FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[001] Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to an automatic mechanism to prepare any food product (or) a grinded mixture according to a consistency preferred by a user in a smart grinding appliance. The present invention also relates to a mechanism to automatically measure and alter the consistency of any food product (or) grinded mixture in the smart grinding appliance as preferred by the user. The present invention also relates to a mechanism of automatically calculating the right amount of water, oil or any fluid and any additional ingredient like salt, spice etc. but not limited to these by an Al to be added to any food product (or) a grinded mixture to alter the consistency.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[002] The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of it being mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also correspond to implementations of the claimed technology.

[003] The freshness of any food product (or) grinded mixture prepared lowers over time and the consistency of the food product (or) grinded mixture changes as per the ambient temperature of the storage. If the food product (or) grinded mixture is placed in a refrigerator to keep it fresh (or) to prevent it from going bad, the food product (or) grinded mixture placed may freeze and the consistency becomes thick. Thus, the freshness and the taste of the product changes unlike when it was prepared originally before being storing in the refrigerator and it is difficult for the user to maintain the consistency of the food product (or) grinded mixture like when it was prepared. [004] To make the consistency of the food product (or) any grinded mixture like when it was prepared originally, the user mixes the food product (or) grinded mixture with water (or) heats it. But it is difficult to match the freshness and the taste of the food product (or) grinded mixture when it was freshly prepared.

[005] In case of grinded mixture like Batter (or) chutneys, the user adds water to alter the consistency and has to add additional ingredients like salt etc. to get back the taste and the consistency of the grinded mixture. The quantity of the food product (or) any grinded mixture prepared by the user may vary from time to time and adding the right amount of water and additional ingredients manually is difficult according to the quantity of the food product (or) grinded mixture.

[006] Also, after adding water and additional ingredients, the user has to manually mix the food product (or) the grinded mixture to have a uniform taste and consistency of the food product (or) grinded mixture. Manually mixing the food product (or) the grinded mixture may be difficult and it involves human labour and consumes time.

[007] Therefore, there is a need in the art for a system that can automatically measure and alter the consistency, texture, taste etc. of the food product (or) grinded mixture make them fresh like when it was prepared without any human intervention.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

[008] An object of the present invention is to provide a system to alter consistency of any food product.

[009] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic mechanism to measure the consistency of any food product (or) grinded mixture.

[010] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic method to measure the quantity of the food product (or) any grinded mixture in a grinding container (or) any other container.

[011] Yet another object of invention is to provide a mechanism to measure the consistency of the food product (or) grinded mixture by a shaft attached with blades and sensors provided.

[012] Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a mechanism to automatically calculate and add the right amount of water, oil or any fluid and any additional ingredient like salt, spice etc. but not limited to these to the food product (or) the grinded mixture. The right amount of water, oil or any fluid and any additional ingredient like salt, spice etc. is calculated by an Al.

[013] Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a shaft attached with blades operated by a motor to blend and mix the food product (or) any grinded mixture. [014] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a sensor module with sensors to measure the quantity of the ingredients, amount of water, speed of the shaft rotation, number of rotations of the shaft, temperature, humidity, heat generated in the grinding container etc. but not limited to these.

[015] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method of creating a consistency profile for every unique user to store the level of consistency a particular user prefers for any food product (or) grinded mixture like Idly batter, Dosa Batter, Chutney, Sauces etc. but not limited to these.

[016] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method to heat the food product (or) any grinded mixture after adding water (or) any additional ingredient to alter the consistency of the food product (or) grinded mixture.

[017] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a modular design for the shaft attached with blades, sensor module and other components used in the invention so that they can be easily removed for repair, cleaning and other purposes and can again be fit into the machine.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[018] This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts, in a simple manner, which is further described in the detailed description of the invention. This summary is neither intended to identify key or essential inventive concepts of the subject matter, nor to determine the scope of the invention.

[019] According to an aspect of the present invention a system to measure and alter the consistency of ingredients of food being mixed in a container is provided. The system comprises a user interface configured to provide a user input determining a viscosity for mixing the ingredients, one or more sensors disposed on the container configured to detect one or more parameters, a water dispenser configured to supply water to the mixing ingredients, an ingredient dispenser configured to store and dispense the ingredients for mixing, a processing module in communication with the one or more sensors, the water dispenser, and the ingredient dispenser, configured to determine a consistency of the mixing ingredients based on the one or more parameters, compare the consistency with a predetermined consistency of the mixing ingredients, determine the consistency as low viscosity, medium viscosity or high viscosity based on the comparison, and alter the viscosity of the mixing ingredients based on the user input using the water dispenser and the ingredients dispenser. Further, the water dispenser is configured to dispense the water in order to alter the consistency of the mixing ingredients by decreasing the viscosity. Furthermore, the ingredient dispenser is configured to dispense one or more ingredients to alter the consistency of the mixing ingredients by increasing the viscosity.

