1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of cooking appliances and, more particularly, to a data entry system enabling alpha-numeric inputs into an electronic control system of a cooking appliance.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
The art of cooking is currently undergoing substantial change. It is no longer the norm to have a family member home all day with time to cook and prepare meals. Today, more and more consumers must rush home from work to prepare meals for themselves or for their families. In today's fast paced society, time is of the essence. The luxury of spending time in preparing a meal is becoming less and less affordable. As such, consumers demand an oven that will cook a meal in less time than conventional ovens, without sacrificing the quality of the prepared food. In order to meet these demands, manufacturers are combining conventional radiant cooking systems with the rapid cook advantages of convection, microwave, and other types of cooking systems.
Of course, when making a wide range of cooking options available to a consumer in a particular cooking appliance, the complexity of operation will certainly increase. To counteract this inherent situation, electronic control units are being made more sophisticated to aid a user in selecting desired operations. For instance, it has been heretofore proposed to provide a visual display which can convey programming and operational information to a user in alpha-numeric formats. With such an arrangement, the control unit can basically walk a user through a programming sequence and also convey a wide range of messages to the user. Given the level of technology employed in such advanced cooking systems, it is also possible for the user to customize, at least to a certain degree, the cooking appliance. For instance, it is possible to enable favorite recipes or cooking sequences to be saved in memory and reproduced when desired.
Regardless of the potential use of these advanced operation, programming and display functions, it must be kept in mind that cooking appliance has a relatively small amount of space available for a display and control elements. Certainly, the availability and consumer appeal of providing an abundance of information or control features can depend upon enhancing design features of the overall control system. For instance, the manner in which information is inputted and/or displayed to a user can have a significant effect on the overall consumer satisfaction and commercial viability of a cooking appliance, particularly a cooking appliance employing both conventional and rapid cook technologies.
Based on the above, there exists a need in the art for a versatile cooking appliance that is capable of providing a wide range of cooking operations, yet presents a compactly designed control arrangement that enables both the inputting and displaying of a wide range of alpha-numeric data for control and information purposes.
The present invention is directed to a cooking appliance including an electronic oven control system employing an alpha-numeric data entry and display arrangement. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the cooking appliance includes a display which incorporates a series of vertically spaced information display zones, with each of the zones being capable of displaying both alpha and numeric data to a user of the appliance. In addition, text and numeric data can be entered by the user through a ten-digit keypad provided on a control panel of the appliance. Each labeled numeric key (0–9) can be used to input a corresponding numeric data symbol, as well as additional text information.
More specifically, in accordance with the most preferred form of the invention, each of the number keys 2–9 can also be used to enter alpha text, while the number key 0 can be used to enter a space, and the number one key can provide a “−”. To enter text, the user will press the appropriate numeric key that has the desired letter assigned to it. Each time the user presses a particular key, the display on the control will cycle through each of the letters associated with that number key. After the desired letter or number is selected, the user will press an enter key. This will cause the control to increment to the next text position on the display. If no key is activated for a predetermined time period after a prior key selection, the control will automatically enter the desired character and increment to the next text position. A final enter key activation or a significant programming delay will signify that all the desired text has been inputted.
With this arrangement, a compact data entry and display arrangement can be employed in a cooking appliance to enable a user to easily operate and personally program the appliance. Again, the need for such an arrangement is considered to be particularly relevant in connection with a cooking appliance employing both conventional radiant and rapid cook technologies. These types of appliances are relatively new to the industry and consumers, while becoming increasingly complex. Therefore, the invention can make purchasing and operating such a cooking appliance less intimidating to the consumer. In any case, additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts in the several views.
With initial reference to
In a manner known in the art, a door assembly 14 is provided to selectively provide access to upper oven cavity 6. As shown, door assembly 14 includes a handle 15 at an upper portion 16 thereof. Door assembly 14 is adapted to pivot at a lower portion 18 to enable selective access to within oven cavity 6. In a manner also known in the art, door 14 is provided with a transparent zone or window 22 for viewing the contents of oven cavity 6 while door 14 is closed. A corresponding door assembly 24 including a handle 25 and a transparent zone or window 26 is provided to selectively access lower oven cavity 10.
As best seen in
Based on the above, in the preferred embodiment depicted, cooking appliance 2 actually constitutes an electric, dual wall oven. However, it is to be understood that cooking appliance 2 could equally operate on gas, either natural or propane. In any case, both oven cavities 6 and 10 preferably employ both radiant and convection heating techniques for cooking food items therein. To this end, rear wall 33 is shown to include a convection fan or blower 44. Although the exact position and construction of fan 44 can readily vary in accordance with the invention, in accordance with the most preferred form of the invention, fan 44 draws in air at a central intake zone (not separately labeled) and directs the air into oven cavity 6 in a radial outward direction. Also as clearly shown in this figure, another sheathed electric heating element 46, which preferably takes the general form of a ring, extends circumferentially about fan 44 in order to heat the radially expelled air flow. At this point, it should be noted that a fan cover, which has not been shown for the sake of clarity of the drawings, extends about fan 44 and heating element 46, preferably with the cover having an associated central inlet opening and a plurality of outer radial outlet openings.
