Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Measuring – testing – or controlling by inanimate means – Preparing solid product in final form by heating
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-01
2001-04-17
Yeung, George C. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Measuring, testing, or controlling by inanimate means
Preparing solid product in final form by heating
C426S523000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06217924
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL BACKGROUND
This invention relates generally to electrical appliances used in food preparation, and more particularly, to automatic bread making appliances.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In recent years, automatic bread making machines have become increasingly prominent in the marketplace. These machines make bread without requiring a user to expend the time and effort associated with the mixing, repeated kneading, and baking. Bread making machines allow the user to pour the bread making ingredients into the machine, to press a few selected control buttons, and to leave the machine to do the work.
Developments in bread making machine technology have increasingly automated the entire bread making process, thereby requiring less and less user intervention. However, certain types of breads require different sets of ingredients to be combined at different times. Today's bread making machines provide for this by issuing audible signals indicating to the user that a next set of ingredients must be added to the bread making machine. At best, this is inconvenient. At worst, the bread may be ruined if the user does not add the ingredients at the proper time.
A related problem is that once a bread making cycle has begun, currently available bread making machines cannot be stopped without them being restarted at the beginning of the cycle. Therefore, it can be difficult to add previously forgotten ingredients. Also, a user cannot choose to extend the bread dough rising time beyond that of the preprogrammed bread making cycle.
It can be appreciated that there is a need for improved automation of bread making machines. It can also be appreciated that there is a need to allow user intervention in the bread making cycle, without then requiring the bread making machine to be restated at the beginning of the cycle. The present invention provides these and other advantages, as will be apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying figures.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, a bread making machine having an automated dispenser is provided to significantly improve the convenience of preparing certain times of breads. Ingredients such as fruit and/or nuts, which are typically added only near completion of bread dough kneading, are placed in a dispenser unit separate from a bread making chamber, in which the other bread making ingredients are contained. The automated dispenser includes a dispenser case for holding the fruit and/or nuts and a dispenser door separating the dispenser case from the bread making chamber of the bread machine. The dispenser door is held closed by a door latch, which responds to an electric signal to open the dispenser door, thereby emptying the fruit and/or nuts into the bread making chamber.
An automatic bread making machine, according to the present invention, includes a bread making chamber having a top opening for receiving a first set of bread making ingredients. A dispenser unit holds a second set of bread making ingredients and empties these ingredients into the bread making chamber in response to an electric signal produced by electronic control circuitry. A motor is provided for mixing ingredients within the bread making chamber, and a heater is provided for baking the ingredients within the chamber. The electronic control circuitry controls the operation of the motor and the heater. Also provided is a user interface panel including a keyboard and a visual display. The keyboard provides a means for the user to enter certain bread making instructions, and the visual display provides bread making status information to the user.
Also in accordance with the present invention, the operation of the bread making machine may be temporarily suspended at any time during the bread making process, by receipt of a pause instruction from the user. One advantage of this feature is that the bread making process can be stopped temporarily to add ingredients or for observation, without having to restart the entire bread making cycle over again. The user interface panel keyboard includes a pause key which is actuated by the user to transmit the pause instruction to the electronic control circuitry. The electronic control circuitry includes a microcomputer which executes a bread making program. The microcomputer responds to the pause instruction by suspending execution of the bread making program for a selected time interval, and resuming execution of the bread making program after the selected time interval has elapsed. The selected time interval be determined either by the user or automatically by the electronic control circuitry.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4538509 (1985-09-01), Ojima et al.
patent: 4762057 (1988-08-01), Hirota et al.
patent: 4885176 (1989-12-01), Nakakura et al.
patent: 4957040 (1990-09-01), Nakakura et al.
patent: 4963375 (1990-10-01), Sato et al.
patent: 5435235 (1995-07-01), Yoshida
patent: 5615605 (1997-04-01), Kakimoto et al.
Dreimann Leonard
Sit Michael
Westfield Barbara A.
Donohue Michael J.
Salton-Maxim Housewares, Inc.
Seed IP Law Group PLLC
Yeung George C.
LandOfFree
Breadmaking machine and method with automated dispenser and... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Breadmaking machine and method with automated dispenser and..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Breadmaking machine and method with automated dispenser and... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2481058