WDIRC

1. Introduction to a newly smart appliance in kitchens

To a busy modern people, it is an expectation for solving their living matters (e.g. cooking, washing, cleaning etc.) via IT (Information Technology, IT) assistant; Most of us know that an automatic technology for industries production and manufacture is a key factor to upgrade their production efficiency and cost saving. Even now this kind of revolution is still going up by combined a novel IT and DT (Data Technology, DT) into their manufacture process. By now the IDT (information and data technology, IDT) development it still is the engine for pushing GDP growth up in the world. By contrast this, the automation in kitchen appliances; it is still trailing than industry application. Therefor a lot of inventors or creators who like to improve this situation, by IDTs they were used to develop smart devices for improving the convenience of living matters. For instance, they created an intelligence refrigerator, a smart TV, an air conditioner, or a smart fire prevention system etc… As we know there are no significantly critical or key products to be innovated in kitchen appliances till now. That is an interest question, why there are no novel smart appliances to be accepted by most of us in a smart appliance market, our question is what the gap between creators and consumers are? We hope to find the requirements that we need to do daily, and this requirement through IOT applied it can save time and get more conveniences on food preparation. Fortunately we found it; the most essential appliance in a kitchen is the rice cooker, especially for the oriental. As we know the rice is the staple for most of Asian, rice cooking is the most thing for living on rice. The preparation of rice cooking is tedious and cumbersome, so how to reduce the steps of rice cooking to one step is an interesting question. According to our observation, the wash of rice is the critical point that due to it needs to consume a lot of water when washing of rice, and after then it needs to drain out the washed water. So if we use a washing-free rice to replace the general rice that we can overcome the problems caused by the rice washing, for examples that we don’t need a lot of water to wash the rice, a drain out we also don’t need it anymore, and the cooking process it can easy be automatic by integrating the both of rice and water working flow. Here the core production for rice cooking combined with water dispenser to be presented by a new invention which be named as “two in one water dispenser with intelligent rice cooking (2x1 WDIRC)” and three in one water dispenser with intelligent rice cooking and grinding (3x1 WDIRC + Grinding). The detail of the both productions we will describe them in the following section.

2. Featured products on IOT-Ecommerce

As you know, a traditional rice cooker is a programmed kitchen appliance, designed to steam or boil rice. Basically a traditional rice cooker comprises three components: a cooking bowl, a thermostat, and a heat source, it significantly lacks a water supply for providing a fully automatic cooking function. What is the process for a traditional rice cooker to operate a rice cooking? Firstly rice and water are filled in the cooking bowl of a rice cooker. The mixture of rice/water is heated while cooking at full power. As the temperature of water reaches 212°F (100 °C), the entire energy is utilized for vaporizing water; the temperature of water doesn’t cross its boiling point. There is why no extra water left at the end of cooking process, as the rice absorbs the water. Second when the heating process of the rice cooker continues, the thermostat trips, as the temperature rises above its boiling point. Finally, this cooking is to be completed, and some cookers provide a warning or indication or switch to low-power switch mode, which maintains the temperature of the rice at about 150 °F (65 °C). The rice cooks for a longer time if more water is added to it. The process is semi-automated for electric rice cookers, by electronically or mechanically regulating timing and temperature of the rice cooker. However a key driver of the global rice cookers market is that no one can replace its function with better functions and controls till now, so the markets have to accept these products rice cookers. Based on this reason, the company thEating Inc. invents an intelligent rice cooker with water dispenser function, which is named as water dispenser with intelligent rice cooker (WDIRC), it also named as iCooger^® (which combined cooker and grinder as in one product) for commercial sale, the features is described as the following section.

