EP2615376B1 - Cooking hob and method for operating a cooking hob - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a method for operating a hob, wherein operating conditions are set by a user. Furthermore, the invention relates to a hob.

Hobs are set by a user by operating controls in their operating conditions. Here are a variety of different controls known. Thus, there are rotary and / or push switch, touch-sensitive controls, etc. It is therefore more or less space of the hob required to accommodate one or more such controls and positionally install. As a result, other space is limited and, where appropriate, the attachment of controls can be done only at one point of the hob, where the accessibility is the user-friendly operation is limited.

Not least, situations are created by relatively large and sublime protruding controls in which a user can bump into it or is pushed by another object against the control, causing it to be damaged or destroyed.

In all versions it is necessary that the user directly touches or touches this control element, in order then to be able to produce a corresponding setting. Especially in the case of cooktops with controls that can be operated via the cooktop panel, there is also an obstacle to the users, which is the subjective feeling of having to touch a potentially hot zone.

The CH 700 524 A1 discloses a household appliance with non-contact gesture operation. The DE 103 61 341 A1 discloses a device for operating a hob.

The DE 20 2009 003 894 U1 discloses a household appliance.

The US 2005/0105759 A1 discloses a gesture activated home appliance.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a hob as well as a method for operating such a hob, with which a space-saving and user-friendly operation is realized.

This object is achieved by a hob and a method according to the independent claims.

The invention relates to a hob, which has at least two gesture recognizers, with which gestures of a user for setting operating conditions can be seen.
The respective gesture recognizer may, in particular, have at least one near field detection sensor and / or one infrared sensor and / or one sensitive camera and / or one motion detection sensor, at least in the spectral range visible to humans.

A first gesture recognizer is arranged to select a first cooking zone at a distance greater than a length of one hand to another gesture recognizer for selecting a second cooking zone on the hob. As a result, operating errors can be avoided, since in particular the hand is only in the detection range of a gesture recognizer or can be.

In a method according to the invention for operating the hob according to the invention, operating conditions of the hob are set by a user. The operating conditions are adjusted by gestures of the user. Such a procedure allows a very fast and user-friendly operation. It is no longer absolutely necessary that several control elements are physically present, which then have to be grasped or touched by a user in order then to be able to achieve desired settings. Through such a contactless gesture control processes can also be carried out very quickly. There are no disturbing physical elements in the way, where triggered can be and which also need to be cleaned. It is a barrier-free operation possible.

By avoiding touching the hob to set operating conditions, this can not be contaminated by fingerprints or the like. This cleaning effort is then eliminated.

Especially with a hob can be avoided by the non-contact gesture control that an optionally too warm zone of a control panel must be touched or a user must first lose the inhibition that he must touch a subjectively perceived warm or hot surface to adjust operating conditions can.

In addition, it can be avoided that overflowing food to be cooked, for example, liquids, which then also impinges on the electronics in the area of the control panel, no error condition is more output, since there is basically no such configuration of the operating device.

Further advantages of such a gesture control can be seen in the fact that learned gestures can flow into an intuitive operating procedure and it is therefore even easier for the user to smoothly merge his operating sequences and his other motion scenarios into one another. The processes are thus very structured and intuitively carried out consecutively. The orientation for a user is also simpler and more effective.

It is preferably provided that the setting is performed by gestures after the start of a gesture recognition mode. Such a procedure avoids unwanted settings or misadjustments. Thus, not every movement of the user is understood as a gesture for setting an operating condition, but only when the gesture recognition mode is activated, the gestures are detected and evaluated in view of an operating condition setting. It is preferably provided that the starting of the gesture recognition mode is effected by actuating a control element and / or by performing a defined start gesture. In this context, a very quick and secure activation of the gesture recognition mode can be carried out by a simple and easily accessible positioned control element in the immediate vicinity of the user's area of residence when it handles the hob. Optionally, the widest possible operating element can also be created here, so that activation of the gesture recognition mode alone can be effected quickly and reliably without the user having to specifically look in the direction of the operating element in order to hit it. Even more advantageous is the start of the gesture recognition mode by a defined start gesture. This can be an otherwise unusual when operating the hob or when handling other components in the vicinity or in the field of the hob, so that here, too, no unwanted start scenarios of the gesture recognition mode are caused. Such start gestures may be a movement and / or posture of a specific limb of a human.

It is preferably provided that a gesture is detected as a function of the position and / or orientation of a user's hand relative to a functional sub-unit of the hob to be selected and / or adjusted. In this context, a variety of movement patterns and movements or even fixed orientations of a hand or a finger settings can be made just with a hand and / or fingers on the hand. Since just the hand for this diverse and easy for a user feasible layers, positions and / or orientations allows, this is of particular advantage.

