user can easily see the operation procedure by displaying numbers A, B, and C, and the display is in the vicinity of the hand and almost the same as the operation keys Because it is in the field of view, it is extremely easy to see.

  In addition, since the operation procedure can be easily seen, it is possible to know in which order the key operations should be performed in a short time without opening the instruction manual, etc., and cooking easily. Can do. In addition, because the numbers A, B, and C are displayed in the same size as each key, even the elderly and users with low vision can easily know the operating procedure and quickly select the desired cooking menu. Thus, desired cooking can be performed quickly. Furthermore, since the key shape and color are unified for each operation input means group, the operation procedure of each operation input means group can be performed without error.

(Second embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 2 showing (a), (b), and (c) in different states, and FIG. 6 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 4, which indicates the operating procedure in the first embodiment described above. Instead of the numbers A, B, and C, the difference is that a light source for illumination, that is, a so-called backlight is arranged behind each key operation portion of the operation key 17. Hereinafter, the same parts as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, description thereof is omitted, and only different configurations will be described.

  The operation keys 17 of the operation input means groups 30, 31, and 32 shown in FIG. 5 are partly or entirely made of a transparent or translucent material. In the back, LEDs 33, 34 and 35 as light sources are provided. The LEDs 33, 34, and 35 are configured to be energized and controlled by the control circuit 25. When these LEDs 33, 34, and 35 are turned on, a part or all of the operation input means groups 30, 31, and 32 are lit, and the LEDs 33, 34, and 35 are turned on from the front side of the operation panel 6, or The off state can be easily recognized.

  Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described, mainly based on the flowchart of FIG. 6, mainly the parts different from FIG. 4 (steps S5, S6, S7). In the standby state in which the power is turned on, the LED 33 is turned on as shown in FIG. 5A (step S5), only the first operation input means group 30 is backlit, and the operation input means in the so-called next step S1 is displayed. It tells you which one. When step S2 is reached and step S6 is reached, the LED 33 is turned off as shown in FIG. 5B, the LED 34 is turned on instead, and only the second operation input means group 31 is backlit, Which operation means is indicated. Then, when step S3 is reached and step S7 is reached, in step 10, as shown in FIG. 5C, the LED 34 is turned off, and instead, the LED 35 is turned on so that only the third operation input means group 32 is backlit. Is displayed. The light source may be configured to blink instead of continuously lighting.

  The first embodiment described above has the following effects.

  Since one of the LEDs 33, 34, and 35 corresponding to each operation input means group is sequentially turned on according to the operation procedure, a selection operation is performed by combining a plurality of keys among the operation keys 17 on the limited operation panel 6. Even if it is the structure which performs various cooking settings by doing, a user can visually recognize an operation procedure easily by lighting of LED33,34,35.

  In addition, since the user can easily see the operation procedure, it is possible to instantly know which operation should be operated in which order without opening the instruction manual etc. Heat cooking can be performed easily and reliably. In addition, each set of keys to be used for pressing various settings is backlit, so you can easily know the operating procedure without moving the viewpoint at your fingertips. It can be carried out.

  The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings. For example, the present invention is not limited to the microwave oven and is suitable not only for microwave ovens, but also for specific shapes of the operation keys 17. Even if the colors are not the same, any design may be used as long as they can be identified substantially with the relevance that can be discriminated for each operation input means group.

  In addition to arranging numbers in the vicinity of the operation input means group, each operation input means group may be surrounded by a frame. If it does in this way, the indication range and operation procedure by number A, B, and C can be acquired easily, and it will not become more confused about cooking setting.

  Furthermore, all or a part of the operation input means group may be composed of only a single operation input means. In addition to displaying numbers A, B, and C, characters, symbols, and figures indicating the order may be displayed. What is necessary is just to use it as a display means to let the user know the operation procedure. Further, a light source may be provided in the vicinity of the operation input means groups 30, 31, and 32 so as to inform the user of the operation procedure, and other types and functions of the cooking menu are added or reduced. For example, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

The perspective view of the microwave oven which shows 1st Example of this invention Enlarged front view of the operation panel Block diagram showing electrical configuration Main part flowchart FIG. 2 equivalent diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention. 4 equivalent diagram

Explanation of symbols

2 Heating chamber 4 Door 6 Operation panel 9 Mounting table 13 Sheath heater 14 Flat heater 16 Display device 17 Operation key 18 “Menu” selection dial 19 “Range” key 20 “Oven” key 21 “Temperature” setting key 22 “Time” Setting key 23 “Start” key 24 “Cancel” key 25 Control circuit (control device)
30 1st operation input means group 31 2nd operation input means group 32 3rd operation input means group 33, 34, 35 LED (light source)
A, B, C numbers

Claims (6)

A heating chamber that accommodates an object to be heated, an opening formed on the front surface of the heating chamber for taking in and out the object to be heated, a door body that can open and close the opening, and heating in the heating chamber A heating means for heating an object, a control device for controlling energization of the heating means, and an operation panel provided with a plurality of operation input means for setting cooking to be input to the control device,
The microwave oven characterized in that the operation panel is configured to display numbers, characters, and the like indicating operation procedures of the operation input means in the operation input means or in the vicinity of the operation input means. A heating chamber that accommodates an object to be heated, an opening formed on the front surface of the heating chamber for taking in and out the object to be heated, a door body that can open and close the opening, and heating in the heating chamber A heating means for heating an object, a control device for controlling energization of the heating means, and an operation panel provided with a plurality of operation input means for setting cooking to be input to the control device,
The plurality of operation input means includes a plurality of operation input means groups,
The microwave oven is characterized in that the operation panel is configured to display numbers, characters or the like indicating an operation procedure for each operation input means group in each operation input means group or in the vicinity of each operation input means group.   The microwave oven according to claim 1 or 2, wherein operation input means or a group of operation input means are arranged according to an operation procedure from one direction on the operation panel.   The microwave oven according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the plurality of operation input means are configured to unify the shape or color for each operation input means group. A heating chamber that accommodates an object to be heated, an opening formed on the front surface of the heating chamber for taking in and out the object to be heated, a door body that can open and close the opening, and heating in the heating chamber A heating means for heating an object, a control device for controlling energization of the heating means, and an operation panel provided with a plurality of operation input means for setting cooking to be input to the control device,
The microwave oven is characterized in that the operation panel has a light source disposed in the vicinity of each operation input means or each operation input means, and the light source is turned on according to an operation procedure of the operation input means. A heating chamber that accommodates an object to be heated, an opening formed on the front surface of the heating chamber for taking in and out the object to be heated, a door body that can open and close the opening, and heating in the heating chamber A heating means for heating an object, a control device for controlling energization of the heating means, and an operation panel provided with a plurality of operation input means for setting cooking to be input to the control device,
The plurality of operation input means includes a plurality of operation input means groups,
The operation panel has a configuration in which a light source is disposed in the vicinity of each operation input means group or in the vicinity of each operation input means group, and the light source is turned on according to an operation procedure for each operation input means group. microwave.

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