3. 2x1 WDIRC (iCooger^®) product

(Two in one water dispenser combined with intelligent rice cooking)

3.1 Basic Structure

The new product is defined as “Two in one water dispenser combined with intelligent rice cooking (2x1WDIRC; 2x1 iCooger^®)”, its exterior is illustrated in Fig. 1. In this device, there are two parts to be involved, the one is a water dispenser, and the other one is a rice cooker. Both they are combined in one device. The unit of water tank is used to supply the drinking and cooking water, respectively. Generally the design of a water dispenser includes both a hot and cold water supply. If there existed a hot water supply in it, that can be used for speeding the cooking time by short the warm. Regarding the rice cooker, that basically includes a rice tank, a shared water tank, a heater, a pot and a pot cover. By this arrangement, we can automatically operation it by a panel operation or a remote controller; the key features on this product 2x1WDIRC that are the using of WFR and the combing of water dispenser in the cooking system. As the applying of WFR, we don’t need any water for rice washing and for draining, and the using of water dispenser; it can easy make the cooking process with be automatic. For users, they just press one button via front panel or remote controller (wireless control) to start a cooking process. Moreover, the mechanical structure of 2x1WDIRC is simple and easy to manufacture; basically we just need an enclosure, a water tank, a food tank, heaters, filters, piping, electric valves and an electronic controller etc.… By these components assembly, we successfully create a novel IOT invention on the rice cooker with drinking water supply, and this new product will change the trend of small appliances development on kitchen automatic, especially on the cooking appliance. Further more, we can add auxiliary slot into our upper food and water tanks for extending the capacity of food and water, it is shown in Fig. 2. By this design that you can put dual auxiliary slot for extending your food and water tank capacity, and the company also can design a customized auxiliary pack in stores for customers to buy, so it is easy for customers to install in their WDIRC product if they hope to extend their storing tank capacity.

3.2. Flow Chart of cooking

Generally, the cooking processes frequently involve a sequence steps, these steps are shown in Fig. 3A and 3B (the number can refer the publication in USPTO database, application number: 13/274,361, Patent: 10,258,188). When we like to cook a food by this product, that we need to select the function what we want, and the machine will depend on the selected to determine what statuses should be ready for cooking. All sensors embedded in the 2x1 WDIRC check the statuses of cooker such as water content, food content, door status, pot weighting, temperature, and vapor etc. A typical flow chart on cooking is illustrated for showing how these sensors work correctly, and by this flow the remote control that normally can refer these steps with a little modification by a distance cooking control. For different cooking functions and purposes (e.g. cooking, warming, stewing and steaming), there are existed different control flows to respond their requests on cooking condition. Fig. 3A and 3B show the one of choices if you want different functions.

3.3. GUI & App on a smart device

Whatever, this cooking appliance it can be easily controlled by users via a smart phone with App applied. All of these cooking functions can be direct to their self App and the app also can extend to the field of E-commerce, member management, cooking behavior analysis, community interaction, health management, and relative IOT control. One of examples is shown in the Figure 4, according to the demand of cooking, the operations can be divided into five categories such as “Automatic Operation”, “Manual Operation”, “E-Market”, “Profile” and “E-commerce”. Through these Apps we can control, monitor, analysis and management the device for rice cooking, the automatic operation it offers the function of remote or panel control by one button to complete the selection of users if you like to cook rice or food. The function of manual operation it provides the parameter setting of cooking on the power distribution, period, cycle, food and water source, and the content etc. The E-Market means that users can buy foods or material from the online e-market and deliver the purchases by logistics. As we know the device can sense and calculate the content of foods (e.g. rice, bean, grain or water) in a storage, do they enough be cooking or not, and they can be directly monitored by our system. Therefore we can know what level of food or water in the storage, based on this the e-marketing is developing for an in-house grain sale. The consumption of foods or water on each device can be recorded and reported to the service center via a cloud server, when the content of foods or water is not enough for cooking a meal, the system will issue an alert to the user for supplying of foods or water. Therefore the cloud system can spontaneously estimate a requirement of foods and water by monitoring our devices. Moreover according to these records, the online selling of cooking material (foods and water) should be easily sold into the house, and the e-market will be developed by us. It is worth to note that the market of cooking material is huge in the world if we successfully build this e-commerce system. As the function of profile, we provide the function to users for editing his/her personnel information, consumption behavior, IOT system and transaction setting etc. By this setting the system running is more convent and friendly, and the profile can be transferred or shared to other system or device. Finally the function of e-commerce provides the transaction environment setting which includes the supply-chain, buy-cart, logistic system, bank account and social community setting etc. On this area, users can pre-set the parameter of e-commerce for saving time and money.