[020] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the system as comprises a mixer, having a shaft and a plurality of blades, configured to mix the ingredients. Further, the processing module in communication with the mixer is configured to determine number rotation speed of rotations, and direction of rotation of the shaft to achieve desired consistency based on the user input.

[021] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the one or parameters are selected from a group comprising viscosity, density, water content, humidity, and temperature of the mixing ingredients.

[022] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the one or more sensors are selected from a group comprising density meter, hydrometer, gravity meter, pressure sensor, temperature sensor, proximity sensor, and laser sensor.

[023] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the system comprises a heating element configured to heat the ingredients inside the container; wherein the heating element is disposed in the shaft.

[024] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the ingredient dispenser comprises one or more hoppers containing variety of ingredients.

[025] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the processing module is further configured to alter a texture and a taste of the mixing ingredients based on the user input. [026] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the processing module, after alteration, is further configured to compare the consistency with the predetermined consistency.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[027] So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular to the description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.

[028] These and other features, benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent by reference to the following text figure, with like reference numbers referring to like structures across the views, wherein:

Fig. 1 illustrates an environment diagram of a system to alter consistency of any food product, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig. 2 illustrates a mixer, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[029] While the present invention is described herein by way of example using embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited to the embodiments of drawing or drawings described and are not intended to represent the scale of the various components. Further, some components that may form a part of the invention may not be illustrated in certain figures, for ease of illustration, and such omissions do not limit the embodiments outlined in any way. It should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. [030] As used throughout this description, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense, (i.e., meaning must). Further, the words "a" or "an" mean "at least one” and the word “plurality” means “one or more” unless otherwise mentioned. Furthermore, the terminology and phraseology used herein is solely used for descriptive purposes and should not be construed as limiting in scope. Language such as "including," "comprising," "having," "containing," or "involving," and variations thereof, is intended to be broad and encompass the subject matter listed thereafter, equivalents, and additional subject matter not recited, and is not intended to exclude other additives, components, integers or steps.

[031] Likewise, the term "comprising" is considered synonymous with the terms "including" or "containing" for applicable legal purposes. Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles and the like is included in the specification solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention. It is not suggested or represented that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention.

[032] The present invention is described hereinafter by various embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein reference numerals used in the accompanying drawing correspond to the like elements throughout the description. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiment set forth herein. Rather, the embodiment is provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. In the following detailed description, numeric values and ranges are provided for various aspects of the implementations described. These values and ranges are to be treated as examples only and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims. In addition, a number of materials are identified as suitable for various facets of the implementations. These materials are to be treated as exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

[033] Figure 1 illustrates an environment diagram of a system (100) to measure and alter the consistency of ingredients of food being mixed in a container and Figure 2 illustrates a mixer (150), in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in figure 1 and figure 2, the system (100) comprises a user interface (108), one or more sensors (104), a water dispenser (158), an ingredient dispenser (152), and a processing module (102). The water dispenser (158) is configured to supply water to the mixing ingredients. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the ingredient dispenser (152) may comprise one or more hoppers adapted to store and dispense one or more raw ingredients used for cooking as per a recipe. Further, in an additional or alternative embodiment, the one or more hoppers may comprise respective closing lids to prevent the ingredients stored in the ingredient dispenser (152) from contamination.

[034] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the one or more sensors (104) may be selected from a group comprising density meter, hydrometer, gravity meter, pressure sensor, temperature sensor, proximity sensor, acoustic sensor, and laser sensor.

[035] Further as shown in figure 2, the system (100) comprises a mixer (150) having a shaft (162), a motor (154) and a plurality of blades (160), configured to mix the ingredients. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of blades (160) may be, but not limited to, wet grinding blade, dry grinding blade, chutney grinding blade, mincer blade, slicing disc or shredding disc etc. The plurality of blades (160) may be connected with the shaft (162) and the motor (154) configured to rotate the plurality of blades (160) to mix the ingredients.

