EP1434909B1 - Process-controlled household appliance with a text display - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a household appliance comprising a system which permits, during an operation, the supply of adjuvants to be dosed by a user. Said household appliance is also provided with a microcomputer and a text display (5), having a display field (18) for displaying the adjuvant quantity which is probably necessary for an operation. The aim of the invention is to give to a user an optimal adjuvant dosage recommendation for each individual operation, which relates not only to the quantity of adjuvant to use, but also to the choice of the appropriate adjuvant. Said aim is achieved, whereby the process control has an operating range, in which parameters of the operation can influence the choice of the adjuvant type, necessary for said operation. A display field (18) for displaying the adjuvant type, which is operationally connected to said process control, is also provided.

Description

The invention relates to a process-controlled domestic appliance with a device by which the working process additives can be supplied, the dosage must be made by an operator, with a microcomputer and a display display for texts, in which a display panel for displaying the expected in the work process Amount of additive is present, wherein the process control has a workspace through which parameters of the work process can influence the selection of required for the working process type of additive, and wherein a functionally connected to the process control display panel for the type of additive is present, which by a memory area the process control is responsive, are stored in the information about types, varieties, shapes, efficiencies and / or other to be considered in the work processes to be considered features of the additives.

Such a process-controlled domestic appliance is apparent from the DE 198 55 503 A1 ,

From the EP 0 844 326 A1 goes out a control system for the consumption of a household appliance, in particular a washing machine, which has a storage means in which coded information for use during operation of the household appliance are included. With such information, the control system calculates the consumption of an external resource, which is required for a desired operation of the household appliance. A display device is set up to indicate the consumption of the external resource.

From the DE 39 32 170 A1 is a process-controlled household appliance with a device by which the working process additives can be supplied, the dosage must be made by an operator, with a microcomputer and a display display for texts, in which a display panel for displaying the expected in the work process Additive amount is present.

The local display panel of a washing machine or dishwasher may, apart from other information not to be considered here in more detail, give by their display a predicted detergent dosage recommendation. This prognosis, however, is to be regarded as an average value with regard to the most diverse detergents available on the market, which the operator is rarely aware of. Consequently, most of the automatic washing or rinsing processes are operated with a faulty detergent or rinse aid. The customer will generally use a standard detergent, but must first learn to interpret the dosage recommendation; he is served with the indicated dosage recommendation not much better than with the information on the detergent or detergent packaging.

In contrast, it is important, however, to provide the process-optimal type and amount of the treatment agent to the working process for each of many different treatment programs and loading quantities, which does not correspond either to the information on the packaging of such treatment agents or to an indication of the predicted amount of detergent DE 39 32 170 A1 is possible.

The invention is therefore based on the object in a household appliance means that the operator is displayed for each individual working process optimal dosage recommendation of additives, which not only affects the amount of additive to be used but also the selection of the appropriate additive.

According to the invention, this object is achieved in that in a process-controlled domestic appliance of the type described above, the process control contains an input area which is suitable for inputting at least one of the features of the additive.

In the application of the measures according to the invention can be discussed much better than before on differences between the individual work processes by a differentiated selection of additives. As a result, the treatment success is improved and the objects to be treated are processed in a type-specific and condition-optimized manner. The customer becomes more satisfied by the noticeably better treatment results and the binding to a specific admixture for a particular work process is narrowed by the repeated reference to the type of admixture in the advertisement.

Particularly advantageous is a further embodiment of the invention, in which the process control includes a link that assigns certain working processes each appropriate types and / or varieties of additives from the storage area and calling up such processes these features of the additives or parts thereof and the required amount of Additive displays. Such features may be, for example, brand names and / or type names of additives, for detergents such as "mild detergent", "color detergent", "heavy duty detergent" or "Persil", "Ariel", "Omo" etc., which are familiar to the operator can help build a personal relationship.

Conveniently, according to the invention, the process controller includes an input area suitable for inputting at least one of the features of the additive. For this purpose, both a separate or switchable, existing keyboard, a smart card reader issued by the detergent manufacturer chip cards or a scanning device through which a barcode packaging of the additive can be read. For home-enabled household appliances, a download function for additive data is also conceivable.

