GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE TO CONTROL INTERACTIONS BETWEEN AN APPLIANCE AND A CONSUMABLE HOLDER

• US 20090044129A1
• Filed: 10/23/2008
• Published: 02/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Original Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Inventors: LUCKMAN, JOEL A., EBROM, MATTHEW P., MCCOY, RICHARD A., GLOTZBACH, MARK E.
• Application Number:
  US12/256,551
• Publication Number:
  US 20090044129A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/738
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/26 Special purpose or proprietary protocols or architectures network applications for proprietary or special purpose networking environments H04L67/12
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 6/6435 Aspects relating to the user interface of the microwave heating apparatus

Abstract

A graphical user interface has software configured to communicate with an appliance adapted to perform a physical cycle of operation on an article and to communicate with a consumable holder for use with the appliance where the operation cycle is related to a consumable in the consumable holder. The software is configured to cause the graphical user interface to communicate to a user information associated with an appliance, a cycle of operation, a consumable holder, or a consumable. The software also causes the graphical user interface to communicate to an appliance or to a consumable holder information from a user.

Claims

1. A graphical user interface having software configured to communicate with an appliance adapted to perform a physical cycle of operation on an article and to communicate with a consumable holder for use with the appliance wherein the operation cycle is related to a consumable in the consumable holder, wherein the software is further configured to cause the graphical user interface to communicate to a user information associated with one of an appliance, a cycle of operation, a consumable holder, and a consumable, and to cause the graphical user interface to communicate to one of an appliance and a consumable holder information from a user.

2. The graphical user interface of claim 1 wherein the information is associated with the cycle of operation of an appliance.

3. The graphical user interface of claim 1 wherein the information is information associated with a consumable.

4. The graphical user interface of claim 1 wherein the information comprises a discoverable network message.

5. The graphical user interface of claim 1 wherein the information is encoded on one of the consumable, a consumable holder, a performance tag, a data pod, and an appliance and the GUI decodes the information and displays the information graphically to a user.

6. The graphical user interface of claim 1 wherein the information includes any one of a sound, a graphic, a ring tone, and licensable information.

7. The graphical user interface of claim 1 wherein the information is a warning.

8. The graphical user interface of claim 7 wherein the warning is static

9. The graphical user interface of claim 7 wherein the warning is dynamic

10. The graphical user interface of claim 9 wherein the dynamic warning is generated by one of a consumable holder, a consumable reader, and an arbitrary software component in communication with a consumable information holder

11. The graphical user interface of claim 1 wherein the software configured to communicate remotely.

12. The graphical user interface of claim 1 wherein the software is configured to communicate across a network.

13. The graphical user interface of claim 1 wherein the software is configured to communicate across two networks.

14. The graphical user interface of claim 1 wherein the graphical user interface also displays information about a selection of one of a cycle of operation and options for a cycle of operation based on the information.

15. The graphical user interface of claim 1 wherein one of the appliance and the consumable holder has a cycle architecture and the graphical user interface is changed by an action of the cycle architecture.

16. The graphical user interface of claim 15 wherein the changes include hiding or making available user interface screens, making elements of screens visible, invisible, enabled, or disabled;

changes to fonts, colors, size, or other attribute values of screen elements, changes to menu so that items could be enabled, disabled, added, and deleted.

17. A graphical user interface having software configured to communicate with an appliance adapted to perform a physical cycle of operation on an article and to communicate with a consumable holder for use with the appliance wherein the operation cycle is related to a consumable in the consumable holder, wherein the software is further configured to cause the graphical user interface to communicate to a user multimedia information associated with a consumable and residing in one of an appliance, a cycle of operation, a consumable holder, and a consumable.

18. The graphical user interface of claim 17 wherein the information comprises a discoverable network message.

19. The graphical user interface of claim 17 wherein the information is encoded on one of the consumable, a consumable holder, a performance tag, a data pod, and an appliance and the graphical user interface decodes the information and displays the information graphically to a user.

20. The graphical user interface of claim 17 wherein the information includes any one of a sound, a graphic, a ring tone, and licensable information.

21. The graphical user interface of claim 17 wherein the information is a warning.

22. The graphical user interface of claim 21 wherein the warning is static

23. The graphical user interface of claim 21 wherein the warning is dynamic

24. The graphical user interface of claim 23 wherein the dynamic warning is generated by one of a consumable holder, a consumable reader, and an arbitrary software component in communication with a consumable information holder