[036] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the processing module (102) is envisaged to include computing capabilities such as a memory unit (1022) configured to store machine readable instructions. The machine-readable instructions may be loaded into the memory unit (1022) from a non-transitory machine- readable medium, such as, but not limited to, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs and Flash Drives. Alternately, the machine-readable instructions may be loaded in a form of a computer software program into the memory unit (1022). The memory unit (1022) in that manner may be selected from a group comprising EPROM, EEPROM and Flash memory. Then, the processing module (102) includes a processor (1024) operably connected with the memory unit (1022). In various embodiments, the processor (1024) may be a microprocessor (1024) selected from one of, but not limited to an ARM based or Intel based processor (1024) or in the form of field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a general-purpose processor (1024) and an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

[037] Further, the processing module (102) further may comprise a communication module (1026) configured for enabling connection of the processor (1024), the user interface (108), the one or more sensors (104), the water dispenser (158), the ingredient dispenser (152), the processing module (102) and the mixer (150). The connection may be wired or wireless. In that sense, the communication module (1026) may include Power over Ethernet Switch, USB ports etc. These may allow transferring of data to and from the processing module (102) and among the user interface (108), the one or more sensors (104), the water dispenser (158), the ingredient dispenser (152), and the mixer (150) via ethernet cable, USB cable etc.

[038] Additionally, or alternately, the communication module (1026) may be an Internet of Things (IOT) module, Wi-Fi module, Bluetooth module, RF module etc. adapted to enable a wireless communication the user interface (108), the one or more sensors (104), the water dispenser (158), the ingredient dispenser (152), the processing module (102) and the mixer (150) via a wireless communication network (110). The wireless communication network (110) may be, but not limited to, Bluetooth network, RF network, NFC, WIFI network, Local Area Network (LAN) or a Wide Area Network (WAN). The wireless communication network (110) may be implemented using a number of protocols, such as but not limited to, TCP/IP, 3GPP, 3GPP2, LTE, IEEE 802.x, etc. In one embodiment, the all the components of the system (100) are connected with each other via the communication network (110).

[039] In accordance with an additional or alternative embodiment of the present invention, the processing module (102) may also include a registration module adapted to receive the users’ details and register them on the system (100). The details may include, but not limited to, username, desired consistency, texture, taste, contact number, email ID, age, gender, areas of interest, past investments etc. to create one or more profiles of the respective users. Besides, the registration module may also have a biometrics receiver configured to register the users via his/her biometrics. The biometrics may include, fingerprint recognition, and face recognition, Iris recognition or a combination thereof. In an embodiment of the present invention, system (100) may include a server. The server may be configured to store one or more profiles associated with one or more users. The one or more profiles are custom recipe for each of the one or more users.

[040] Further, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the user interface (108) may include a display envisaged to show the data received from the one or more sensors (104), the water dispenser (158), the ingredient dispenser (152), the processing module (102) and the mixer (150). The display may be, but not limited to Light-emitting diode display (LED), electroluminescent display (ELD), liquid crystal display (LCD), Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) & AMOLED display. Furthermore, the user interface (108) may include accessories like keyboard, mouse etc. envisaged to provide input capability to enable a user to enter a command or a recipe for the system (100) to provide a user input determining a viscosity for mixing the ingredients. In another embodiment, the user interface (108) may be a touch input-based display that integrates the input-output functionalities.

[041] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the system (100) may comprise a heating element configured to heat the ingredients inside the container (156). The heating coil may be disposed inside the container (156) of mixing ingredients in the shaft (162) of the mixer (150). Further, to heat the food product (or) any grinded mixture, a heating coil; a hot air blower may be used.

[042] Additionally, the system (100) may be connected with one or more user devices associated with respective users via a wired or wireless connection. Herein, the one or more user devices may be selected from computing devices such as desktop PC, laptop, PDA or hand-held computing device such as smartphones and tablets or IOT devices including, but not limited to, household or industrial appliances such as robots or loT based devices. The one or more user devices may be in configured to provide the user input determining a viscosity for mixing the ingredients and receive information from the processing module (102) including data from the one or more sensors (104) and the user interface (108). In another embodiment, the system (100) including the user interface (108), the one or more sensors (104), the water dispenser (158), the ingredient dispenser (152), the processing module (102) and the mixer (150) being a stand-alone device.

