US 12,331,938 B2
Establishing a degree of browning of food to be cooked
Sandra Ebert, Stuttgart-Feuerbach (DE); and Roland Schleser, Stuttgart-Feuerbach (DE)
Assigned to BSH Hausgeräte GmbH, Munich (DE)
Appl. No. 16/320,560
Filed by BSH Hausgeräte GmbH, Munich (DE)
PCT Filed Aug. 1, 2017, PCT No. PCT/EP2017/069450
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jan. 25, 2019,
PCT Pub. No. WO2018/033383, PCT Pub. Date Feb. 22, 2018.
Claims priority of application No. 10 2016 215 550.4 (DE), filed on Aug. 18, 2016.
Prior Publication US 2019/0242584 A1, Aug. 8, 2019
Int. Cl. F24C 7/08 (2006.01); A23L 5/10 (2016.01); A47J 37/08 (2006.01)
CPC F24C 7/085 (2013.01) [A23L 5/10 (2016.08); F24C 7/08 (2013.01); A23V 2002/00 (2013.01); A47J 37/085 (2013.01)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for establishing a degree of browning of food in a cooking chamber of a household cooking appliance, comprising:
capturing a first reference image of a food item within the household cooking appliance at a first brightness of a light source of the household cooking appliance by a camera of the household cooking appliance, which camera is directed into the cooking chamber;
capturing a second reference image at a second brightness of the light source;
capturing a first measurement image of the food item at the first brightness;
capturing a second measurement image at the second brightness;
compensating for changes in ambient light by (a) generating a reference difference image using the first reference image and the second reference image, wherein a first set of pixels of the reference difference image correspond to the food item, and (b) generating a difference image using the first measurement image and the second measurement image, wherein a second set of pixels of the difference image correspond to the first set of pixels of the reference difference image; and
determining the degree of browning of the food item by comparing the second set of pixels in the difference image with the first set of pixels in the reference difference image;
wherein comparing the first and second sets of pixels comprises determining whether a proportion of the second pixels having a minimum change in coloration has reached a selected threshold.