DOMESTIC RANGE CONTROL AND DISPLAY SYSTEM

• US 3,819,906 A
• Filed: 12/26/1972
• Issued: 06/25/1974
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/1972
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Robert R. Gould Jr
• Original Assignee: Robert R. Gould Jr
• Inventors: Gould, Robert R. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Miller, J. D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bell, Fred E.
• Application Number:
  US05/318,172
• Time in Patent Office: 546 Days
• Field of Search: 219/498,506,507,487,453 99/342 340/147R,147P,172.5,417
• US Class Current: 219/506
• CPC Class Codes: F24C 7/087 of electric circuits regulating heat
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/104 characterised by physical layout of switches; switches co-operating with display; use of switches in a special way
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23378 Touch sensitive key
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1917 using digital means
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/24 the sensing element having a resistance varying with temperature, e.g. a thermistor

Abstract

A domestic range including a touch control and display panel and digital control logic for energizing power circuits controlling the various range heater elements in response to a program entered by the user by touching certain areas of the panel. The control logic also controls the displays located behind the panel to provide feedback to the user of the program selected.

Claims

1. A domestic appliance for household cooking adapted to be connected to a domestic power supply and comprising a digital control and display panel of dielectric material, display means, said panel including transparent areas through which the user may view said display means, means including said panel forming touch control means for programming said appliance, said touch control means including a plurality of function selector areas on the outside of said panel user touchable for preselecting one of a plurality of oven functions and a plurality of digit selector areas on the outside of said panel user touchable to set a desired temperature for the oven function selected, heating means for said oven functions, power supply control means for regulating energy to said heating means to provide a predetermined heat output corresponding to the set temperature for the selected one of said oven functions, digital logic means operating in response to the user'"'"''"'"'s touch of said touch control means to enable said power supply control means to regulate said heating means and to enable said display means to display the set temperature for the oven function selected as a visual feedback to the user, said digital logic means further including means predetermining a range of temperature entry for a selected one of said oven functions and operating in response to the user'"'"''"'"'s touch of said one of said function selector areas to prevent the display of or control of said power supply control means in accordance with any temperature entry by the user'"'"''"'"'s touch of said digit selector areas which is not within said predetermined range of temperature entry, said digit selector areas being user touchable to enter a temperature setting only during a predetermined temperature selection interval immediately following preselection of said one of said plurality of oven functions, said digital logic means including means for predetermining the duration of said temperature selection interval.

2. The domestic appliance of claim 1 including means to display time of day on said display means and wherein said digital logic means includes means to disable the display of time of day in response to the user'"'"''"'"'s touch of one of said function selector areas.

3. A domestic range for household cooking adapted to be connected to a domestic power supply and comprising a digital control and display panel having first and second display means for temperature and heat value respectively, touch control means including an imperforate glass pane covering said display means, said touch control means responsive to the capacitive effect of a user'"'"''"'"'s touch for programming said range to function selectively within ranges of tEmperature predetermined in accordance respectively with a plurality of oven and surface cooking functions, said touch control means including a plurality of function selector areas on the outside of said glass pane user touchable for preselecting one of said plurality of cooking functions and digit selector areas on the outside of said glass pane user touchable to preset respectively, in accordance with the preselection of an oven cooking function or a surface cooking function, a desired operating temperature for the oven cooking function selected or a desired heat value for the surface cooking function selected, heating means for said cooking functions, power supply control means presettable for regulating energy to said heating means to provide a predetermined heat output for the selected one of said cooking functions, logic means including means operating in response to the user'"'"''"'"'s touch of said touch control means to enable the preset of said power supply control means for regulating said heating means and to enable the display of the selected temperature on said first display means in accordance with the preselection of an oven cooking function and the display of the selected heat value on said second of said display means in accordance with the preselection of a surface cooking function, said displays serving as a visual feedback to said user of the selected temperature or heat value, said logic means including means predeterming a range of temperature and a range of heat value for the selected one of said cooking functions and operating in response to the user'"'"''"'"'s touch of one of said function selector areas to override any temperature or heat value selection by the user'"'"''"'"'s touch of said digit selector areas which is not within said predetermined temperature or heat value range, said digit selector areas being user touchable to set said temperature or heat value only during a predetermined selection interval immediately following preselection of said one of said plurality of cooking functions, said logic means including means for predetermining the duration of said selection interval based on the frequency of said domestic power supply.

