US4615014A — Bake time display for cooking oven

Claim 1

Independent Claim 146 words

A bake time display system in a food cooking oven which includes a drive motor and a food conveyor comprising: speed transducer means operatively coupled to the motor and conveyor of the cooking oven for generating a speed signal proportional to the speed of said conveyor, programmed computing circuit means connected to receive said speed signal for obtaining a plurality of speed samples and computing therefrom the average baking time of food transported through said oven on said conveyor and displaying said computed average baking time on a visual display, said computing means periodically and repetitively computing the average baking time and comparing each computed average baking time to the baking time currently displayed and updating the displayed baking time with the baking time most recently computed if the most recently computed baking time differs from the display baking time by more than a predetermined limit.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 146 words

A bake time display system in a food cooking oven which includes a drive motor and a food conveyor comprising: speed transducer means operatively coupled to the motor and conveyor of the cooking oven for generating a speed signal proportional to the speed of said conveyor, programmed computing circuit means connected to receive said speed signal for obtaining a plurality of speed samples and computing therefrom the average baking time of food transported through said oven on said conveyor and displaying said computed average baking time on a visual display, said computing means periodically and repetitively computing the average baking time and comparing each computed average baking time to the baking time currently displayed and updating the displayed baking time with the baking time most recently computed if the most recently computed baking time differs from the display baking time by more than a predetermined limit.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 59 words

The display system of claim 1, wherein said speed transducer means includes a rotatable slotted member having a plurality of radially extending, circumferentially spaced apertures therein, and a light source and an optical interrupter operable between alternate conductive states in response to the presence and absence of light thereon mounted in optical alignment adjacent opposite surfaces of said member.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 53 words

The display system of claim 1 wherein said speed transducer means further includes a pulse generating circuit connected to the output of an optical interrupter connected to said motor and conveyor for generating a plurality of pulses constituting said speed signal in response to each change in conductive state in said optical interrupter.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 33 words

The display system of claim 3 wherein said pulse generating circuit includes a operational amplifier and an coupling circuit connecting the input of said operational amplifier to the output of said optical interrupter.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 41 words

The display system of claim 4 wherein said speed transducer means further includes a frequency doubling circuit means connected to said pulse generating circuit for generating said speed pulse signal in response to the output pulse from said pulse generating circuit.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 47 words

The display system of claim 3 wherein said computing circuit means includes a speed pulse counter for receiving and accumulating said speed pulse signal, said computing circuit means being programmed to compute therefrom the average baking time of said oven over a predetermined number of timing intervals.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 35 words

The display system of claim 1 wherein said computing circuit means is further programmed to compute average baking time by averaging the current bake time and a plurality of the previously computed baking time values.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 65 words

The display system of claim 1 further including a static/dynamic switch operable between static and dynamic positions, said computing circuit means being connected to said static/dynamic switch and being responsive to operation thereof into said dynamic position to display the average baking time just computed regardless of whether the average baking time just computed differs from the currently displayed baking time by the predetermined limit.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 89 words

The display system of claim 1 including constants switch means connected to said programmed computing circuit means for altering the operation of said computing circuit means to adapt to changes in the oven configuration, said constants switch means comprising a plurality of two position, manually operable switches wherein the position of one of said switches corresponds to one of two available line frequencies, and a combination of a plurality of other of said switches corresponds to a predetermined combination of motor speed and gear ratio parameters of said oven.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 41 words

The display system of claim 1 wherein said computing circuit means includes a timing interval counter means for counting timing intervals and being programmed to respond to the occurrence of a predetermined number thereof to compute said current average bake time.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 20 words

The display system of claim 1 including a manually operable motor speed control for controlling the speed of said motor.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 26 words

The display system of claim 1 wherein said display includes a plurality of decimal display devices for generating a visual display of said average bake time.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 174 words

