Food product position and recognition cooking and/or holding device system

Abstract

A cooking and/or heat retention appliance, in particular a commercial cooking appliance, comprising a housing in which a cooking or interior space is arranged having a cooking or interior space opening; an insert rack arranged in the cooking or interior space and includes a plurality of pairs of insert rails arranged one above the other for receiving one food product carrier each on insertion levels of different heights; and an optical recognition system arranged above the cooking or interior space opening and includes an image recording device, wherein the image recording device is connected to a separate evaluation device via a data line which, by an evaluation algorithm, determines the positioning of one or more food product carriers in the cooking or interior space and/or the positioning of at least one food product arranged on the food product carrier from the cooking or interior space image data recorded by the image recording device and transmitted to the evaluation device.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A foodservice device comprising:
 a housing in which an internal space is arranged having a space opening;   an insert rack arranged in the interior space and including a plurality of pairs of insert rails arranged one above the other for receiving one food product carrier each on insertion levels of different heights; and   an optical recognition system arranged above the interior space opening and including an image recording device,   wherein the image recording device, via a data line, is connected to a separate evaluation device which, by an evaluation algorithm, determines the positioning of one or more food product carriers in the interior space and/or the positioning of at least one food product arranged on the food product carrier from the interior space image data recorded by the image recording device and transmitted to the evaluation device, and from known image data concerning the food product carriers and/or the form or the dimension of a food product.   
     
     
         2 . The foodservice device according to  claim 1 , wherein the image recording device is designed as a camera. 
     
     
         3 . The foodservice device according to  claim 2 , wherein the camera has a fixed focal length. 
     
     
         4 . The foodservice device according to  claim 1 , wherein the edge lengths of the food product carriers are used as previously known data and/or the shape or size of a food product is used. 
     
     
         5 . The foodservice device according to  claim 1 , wherein the optical recognition system includes at least one image sensor. 
     
     
         6 . The foodservice device according to  claim 1 , wherein the image sensor has a sensor area which is smaller than the standard image recording area of the image recording device. 
     
     
         7 . The foodservice device according to  claim 6 , wherein the evaluation device removes the excess areas of the standard image recording area protruding beyond the sensor area, the evaluation device determining a relevant partial area of the sensor area to be analyzed. 
     
     
         8 . The foodservice device according to  claim 1 , wherein the food product carriers are standardized according to either EN 631-1, ASTM F1495, or ASTM A167-99. 
     
     
         9 . A foodservice device comprising:
 a housing in which an internal space is arranged having an interior space opening;   an insert rack, which is arranged in the interior space, and which has a plurality of pairs of insert rails arranged one above the other for receiving one food product carrier each on insertion levels of different heights; and   an optical recognition system which is arranged above the interior space opening and has an image recording device, wherein the image recording device is, via a data line, connected to a separate evaluation device which determines an image section to be analyzed from the interior space image data transmitted from the image recording device to the separate evaluation device.   
     
     
         10 . A foodservice system comprising:
 at least one first foodservice device including a first optical recognition system with an image recording device;   at least one second foodservice device including a second optical recognition system with an image recording device for observing an interior space of a housing of the second foodservice device, the interior space having at least one insertion level for receiving food product carriers, and   a timer for detecting the expiry of a maximum permissible dwell time of the cooked food inserted into the interior space, wherein the timer can be initiated in dependence on the inserted food product, and the initiated timer can be visually displayed on a display of the second foodservice device.   
     
     
         11 . The foodservice system according to  claim 10 , wherein the initiated timer can be visually displayed on the display of the second treatment device taking into account its insertion position into the interior space. 
     
     
         12 . The foodservice system according to  claim 10 , further comprising a first and a second food product arrangement pattern on the food product carrier can be determined by the optical recognition systems of the first and second foodservice devices. 
     
     
         13 . The foodservice system according to  claim 12 , wherein, by an image comparison between the first and the second recorded food product arrangement pattern, it can be determined by image recognition methods whether the food products taken out from the first foodservice device are those that are introduced in the second foodservice device. 
     
     
         14 . The foodservice system according to  claim 10 , wherein the first foodservice device is in data connection with the second foodservice device via a cloud comprising an artificial intelligence. 
     
     
         15 . The foodservice system according to  claim 14 , wherein the appliance control of the first foodservice device is data-connected to the appliance control of the second foodservice device via the cloud. 
     
     
         16 . The foodservice system according to  claim 10 , wherein the second foodservice device further comprises an evaluation device. 
     