The user operation panel is shown in the figure 5A to F.

4. 3x1 WDIRC (iCooger^®) product

(Three in one water dispenser combined with intelligent rice cooking and grinding)

A new type of WDIRC is defined as “Three in one water dispenser combined with intelligent rice cooking and grinding” (named as 3x1 WDIRC+G; iCooger^®), that is showed in Fig. 6. It combines a grinder in the WDIRC system and let it to have the function of grinding for polishing grains or wheat. When we added a component of grinder into the 2x1 WDIRC, it is not only for cooking rice but also for making soy milk or rice-peanut milk. A cooker it becomes a multi-function cooking device for providing a convenient living. The function is important for changing a material of food into an irregular, piece, granular, or powder shape. When we like to cook soup or make pulp, the function of grinding is necessary. What functions of 3x1 WDIRC can be, it can provide drinking water, cook rice or bean and make soup or rice milk; all of these functions are our living matter daily. These works can be easily made by a panel operation and through a cloud system application that we can operate them by a smart phone with App installed. If an App is used for remote control, that we can schedule and storage the plans and parameters of cooking, for examples that we can first cook rice or bean and then add some of grinded ingredients to make a mixed meal, purely grind the rice or grain for making a soup, or only cook rice. Therefore, to make a schedule or a reservation of cooking they become more easy and simple by a smart-phone operation. Frequently some of material need to be soaked or grinded prior they are used for cooking, at that moment whether the function of scheduling and reserving to be had is a key for doing these works, but by now the most cooking apparatus in markets they operated by man power only, they can’t be scheduled and reserved a cook with or without grinding due to the demands of user. The advantages of 3x1 WDIRC are to supply external drinking water, to cook rice or grain by automatic operation, to grind material if necessary on cooking, to be remote-controlled via an APP used in smart phones, and through the analysis of consuming data to develop the e-commerce. Here the combination of water dispenser, cooker, and grinder both of them create a new era on automatic cooking process of grain or bean, and an e-market for selling the grains or beans to houses by big data analysis.

What is a real intelligent cooking apparatus? As we know the first thing on intelligent apparatus is automatic, if it can’t be operated by automation, that’s no meaning on intelligent or smart appliance. Till the inventions submitted, markets didn’t appear any fully automatic device on rice cooking especially for household used. The reason why the absence is it lacks a self-contain water supply for providing the water on cooking, because for an automatic cooking machine the key must integrate a water supply into the cooker. But currently almost cooking appliances didn’t have this, so the automation on cooks by them is difficult. Fig. 7 illustrates the difference between 2x1 and 3x1 WDIRC, both of them can be automated and controlled by Wireless. If we add a grinder into the 2x1 WDIRC, an intelligent cooker can be transferred into an intelligent blender for grinding material of foods such as red bean, green bean, rice, wheat etc. These kind of automatic cooking appliances are useful and easy for people to cook their rice meal by one button or a remote control.

Fig. 7. Difference between 2x1 and 3x1 WDIRC (iCooger^®)

5. Working with software in WDIRC (iCooger^®)

How to work with software for their inner operations, these generally controllers run complex software, allowing them to execute single or multiple actions based on a variety of events. These events can come in many forms but can essentially be broken down to just two categories: timed and triggered events.

1. Timed events

Most smart home systems integrate a precisely time clock. By knowing a home's geographic location, the time clock keeps up with changing sunrise and sunset events and syncs its clock over the Internet to remain accuracy. With this feature, the home can perform tasks at specific times every day, like raising living room shades at 8:00 a.m., or adjust settings based on sunrise/sunset times, like turning on outside lights 15 minutes before sunset. By this characteristic, we can schedule the cooking event through times to turn on/off the device of WDIRC, and even to schedule a cooking plan if we would like to mix different grain in a cooking.