The additional indication of one of the features in the dosing recommendation may be the name of the additive. It may also relate to the form of the additive.

For the dosing recommendation, the link should take into account relevant variables of a requested work process for the amount of additive required. These are, in particular, the amount of material to be treated, which can be determined either manually or by an automatic detection device, and optionally manual operating temperatures or water level changes set by the standard work processes. As a result, the optimization is adaptable to all individual modifications of existing in the process control work processes.

Of particular advantage is also a development of the invention, in which the variable contains a statement about a particular state of the objects to be processed in the household appliance. Such a condition may be the degree of soiling of articles to be cleaned, which may be manually adjusted or detected by an automatic detection device, or the internal nature of articles to be heat treated, this being only a few examples.

Of particular advantage is the application of the invention and its embodiments in a household appliance, which is a washing machine, in which the additive is a detergent and the items laundry items. Here, the optimization of the detergent dosage can lead to a great advance in the results of the type- and condition-dependent treatment of laundry items.

There, the types of detergents may have specific application goals, the varieties specific manufacturers, the forms specific dosage conditions (powder, liquid or tablets) and the effectiveness of certain formulations. Application goals are a wide variety of treatment programs that are set up for each specific item of laundry (white, colored, wool, fine laundry, etc.) and whose parameters are also partially variable.

For these features of the additive corresponding memory areas may be provided, which are read out for the purpose of calculating the dosage recommendation from the memory and can also be updated in this memory. The latter can be done by manual input, by scanning of information labels (eg barcode labels on packaging), by reading a memory chip card in a card reader which is installed in the household appliance or can be temporarily connected to it, or by connection to a service point via a data network, eg via the Internet, be transferred to the process control.

Fig. 1

die Frontansicht eines Bedienungsfeldes für eine Waschmaschine mit einem Text-Anzeigefeld,

Fig. 2 bis 6

mehrere vergrößert dargestellte, unterschiedliche Beispiele für eine durch das Anzeigefeld gegebene Dosierempfehlung.

Reference to exemplary embodiments illustrated in the drawing, the invention is explained below. Show it

Fig. 1

the front view of a control panel for a washing machine with a text display field,

Fig. 2 to 6

several enlarged illustrated, different examples of a given by the display metering recommendation.

On one side of the control panel 1 of a washing machine usually the handle plate 2 is arranged a detergent drawer, which has no significance for the invention. The control panel 1 has two buttons 3 and 4 for the electrical connection of the washing machine to the mains "On" and for the commissioning of the selected work process "Start". The display panel 5 is flanked on the right and left by one column each of keys 6 to 9 and 10 to 13. In the display screen 5 itself are several fields with different formats for displaying a standard work process (box 14 with eg "Colorful 40 ° C", field 15 with eg "Abbruch", field 16 with eg "loading max 6 kg", field 17 with a bar graph for the currently introduced quantity (in% values of the maximum possible quantity) of goods to be treated and field 18 with, for example, "detergent dosage: 60%." Fields 14 and 15 in the display state shown are the adjacent buttons 6 and 10. In other display statuses not shown here, the other fields (partly divided differently) may also be assigned to adjacent keys.

The simple display "detergent dosage 60%" corresponds approximately to what the state of the art already offers today. In a development of the prior art, the invention now proposes what will be explained below.

This in Fig. 2 The display shown here recommends the use of a mild detergent and a dosage of 60% for the "Fine 40 ° C" fine wash at 40 ° C washing temperature and a maximum load of 2 kg (box 16) in box 14 (box 18, relative to the maximum capacity of the appropriate detergent chamber, not shown). In addition, the display bar 19 in box 17 indicates in an analogous manner a current loading amount of the laundry introduced into the washing machine of slightly more than 60% (of a maximum of 2 kg).

