Patent Application
20140201688
The present technology relates to a user interface for a domestic appliance, e.g., an oven. More particularly, the present technology relates to gestural inputs to the user interface.
Commonly, modern domestic appliances include some form of user interface by which to input operational parameters by which the user would like the appliance to operate. The user interface will comprise some type of display such as an alphanumeric display similar to the display taught by Lapeyre et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,872,463 or Hedin, U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,245. Alternatively, the appliance may include a more advanced display capable of showing complex images, such as an LCD display having a large number of pixels, similar to a common flat screen television.
The user interface will also include one or more user input components. These user input components may be one or a combination of mechanical knobs, buttons, switches that receive the user's input. There may also be touch input elements such as resistive or capacitive touch elements that receive the user's input. The touch elements may also be incorporated into the display to create a touch screen system.
The operation of the display and user input component, along with the operation of the domestic appliance is coordinated by a controller. The controller is programmed with inputs received by the user input component. The controller also instructs the display to display various screens or parameters in accordance with user inputs and/or the status of the appliance.
In the case of an appliance with a more complex user interface which displays a variety of screens, there may be certain screens that the user desires to reach expeditiously or the user may seek to bring up a particular screen by a more intuitive input. Simple button presses may not be practical because a particular screen may be displaying a large quantity of information such that the addition of further buttons would crowd the screen and confuse the user.
Thus, presently known domestic appliance user interfaces may present a difficulty to the user in that the user may not be able to reach certain screens simply and quickly.
One aspect of the present technology is to provide a method for controlling a user interface of a domestic appliance that overcomes one or more shortcomings of the prior art.
Another aspect of the present technology is directed to a method for controlling a domestic appliance that treats contents, said domestic appliance having a display, a controller, and at least one user input component. The method comprises displaying a first screen on the display, detecting user input to the at least one user input component; correlating the user input to a gesture type with the controller, determining the gesture type from among a plurality of gesture types with the controller, and displaying a second screen on the display according to at least the gesture type, wherein said second screen is different from said first screen.
In examples, (a) the method may include determining whether at least one treatment parameter has been programmed to the controller, wherein the gesture type comprises an upward swipe or a downward swipe, wherein the second screen comprises one of a treatment mode info screen, a timer info screen, and a set timer screen, and wherein the at least one treatment parameter comprises at least one of a treatment mode, a timer selection, and a treatment time, (b) when the timer selection and the treatment time have been programmed to the controller and the gesture type is the downward swipe, the second screen may be the timer info screen that displays the timer selection and the treatment time, (c) when the timer selection and the treatment time have not been programmed to the controller and the gesture type is the downward swipe, the second screen may be the set timer screen, (d) when the treatment mode has been programmed to the controller and the gesture type is the upward swipe, the second screen may be the treatment mode info screen displaying information about the programmed treatment mode, (e) when the treatment mode has not been programmed to the controller and the gesture type is the upward swipe, the second screen may be the treatment mode info screen displaying information about a plurality of treatment modes, (f) the first screen includes a first plurality of treatment modes and the second screen includes a second plurality of treatment modes, wherein the treatment parameter may be a treatment mode of one of the pluralities of treatment modes, and wherein the gesture type may be a leftward swipe or a rightward swipe, (g) timing the period of time the second screen is displayed on the display with a timer and displaying the first screen on the display after a predetermined period of time, and/or (h) detecting the user input to the at least one user input component associated with the treatment mode of one of the pluralities of treatment modes and programming the treatment mode to the controller.
Another aspect of the present technology is directed to a domestic appliance that treats contents. The appliance includes a display configured to display a first screen and a second screen, said first screen and said second screen being different, at least one user input component programmed to detect user input, and a controller programmed to correlate the user input to a gesture type, to determine the gesture type from among a plurality of gesture types, and to instruct the display to display the second screen according to at least the gesture type.