4. A domestic appliance for household cooking adapted to be connected to a domestic power supply and comprising a plurality of surface unit heating elements, a control and display console including display means, a plurality of user actuable surface unit selector switch means identifiable with respective ones of said heating elements, a plurality of user actuable heat level selector switch means, and an OFF selector switch means, first encoder means connected with said surface unit selector switch means for developing a binary coded output associated with the particular surface unit selector swtich means actuated by said user, first storage means for storing the output of said first encoder means, second encoder means connected with said heat level selector switch means for developing a binary coded output corresponding to the heat level selected by the user, logic means responsive to the output of said first storage means for selecting, for energization, the surface unit corresponding to the coded output of said first encoder means, second storage means for storing the binary coded output of said second encoder means, means responsive to the binary coded data stored in said second storage means for energizing the surface unit selected to provide a heat output in accordance with said data, display control means responsive to the output of said second storage means for driving said display means to display the heat level associated with the actuated heat level selector switch means, timer means energizable in response to actuation of any one of said surface unit selector means for clearing said first storage means a predetermined interval of time thereafter, means responsive to actuation of any one of said heat level selector switch means subsequent to actuation of one of said surface unit selector switch means and prior to an eXpiration of said predetermined interval of time for clearing said first storage means and deenergizing said timer means, means responsive to sequential actuation of one of said surface unit selector switch means and said OFF selector switch means for terminating energization of the surface unit associated with the actuated surface unit selector switch means.

5. The invention defined in claim 4 wherein the means for energizing the surface unit selected comprises a decade counter, clock means connected with the input of said decade counter, comparator means for comparing the outputs of said second storage means and the output of said decade counter and means responsive to the output of said comparator means for connecting the surface unit to said domestic supply.

6. A domestic appliance for household cooking adapted to be connected to a domestic power supply and comprising a plurality of surface unit heating elements, a control and display panel including a plurality of user actuable surface unit selector switch means identifiable with respective ones of said heating elements, a plurality of user actuable digit selector switch means, display means associated with each of said surface unit selector switch means, control logic circuitry comprising first encoder means connected with said surface unit selector switch means for developing a binary coded output associated with the particular selector switch means actuated, first storage means for storing the coded output of said first decoder means, second encoder means connected with said heat level selector switch means for developing a binary coded output corresponding to the particular heat level selector switch means actuated, second storage means connected with the output of said second encoder means, said second storage means having a storage location associated with each of said heating elements, selector means responsive to the output of said first storage means for selecting the location in said second storage means for storing the binary coded output of said second encoder means, said second storage means adapted to store the binary coded output of said second encoder means in the location selected by said selector means in response to actuation of one of said digit selector switch means, means for decoding the binary data stored in said second storage means and for energizing said display means to display the digital equivalent thereof, decade counter means, comparator means responsive to the output of said decade counter means and the data stored in said second storage means for energizing the surface unit associated with the selected location in said second storage means in accordance with the binary data stored therein, means responsive to sequential actuation to one of said surface unit selector means and said OFF switch means for clearing the data stored in the location of said second storage means associated with said one of said surface unit selector switch means, timer means for clearing said first storage means a predetermined interval of time after said timer means is enabled, means for enabling said timer means in response to actuation of one of said surface unit selector switch means and for disabling said timer means and clearing said first storage means in response to actuation of one of said digit selector switch means subsequent to actuation of one of said surface unit selector switch means and within said predetermined interval of time.

7. A domestic appliance for household cooking adapted to be connected to a domestic power supply and comprising:

an oven heating element;

a control and display panel including display means, a plurality of user-actuable oven control switch means including a BAKE, START TIME, and STOP TIME instruction switch means, a plurality of digit selector switch means, an Off selector switch means, instruction encoder means for developing a predetermined binary coded output assigned to respective ones of said instruction switch means in response to actuatioN of said instruction switch means;

instruction storage means for storing the output of said instruction encoder means;

digit encoder means for developing a binary coded output assigned to each of said digit selector switch means in response to actuation of said digit selector switch means;

timer means for clearing said instruction latch means a predetermined interval of time after said timer means is enabled;

means for enabling said timer means in response to actuation of one of said oven control switch means and for disabling said timer means in response to the passage of said interval of time, digit entry limiter means for clearing said instruction latch means in response to actuation of three of said digit selector switch means following actuation of said BAKE instruction switch means or actuation of four of said digit selector switch means following actuation of said START TIME or said STOP TIME instruction switch means;

temperature storage means;

start time storage means;

stop storage means;

means responsive to the output of said instruction storage means for entering the output of said digit encoder means into respective ones of said temperature storage means, said start time storage means, and said stop time storage means, in accordance with the output of said instruction storage means at the time of actuation of said digit selector switch means;

means for clearing said temperature storage means in response to sequential actuation of said BAKE instruction switch means and said OFF selector switch means;

time of day clock generator means for storing the present time of day;

means for comparing the data in said time of day generator means with the data in said start time and said stop time storage means for enabling said oven heating element when the data in said start time storage means equals the data in said time of day generator means and for disabling said oven heating element when the data in said stop time st storage means equals the data in said time of day generator means;

means responsive to the data in said temperature storage means for controlling said oven heating element and means responsive to actuation of said BAKE instruction switch means for restricting the upper temperature limit of said oven.

