APPLIANCE DEVELOPMENT TOOLKIT WITH EDITOR FOR BINDING DATA

• US 20090327930A1
• Filed: 09/10/2009
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Original Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Inventors: JENKINS, ANTHONY E., SEO, JUNG EUI E., MOTAMEDI, NIMA, ARGUE, PAUL R., RADFORD, BRIAN N., MCCOY, RICHARD A., GLOTZBACH, MARK E.
• Application Number:
  US12/556,634
• Publication Number:
  US 20090327930A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/763
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/263 Generation of test inputs, e.g. test vectors, patterns or sequences ; with adaptation of the tested hardware for testability with external testers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2814 Exchanging control software or macros for controlling appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving configuration of the network and network elements H04L41/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/965 for process control and configuration

Abstract

An appliance development toolkit is provided to enable creation of content to affect operation of a component in an appliance or to affect user interaction with an appliance. The toolkit has access to instances of appliance user domain data and control system domain data, an editor configured to associate at least one instance of appliance user domain data to at least one instance of control system domain data or at least one instance of other appliance user domain data, an interactive user interface on which the instances of appliance user domain data and control system domain data are displayed for use by a developer, and a model converter to generate the content using the instances from the editor. The content is usable to affect the operation or to affect the user interaction as determined by the associations.

Claims

1. An appliance development toolkit to enable creation of content to affect operation of a component in an appliance or to affect user interaction with an appliance, the toolkit comprising:

access to instances of appliance user domain data and control system domain data,

an editor configured to associate at least one instance of appliance user domain data to at least one instance of control system domain data or at least one instance of other appliance user domain data,

an interactive user interface on which the at least one instance of appliance user domain data and the at least one instance of control system domain data are displayed for use by a developer, and

a model converter to generate the content using the instances from the editor,

wherein the content is usable to affect the operation or to affect the user interaction as determined by the associations.

2. The appliance development toolkit of claim 1 wherein the at least one instance of appliance user domain data is represented by a first binding element and the at least one instance of control system domain data is represented by a second binding element and the first and second binding elements are bound to each other or to the other of the at least one instance of control system domain data or the at least one instance of appliance user domain data, respectively.

3. The appliance development toolkit of claim 1 wherein the control system domain data are selected from the appliance user domain data.

61. The appliance development toolkit of claim 1 wherein the appliance user domain data includes a food and a vessel for cooking the food, and the appliance development toolkit associates the food and the vessel with the control system domain data so that the appliance control system domain data affects the operation of the appliance in response to the food and the vessel during the cooking.

62. The appliance development toolkit of claim 1 wherein the appliance user domain data includes a cooking outcome and a vessel for cooking a food, and the appliance development toolkit associates the cooking outcome and the vessel with the control system domain data so that the control system domain data affects the operation of the appliance in response to the outcome data and the vessel during the cooking.

63. The appliance development toolkit of claim 1 further configured to affect the appliance user domain data in response to the other appliance user domain data.

64. The appliance development toolkit of claim 63 wherein the appliance development toolkit automatically creates information in response to the other appliance user domain data.

65. The appliance development toolkit of claim 63 wherein the affect includes changing data.

66. The appliance development toolkit of claim 63 further comprising a viewer and a second converter for rendering content created by the second converter in the viewer wherein the affect includes re-rendering the content created by the second converter.

67. The appliance development toolkit of claim 63 wherein the affect is caused by the creation of an association between the appliance user domain data and the other appliance user domain data.

68. The appliance development toolkit of claim 63 wherein the appliance user domain includes a cooking domain comprising at least one of foods, cooking outcomes, and cooking vessels.

69. The appliance development toolkit of claim 63 wherein the appliance user domain includes a recipe domain comprising at least one of ingredients, preparation instructions, purchasing instructions, meal serving instructions.

70. The appliance development toolkit of claim 63 wherein the appliance user domain includes an ingredient substitution domain comprising at least two sets each having an ingredient, a quantity, and unit which are equivalent and substitutable with respect to the other of the first and second user domain.

