Household appliance

• US 8,420,984 B2
• Filed: 12/01/2007
• Issued: 04/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electrolux Home Products Corporation NV (AB Electrolux)
• Original Assignee: Electrolux Home Products Corporation NV (AB Electrolux)
• Inventors: Kaiser, Kersten, Neukamm, Alwin, Cenedese, Claudio
• Primary Examiner(s): BARNES-BULLOCK, CRYSTAL JOY
• Application Number:
  US12/520,118
• Publication Number:
  US 20100114339A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,963 Days
• Field of Search: 700 11- 13, 700/17, 700/83, 700/86, 700/87, 715/771, 715/773, 219/200, 219/385, 219/443.1, 219/445.1, 219/446.1, 219/447.1, 21944811-44813, 219/482, 219/490, 219/494, 219/506, 219/502, 219/518, 219620-622, 219625-627, 219/702, 219/704, 219/710, 219/714, 621/25, 621/27, 621/29, 621/32, 62157-159, 993/24, 993/25, 993/31, 702/99, 702/130, 702/132, 702/136
• US Class Current: 219/448.12
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 2213/05 Heating plates with pan detection means
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 2213/07 Heating plates with temperature control means
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 3/746 Protection, e.g. overheat cutoff, hot plate indicator

Abstract

The present invention relates to a household appliance for performing a housekeeping task. The household appliance comprises a data input device (16) adapted to remotely sense a property in a sensing area (18), and a controller (22) coupled to the data input device and adapted to control an operation of the household appliance in accordance with the sensed property.

Claims

1. A household appliance (10) for performing a housekeeping task, the household appliance comprising a data input device (16) supported at an external location outside of the household appliance relative to a sensing area (18) and separated from the sensing area (18) of the household appliance (10), wherein the data input device (16) is adapted to remotely sense, from the external location, a physical dimension of an object (20) in the sensing area (18), and a controller (22) coupled to the data input device and adapted to control an operation of the household appliance in accordance with the sensed physical dimension of the object (20).

2. A household appliance according to claim 1, wherein the physical dimension is related to the housekeeping task.

3. A household appliance according to claim 1, further comprising a cooking plate area (12) at least partly covered by said sensing area, wherein the physical dimension of the object (20) sensed by the data input device is a size of the object (20) supported by the cooking plate area (12) in the sensing area.

4. A household appliance according to claim 3, wherein the controller is adapted to control a heater (14) of the cooking plate area in accordance with the sensed size, preferably by activating a portion (24), but less than all, of the heater in accordance with the sensed size.

5. A household appliance according to claim 4, wherein the data input device is further adapted to sense a position of the object, and the portion (24) of the heater to be activated is selected based on the sensed position.

6. A household appliance according to claim 1, further comprising a cooking plate area at least partly covered by the sensing area, wherein the data input device is adapted to sense a temperature in the sensing area.

7. A household appliance according to claim 1, further comprising a cooking plate area (12) and projection means (30) adapted to direct a visual image on the cooking plate area indicating a hot or cold area of the cooking plate area by transmitting the visual image from the projection means at a remote location to the cooking plate area.

8. A household appliance according to claim 7, wherein at least one of the data input device and projection means is mounted on a pop-up support (40) receivable within the household appliance, and wherein the household appliance is turned off when the pop-up support is in a received position and otherwise turned on.

9. A household appliance according to claim 7, wherein at least one of the data input device and projection means is adapted to be oriented in different directions for changing a position of said sensing area and/or visual image.

10. A household appliance according to claim 7, wherein at least one of the data input device and projection means forms part of a virtual user interface of the household appliance.

11. A household cooking appliance (10) comprising:

a cooking plate area (12) comprising a heater (14) for generating heat to be used for cooking and an external surface on which a cooking utensil is to be supported during said cooking;

a data input device (16) arranged to extend into an input device plane that is elevated vertically above a cooking plate plane in which the cooking plate area (12) is located, wherein the data input device (16) remotely senses a sensed property from the input device plane, the sensed property comprising a size of the cooking utensil supported by the external surface of the cooking plate area (12); and

a controller (22) coupled to the data input device (16) and adapted to control operation of the heater (14) during said cooking based at least in part on the sensed property.

12. A household appliance according to claim 11, wherein the controller (22) is adapted to control the heater (14) in accordance with the sensed size of the cooking utensil by activating a portion (24), but less than all, of the heater (14) in accordance with the sensed size of the cooking utensil remotely sensed by the data input device (16).

13. A household appliance (10) for performing a housekeeping task, the household appliance comprising:

a data input device (16) supported at an external location relative to a sensing area (18) and separated from the sensing area (18) of the household appliance (10), wherein the data input device (16) is adapted to remotely sense, from the external location, a property in the sensing area (18);

a cooking plate area (12);

projection means (30) adapted to direct a visual image on the cooking plate area indicating a hot or cold area of the cooking plate area by transmitting the visual image from the projection means at a remote location to the cooking plate area; and

a controller (22) coupled to the data input device and adapted to control an operation of the household appliance in accordance with the sensed-property.