8. A domestic appliance for household cooking comprising a touch responsive control panel of dielectric material, digital control logic means, and a plurality of electrical heating elements adapted to be connected to a domestic AC power supply under the control of said logic means in accordance with a user'"'"''"'"'s input to said panel, said panel including a plurality of spaced address pads of electrically conductive material affixed to the user'"'"''"'"'s side of said panel and identifiable with respective ones of said heating elements, and a drive pad and a sense pad of electrically conductive material associated with each of said plurality of address pads, means for electrically interconnecting the sense pads in a plurality of groups each containing a plurality of pads, means electrically interconnecting the drive pads in a plurality of groups each containing a plurality of pads, drive means for applying a pulsating drive signal of predetermined magnitude and pulse rate to each of said groups of drive pads in a predetermined time sequence, said control logic means including means responsive to the signal at each of said groups of sense pads for detecting which address pad associated with the respective sense pads in said group of sense pads has been touched and for controlling the respective heating element identifiable with the touched address pad.

9. A domestic appliance for household cooking including a touch responsive control panel of dielectric material, digital control logic means, and a plurality of electrical heating elements adapted to be connected to a domestic AC power supply under the control of said logic means in accordance with the user'"'"''"'"'s input to said panel, said panel including a plurality of spaced function address pads identifiable with respective ones of said heating elements and a plurality of digit address pads of electrically conductive material, each address pad affixed to the user'"'"''"'"'s side of said panel, a drive pad and a sense pad of electrically conductive material associated with each of said plurality of address pads, means for electrically interconnecting the sense pads in a plurality of groups each containing a plurality of sense pads, means electrically interconnecting the drive pads in a plurality of groups each containing a plurality of drive pads, a plurality of display elements located at the rear of said panel and viewable by the user of the appliance through portions of said panel, means connected with said domestic AC power supply for providing a regulated DC voltage, switch means for connecting said groups of drive pads and said display elements to said DC voltage, said control logic means including means for applying a drive signal of predetermined pulse rate to said plurality of switch means in a predetermined time sequence, said control logic means further including detector means responsive to the signal at each of said groups of sense pads for detecting which of the several address pads associated with a group of sense pads has been touched, said detector means including means establishing a criteria for valid input data from said panel which requires that data indicative of a touched address pad be present for at least two successive applications of said DC voltage to the group of drive pads associated with a touched address pad.

10. A domestic appliance for household cooking including a touch responsive control panel of dielectric material, digital control logic means, and a plurality of electrical heating elements adapted to be connected to a domestic AC power supply under the control of said logic means in accordance with a user'"'"''"'"'s touch input to said panel, said panel including a plurality of spaced electrically conductive function address pads affixed to the user'"'"''"'"'s side of said panel and identifiable with respective ones of said heating elements, a plurality of spaced electrically conductive digit address pads affixed to the user'"'"''"'"'s side of said pane and identifiable with the digits 0-9 for selecting a desired operating temperature for said heating element, said panel further including a conductive drive pad and a conductive sense pad associated with each of said plurality of address pads and forming capacitance means in combination with said address pads, drive means for applying a pulsating DC drive signal of predetermined magnitude and pulse rate to each of said drive pads in a predetermined time sequence, said control logic including storage means and means responsive to the signal at said sense pads for addressing a particular location in said storage means assigned to a function address pad in response to a user'"'"''"'"'s touch of the function address pad and for entering the binary equivalent of the digits selected by the user in the location addressed, said control logic further including means for limiting the number of digits which may be selected by the user based on the function address pad touched by the user, display means located behind said panel and viewable by the user for displaying the digital equivalent of the binary data stored in said location for verification by the user, and means responsive to said control logic for energizing the heating elements associated with a touched address pad in accordance with the data stored in said location.

