METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING THE FOOD PREPARATION PROCESS Russian patent published in 2020 - IPC A23L5/10 

FIELD: food industry.

SUBSTANCE: method for determining parameters of preparation of a food product, according to which: a type of food product is obtained; feeding the food product initial weight; selecting a predetermined model for predicting the relationship between the weight of the first evaporated component in the food product and the initial state of the food product for said type of food product; determining (S101) weight change of the first evaporated component in a food product for a first period of time; determining (S102) the initial state of the food product using said prediction model, at least in part based on the determined weight change of the first evaporated component in the food product; selecting a pre-prepared food preparation profile; method includes determining and setting the preparation time and/or temperature of the food product preparation based on the determined initial state of the food product using said prediction model and the preparation profile. Apparatus for determining food preparation parameters, configured to perform the steps of the method, comprises: a food product type obtaining unit configured to obtain a type of food product, first determination unit (301) configured to determine the weight of the first evaporated component, such as water, in the food product during the first period of time; initial state determining unit (302) configured to determine the initial state of the food product, at least in part based on the determined weight change of the first evaporated component in the food product. Initial state determining unit (302) is configured to determine the initial state of the food product from the prediction model based on the initial weight, determined weight change of the first evaporated component in the food product and the obtained type of food product, and cooking control unit (303) is configured to set cooking time and/or cooking temperature of food product based on determined initial state of food product. A computer-readable medium containing a computer program with program code means, configured to perform computer steps of the method when executing said computer program on a computer.

EFFECT: invention allows efficient selection of food product preparation parameters based on determination of the product initial state.

13 cl, 4 dwg, 2 tbl