[043] In yet another embodiment, the system (100) could be implemented as a distributed system (100). The user interface (108), the one or more sensors (104), the water dispenser (158), the ingredient dispenser (152), the processing module (102) and the mixer (150) may be at disposed at a different location from each other and/or could be implemented in a server side computing device or cloud computing environment. It will be appreciated by a skilled addressee that there are multiple arrangements in which the present invention can be implemented, without departing from the scope of the present invention. The system (100) is also envisaged to implement Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and deep learning for data collation and processing.

[044] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the system (100) may also include a data repository (106). The data repository (106) may be a local storage (such as SSD, eMMC, Flash, SD card, etc.) or a cloud-based storage. In any manner, the data repository (106) is envisaged to be capable of providing the data to the processing module (102), when the data is queried appropriately using applicable security and other data transfer protocols. The data repository (106) may store, user preferences, past recipes, quantity of ingredients mixed and past performances of the system (100). In one embodiment of the present invention, the processing module (102) may include Al and deep learning-based trained models using the above data, so as to monitor and learn mixing of ingredients.

[045] Furthermore, in an embodiment the system (100) may further comprise a power module to power all the components of the system (100) such as, but not limited to the user interface (108), the one or more sensors (104), the water dispenser (158), the ingredient dispenser (152), the processing module (102) and the mixer (150). The power module may be an AC or DC power module, a non-rechargeable battery or a rechargeable battery. In one embodiment, the power module is a self-sustainable battery that makes the system (100) a self-powered device.

[046] The invention works in following manner: [047] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, first, the user interface (108) is configured to provide a user input determining a viscosity for mixing the ingredients. The user interface (108) in communication with the processing module (102) configured to receive haptic inputs indicative of the recipe or the one or more raw ingredients from a user. The user may select the desired consistency of the food as low viscous, medium viscous, or high viscous let’s say the user selects the low viscous. [048] Further, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the one or more sensors (104) disposed on the container (156) configured to detect one or more parameters. The one or parameters may be selected from a group comprising viscosity, density, water content, humidity, and temperature of the mixing ingredients. For example, let one or more sensors (104) by the viscosity sensor, may detect a parameter of the one or more parameters such as a viscosity of the mixing ingredients. [049] Next, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the processing module (102) in communication with the one or more sensors (104), the water dispenser (158), and the ingredient dispenser (152), configured to determine a consistency of the mixing ingredients based on the one or more parameters. For example, after the viscosity meter detects the viscosity of the missing ingredients, the processing module (102) may determine the consistency of the mixing ingredients represent the consistency in numeric.

[050] Next, the processing module (102) is configured to compare the consistency with a predetermined consistency of the mixing ingredients. The predetermined consistency may be an ideal consistency or a benchmark consistency for the mixing ingredients.

[051] Further, the processing module (102) is configured to determine the consistency as low viscosity, medium viscosity or high viscosity based on the comparison. For example, the processing module (102) may compare the determined consistency based on the viscosity with the ideal consistency. Later, the processing module (102) is configured to determine the consistency as low viscosity, medium viscosity or high viscosity based on the comparison. For example, based on the comparison the processing module (102) determined the consistency as medium viscous.

[052] Next, the processing module (102) is configured to alter the viscosity of the mixing ingredients based on the user input using the water dispenser (158) and the ingredients dispenser. The water dispenser (158) is configured to dispense the water in order to alter the consistency of the mixing ingredients by decreasing the viscosity. The ingredient dispenser (152) is configured to dispense one or more ingredients to alter the consistency of the mixing ingredients by increasing the viscosity. The ingredients such as, but not limited to, oil or any fluid, salt, sugar, pepper, herbs, vegetables, meat, pastes, spices, chutney, sauces, soups, batter, juices etc. In an additional or alternative embodiment, the processing module (102) in communication with the mixer (150) is configured to determine number rotation speed of rotations, and direction of rotation of the shaft (162) to achieve desired consistency based on the user input.

[053] For example, the user wanted the consistency of the ingredients as low viscous, the processing module (102) is configured to alter the determined consistency as medium viscous to the ingredients with consistency of low viscosity by mixing water and heating the mixing ingredients. Further, for example, the user wants the ingredients as highly viscous, the processing module (102) may be configured to alter the viscosity of the mixing ingredients by dispensing one or more ingredients to alter the consistency of the mixing ingredients by increasing the viscosity using the ingredient dispenser (152). The one or more hoppers may have actuators to dispense the raw ingredients.