In examples, (a) the controller is programmed to determine whether a treatment parameter has been programmed to the controller, wherein the gesture type comprises an upward swipe or a downward swipe, wherein the second screen comprises one of a treatment mode info screen, a timer info screen, and a set timer screen, and wherein the treatment parameter comprises at least one of a treatment mode, a timer selection, and a treatment time, (b) when the timer selection and the treatment time have been programmed to the controller and the gesture type is the downward swipe, the second screen may be a timer info screen that displays the timer selection and the treatment time, (c) when the timer selection and the treatment time have not been programmed to the controller and the gesture type is the downward swipe, the second screen may be the set timer screen, (d) when the treatment mode has been programmed to the controller and the gesture type is the upward swipe, the second screen may be the treatment mode info screen displaying information about the programmed treatment mode, (e) when the treatment mode has not been programmed to the controller and the gesture type is the upward swipe, the second screen may be the treatment mode info screen displaying information about a plurality of treatment modes, (f) a timer programmed to time the period of time the second screen may be displayed on the display and the display may be configured to display the first screen after a predetermined period of time, and/or (g) the first screen may include a first plurality of treatment modes and the second screen may include a second plurality of treatment modes, wherein the treatment parameter may be a treatment mode of one of the pluralities of treatment modes, and wherein the gesture type may be a leftward swipe or a rightward swipe.
Another aspect of the present technology is directed to a method for controlling a domestic appliance that treats contents, said domestic appliance having a display, a controller, and at least one user input component. The method includes displaying one of a first screen, a second screen, and a third screen on the display, detecting user input to the at least one user input component, correlating the user input to a gesture type with the controller, determining the gesture type from among a plurality of gesture types with the controller, and displaying one of the first screen, the second screen, and the third screen according the gesture type, wherein each of the first screen, the second screen, and the third screen includes a different plurality of treatment modes.
In examples, (a) the gesture type may be one of a leftward swipe and a rightward swipe, (b) when the first screen is displayed and the gesture type is the rightward swipe the first screen may continue to be displayed, (c) when the first screen is displayed and the gesture type is the leftward swipe, the second screen may be displayed, (d) when the second screen is displayed and the gesture type is the rightward swipe, the first screen may be displayed, (e) when the second screen is displayed and the gesture type is the leftward swipe, the third screen may be displayed, (f) when the third screen is displayed and the gesture type is the rightward swipe, the second screen may be displayed, and/or (g) when the third screen is displayed and the gesture type is the leftward swipe, the third screen may continue to be displayed.
Other aspects, features, and advantages of this technology will become apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are a part of this disclosure and which illustrate, by way of example, principles of this technology.
The accompanying drawings facilitate an understanding of the various examples of the present technology. In such drawings:
The following description is provided in relation to several examples which may share common characteristics and features. It is to be understood that one or more features of any one example may be combinable with one or more features of the other examples. In addition, any single feature or combination of features in any of the examples may constitute additional examples.
The treatment element(s) 510 may be included to facilitate the treatment of contents by the domestic appliance 100. For example, the domestic appliance 100 may also include a chamber that holds the contents and a door to enclose the contents in the domestic appliance 100 and such domestic appliance may be an oven, a dishwasher, a washing machine, a drier, a microwave oven, a coffee maker, a refrigerator, and/or a freezer, etc. Thus, the contents may be food, consumable liquids, crockery, dishes, stoneware, flatware, bakeware, and/or clothing, etc. It is also contemplated that the domestic appliance may not necessarily include a chamber for treating the contents or items and in such a case the domestic appliance may be a vacuum cleaner, a blender, and an iron, etc. Treatment by the domestic appliance is contemplated to comprise cooking, baking, heating, steaming, sanitizing, dis-infecting, cooling, freezing, cleaning, washing, vacuuming, and/or blending, etc. The treatment element 510, in the example where the appliance 100 is an oven and the contents are food, is at least one heating element that may include an electric resistance heating element or a gas burner. A fan may also comprise the treatment element 510 in the case of a convection oven that performs convection heating of the food. Other treatment elements, as commonly known in the art, may also comprise the treatment element.