A bake time display system for use on a food cooking oven which includes a drive motor and a food conveyor comprising: speed transducer means operatively coupled to the motor of a cooking oven for generating a speed pulse signal proportional in frequency to the speed of said conveyor, timing circuit means for generating a timing signal at predetermined time intervals, a microprocessor computing circuit means including a memory having a source program loaded therein, said computing circuit means being connected to said speed transducer means and said timing circuit means to receive a plurality of samples of said speed pulse signal and said timing signal, said computing circuit repetitively computing in response thereto the average bake time of food passing through a food cooking oven on said conveyor and generating a new average bake time signal when the value of said average bake time differs from a previously computed and currently displayed bake time signal by a predetermined limit, and including a display circuit means for displaying the new average bake time signal.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 174 words

A bake time display system for use on a food cooking oven which includes a drive motor and a food conveyor comprising: speed transducer means operatively coupled to the motor of a cooking oven for generating a speed pulse signal proportional in frequency to the speed of said conveyor, timing circuit means for generating a timing signal at predetermined time intervals, a microprocessor computing circuit means including a memory having a source program loaded therein, said computing circuit means being connected to said speed transducer means and said timing circuit means to receive a plurality of samples of said speed pulse signal and said timing signal, said computing circuit repetitively computing in response thereto the average bake time of food passing through a food cooking oven on said conveyor and generating a new average bake time signal when the value of said average bake time differs from a previously computed and currently displayed bake time signal by a predetermined limit, and including a display circuit means for displaying the new average bake time signal.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 45 words

The display system of claim 13 wherein said computing circuit means includes a speed pulse counter for receiving and accumulating said speed pulse signal and being programmed to compute therefrom the average bake time of said oven over a predetermined number of said time intervals.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 32 words

The display system of claim 13 wherein said computing circuit means is further programmed to compute the average of the current average bake time and a plurality of the previous values thereof.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 77 words

The display system of claim 13 further including a static/dynamic switch operable between static and dynamic positions, said computing circuit means being connected to said static/dynamic switch and being responsive to operation thereof into said dynamic position to generate new said average bake time output signals continuously regardless of the value by which the average bake time computed may differ from the currently displayed new bake time signal, and including a manually operated motor speed control device.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 34 words

The display system of claim 16 further including a plurality of manually operable constant switch means for generating one of a predetermined plurality of binary coded signals corresponding to oven motor and conveyor parameters.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 130 words

A bake time display system in a food cooking oven which includes a drive motor and a food conveyor comprising: speed transducer means operatively mechanically coupled to the motor and conveyor of a cooking oven for generating a speed pulse signal responsive to and proportional in frequency to the speed of said conveyor, a programmed microprocessor computing circuit means connected to said speed transducer means to receive a plurality of samples of said speed pulse signal for computing the average baking time of food passing through a food cooking oven on a conveyor and generating an average baking time signal therefrom, and further including display circuit means coupled to said microprocessor computing circuit means to receive said average baking time output signals for producing visible display of the value thereof.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 130 words

A bake time display system in a food cooking oven which includes a drive motor and a food conveyor comprising: speed transducer means operatively mechanically coupled to the motor and conveyor of a cooking oven for generating a speed pulse signal responsive to and proportional in frequency to the speed of said conveyor, a programmed microprocessor computing circuit means connected to said speed transducer means to receive a plurality of samples of said speed pulse signal for computing the average baking time of food passing through a food cooking oven on a conveyor and generating an average baking time signal therefrom, and further including display circuit means coupled to said microprocessor computing circuit means to receive said average baking time output signals for producing visible display of the value thereof.

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 42 words

The display system of claim 18 wherein said microprocessor computing circuit means is programmed to automatically update the displayed average baking time signals only when the said average baking time differs from a previously displayed average baking time by a predetermined value.

Claim 23

Dependent Claim 68 words

The display system of claim 19 further including a static/dynamic switch means connected to said microprocessor computing circuit means for causing, when said static/dynamic switch means is operated, said microprocessor computing circuit means to continuously update said display circuit means to display each new computed average baking time regardless of whether each new computed average baking time differs from the previously displayed baking time by the predetermined value.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1989-09-29	1990-03-31	1990-09-30	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	1993-09-29	1994-03-31	1994-09-30	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	1997-09-29	1998-03-31	1998-09-30	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Bake time display for cooking oven

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