[054] Further, the processing module (102), after mixing of water and/or additional ingredients, may instruct the heating element to heat the mixing ingredients. Further, the processing module (102) is configured to alter a texture and a taste of the mixing ingredients based on the user input. In addition, the processing module (102), after alteration, is configured to compare the consistency with the predetermined consistency. For example, after the mixing of additional water or additional ingredients, the processing module (102) may check whether the altered ingredients form the consistency specified by the user input or not.

[055] In an additional or alternative embodiment, the water dispenser (158) is connected to any water source like water tanks, water container (156) etc. It has a water inlet for inflow of water into the unit and outlets where the purified water is collected separately for drinking and other purposes in the kitchen and other outlet connected to the container (156) to use the water for cooking process in the system (100). The processing module (102), in communication with one or more third sensors disposed in the Water dispenser (158), configured to measure, monitor, store and communicate metrics including quantity/quality of water inflow/outflow; temperature of the unit; acidity, pH, TDS etc of the water etc.

[056] Further, in an additional or alternative embodiment, the processing module (102) may create a consistency profile which can store the consistency (or) thickness preference for any food product (or) grinded mixture of any user. The user can just load the container (156) with the mixing ingredients (or) grinded mixture for which the consistency has to be altered and select the consistency preference for the particular food product (or) grinded mixture. The quantity of the food product (or) grinded mixture in the grinding container (156)(or) any container (156) is analysed and the amount of water, to be added to get the consistency which matches the consistency profile of the user is automatically calculated by the processor (1024) and is added. And according to the amount of water or any fluid added, additional ingredients like salt, spice etc. are added to also match the taste preferred by the user for the particular food product (or) any grinded mixture.

[057] In an additional or alternative embodiment, the system (100) may further comprise cold storage units to keep any ingredients which require refrigeration to be fresh for a certain duration of time. The processing module (102) in communication with one or more first sensors disposed inside the one or more hoppers may be configured to continuously measure, monitor, store and communicate the measured metrics which may include, temperature/humidity in the one or more hoppers, quantity/quality of the ingredients stored in the ingredient dispenser (152).

[058] The present invention offers a number of advantages. Firstly, it provides a cost- effective and technologically advanced solution to the problems of the prior art, the solution provided herein is easy to understand and implement. Then, the present invention provides a mechanism to measure and automatically alter the consistency for any food product (or) grinded mixture. Additionally, the present invention provides a mechanism to automatically measure the quantity of the food product (or) grinded mixture in the grinding container (or) any container to automatically calculate and add the right amount of water, oil or any fluid (or) any additional ingredient like salt, spice etc., but not limited to these to get the right consistency as preferred by the user. It will be appreciated by a skilled addressee that the present invention may also be used in applications other than a smart grinding appliance until the desired function is completed, without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[059] In general, the word “module,” or “unit” as used herein, refers to logic embodied in hardware or firmware, or to a collection of software instructions, written in a programming language, such as, for example, Java, C, or assembly. One or more software instructions in the modules may be embedded in firmware, such as an EPROM. It will be appreciated that modules may comprised connected logic units, such as gates and flip-flops, and may comprise programmable units, such as programmable gate arrays or processors. The modules described herein may be implemented as either software and/or hardware modules and may be stored in any type of computer-readable medium or other computer storage device.

[060] Further, while one or more operations have been described as being performed by or otherwise related to certain modules, devices or entities, the operations may be performed by or otherwise related to any module, device or entity. As such, any function or operation that has been described as being performed by a module could alternatively be performed by a different server, by the cloud computing platform, or a combination thereof. It should be understood that the techniques of the present disclosure might be implemented using a variety of technologies. For example, the methods described herein may be implemented by a series of computer executable instructions residing on a suitable computer readable medium. Suitable computer readable media may include volatile (e.g., RAM) and/or non-volatile (e.g., ROM, disk) memory, carrier waves and transmission media. Exemplary carrier waves may take the form of electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals conveying digital data steams along a local network or a publicly accessible network such as the Internet.

[061] It should also be understood that, unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms such as "controlling" or "obtaining" or "computing" or "storing" or "receiving" or "determining" or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that processes and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.

[062] Various modifications to these embodiments are apparent to those skilled in the art from the description and the accompanying drawings. The principles associated with the various embodiments described herein may be applied to other embodiments. Therefore, the description is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown along with the accompanying drawings but is to be providing broadest scope of consistent with the principles and the novel and inventive features disclosed or suggested herein. Accordingly, the invention is anticipated to hold on to all other such alternatives, modifications, and variations that fall within the scope of the present invention and the appended claims.