초록 ▼

A microwave oven includes a control unit which sets sampling intervals to accumulate humidity values measured by a humidity sensor, and controls a cooking end time of food according to an accumulated humidity value obtained by accumulating the humidity values measured during the set sampling interva

A microwave oven includes a control unit which sets sampling intervals to accumulate humidity values measured by a humidity sensor, and controls a cooking end time of food according to an accumulated humidity value obtained by accumulating the humidity values measured during the set sampling intervals. Accordingly, the microwave oven prevents overcooking of the food, for example, that does not require a further cooking after initial generation of steam thereof. The microwave oven may set sampling intervals through several measurements to improve the reliability thereof. Moreover, the microwave oven may learn an operation of setting sampling intervals according to cooking conditions so as to finish a cooking according to the set sampling intervals where a later set cooking condition corresponds to the learned cooking condition.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A microwave oven, comprising:a heating unit to cook food; a cooking chamber which receives the food; a sensor which measures a condition of air in the cooking chamber; and a control unit which sets sampling intervals to accumulate values measured by the sensor, and controls a cooking end time of

1. A microwave oven, comprising:a heating unit to cook food; a cooking chamber which receives the food; a sensor which measures a condition of air in the cooking chamber; and a control unit which sets sampling intervals to accumulate values measured by the sensor, and controls a cooking end time of the food according to an accumulated value obtained by accumulating the values measured during the set sampling intervals. 2. The microwave oven according to claim 1, wherein the control unit finishes a cooking operation of the food in response to the accumulated value reaching a preset value.3. The microwave oven according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is a humidity sensor which is disposed on a discharge path extending from the cooking chamber and measures a content of moisture generated from the food.4. A microwave oven, comprising:a heating unit to cook food; an input unit which receives a cooking condition of the food; a humidity sensor which measures a content of moisture generated from the food; and a control unit which sets sampling intervals to accumulate humidity values measured by the humidity sensor, and controls a cooking end time of the food according to an accumulated humidity value obtained by accumulating the humidity values measured during learned sampling intervals of the microwave oven in response to the cooking condition set through the input unit corresponding to one of previously learned cooking conditions of the microwave oven. 5. The microwave oven according to claim 4, further comprising a storage medium, wherein:the previously learned cooking conditions are prior cooking conditions processed by the microwave oven before the setting of the cooking condition, and the control unit performs a learning operation of drawing up a table in which the learned sampling intervals are set to correspond to the respective prior cooking conditions set through the input unit, and stores the table in the storage medium. 6. The microwave oven according to claim 5, wherein each of the learned sampling intervals is set to 2 to 4 seconds.7. The microwave oven according to claim 4, wherein the learned cooking conditions include a cooking popcorn condition and a warming vegetables condition.8. A method of controlling a microwave oven having a humidity sensor and a cooking chamber which receives food, the method comprising:setting a cooking condition of the food; measuring a condition of air in the cooking chamber using the humidity sensor while a cooking operation of the food is performed according to the set cooking condition; setting sampling intervals to accumulate humidity values measured by the humidity sensor; and comparing an accumulated humidity value obtained by accumulating the humidity values measured during the set sampling intervals with a preset value and finishing the cooking operation with respect to the set cooking condition according to the compared result. 9. The method of controlling a microwave oven according to claim 8, wherein the finishing of the cooking operation is performed according to an accumulated humidity value obtained by accumulating the humidity values measured during learned sampling intervals of the microwave oven in response to the set cooking condition corresponding to one of previously learned cooking conditions of the microwave oven.10. The method of controlling a microwave oven according to claim 9, wherein the previously learned cooking conditions are prior cooking conditions processed by the microwave oven before the setting of the cooking condition, and processing of the prior cooking conditions includes:drawing up a table in which the learned sampling intervals are set to correspond to the respective prior cooking conditions; and storing the table in a storage medium of the microwave oven. 11. The microwave oven according to claim 1, wherein the control unit sets the sampling intervals to adjust a measurement period of the sensor.12. The microwave oven according to claim 1, wherein each of the sampling intervals corresponds to an interval of a measurement period where the sensor senses the values which vary greatly.13. The microwave oven according to claim 1, wherein the control unit sets the sampling intervals according to the values scanned by the sensor within a measurement period of the sensor.14. The microwave oven according to claim 1, further comprising an input unit which receives a cooking condition to cook the food, wherein the control unit controls the cooking end time of the food according to an accumulated value obtained by accumulating the values measured during learned sampling intervals of the microwave oven in response to the cooking condition set through the input unit corresponding to one of previously learned cooking conditions of the microwave oven.15. The microwave oven according to claim 4, wherein the control unit sets the sampling intervals to adjust a measurement period of the humidity sensor.16. The microwave oven according to claim 4, further comprising:a cooling fan which cools the microwave oven; a cooking tray to receive the food thereon; a motor which rotates the cooking tray; a display unit which display operations of the microwave oven; a display driving unit which drives the display unit; a motor driving unit which drives the motor; a fan driving unit which drives the cooling fan; and a magnetron driving unit which drives the heating unit, wherein: the heating unit includes a magnetron which generates microwaves to cook the food, and the humidity sensor and the