The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 15, 2005
Filed:
Apr. 08, 2004
Robert A. Schulte, Williamsburg, IA (US);
Robert A. Schulte, Williamsburg, IA (US);
Maytag Corporation, Newton, IA (US);
Abstract
A microwave cooking appliance includes an oven cavity, a magnetron and a load sensing system. The load sensing system is used to detects the presence of a load in the oven cavity by introducing a high frequency energy burst into the oven cavity, with the energy burst being reflected back. A controller, based on a time period between emitted and reflected signals, determines whether a load is present in the oven cavity. If no load is present, operation of the magnetron is terminated. Preferably, the high frequency energy burst is an ultrasonic acoustic frequency energy burst in a range between approximately 10 kHz and 100 kHz.