2. Triggered events

Triggered events are actions that the automation system executes based on something happening: a trigger. Common trigger examples include:

• • A button press - when I press this button, do this action

  • A remote trigger-when receive a valid command or signal for doing works via network

  • A door opening - when this door opens, turn on the light

  • Motion being detected - if there is no motion for 5 minutes, turn off this light

  • A sensor tripping - if the temperature in this room exceeds 80 degrees, send me an email

By combining a variety of timed and triggered events, there is almost nothing a smart home can't do. When combined with conditional logic - if this, then this, else this - the system becomes even more powerful. A possible command might be: IF I press this button, AND the time is between midnight and 5: a.m., THEN turn on light to 50%, ELSE turn on light to 90%. For our home to be a smart home, we need to integrate a variety of sub-systems. The most common elements of a home automation system include lighting, shades/blinds, HVAC (heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning), Security, Irrigation, Pool/Spa, Entertainment and cooking appliance (by our invention that we can do this). Fig. 8 is an example for showing the interactions between WDIRC and IOT network, and WDIRC how to work in an E-commerce system by IOT network. Here the device shows how to receive commands from a user via IOT network, and how to response its events to a remote user. Normally a WDIRC device is ready for cooking or dispensing, and waits for commands from wireless network. If the user likes to cook a rice meal or a mixed rice meal, he can send a command to the device via IOT network and the device will check the material and prepare the material to cook. When it find some material are deficient, and meanwhile it will send a message to the user to order the deficiency, so the cooker can work properly and the user can live easily.

Fig. 8 Wireless control of WDIRC through IOT network

6. Remote control by a smart phone

The illustration how to control appliances in a smart house by Apps is showed in Fig. 9. In a smart house that could have many appliances with intelligent to be controlled such as refrigerator, air conditioner, security system, intelligent switch/plug, and cooking device etc. We can use one smart phone to make life more efficiency by wireless communication, the development of IOT is a key for this kind of services. Moreover we know the era of smart houses will be coming gradually, when we look at the development of smart appliance market currently, we don’t find useful and powerful home gadgets for automatic cooking, even a lot of IOT products to be developed by now. Here the listed below is the possibly communication technology which can be used in IOT communication. The question is what time the infrastructure of IOT could be setup, the road map of IOT is showed in Fig. 10, the year 2017 is the launch of Tel-operation on monitoring and controlling distant devices. Therefor we think this is the best chance for our products to enter the houses and units when a comprehensive wireless infrastructure completed.

1. Short-range wireless

• • Blue tooth mesh networking–Specification providing a mesh networking variant to Blue tooth low energy (BLE) with increased number of nodes and standardized application layer (Models).

  • Light-Fidelity (Li-Fi)–Wireless communication technology similar to the Wi-Fi standard, but using visible light communication for increased bandwidth.

  • Near-field communication (NFC)–Communication protocols enabling two electronic devices to communicate with in a 4cm range.

  • QR codes and barcodes–Machine-readable optical tags that store information about the item to which they are attached.

  • 1.5 Radio-frequency identification (RFID)–Technology using electromagnetic fields to read data stored in tags embedded in other items.

  • Thread–Network protocol based on the IEEE802.15.4 standard, similar to ZigBee, providing IPv6 addressing.

  • Transport Layer Security–Network security protocol.

  • Wi-Fi–Widely used technology for local area networking based on the IEEE802.11 standard, where devices may communicate through a shared access point.

  • Wi-FiDirect–Variant of the Wi-Fi standard for peer-to-peer communication, eliminating the need for an access point.

  • Z-Wave–Communication protocol providing short-range, low-latency data transfer at ratios and power consumption lower than Wi-Fi. Used primarily for home automation.

  • ZigBee–Communication protocols for personal are a networking based on the IEEE802.15.4 standard, providing low power consumption, low data ratio, low cost, and high through put.

2. Medium-range wireless

• • HaLow–Variant of the Wi-Fi standard providing extended range for low-power communication at a lower data ratio.

  • LTE-Advanced–High-speed communication specification for mobile networks. Provides enhancements to the LTE standard with extended coverage, higher through put, and lower latency.

3. Long-range wireless

• • Low-powerwide-area networking (LPWAN)–Wireless networks designed to allow long-range communication at a low data ratio, reducing power and cost for transmission.

  • Very small aperture terminal (VSAT)–Satellite communication technology using small dish antennas for narrow band and broad band data.