71. The appliance development toolkit of claim 70 wherein the other appliance user domain is a recipe domain comprising at least one of ingredients, preparation instructions, purchasing instructions, meal serving instructions.

72. The appliance development toolkit of claim 63 wherein the other appliance user domain includes a nutrition domain comprising nutritional information.

73. The appliance development toolkit of claim 72 wherein the appliance user domain is a recipe domain comprising at least one of ingredients, preparation instructions, purchasing instructions, meal serving instructions.

74. The appliance development toolkit of claim 73 further comprising a third domain including an ingredient substitution domain comprising at least two sets each having an ingredient, a quantity, and unit which are equivalent and substitutable with respect to the other of the first and second user domain.

75. The appliance development toolkit of claim 74 configured to transform the recipe domain data in response to the ingredient substitution domain and in further response to the nutrition domain.

76. The appliance development toolkit of claim 63 wherein the other appliance user domain includes a medical domain comprising medical information.

77. The appliance development toolkit of claim 76 wherein the appliance user domain is a recipe domain comprising at least one of ingredients, preparation instructions, purchasing instructions, meal serving instructions.

78. The appliance development toolkit of claim 77 further comprising a third domain including an ingredient substitution domain comprising at least two sets each having an ingredient, a quantity, and unit which are equivalent and substitutable with respect to the other of the first and second user domain.

79. The appliance development toolkit of claim 78 configured to transform the recipe domain data in response to the ingredient substitution domain and in further response to the medical domain.

80. The appliance development toolkit of claim 63 wherein the other appliance user domain includes at least one of a schedule domain comprising scheduling information or participation information and a preference domain comprising personal preferences data relating to food,

81. The appliance development toolkit of claim 80 wherein the appliance user domain is a recipe domain comprising at least one of ingredients, preparation instructions, purchasing instructions, meal serving instructions.

82. The appliance development toolkit of claim 81 further comprising a third domain including an ingredient substitution domain comprising at least two sets each having an ingredient, a quantity, and unit which are equivalent and substitutable with respect to the other of the first and second user domain wherein the affect is to change the recipe in response to the information in other appliance user domain.

83. The appliance development toolkit of claim 63 wherein the other appliance user domain includes an inventory domain comprising information relating to the quantity or amount of foods and ingredients in a home.

84. The appliance development toolkit of claim 83 wherein the appliance user domain is a recipe domain comprising at least one of ingredients, preparation instructions, purchasing instructions, meal serving instructions.

85. The appliance development toolkit of claim 84 further comprising a third domain including an ingredient substitution domain comprising at least two sets each having an ingredient, a quantity, and unit which are equivalent and substitutable with respect to the other of the first and second user domain wherein the affect is to change the recipe in response to the information in other appliance user domain.

86. The appliance development toolkit of claim 1 further configured to affect one of the appliance user domain data and the control system domain data in response to the other of the appliance user domain data and the control system domain data.

87. The appliance development toolkit of claim 86 wherein the appliance user domain includes a schedule domain including a portion of at least one schedule and the control system domain data includes meal preparation plan information including duration information wherein the affect is to change at least one of the portion and the plan to make the portion and the plan compatible with respect to schedule and duration.

88. The appliance development toolkit of claim 1 wherein the editor is configured to create instances of at least one of appliance user domain data and control system domain data.

89. The appliance development toolkit of claim 1 further comprising a communication driver to establish a link with at least one control board in an appliance, and software configured to command operation of the at least one component in the appliance wherein a user can create or modify the content using the editor in response to communication with a control board.

90. The appliance development toolkit of claim 89 wherein the editor is configured to create instances of at least one of source identification domain data and control system domain data.

4. An appliance comprising:

software to cause operation of a component in the appliance or to affect user interaction with the appliance

memory containing appliance user domain data and control system domain data where at least one instance of appliance user domain data is bound to at least one instance of control system domain data or at least one instance of other appliance user domain data,

wherein the binding occurs at runtime of the software to affect the operation of the component or to affect the user interaction.

