Patent US 6,080,972

An apparatus is disclosed for automatically programming and controlling an oven, such as a food oven. The oven and its controller can be remotely operated over great distances by using a personal computer having a modem, and transmitting and receiving bidirectionally over a telephone interconnection, to display the cooking progress, modify a cooking sequence or prepare a new program sequence. An ergonomically designed operating panel provides an interactive intuitive method of programming the desired cooking sequences. Switch selections are monitored by a microprocessor which branches to the various preprogrammed functions. In addition, self-analysis and self-diagnostics aid the user in displaying a walk-back of the stored times and temperatures that occurred during an operating cycle before a power outage. A novel integrated oven design conserves the floor space and exhaust fan floor installation and operating costs.