The field 14 in Fig. 3 shows a working process "Bunt 40 ° C" = color washing with 40 ° C wash temperature. At current loading of around 60% of a maximum of 6 kg (about 3.5 kg) of dry laundry, in box 18 it is recommended to use 2 Persil Tabs (tablets). This can be done because it has been documented by an earlier suitable input to the process control that Persil wash tablets are used in the relevant household. By pressing the button 13, the operator - for example, in the event that in the household currently no Persil tabs are available - choose a different detergent recommendation, eg "color detergent" as in Fig. 6 , The dosing recommendation here is called "Persil Tabs": 2 pieces or "color detergent": 70%.

For a field in accordance with box 14 in Fig. 4 selected working process "Colorful 60 ° C" is - if such a detergent type and type was entered - because of the higher efficiency despite higher washing temperature (60 ° C) than in Fig. 3 or 6 of the type of detergent "Persil Megaperls" recommended only 50% dosage, although the indicator bar 19 indicates that about 70% of a maximum of 6 kg of laundry - ie slightly more than 4 kg - are charged. These differences are stored in the memory area for all types and types of detergents stored, so that the detergent calculator can direct differentiated recommendations into the display.

In a selected working process "White 75 ° C" for the treatment of white laundry at a washing temperature of 75 ° C according to Fig. 5 On the part of the detergent calculator the use of "heavy-duty detergent" can be recommended in good conscience. This recommendation is displayed if there are no specific entries for specific types of laundry in the storage area. However, if detergent types and types for the class "heavy-duty detergents" are stored in the storage area, then the computer offers a most frequently selected variety, eg Vizir (a liquid heavy-duty detergent), calculates the required dosage from the properties stored for this purpose and forwards this recommendation to the Display device on. Since almost 90% of the maximum load (over 5 kg) has been detected and a relatively high washing temperature has been chosen for heavily scrubbed laundry, the dosage recommendation of 80% is already higher than in the other examples.

In the example according to Fig. 6 the dosing recommendation for the choice of "color detergent" for coloreds with 40 ° C wash temperature with 70% for the recognized load according to bar 19 is appropriate.

Claims (11)

1. Process-controlled domestic appliance with equipment by which there can be added to the operating process additives of which the dosing has to be undertaken by a user, with a microcomputer and with an indicating display (5) for texts, in which an indicating field (18) for indication of the additive quantity expected to be required in the operating process is also present, wherein the process control comprises a working region by which parameters of the operating process can influence the selection of the form of additive required in the operating process, and wherein an indicating field (18), which is operatively connected with the process control and which is addressable by a memory region of the process control in which data about types, categories, forms, efficacies and/or further features - which are to be taken into consideration in the operating processes to be controlled - of the additives are stored, for the form of additive is present, characterised in that the process control contains an input region suitable for input of at least one of the features of the additive.
2. Domestic appliance according to claim 1, characterised in that the process control contains a link which associates specific operating processes with respectively matching kinds and/or categories of additives from the memory region and on calling up of such operating processes causes indication of these features of the additives or parts thereof as well as the required quantity of the additives.
3. Domestic appliance according to claim 1, characterised in that the input region includes a keyboard (6 to 13).
4. Domestic appliance according to claim 1, characterised in that the input region includes a scanning device by which a barcode on packaging for the additive can be read in.
5. Domestic appliance according to claim 1, which is equipped with a device for connection with an external data network, characterised in that the input region is equipped for a download function for additive data.
6. Domestic appliance according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that one of the features is the name of the additive.
7. Domestic appliance according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that one of the features concerns the form of the additive.
8. Domestic appliance according to claim 2, characterised in that the link takes into consideration variables, which are relevant for the quantity of the required additive, of a called-up operating process.
9. Domestic appliance according to claim 8, characterised in that the variable contains a statement about a specific state of the articles to be processed in the domestic appliance.
10. Domestic appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the domestic appliance is a washing machine, the additive is a washing agent and the articles are items of laundry.
11. Domestic appliance according to claim 10, characterised in that the kinds of washing agent concern specific use objectives, the categories concern specific manufacturers, the forms concern specific administration states (powder, liquid or tablets) and the efficacy concerns specific recipes.

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