Cooking appliance and rack assembly

Abstract

A cooking appliance includes a chassis defining a cooking chamber, a first rack assembly within the cooking chamber, an imaging device, and a broiling element. The first assembly includes a frame defining an aperture and a first moveable portion. The first moveable portion being moveable between a first position and a second position.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A cooking appliance comprising:
 a chassis;   an interior housing at least partially defining a cooking chamber having an access opening;   a first rack assembly located within the cooking chamber, the first rack assembly comprising a rack frame defining an aperture and a first moveable portion, the first moveable portion moveable between a first position and a second position different from the first position and wherein the first moveable portion in the first position at least partially closes the aperture; and   a component having a field of view defined within a portion of the cooking chamber and wherein the field of view extends through the aperture at least when the first moveable portion is in the second position.   
     
     
         2 . The cooking appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the component is an imaging device and the field of view is an image field of view. 
     
     
         3 . The cooking appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the component is a broiling element and the field of view is a thermal pathway. 
     
     
         4 . The cooking appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the interior housing includes a top panel, a bottom panel, and at least one side panel at least partially defining the cooking chamber. 
     
     
         5 . The cooking appliance of  claim 4 , wherein the component is provided at the top panel. 
     
     
         6 . The cooking appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the component comprises a first component having a first field of view and a second component having a second field of view. 
     
     
         7 . The cooking appliance of  claim 6 , wherein the first component is an imaging device and the second component is a broiling element. 
     
     
         8 . The cooking appliance of  claim 6 , wherein the first field of view and the second field of view overlap. 
     
     
         9 . The cooking appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the first moveable portion in the first position overlies the aperture, is located within the aperture, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         10 . The cooking appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the first rack assembly further comprises a second moveable portion moveable between the first position wherein the second moveable portion at least partially closes the aperture and the second position wherein the second moveable portion at least partially overlaps the rack frame, wherein the first position and the second position are different. 
     
     
         11 . The cooking appliance of  claim 10 , wherein the first moveable portion and the second moveable portion are slidable. 
     
     
         12 . The cooking appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the rack frame is stationarily mounted within the interior housing. 
     
     
         13 . The cooking appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the first moveable portion is moveable between the first position and the second position by folding or rotating the first moveable portion onto another portion of the first rack assembly or the rack frame. 
     
     
         14 . The cooking appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the first moveable portion comprises multiple selectively foldable sections. 
     
     
         15 . The cooking appliance of  claim 1 , wherein sub-portions of the first moveable portion are selectively moveable to selectively close portions of the aperture. 
     
     
         16 . The cooking appliance of  claim 1 , wherein a crossbar extends through a width of the aperture from a first end to a second end. 
     
     
         17 . The cooking appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the first moveable portion is slidable. 
     
     
         18 . The cooking appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the first moveable portion, in the second position, at least partially overlaps the rack frame or overlaps another portion of the first rack assembly. 
     
     
         19 . The cooking appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the first moveable portion, in the second position, is removed from the rack frame. 
     
     
         20 . The cooking appliance of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one insert receivable within the aperture when the first moveable portion is in the second position.