Control system with interactive display
First Claim
1. A control system for an appliance having controlled devices operative in a plurality of selectable modes, each said mode comprising one or more respective operating sequences, said control system including storage means and electronic control means operable to effect the operating sequences of selected ones of said modes, representations of a plurality of symbols being stored in said storage means, said representations being representative of respective ones of said operating modes, display means, means for retrieving said symbol representations from storage and displaying said representations so retrieved at said display means as corresponding symbols in a plurality of groups of symbols, each said symbol group having at least one symbol and being displayed separately in time from the other said groups, respective manually operated adaptive input means associated with and positioned in visual proximity with each symbol in a said displayed group of symbols, said electronic control means being responsive to operation of a said adaptive input means during display of a respective mode symbol thereat for subsequently effecting the operating sequence associated with the respective said displayed mode symbol, and further including a plurality of manually operated dedicated input means each being for the input of fixed data to said control means and storage means, said control means and storage means being responsive to the input of said data from said dedicated input means directly following operation of a particular said adaptive input means during display of a respective particular mode symbol thereat for at least partly defining said operating sequence of said respective operating mode.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A control system for an appliance, such as a microwave oven or the like, is provided with an adaptive manual input and a display positioned in visual proximity with one another. Various operating sequences and/or modes of the appliance are represented by symbols which may be displayed. Those operating sequences may be selected for implementation by actuating an input associated with the respective display. The symbols are contained in a plurality of groups which are displayed separately in time from one another. Actuation of a particular input associated with the display of a particular symbol also serves to display a new symbol group in accordance with a predetermined programming schedule. Typically, the functional sequences of the appliance are organized as a plurality of selectable principal modes each comprised of one or more selectable modes or sequences. Various prompting statements may also be automatically displayed to aid the user in programming the control system. The adaptive input may be part of a capacitive touch-type keyboard and comprise transparent touch keys overlying respective display devices.
68 Citations
21 Claims
- 1. A control system for an appliance having controlled devices operative in a plurality of selectable modes, each said mode comprising one or more respective operating sequences, said control system including storage means and electronic control means operable to effect the operating sequences of selected ones of said modes, representations of a plurality of symbols being stored in said storage means, said representations being representative of respective ones of said operating modes, display means, means for retrieving said symbol representations from storage and displaying said representations so retrieved at said display means as corresponding symbols in a plurality of groups of symbols, each said symbol group having at least one symbol and being displayed separately in time from the other said groups, respective manually operated adaptive input means associated with and positioned in visual proximity with each symbol in a said displayed group of symbols, said electronic control means being responsive to operation of a said adaptive input means during display of a respective mode symbol thereat for subsequently effecting the operating sequence associated with the respective said displayed mode symbol, and further including a plurality of manually operated dedicated input means each being for the input of fixed data to said control means and storage means, said control means and storage means being responsive to the input of said data from said dedicated input means directly following operation of a particular said adaptive input means during display of a respective particular mode symbol thereat for at least partly defining said operating sequence of said respective operating mode.
- 18. A control system for an appliance having controlled devices operative in a plurality of selectable modes, each said mode comprising one or more respective operating sequences, said control system including storage means and electronic control means operable to effect the operating sequences of selected ones of said modes, representations of a plurality of symbols being stored in said storage means, said representations being representative of respective ones of said operating modes, display means, means for retrieving said symbol representations from storage and displaying said representations so retrieved at said display means as corresponding symbols in a plurality of groups of symbols, each said symbol group having at least one symbol and being displayed separately in time from the other said groups, respective manually operated adaptive input means associated with and positioned in visual proximity with each symbol in a said displayed group of symbols, said electronic control means being responsive to operation of a said adaptive input means during display of a respective mode symbol thereat for subsequently effecting the operating sequence associated with the respective said displayed mode symbol, said operating modes comprising a plurality of principal operating modes and a plurality of secondary operating modes, at least one of said principal operating modes being comprised of a plurality of selectable ones of said secondary operating modes, and said symbols representative of said secondary operating modes being displayed in one or more groups different from said groups of symbols representative of said principal operating modes and only subsequent to operation of said adaptive input means during display of a symbol representative of a said principal operating mode, said symbols representative of said primary and said secondary operating modes respectively being displayed on common said display means.
Specification