In general, the transfer of energy to a physical, chemical, or thermodynamic process stream is determined by the work performed on that process. For example, the present day microwave oven transfers energy to a specimen contained within the confines of the microwave oven by bombarding the specimen with electromagnetic waves which cause molecules in the specimen to vibrate billions of times per second. The heat is created when dipolar molecules (such as water) vibrate back and forth aligning themselves with the electric field or when the ions migrate in response to the electric field. The vibrations cause heat by friction at a depth of about 1 to 1.5 inches. Heat transfer properties of the specimen continue the process of thermal transfer by transmitting heat to areas of the specimen that are relatively cool in comparison to the areas that have been heated by the electromagnetic waves. The measure of work performed on the specimen is determined by power received by the specimen multiplied by time (W=P*T).
Mechanisms that provide the microwave oven data to ascertain the estimated power and time are well known in the art. Examples of such mechanisms are delineated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,812,393 and 5,883,801. Once the data is received by the microwave oven, the data is transformed into commands that are discernible by a controller disposed within the microwave oven. Generally, the controller is a computer or microprocessor based system. The computer or microprocessor has stored within its memories at least one program to facilitate the operation of the microwave oven.
Generally, the structure or architecture of these programs is linear i.e., the data received by input mechanisms is directed to the appropriate program for processing. The program calculates the appropriate power and time settings understandable by the host microwave oven. Once these calculations are computed, the host microwave oven begins the energy transfer process independent of the residing program. There is no architecture or overlaying software to guide the interaction between the various resident programs to determine the required work to be performed on the specimen.
Prior to the present invention attempts to implement a more structured approach to the control of the microwave oven have relied on break points or stopping points within the programs that require user intervention to continue the energy transfer process. This means of controlling the microwave oven is tantamount to having a plurality of individual programs connected together by the stopping and starting of the resident program. Others have tried to implement a series of look up tables stored in the memory of the computer in an attempt to match up data received from the input mechanism to the stored tables. This approach limits the flexibility of the energy transfer to the specimen to the size of the memory of the computer.
It would be desirable to have a system architecture for the transfer of energy to a physical, chemical, or thermodynamic process stream that is seamless and does not rely on preconceived recorded data stored in the memory of the computer to implement the work performed on that process. The architecture would encapsulate a BIOS machine and Work Manager for providing the mechanisms for controlling the physical, chemical, or thermodynamic process stream for heating an object or objects, i.e., specimen or food, within a microwave oven. The BIOS machine would control the course and sequence of events for receiving the incoming data and transmitting the transformed data to the host physical, chemical, or thermodynamic process stream. The Work Manager in concert with the BIOS machine would control the work performed on the specimen disposed within the confines of the microwave oven and manage the thermal aberrations of the microwave oven.