5. The appliance of claim 4 wherein the at least one instance of appliance user domain data is represented by a first binding element and the at least one instance of control system domain data is represented by a second binding element and the first and second binding elements are bound to each other or to the other of the at least one instance of control system domain data or the at least one instance of appliance user domain data, respectively.

6. The appliance of claim 4 wherein the memory is selected from at least one of a relational database, flash, RAM, ROM, EEProm, and external memory accessed over a network.

7. The appliance of claim 4 wherein the control structure is a user interface control and the appliance user domain data includes one of an image, a sound, and a video.

8. The appliance of claim 4 wherein the binding is formed directly between the at least one instance of appliance user domain data and the at least one instance of control system domain data or at least one instance of other appliance user domain data.

9. The appliance of claim 4 wherein the binding is indirectly formed using an intermediary structure.

10. The appliance of claim 4 further comprising a content provider for acquiring at least one of the appliance user domain data and control system domain data.

11. The appliance of claim 4 further comprising a graphical user interface for displaying at least one of the appliance user domain data, control system domain data, instances thereof, and the binding thereof.

12. The appliance of claim 11 further comprising a software framework for controlling the behavior of control functionality in the appliance in response to a user interacting with the graphical user interface,

13. The appliance of claim 4 wherein at least one of the appliance user domain data and control system domain data is associated with at least one of cycle outcomes, articles, and consumables.

14. An appliance comprising:

software to cause operation of a component in the appliance or to affect user interaction with the appliance

memory containing at least one instance of appliance user domain data represented by a first binding element and at least one instance of control system domain data represented by a second binding element and the first and second binding elements are bound to each other or to at least one instance of control system domain data or to at least one instance of appliance user domain data, respectively,

wherein the binding affects the operation of the component or affects the user interaction.

15. The appliance of claim 14 wherein the memory is selected from at least one of a relational database, flash, RAM, and external memory accessed over a network.

16. The appliance of claim 14 wherein the at least one instance of control system domain data is a user interface control and the at least one instance of appliance user domain data is one of an image, a sound, and a video.

17. The appliance of claim 14 wherein the binding is formed directly between the at least one instance of appliance user domain data and the at least one instance of control system domain data or at least one instance of other appliance user domain data.

18. The appliance of claim 14 wherein the binding is indirectly formed using an intermediary structure.

19. The appliance of claim 14 further comprising a content provider for acquiring at least one of the appliance user domain data and control system domain data.

20. The appliance of claim 14 further comprising a graphical user interface for displaying at least one of the appliance user domain data, control system domain data, instances thereof, and the binding thereof.

21. The appliance of claim 20 further comprising a software framework for controlling the behavior of control functionality in the appliance in response to a user interacting with the graphical user interface,

22. The appliance of claim 14 wherein at least one of the appliance user domain data and control system domain data is associated with at least one of cycle outcomes, articles, and consumables.

23. An appliance development toolkit to enable creation of content to affect operation of a component in an appliance or to affect user interaction with an appliance, the toolkit comprising:

access to instances of source identification domain data and control system domain data,

an editor configured to associate at least one instance of source identification domain with at least one instance of control system domain data,

an interactive user interface on which the at least one instance of source identification domain data and the at least one instance of control system domain data are displayed, and

a converter to generate the content using the instances and the associations from the editor,

wherein the content is usable to affect the operation or to affect the user interaction as determined by the associations.

24. The appliance development toolkit of claim 23 wherein the at least one instance of source identification domain data includes a renderable brand.

25. The appliance development toolkit of claim 23 wherein the at least one instance of control system domain data includes operation cycle information.

26. The appliance development toolkit of claim 25 wherein the operation cycle information includes a cycle structure.

27. The appliance development toolkit of claim 25 wherein the operation cycle information includes a cycle definition.

28. The appliance development toolkit of claim 25 wherein the operation cycle information includes at least one paired element.

29. The appliance development toolkit of claim 28 wherein the at least one paired element includes an identifier of an appliance variable and an identifier of a valid value of the identifier of an appliance variable.

30. The appliance development toolkit of claim 25 wherein the operation cycle information includes at least one command container.

