Control user interface for laundry appliances
First Claim
1. A laundry appliance, comprising:
- a control element;
a user interface having a first display region configured to display a primary operating mode of the laundry appliance and a second display region configured to display a secondary operating mode associated with at least one of the primary operating modes;
a processor controlling at least some operating of the laundry appliance; and
memory storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the laundry appliance to perform a method comprising;
detecting a first manipulation of the control element;
identifying a current primary operating mode;
determining whether the current primary operating mode has a plurality of associated secondary operating modes;
if there does not exist a plurality of secondary operating modes associated with the current primary operating mode, changing the primary operating mode of the laundry appliance to a new primary operating mode;
if there does exist a plurality of secondary operating modes associated with the current primary operating mode, identifying a current secondary operating mode, determining whether the current secondary operating mode is a last in a predetermined sequence of secondary operating modes,and if the current secondary operating mode is the last in the predetermined sequence of secondary operating modes changing the primary operating mode of the laundry appliance to a new primary operating mode,and if the current secondary operating mode is not the last in the predetermined sequence of secondary operating modes, retaining the same current primary operating mode and changing the secondary operating mode of the laundry appliance to a next secondary operating mode in the predetermined sequence of secondary operating modes.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A control user interface for laundry appliances, such as a clothes dryer or washing machine, enables a user to control multiple modes of operation and a variable associated with at least one mode of operation by manipulating a single control element. In one arrangement, the variable is time and multiple time increments are associated with at least one mode of operation. One embodiment includes a rotatable single control knob. Upon detecting the rotation of the control knob, a determination is made whether the currently selected operation mode has associated operation times to be presented to the user. If no associated operation times are presented, the user interface display is updated to reflect the next mode of operation. The operation mode and operation times may be part of different display region within the dryer control user interface. Thus, multiple menus and submenus can be traversed and selected from using a single control knob, without the need for secondary buttons or a base cycle position to control the mode operation and time settings.
87 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A laundry appliance, comprising:
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a control element; a user interface having a first display region configured to display a primary operating mode of the laundry appliance and a second display region configured to display a secondary operating mode associated with at least one of the primary operating modes; a processor controlling at least some operating of the laundry appliance; and memory storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the laundry appliance to perform a method comprising; detecting a first manipulation of the control element; identifying a current primary operating mode; determining whether the current primary operating mode has a plurality of associated secondary operating modes; if there does not exist a plurality of secondary operating modes associated with the current primary operating mode, changing the primary operating mode of the laundry appliance to a new primary operating mode; if there does exist a plurality of secondary operating modes associated with the current primary operating mode, identifying a current secondary operating mode, determining whether the current secondary operating mode is a last in a predetermined sequence of secondary operating modes, and if the current secondary operating mode is the last in the predetermined sequence of secondary operating modes changing the primary operating mode of the laundry appliance to a new primary operating mode, and if the current secondary operating mode is not the last in the predetermined sequence of secondary operating modes, retaining the same current primary operating mode and changing the secondary operating mode of the laundry appliance to a next secondary operating mode in the predetermined sequence of secondary operating modes. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for controlling the operation of laundry appliance, comprising:
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detecting a first manipulation of a control element on the laundry appliance; identifying a current primary operating mode of the laundry appliance, wherein the laundry appliance has a plurality of primary operating modes, and wherein at least one of the primary operating modes has an associated plurality of secondary operating modes; determining whether the current primary operating mode has a plurality of associated secondary operating modes; if the current primary operating mode does not have a plurality of associated secondary operating modes, changing the primary operating mode of the laundry appliance to a next primary operating mode in a predetermined sequence of primary operating modes; and if the current primary operating mode does have a plurality of associated secondary operating modes; identifying a current secondary operating mode; determining whether the current secondary operating mode is a last in a predetermined sequence of secondary operating modes associated with the current primary operating mode; if the current secondary operating mode is the last in the predetermined sequence of secondary operating modes changing the primary operating mode of the laundry appliance to a new primary operating mode; and if the current secondary operating mode is not the last in the predetermined sequence of secondary operating modes, retaining the same current primary operating mode and changing the secondary operating mode of the laundry appliance to a next secondary operating mode in the predetermined sequence of secondary operating modes. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A laundry appliance, comprising:
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a rotatable control knob; a user interface configured to display a primary operating mode and a secondary operating mode of the laundry appliance; a processor controlling at least some operating of the laundry appliance; and memory storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the laundry appliance to perform a method comprising; detecting a user manipulation of the rotatable control knob; identifying at least one of a current primary operating mode and a current secondary operating mode; based on the user manipulation of the rotatable control knob, setting the current primary operating mode to a new primary operating mode and setting the current secondary operating mode to a new secondary operating mode for the laundry appliance; updating a first display region of the user interface to display the new primary operating mode; and updating a second display region of the user interface to display the new secondary operating mode, wherein the first display region and the second display region are positioned separately from each other and separately from the rotatable control knob. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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Specification