Method and system for optimizing performance of consumer appliances

• US 20010049846A1
• Filed: 06/13/2001
• Published: 12/13/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: The Procter & Gamble Company
• Original Assignee: The Procter & Gamble Company
• Inventors: Nurre, Joseph Henry, Stigall, James Randall, Guzzi, Brian Daniel
• Application Number:
  US09/880,669
• Publication Number:
  US 20010049846A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 8/158
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/22 Condition of the washing liquid, e.g. turbidity
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 75/26 Temperature control or indicating arrangements

Abstract

A system and method for optimizing performance of a consumer appliance, including: a consumer appliance; a work piece identifier; a director in communication with the consumer appliance; a data store in communication with the director; an identification device in communication with the director; and an optimization module in communication with the director, having executable instructions for determining optimized operating conditions of the consumer appliance. One exemplary embodiment is a method of optimizing processing conditions based on environmental conditions. The method comprises the steps of providing a consumer appliance having one or more sensors in communication with a director and sensing one or more environmental conditions from the sensors. The sensors might then communicate the environmental conditions to the director and to an optimization module in communication with the director. Finally, the optimization module might be configured to optimize the processing conditions based on the environmental conditions.

Claims

1. A method of optimizing processing conditions based on environmental conditions comprising the steps of:

providing a consumer appliance having one or more sensors in communication with a director;

sensing one or more environmental conditions and/or one or more soiled article characteristics from the sensors;

communicating the environmental conditions and/or soiled article characteristics to the director; and

providing an optimization module in communication with the director, the optimization module configured to optimize processing conditions corresponding to the environmental conditions and/or soiled article characteristics.

2. The method of optimizing processing conditions according to

claim 1

, wherein the consumer appliance comprises a washing machine and the environmental conditions comprise water conditions.

3. The method of optimizing processing conditions according to

claim 1

, wherein the one or more sensor devices is selected from the group comprising a water pH sensor, water hardness sensor, conductivity sensor, turbidity sensor, temperature sensor, calcium ion sensor, and oxidation-reduction potential sensor.

4. The method of optimizing processing conditions according to

claim 1

, wherein the director is provided in communication with a data store through a communication link, the director being configured to retrieve one or more cleaning factors from the data store and communicate the data factors to the optimization module, the optimization module being configured to optimize the processing conditions based on the cleaning factors.

5. The method of optimizing processing conditions according to

claim 1

, further comprising the step of providing a detergent dispenser comprising an inventory of laundering compositions in communication with the director and the optimization module, the optimization module being configured to optimize the processing conditions based on the laundering compositions.

6. The method of optimizing laundering conditions according to

claim 5

, wherein the laundering compositions are selected from the group comprising formulated compositions and constituent ingredients.

7. A method of optimizing processing conditions based on environmental conditions comprising the steps of:

providing a consumer appliance comprising a director having a communication link to a data store;

retrieving one or more environmental conditions from the data store; and

providing an optimization module in communication with the director, the optimization module configured to optimize processing conditions based on the environmental conditions.

8. The method of optimizing processing conditions according to

claim 7

, wherein the consumer appliance comprises a washing machine and the environmental conditions comprise water conditions.

9. The method of optimizing processing conditions according to

claim 7

, wherein said communication link provides access to an external data store.

10. The method of optimizing processing conditions according to

claim 7

, further comprising the step of providing a detergent dispenser comprising an inventory of laundering compositions in communication with the director and the optimization module;

the optimization module being configured to optimize the processing conditions based on the laundering compositions.

11. The method of optimizing laundering conditions according to

claim 10

, wherein the laundering compositions are selected from the group comprising formulated compositions and constituent ingredients.

12. The method of optimizing laundering conditions according to

claim 7

, wherein the consumer appliance comprises one or more sensors in communication with the director, the sensors configured to sense one or more soiled article characteristics and communicate the soiled article characteristics to the director, the optimization module in communication with the director being configured to optimize processing conditions based on the soiled article characteristics.

13. A method of collecting data comprising the steps of:

providing an identification device, a work piece identifier and a director in communication with a consumer appliance;

providing a communications link between the director and an external data store;

identifying each work piece item to be processed by the consumer appliance;

retrieving one or more processing factors corresponding to each of the identified work piece items; and

uploading each identified work piece item and processing factor to the external data store, wherein the external data store is configured to collect data from at least one consumer appliance.

14. The method of collecting data according the

claim 13

, wherein the consumer appliance further comprises a washing machine and wherein each work piece item comprises an article of clothing.

15. The method of collecting data according the

claim 13

, wherein the collected data comprises an aggregated data base configured to allow analysis thereof.

16. A method of providing automatic reordering of laundering compositions comprising the steps of:

providing an inventory module and a director in communication with a consumer appliance;

the consumer appliance further comprising a detergent dispenser having an inventory of laundering compositions;

providing a sensor in communication with the director and configured to monitor the inventory; and

providing a communications link between the inventory module and an external data store, wherein the inventory module is configured to transmit an order of a quantity of laundering compositions to the external data store upon the sensor sensing that the inventory of laundering compositions has reached a predetermined level.

17. The method of providing automatic reordering of laundering compositions of

claim 16

, wherein the sensor is selected from the group comprising a level sensor and a weight sensor.

18. The method of providing automatic reordering of laundering compositions of

claim 16

, wherein the laundering compositions are selected from the group comprising formulated detergents and constituent ingredients.

19. A method of optimizing the processing of one or more work piece items by a consumer appliance, comprising the steps of:

providing an identification device, a work piece identifier, a data store and a director in communication with a consumer appliance;

identifying each work piece item to be processed by the consumer appliance;

retrieving one or more processing factors corresponding to each of the identified work piece items from a data store;

allowing a user to set a desired conditioning outcome; and

optimizing processing conditions corresponding to the processing factors and the desired conditioning outcome set by the user.

20. The method of optimizing the processing of one or more work piece items of

claim 19

, wherein the desired conditioning outcome is selected from the group comprising low wrinkle, crisp, extra white and mountain fresh.

21. The method of optimizing the processing of one or more work piece items of

claim 19

, wherein the consumer appliance further comprises a washing machine.

22. The method of optimizing the processing of one or more work piece items of

claim 19

, wherein the consumer appliance comprises a user interface in communication with a customer service representative via a communication link.

23. The method of optimizing the processing of one or more work piece items of

claim 22

, wherein the communication link comprises a video system.

24. The method of optimizing the processing of one or more work piece items of

claim 19

, wherein the consumer appliance further comprises a compact disk reader configured to retrieve updated information from a compact disk

25. The method of optimizing the processing of one or more work piece items of

claim 19

, wherein the consumer appliance is provided in communication with an external data store, wherein the consumer appliance is configured to retrieve updated information from the external data store.

26. The method of optimizing the processing of one or more work piece items of

claim 19

, wherein the consumer appliance comprises one or more sensors in communication with the director, the sensors configured to sense one or more soiled article characteristics and communicate the soiled article characteristics to the director, the optimization module in communication with the director being configured to optimize processing conditions based on the soiled article characteristics.