     
         17 . The foodservice system according to  claim 10 , wherein the first foodservice device is a cooking device, and the second foodservice device is a heat retention or holding devise. 
     
     
         18 . The foodservice system according to  claim 10 , wherein the first foodservice device is a heat retention or holding and the second foodservice device is also a heat retention or holding device. 
     
     
         19 . The foodservice system according to  claim 10 , wherein the first and the second foodservice devices are each cooking and/or holding devices. 
     
     
         20 . A method for determining a position of a food product carrier in a foodservice device comprising: activating an optical recognition system;
 determining if said food product carrier is detected by said optical recognition system;   if said food product carrier is detected by said optical recognition system, activating an image recording device to record an interior space of said foodservice device with said food product carrier disposed therein;   transmitting said recorded interior space image from said image recording device to an evaluation device; and   determining via said evaluation device said position of said food product carrier in said interior space, or the spatial positioning within said interior space.   
     
     
         21 . The method according to  claim 20 , wherein said spatial positioning within said interior space is determined by either (1) a fixed focal length of said image recording device, and/or (2) an edge length of said food product carrier. 
     
     
         22 . A method for determining a position of a food product on a carrier in a foodservice device comprising:
 activating an optical recognition system;   determining if said food product carrier is detected by said optical recognition system;   if said food product carrier is detected by said optical recognition system, determining if a food product is on said food product carrier by said optical recognition system;   if said food product is detected on said food product carrier by said optical recognition system, then activating an image recording device to record an image of the detected food product within said interior space;   transmitting said recorded food product image from said image recording device to an evaluation device; and   determining said position of said food product on said food product carrier by comparing said recorded food product image from said image recording device to a previously stored food product.   
     
     
         23 . A method for determining the occupancy of rack levels in a foodservice device comprising:
 activating an optical recognition system;   detecting by said optical recognition system if there are any insert rail pairs in an interior space of said foodservice device without a food product carrier disposed thereon;   if there are any insert rail pairs without a food product carrier disposed thereon, then activating an image recording device to record the number of insert rail pairs without said food product carrier disposed thereon;   transmitting a recorded image of said insert rail pairs without a food product carrier to an evaluation device;   determining the occupancy of the respective rack levels by comparing the recorded number of said insert rail pairs without a food product carrier to the maximum number of said insert rail pairs in said interior space.   
     
     
         24 . A method for minimizing an image section of a food product carrier which is to be analyzed comprising:
 activating an optical recognition system;   determining if said food product carrier is detected by said optical recognition system;   if said food product carrier is detected by said optical recognition system, then activating an image recording device to record an image of an interior space of a foodservice device with said food product carrier disposed therein;   transmitting the recorded image of said interior space from said image recording device to an evaluation device;   determining via said evaluation device an image section of said food product carrier within the recorded image of said interior space to be analyzed from the food product space image data recorded by said image recording device; and   cutting away all image areas that extend beyond said image section to be analyzed.   
     
     
         25 . A method for transferring a food product carrier between at least a first foodservice device and a second foodservice device, which method comprises:
 activating a first optical recognition system for a first foodservice device;   detecting by said first optical recognition system if a food product carrier is in said first foodservice device;   if said first optical recognition system detects that said food product carrier is in said first foodservice device, detecting by said first optical recognition system if a food product is on said food product carrier;   if said food product is detected on said food product carrier, activating an image recording device to record an image of said detected food product within an interior space of said first foodservice device;   transmitting said recorded food product image from said image recording device to an evaluation device;   determining the position of said food product on said food product carrier by comparing the recorded food product image to a previously stored known food product;   activating a first timer regarding the food product in said first foodservice device;   detecting if said food product carrier is removed from said first foodservice device;   if said food product carrier is removed from said first foodservice device, transmitting information pertaining to said food product and said food product carrier from said first foodservice device to said second foodservice device;   detecting by a second optical recognition system if said food product carrier has been received by said second foodservice device;   if said food product carrier has been received by said second foodservice device, detecting if said food product is on said food product carrier which was detected by said second optical recognition system;   activating an image recording device to record an image of the detected food product on said food product carrier in said second foodservice device;   comparing said information transmitted from said first foodservice device with information received by said second foodservice device;   determining the position of said food product on said food product carrier by comparing the recorded food product image from a previously stored food product; and   activating a remaining timer on said second foodservice device if said information that was transmitted from first foodservice device matches said information received by said second foodservice device.