31. The appliance development toolkit of claim 30 wherein the data comprised by the command container is derived from an appliance taxonomy definition.

32. The appliance development toolkit of claim 25 wherein the operation cycle information includes at least one message payload or identifier thereof.

33. The appliance development toolkit of claim 25 wherein the usable data includes at least one identifier that uniquely identifies one of a person, a consumable, and an article.

34. The appliance development toolkit of claim 25 wherein the usable data includes first and second portions, each portion bound to a different instance of source identification domain data wherein the second portion depends on the first portion and affects one of the operation and the user interaction with the appliance.

35. The appliance development toolkit of claim 23 wherein the at least one instance of source identification domain data is licensed.

36. The appliance development toolkit of claim 35 wherein the license includes a royalty fee dependent on a display of the at least one instance of source identification domain data in an appliance.

37. An appliance comprising:

software to cause operation of a component in the appliance or to affect user interaction with the appliance

memory containing at least one instance of source identification domain data and at least one instance of control system domain data and an association effectively binding the at least one instance of source identification domain data to the at least one instance of control system domain data

wherein the binding affects the operation of the component or affects the user interaction in the appliance.

39. The appliance of claim 37 wherein the memory is selected from at least one of a relational database, flash, RAM, ROM, EEProm, and memory accessible over a network.

40. The appliance of claim 37 wherein the at least one instance of control system domain data is a user interface control and the at least one instance of source identification domain data is one of an image, a sound, and a video.

41. The appliance of claim 40 wherein the operation of the component is affected contemporaneously with a user selecting the user interface control in response to the at least one instance of source identification.

42. The appliance of claim 37 wherein the binding is formed directly between the at least one instance of source identification domain data and the at least one instance of control system domain data.

43. The appliance of claim 37 wherein the binding is indirectly formed using an intermediary structure.

44. The appliance of claim 37 further comprising a content provider for acquiring at least one of the source identification domain data and control system domain data.

45. The appliance of claim 37 further comprising a graphical user interface for displaying at least one of the source identification domain data, control system domain data, instances thereof, and the binding thereof.

46. The appliance of claim 45 further comprising a software framework for controlling the behavior of control functionality in the appliance in response to a user interacting with the graphical user interface,

47. The appliance of claim 37 wherein at least one of the source identification domain data and control system domain data is associated with at least one of cycle outcomes, articles, and consumables.

48. The appliance of claim 37 wherein the at least one instance of source identification domain data includes a renderable brand.

49. The appliance of claim 37 wherein the at least one instance of control system domain data includes operation cycle information.

50. The appliance of claim 49 wherein the operation cycle information includes a cycle structure.

51. The appliance of claim 49 wherein the operation cycle information includes a cycle definition.

52. The appliance of claim 49 wherein the operation cycle information includes at least one paired element.

53. The appliance of claim 52 wherein the at least one paired element includes an identifier of an appliance variable and an identifier of a valid value of the identifier of an appliance variable.

54. The appliance development toolkit of claim 49 wherein the operation cycle information includes at least one command container.

55. The appliance of claim 54 wherein the data comprised by the command container is derived from an appliance taxonomy definition.

56. The appliance of claim 49 wherein the operation cycle information includes at least one message payload or identifier thereof.

57. The appliance of claim 49 wherein the operation cycle information includes at least one identifier that uniquely identifies one of a person, a consumable, and an article.

58. The appliance of claim 49 wherein the operation cycle information includes first and second portions, each portion bound to a different instance of source identification domain data wherein the second portion depends on the first portion and affects one of the operation and the user interaction with the appliance.

59. The appliance of claim 37 wherein the at least one instance of source identification domain data is licensed.

60. The appliance of claim 59 wherein the license includes a royalty fee dependent on a display of the at least one instance of source identification domain data in an appliance.

38. The appliance of 37 wherein the source identification domain data is represented by a first binding element and the and at least one instance of control system domain data represented by a second binding element and the first and second binding elements are bound to each other or to at least one instance of control system domain data, respectively.