input, magnetron driving, fan driving, motor driving, and display driving units are electrically connected to the control unit. 17. The microwave oven according to claim 4, wherein the control unit controls the cooking end time of the food according to the accumulated humidity value obtained by accumulating the humidity values measured during the set sampling intervals in response to the cooking condition set through the input unit not corresponding to one of the previously learned cooking conditions.18. The microwave oven according to claim 4, wherein each of the sampling intervals corresponds to an interval of a measurement period where the humidity sensor senses the humidity values which vary greatly.19. The microwave oven according to claim 4, wherein the control unit sets the sampling intervals according to the humidity values scanned by the humidity sensor within a measurement period of the humidity sensor.20. The microwave oven according to claim 4, wherein the control unit sets the sampling intervals according to the humidity values scanned by the humidity sensor within a plurality of measurement periods of the humidity sensor.21. The microwave oven according to claim 4, wherein each of the sampling intervals is set to 2 to 4 seconds.22. The microwave oven according to claim 4, further comprising a rotating tray which receives the food and rotates according to the cooking condition, wherein the control unit determines the cooking end time according to the humidity values measured during one of the set sampling intervals and the learned sampling intervals so as to account for a sampling variation of the humidity values due to a rotation of the rotating tray which varies a distance between the food and the humidity sensor.23. The method of controlling a microwave oven according to claim 8, wherein the setting of the sampling intervals comprises setting the sampling intervals according to the humidity values scanned by the humidity sensor within a measurement period of the humidity sensor.24. The method of controlling a microwave oven according to claim 23, wherein the setting of the sampling intervals according to the humidity values scanned includes:counting a cooking time of the food while scanning the humidity values every set time within the measurement period of the humidity sensor; and setting the sampling intervals according to the humidity values scanned in response to the cooking time being equal to the measurement period. 25. The method of controlling a microwave oven according to claim 8, wherein the setting of the sampling intervals comprises setting the sampling intervals according to the humidity values scanned by the humidity sensor within measurement periods of the humidity sensor.26. The method of controlling a microwave oven according to claim 10, wherein each of the learned sampling intervals is set according to the humidity values scanned by the humidity sensor within a measurement period of the humidity sensor.27. A microwave oven, comprising:a heating unit to cook food; a cooking chamber which receives the food; a sensor which measures a condition of air in the cooking chamber; and a control unit which sets sampling intervals, according to the measured condition of the air in the cooking chamber, to accumulate values measured by the sensor, and controls a cooking end time of the food according to an accumulated value obtained by accumulating the values measured during the set sampling intervals. 28. A microwave oven, comprising:a heating unit to cook food; an input unit which receives a cooking condition of the food; a humidity sensor which measures a content of moisture generated from the food; and a control unit which sets sampling intervals to accumulate humidity values measured by the humidity sensor, and controls a cooking end time of the food according to an accumulated humidity value obtained by accumulating the humidity values measured during learned sampling intervals of the microwave oven in response to the cooking condition set through the input unit corresponding to one of previously learned cooking conditions of the microwave oven. 29. A method of controlling a microwave oven having a humidity sensor and a cooking chamber which receives food, the method comprising:setting a cooking condition of the food; measuring a condition of air in the cooking chamber using the humidity sensor while a cooking operation of the food is performed according to the set cooking condition; setting sampling intervals, according to the measured condition of the air in the cooking chamber, to accumulate humidity values measured by the humidity sensor; and comparing an accumulated humidity value obtained by accumulating the humidity values measured during the set sampling intervals with a preset value and finishing the cooking operation with respect to the set cooking condition according to the compared result. 30. A microwave oven, comprising:a heating unit to cook food; a cooking chamber which receives the food; a sensor which measures a condition of air in the cooking chamber; and a control unit which sets sampling intervals, each of which corresponds to an interval in which the measured condition of the air in the cooking chamber varies greatly, to accumulate values measured by the sensor, and controls a cooking end time of the food according to an accumulated value obtained by accumulating the values measured during the set sampling intervals. 31. A microwave oven, comprising:a heating unit to cook food; an input unit which receives a cooking condition of the food; a humidity sensor which measures a content of moisture generated from the food; and a control unit which sets sampling intervals, each of which corresponds to an interval in which the measured condition of the air in the cooking chamber varies greatly, to accumulate humidity values measured by the humidity sensor, and controls a cooking end time of the food according to an accumulated humidity value obtained by accumulating the humidity values measured during learned sampling intervals of the microwave oven in response to the cooking condition set through the input unit corresponding to one of previously learned cooking conditions of the microwave oven. 32. A method of controlling a microwave oven having a humidity sensor and a cooking chamber which receives food, the method comprising:setting a cooking condition of the food; measuring a condition of air in the cooking chamber using the humidity sensor while a cooking operation of the food is performed according to the set cooking condition; setting sampling intervals, each of which corresponds to an interval in which the measured condition of the air in the cooking chamber varies greatly, to accumulate humidity values measured by the humidity sensor; and comparing an accumulated humidity value obtained by accumulating the humidity values measured during the set sampling intervals with a preset value and finishing the cooking operation with respect to the set cooking condition according to the compared result.