  • Long-range Wi-Fi connectivity

4. Wired

• • Ethernet–General purpose networking standard using twisted pair and fiber optic links in conjunction with hubs or switches.

  • Multimedia over CoaxAlliance (MoCA)–Specification enabling whole-home distribution of high definition video and content over existing coaxial cabling.

  • Power-line communication (PLC)–Communication technology using electrical wiring to carry power and data. Specifications such as HomePlug utilize PLC for networking IOT devices.

Fig. 9. Illustration of a smart house with WDIRC controlled by a smart phone

Fig. 10. Road map of IOTs technology

7. Operation in E-Commerce system

How to work in an e-commerce system by WDIRC? Figure 11 shows the scenario of WDIRC working in an E-commerce system. The invention of WDIRC shapes the future of E-commerce on foods buying such as rice, bean, wheat, or grain. When the commands or responses enter into the cloud service, that data analysis can be done by the cloud analysis engine or algorithm, and then a personal service will be delivered through logistics. So the provider of foods or goods would be able to implement their marketing strategy to optimize the market share and size. How to benefit the development, that’s based on the infrastructure of information exchange, money flow and service delivery which progress to be had in houses. As we know the step of IOT application is closing to us, customization and personalization are the future of cooking style. By this change, the data and parameter can be store in the cloud for providing the customized and personalized services such as cooking time, cooking type, cooking amount, and cooking quality etc. Moreover, consumer experiences can engage in the supply chain of foods through this system. They can get a certain service from cloud suggestions based on their cooking favorites. Here below they are the advantages executed by WDIRC in E-commerce system.

1. Differentiate to provide services

This invention can provide good experiences to customers. In today’s competitive online and offline selling market, the amount of customer data is a leading indicator in the selling market. We can use these valuable data to analyze the consumption behaviors of consumer. For example, when we need to provide appropriate foods for consumer via logistics, and find out what types of foods are increasing in popularity. Moreover, for each house or consumer, we can build his or her diet portfolio, if they need to control their daily diet for health management by our cloud analysis.

2. Streamline Ecommerce logistics

Here the IOT on E-commerce plays a huge role in ensuring the continual and smooth flow of goods from one place (e.g. warehouse, store, agency, factory, or house) to another. The application of communication technology can help in the constant tracking of goods from their journey of production to consumption. We can use GPS technology to identify goods which are in transit and provide the exact data about its location. A consumer can be provided accuracy delivery information by the tracking of retailer on traffic conditions, road blocks and when the goods to be arrival. By this IOT on E-commerce system, it can optimize the inventory and present over-stocking or shortage of goods in warehouses. Also the system to e-commerce seller such as what’s under performing and overstocked, what goods are running out of stock, online trending and countless other potential variables that impact sales output?

Fig. 11. Illustration of system operation of smart home via cloud system to deliver services

8. Valuation of WDIRC (iCooger^®)

A potentially market value could be estimated, it includes the sales of foods, goods, services and data. Fig. 12 shows the benefits by WDIRC. Various purchases will be done by the IOT on E-commerce system. First, the orders can be placed to replenish stock automatically according to sensor-sourced data, saving time on inventory management overall. We will know more about target demographics’ daily routines, shopping histories, and preferences, and can track them based on location and habits. Another benefit is the ability to improve overall efficiency while boosting sales. Deliveries can be tracked accurately, adjusting speed and route as needed with the use of GPS and sensors. Secondary, customers can access this same data so they know exactly where their orders are along the way, and if the sell products (WDIRC, Cookware, cooking devices etc.) covered by warranty, this can also be tracked via the IOT, so alerts can be sent before a product starts to malfunction. Predictive maintenance can be targeted using data obtained from product sensors, so that products can be improved and repaired before a total breakdown occurs. Finally, user experience is a major component of ecommerce design, but in the future as the IOT becomes more widespread you’ll also need to think about how the business will process data from various sources. This will lead to more intuitive websites, which can customize user’s experiences with new and more value data. Therefore the big data collected and analyzed from WDIRC is more important and critical for developing an effectively E-commerce.

Fig. 12. Illustration of E-commerce operation with WDIRC devices