11. A domestic appliance for household cooking including a touch responsive control panel, an oven heating element, said panel including an imperforate tempered glass pane, a plurality of oven function address pads located on the user'"'"''"'"'s side of said pane for programming said appliance to function in accordance with the function address pad touched by the user, said function address pad including a BAKE, START TIME, STOP TIME, and OFF address pads, a plurality of digit address pads located on the user'"'"''"'"'s side of said pane and identifiable with the digits 0 through 9 respectively, and user touchable for setting a desired oven temperature, display means located behind said glass pane and viewable by the user through said glass pane, digital control logic means including TEMPERATURE, START TIME, and STOP TIME storage means for storing the BCD equivalent of the digits associated with the digit address pads touched by the user subsequent to touching of said BAKE, START TIME, or STOP TIME address pads respectively, oven temperature responsive control means adapted when enabled to control said BAKE heating element to maintain the oven at a temperature represented by the binary data stored in said TEMPERATURE storage means, said control logic including means responsive to a user'"'"''"'"'s touch of said BAKE, START TIME, or STOP TIME address pad for enabling said TEMPERATURE storage means, said START TIME storage means or said STOP TIME storage means respectively, said digital control logic including TIME OF DAY storage means for providing in BCD form the present time of day and means for comparing the data in said TIME OF DAY storage means with the data in said START TIME storage means for enabling said oven temperature responsive control means when the data in said TIME OF DAY storage means equals the data in said START TIME storage means and for disabling said oven temperature responsive control means when the data in said TIME OF DAY storage means equals the data in said STOP TIME storage means, said control logic further including means for clearing said TEMPERATURE storage means unless said digit address pads are touched within a predetermined interval of time following touching of said BAKE address pads and unless said digit address pads are each touched within said predetermined time interval, said control logic further including means for limiting the number of digits that may be entered subsequent to touching of said BAKE address pads to three digits and for limiting the number of digits that may be entered subsequent to touching of said START TIME, or STOP TIME address pads to four digits, display driver means or driving said display to normally present to the user the digital equivalent of the BCD data stored in said TIME OF DAY storage means but responsive to touching of said BAKE, START TIME or STOP TIME address pads to display the data stored in said TEMPERATURE storage means, and said START TIME storage means or said STOP TIME storage means respectively, means for clearing the data stored in said storage means in response to sequential touching of the appropriate function address pad and said OFF address pad.

12. The appliance defined in claim 11 wherein said oven function address pads include a TIMER address pad, said control logic including MINUTE TIMER storage means, said control logic including means for decrementing said MINUTE TIMER, storage means in one minute intervals and means responsive to touching of said TIMER address pad for enabling said MINUTE TIMER storage means to store the data subsequently entered by touching said digit address pads, said appliance including audible indicating means and said control logic including means for energizing said audible indicating means when the data entered in said MINUTE TIMER storage means has been decremented to zero.

13. The appliance of claim 12 further including user actuable oven door locking means, said oven function address pads including a CLEAN address pad for programming said appliance to perform an oven cleaning function, said control logic including means responsive to touching of said CLEAN address pad for providing to said temperature control circuit means data corresponding to a predetermined oven cleaning temperature, said appliance including a BROIL heating element, said temperature control circuit means energizing both saId BAKE and BROIL heating elements to establish said oven cleaning temperature.

14. A domestic range for household cooking including a touch responsive control panel, digital control logic means, a plurality of oven heating elements and a plurality of surface unit heating elements, a plurality of power switching circuit means for connecting respective ones of said heating elements to a domestic AC power supply under the control of said logic means in accordance with user'"'"''"'"'s touch input to said panel, said panel including an imperforate glass plane, a plurality of oven function address pads and a plurality of surface unit address pads located on the user'"'"''"'"'s side of said pane and identifiable with respective ones of said heating elements, an OFF address pad located on the user'"'"''"'"'s side of said panel, a plurality of digit address pads located on the user'"'"''"'"'s side of said pane and identifiable with the digits 0 through 9 respectively, a drive pad and a sense pad associated with each of said plurality of address pads and located on the opposite side of said pane, means electrically interconnecting said drive pads into groups of drive pads each group including a plurality of drive pads, means electrically interconnecting said sense pads into groups of sense pads including a plurality of sense pads, drive means for applying a pulsating DC drive signal of predetermined magnitude and pulse rate to each of said groups of drive pads in a predetermined time sequence to provide a sense signal at each sense pad in each group of sense pads in said time sequence, said sense signal being significantly changed in response to the capacitive effect of a user'"'"''"'"'s touch of an address pad, said control logic including detector means responsive to the signal at each of said groups of sense pads for identifying a touched address pad based on the interval during said time sequence when said sense signal changes, encoding means for providing an assigned binary code for each of said address pads, said encoding means being responsive to said detector means for providing the assigned code in response to identification of the touched address pad, a plurality of binary storage means corresponding in number to said oven function and surface unit address pads for storing the binary code produced by touching said digit address pads subsequent to touching said oven function or surface unit address pads, and means for enabling the power switching circuit means to maintain a heat output from the heating element identified by the touched address pad in accordance with the code stored in said binary storage means.