The processing system 500 may also communicate with the additional components of the domestic appliance, e.g., timer 502 and treatment element 510. It should also be noted that the timer 502 may be comprised within the processing system 500, rather than as a separate component.
Certain examples herein are described in terms of sequences of actions that can be performed by, for example, elements of a programmable computer system. It will be recognized that various actions could be performed by specialized circuits (e.g., discrete logic gates interconnected to perform a specialized function or application-specific integrated circuits), by program instructions executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both.
If the controller 500 determines that a downward swipe has been inputted by the user, the controller 500 may then determine whether a timer 502 of the domestic appliance 100 has been programmed. This function is exemplified by step 1008. If the controller 500 determines that the timer 502 of the domestic appliance 100 has been programmed, then the display 300 may display a timer info screen which shows the timer parameters as programmed and in which the parameters can be changed. This function is exemplified by step 1012. If no further inputs are detected by the user input component 400 (i.e., a period of inactivity) after a period of time, the display 300 may display the first screen. This function is exemplified by step 1020.
If the controller 500 determines that the timer 502 of the domestic appliance has not been programmed, then the display 300 may display a set timer screen. This function is exemplified by step 1010. If no further inputs are detected by the user input component 400 (i.e., a period of inactivity) after a period of time, the display 300 may display the first screen. This function is exemplified by step 1020.
At step 1010, the user may also be presented with the option to program the timer 502 by the set timer screen, rather than letting the screen lapse and return the display 300 to the first screen.
At step 1006, the controller 500 may also determine that an upward swipe has been inputted from among a plurality of gesture types. If so, the controller 500 may then determine whether a treatment mode has been programmed. This function is exemplified in step 1014. If the controller 500 determines that a treatment mode has been programmed, then the display 300 may display an info mode screen associated with the programmed treatment mode. This function is exemplified in step 1018. If no further inputs are detected by the user input component 400 (i.e., a period of inactivity) after a period of time, the display 300 may display the first screen. This function is exemplified by step 1020.
If the controller 500 determines that the treatment mode has not been programmed, then the display 300 may display an info mode for a plurality of treatment modes. This function is exemplified by step 1016. If no further inputs are detected by the user input component 400 (i.e., a period of inactivity) after a period of time, the display 300 may display the first screen. This function is exemplified by step 1020.
At step 1016, the user may also be presented with the option to program the treatment mode by the treatment mode info screen and/or may have the display 300 display further information about any of the plurality of treatment modes, rather than letting the screen lapse and return the display 300 to the first screen.
Depending on which screen is initially displayed and the gesture type detected, the display 300 may display a subsequent screen accordingly. If the first screen is displayed and the gesture type is the rightward swipe, then the first screen will continue to be displayed, as exemplified by step 4022. If the first screen is displayed and the gesture type is the leftward swipe, then second screen will be subsequently displayed, as exemplified by step 4024. If the second screen is displayed and the gesture type is the leftward swipe, then the third screen may be subsequently displayed, as exemplified by step 4016. If the second screen is displayed and the gesture type is the rightward swipe, then the first screen may be subsequently displayed, as exemplified by step 4018. If the third screen is displayed and the gesture type is the rightward swipe, then second screen may subsequently be displayed, as exemplified by step 4010. If the third screen is displayed and the gesture type is the leftward swipe, then the third screen may continue to be displayed, as exemplified by step 4012.
The gestures described thus far are not intended to be the only types of gestures capable of controlling the domestic appliance. It is also contemplated that a variety of other gestures could be detected to control the appliance, e.g., gestures taking the form of one or more alphanumeric characters or symbols, etc. Furthermore, gestures may be complex and include a number of swipes in a number of directions to affect a single control step. Providing more complex gestures such as characters, symbols, or multiple swipes may allow the user to control a variety of functions while allowing the domestic appliance to effectively differentiate the gestures to correctly perform the function desired by the user and/or technician.
While the present technology has been described in connection with what are presently considered to be the most practical and preferred examples, it is to be understood that the technology is not to be limited to the disclosed examples, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the technology.