As further shown in
In the preferred embodiment particularly shown in
To this end, display 62 is preferably divided into various sections. In accordance with the most preferred embodiment of the invention, an uppermost section of display 62 is sub-divided into three time display zones 140–142. More specifically, leftmost display zone 140 constitutes a first timer zone having an associated timer button 145. Central display zone 141 constitutes a clock for cooking appliance 2. Rightmost display zone 142 constitutes a second timer zone having an associated timer button 148. Spaced below time display zones 140–142 are a series of vertically spaced information display zones 151–155. Each of information display zones 151, 153 and 155 has associated left and right portions (not separately labeled). Each of the left and right portions have associated therewith laterally positioned selection buttons 160–165.
As shown, numeric pad 54 preferably enables alpha-numeric input. That is, in addition to presenting numbers 0–9, numeric pad 54 doubles as an input source for alpha information. To this end, the number 2 button functions for ABC letter entry; the number 3 button functions for DEF letter entry; the number 4 button functions for GHI letter entry; the number 5 button functions for JKL letter entry; the number 6 button functions for MNO letter entry; the number 7 button functions for PQRS letter entry; the number 8 button functions for TUV letter entry; and the number 9 button functions for WXYZ letter entry. The number 0 button can also be used to input a space. Furthermore, the number 1 button can be used to input a dash (−) between alpha or alpha-numeric characters. On either side of the number 0 button are Back and Enter buttons 175 and 176 which can be used in combination with the various alpha keys for information entry as will be detailed more fully below. Finally, provided adjacent numeric pad 54 are Help, Favorites and Setup buttons 180–182.
In general, control panel 50 is linked to a controller or CPU 200 formed as part of cooking appliance 2. Therefore, CPU 200 receives user inputs and selections through control panel 50, as well as signals from sensors associated with cooking appliance 2, i.e. oven temperature sensors for upper and lower ovens 4 and 8 as generally indicated at 210 and a fan speed sensor 215. In turn, CPU 200 controls bake element 40, top broiler element 42, convection fan 44 and convection heating element 46. The overall manner in which CPU 200 controls individual components of cooking appliance 2 does not form part of the present invention and therefore will not be discussed further here. Instead, the present invention is particularly directed to the programming and displaying of alpha-numeric data in cooking appliance 2.
As indicated above, each of the number keys 2–9 can also be used to enter alpha text, while the number key 0 can be used to enter a space, and the number one key can provide a “−”. To enter text, the user will press the appropriate key in numeric pad 54 that has the desired letter assigned to it. Each time the user presses a particular key (2–9), display 62 on control panel 50 will move within the cycle of letters associated with that number key. After the desired letter or number is selected, the user will press the enter key 176. This will cause CPU 200 to increment to the next text position on display 62, particularly one of information display zones 151, 153 or 155. If no key is activated for a predetermined time period after a prior key selection, with this time period being preferably in the order of 3 seconds in accordance with the preferred embodiment, CPU 200 will automatically enter the desired character and increment to the next text position. A final depression of enter key 176 or a significant programming delay will signify that all the desired text has been inputted.
With this arrangement, a compact data entry and display arrangement is employed to enable a user to operate and personally program cooking appliance 2. This data entry and display arrangement can be particularly advantageous in connection with inputting information concerning favorite recipes through the use of button 181, wherein cooking appliance 2 can receive cooking instructions from a user and store the same in memory 230 of CPU 200 for later access. In accordance with the invention, the user can designate a particular name, as well as time and temperature parameters, to a certain favorite recipe. The user can later select that specific set of cooking instructions by having the stored favorite recipes displayed through information display zones 151–155 and making a desired choice through selection buttons 160–165. In addition, it is contemplated that display 62 and numeric pad 54 can be used in accordance with the invention for inputting and displaying a host of information, including messages, instructional statements and other storage and retrieval data. In any case, it should be readily apparent that display 62 is designed to enable a rather large amount of alpha-numeric information to be conveyed to a user which is considered important in connection with the many available options for cooking appliance 2. In addition, the compact configuration and simplicity of operation of the user programmable alpha-numeric data for storage and display purposes in accordance with the invention further enhances the display capabilities and presents an attractive, overall cooking appliance 2 for the consumer.
Although described with reference to a preferred embodiment of the invention, it should be readily understood that various changes and/or modifications can be made to the invention without departing from the spirit thereof. In general, the invention is only intended to be limited by the scope of the following claims.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20040200824 A1 | Oct 2004 | US |