Household appliance control method for converting program-specific commands selected at input-output control into functional commands for machine unit via interface between input output control and machine unit

• US 6,973,515 B2
• Filed: 03/28/2002
• Issued: 12/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Original Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Inventors: Kuerner, Volkart, Mayr-Willius, Manfred
• Primary Examiner(s): Myers, Paul R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): PHAN, RAYMOND NGAN
• Application Number:
  US10/108,976
• Publication Number:
  US 20020147878A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,349 Days
• Field of Search: 710305-306, 710/309, 710/316, 710 62- 64, 710/72, 710105-106, 710/73, 710 1- 5, 709216-218, 700 80- 92
• US Class Current: 710/72
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for controlling a household appliance, particularly a washer or dishwasher, having an I/O control for programs and a machine unit comprising a central control that controls assigned functional units according to the selected program. The I/O control and the machine control achieve independence from one another in reference to their design and control, and an interface for the transmission of program-specific commands is provided between the I/O control and the machine unit, wherein the program selection criteria entered by the operator into the I/O control or the information received by the remote transmission is converted into assigned program-specific commands, and the incoming program commands are received by the machine unit and converted into functional commands for the functional units of the machine unit.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a household appliance, particularly a washer or a dishwasher, having an I/O control for programs and a machine unit comprising a central control that controls assigned functional units according to the selected program,

wherein an interface is configured between the I/O control and the machine unit for the transmission of program-specific commands,

wherein in the I/O control the program selection criteria entered by an operator, or information received by a remote transmission, are converted into assigned program-specific commands,

wherein the program commands are received by the machine unit and converted into the functional commands for the functional units of the machine unit,

wherein the I/O control is provided with selection means for the program data to be selected, and display means for the display of the selected program data,

wherein the program data that was pre-defined by the selection means or that are received from the remote transmission are converted into the program-specific commands via the input converter,

wherein the program-specific commands are transmitted to the machine unit and converted into the functional commands for the functional units,

wherein the interface between the I/O control and the machine unit comprises a coder/decoder in the I/O control and a decoder/coder in the machine unit as well as a two-way transmission link between the coder/decoder and the decoder/coder,

wherein the program-specific commands in the I/O control are configured depending on the chosen selection means via the input converter and the coder of the coder/decoder and are routed to the transmission link,

wherein the program-specific commands received by the machine unit are routed to a machine-specific converter via the decoder of decoder/coder,

wherein the central control receives input signals from the machine-specific converter that are specific to the central control,

wherein the functional units and/or the central control route check-back signals to the machine-specific converter which are converted in the machine unit via the coder of the decoder/coder and routed back to the UO control via the transmission link, and

wherein the incoming check-back signals from the decoder of the coder/decoder are received in the I/O control, and converted by the input converter and displayed via the display means.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the information from the remote transmission is converted via the input converter and routed to the coder of the coder/decoder in the I/O control.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the information from the remote transmission is configured as program-specific commands and is directly routed to the decoder of the decoder/coder in the machine unit.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein UO controls with varying configurations are configured with standardized program-specific commands that can be optionally connected with the machine unit that is adjusted to these program-specific commands.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein various machine units that respond to the standardized program-specific commands are optionally coupled with the I/O control which, in turn, is also adjusted to these program-specific commands.

6. The method according to claim 3, wherein I/O controls and machine units with varying configurations are provided, which are all configured for the program-specific commands, and one of the I/O controls is optionally coupled with one of the machine units.

7. A method for controlling a household appliance comprising an I/O control for programs and a machine unit comprising a central control that controls assigned functional units according to the selected program:

wherein an interface is configured between the I/O control and the machine unit for the transmission of program-specific commands;

wherein the I/O control is provided with display means for the display of the selected program data;

wherein in the I/O control the program selected by the user is converted into assigned program-specific commands;

wherein the interface between the I/O control and the machine unit comprises a coder/decoder in the I/O control and a decoder/coder in the machine unit;

wherein the interface between the I/O control and the machine unit comprises a two-way transmission link between the coder/decoder and the decoder/coder

wherein the program-specific commands received by the machine unit are routed to a machine-specific converter via the decoder of the decoder/coder;

wherein the program-specific commands are received by the machine unit via the interface and converted into functional commands for the functional units of the machine unit;

wherein the functional units and/or the central control route check-beck signals to the machine-specific converter, which are converted in the machine unit via the coder of the decoder/coder and routed back to the I/O control via the transmission link; and

wherein the incoming check-back signals from the decoder of the coder/decoder are received in the I/O control, and converted by the input converter and displayed via the display means.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the information from the remote transmission is converted via the input converter and routed to the coder of the coder/decoder in the I/O control.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the information from the remote transmission is configured as program-specific commands and is directly routed to the decoder of the decoder/coder in the machine unit.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the programs define cycles of operation for the household appliance.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein I/O controls with varying configurations are configured with standardized program-specific commands that can be optionally connected with the machine unit that is adjusted to these program-specific commands.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein various machine units that respond to the standardized program-specific commands are optionally coupled with the I/O control which, in turn, is also adjusted to these program-specific commands.

13. The method according to claim 9, wherein I/O controls and machine units with varying configurations are provided, which are all configured for the program-specific commands, and one of the I/O controls is optionally coupled with one of the machine units.