15. A domestic appliance for household cooking adapted to be connected to a domestic power supply comprising a digital control and display panel, said panel including an imperforate glass pane and display means viewable by the user of the appliance through said glass pane, means including said glass pane forming touch control means responsive to the capacitive effect of a user'"'"''"'"'s touch for programming said range for any one of several oven functions, said touch control means including a plurality of function selection areas located on the user'"'"''"'"'s side of said glass pane and user touchable for preselecting one of said plurality of oven functions and a plurality of digit selector areas on the user'"'"''"'"'s side of said glass pane user touchable to enter a desired operating temperature for the oven function selected, said touch control means further including means connected with said domestic power supply for providing a pulsating DC voltage of predetermined pulse rate end of sufficient magnitude to produce a sense signal magnitude compatible with MOS control logic, power supply control means for regulating energy to said heating means to provide a predetermined heat output for the selected one of said oven functions, said MOS control logic including means operable in response to the user'"'"''"'"'s touch of said touch control means to enable said power supply control means to regulate said heating means and to enable said display means to display the said desired operating temperature for the oven function selected as a visual feedback to said user, said MOS control logic means further including means predetermining an upper temperature limit for the selected one of said oven function and operating in response to the user'"'"''"'"'s touch of one of said function selector areas to prevent the display or control of said power supply control means in accordance with any temperature entered by the user'"'"''"'"'s touch of said digit selector areas which exceed said predetermined upper temperature limit, said digit selector areas being user touchable to enter a temperature setting only during a predetermined temperature selection interval immediately following preselection of said one of said plurality of oven functions, said MOS control logic means including means for predetermining the duration of said temperature selection interval.

16. The domestic appliance of claim 15 wherein said MOS control logic means includes means for driving said display means to normally display the time of day and means responsive to a user'"'"''"'"'s touch of one of said function selection areas to disable the display of time of day.

17. A domestic appliance for household cooking adapted to be connected to a domestic power supply, said appliance including a plurality of surface heating elements, a digital control and display panel of dielectric material, display means, said panel including transparent areas through which the user may view and display means, means including said panel forming touch control means for programming said appliance, said touch control means including a plurality of heating element selector areas respectively identifiable with each of said plurality of heating elements, said areas being located on the user'"'"''"'"'s side of said panel and user touchable for selecting one of said plurality of heating elements, a plurality of digit selector areas and an OFF selector area located on the user'"'"''"'"'s side of said panel and user touchable for entering a desired heat value for the surface heating element selected, power supply control means for controlling the application of said power supply to said heating elements, digital logic means responsive to the user'"'"''"'"'s touch of said touch control means to enable said power supply control means to apply power to a selected one of said heating elements in accordance with the desired heat value entered by the user, display control means responsive to the selection of one of said heating elements and to selection of a desired heat value for enabling said display means to display the heat value selected as a visual feedback to the user, said digital control logic including means permitting entry of a desired heat value only for a predetermined time interval following selection of one of said plurality of heating elements and further including means responsive to sequential touching of one of said plurality of heating element selector areas and said OFF selector area for disconnecting said power supply from the heating element identified by selector area touched.

18. The domestic appliance of claim 4 wherein each of said switch means include a touch pad, a drive pad, and a sense pad of conductive material, said touch pads being located on the user'"'"''"'"'s side of and separated from said drive and sense pads by a single panel of dielectric material, means for applying a drive signal to said drive pads, detector means for detecting the change in the signal at said sense pads resulting from a user'"'"''"'"'s touch of any one of said touch pads and for enabling said encoder means to develop said binary coded outputs.

19. The domestic appliance of claim 4 wherein said switch means are responsive to the capacitive effect of a user'"'"''"'"'s touch and include a signal panel of dielectric material, a touch pad, a drive pad, and a sense pad of conductive material, said touch pad being located on the user'"'"''"'"'s side of said panel, said panel Extending between said touch pad and said drive and sense pads, drive means for applying a pulsating drive signal of predetermined magnitude and pulse rate to said drive pads in a predetermined time sequence, means responsive to the change in the signal at said sense pads resulting from a user'"'"''"'"'s touch of any one of said touch pads for identifying which one of said pads has been touched, and for enabling said encoder means to develop said coded output signal.