In this context, configurations of a flat outstretched hand or a hand with slightly curved fingers and a hand clenched into a fist can be made corresponding positions, positions, orientations. The same can also be done with at least one finger of one hand. The hand can be held vertically or horizontally, it can be held or oriented in a specific angle in different spatial directions. It can also be moved rectilinearly in certain directions, or rotated and at the same time, if necessary, the hand then be moved in a different direction in space straight or curved in an arcuate path. All these possibilities of movement and fixed positions of one hand allow a variety of gesture scenarios in order to be able to select and set different operating conditions. Preferably, it can also be provided that specific gestures are predetermined by the hob, which a user must perform in order to be able to achieve operating condition settings associated with these gestures.

In an advantageous manner, however, it can also be provided that a definition mode is provided in which a user can perform individual gestures, which he can then individually assign to individual operating condition settings. Thus, a very user-specific and the own wishes corresponding flow scenario with regard to the gestures to be performed and the associated operating condition settings can be created. There may be a learning mode in which the user performs his individual gestures, which are then detected and detected by the hob. The user may then associate one or more operating condition settings with that individual gesture. If such a scenario is sufficiently recognized, it can be stored and remains accordingly for further operation.

By means of such an embodiment, very individual operating scenarios can also be created, so that a certain user-specific security and accessibility for the operation of the hob is ensured. This can prevent unwanted or unauthorized operation of a hob by an unauthorized user.

It is preferably provided that a gesture is recognized when a user's hand intended for adjustment is positioned directly above a functional subunit of the cooktop and then a movement and / or orientation of the hand or at least one finger of the hand is performed. By such a positional assignment, where the hand must be or where it must move to select and set one of several existing functional units of a cooking hob, here also a very user-friendly and intuitive traceable gesture control is performed. In addition, the user is thus immediately in the field of vision, whether he makes the correct settings or correctly recognized by the gestures operating conditions settings.

For example, in this context, in a cooktop with multiple cooking zones, the selection of one of the cooking zones can be done so that a hand is held directly above this cooking zone in particular at a defined distance, so that the selection of the cooking zone is detected. It may then be provided in this context that the recognition of this gesture-controlled selection is visually displayed to the user by, for example, displaying an optical signal on the hob. Preferably, it can be provided here that a boundary or border defining the extent of the cooking zone is illuminated at least in sections, so that it is quickly and clearly recognizable to a user whether the cooking zone provided for selection was then unambiguously recognized and selected by the gesture control.

It can also be provided that, for setting an operating condition, at least both hands are moved simultaneously or one after the other and / or are oriented specifically. The security aspect is thus more accounted for.

It can be provided that, for the correct recognition of a setting of an operating condition, at least one hand must be brought into a specific position and / or a specific orientation within a time-definable setting interval. If this is not done within this setting interval, the gesture control will be aborted or no operating condition setting will be performed, in which case the device will presume that the gesture was not performed to set the operating condition.

Even so, a corresponding safety aspect regarding unwanted gesture recognition can be achieved.

It is preferably provided that a cooking zone is selected by holding a hand above the cooking zone at a specific distance and / or for a specific duration. As a result, a very fast, user-friendly and little space-requiring gesture control with respect to the cooking zone selection is achieved. Thus, in this context, the cooking zone can be selected by one hand, and with the other hand already taken the preparation vessel and then placed immediately on the cooking zone. Very fast processes can therefore be carried out, but still very coordinated and in the right order.

Preferably, each cooking stage is assigned an acoustic tone with a specific frequency and in the setting of the cooking stage, the sound is generated and / or the setting of a cooking stage visually displayed. This creates a very simple and easily comprehensible for the user control option for a correct setting.

A specific cooking zone can be switched off either by making a specific movement of the hand, for example a horizontal movement of an extended flat hand. Likewise, however, it may also be provided, for example, that with a single outstretched finger, for example the thumb, the latter is then oriented downwards, so that the associated deactivation of this cooking zone is recognized by the gesture control. Another scenario could be to the effect that again the number of fingers is raised, which cooking zone is to be deactivated and then these fingers are curved starting from the extended position, so that the intentional turn-off is detected gesture-controlled and can take place here.

The above-mentioned sequences with regard to the gesture control are merely exemplary. As already mentioned, there are a large number of scenarios, which can be represented with regard to position, orientation and movement, precisely by the hand and the fingers, in order to be able to select and set functional subunits and parameter values thereof.

It is preferably provided that at least some of the operating conditions that are set by gestures can also be adjusted by touching a touch-sensitive control panel of the hob. Such a redundancy offers the user a variety of operating options which allow a very fast and precise operation depending on the specific cooking situation. In addition, the redundancy also makes it possible to set when an operating variant fails or is not feasible.

It can also be provided here that a cooking stage, by holding up a finger of a hand or moving the hand horizontally in a specific first direction, causes an increase in the cooking level and holding down a finger of a hand or the horizontal movement of the hand into a specific, in particular the first direction opposite, second direction causes a lowering of the cooking stage.

Preferably, the hob has at least one display unit on which an adjustment associated with a gesture is optically displayed. This makes it easy and intuitive for the user to understand which settings were made with the gesture, whether they were performed at all and whether they are correct.

Fig. 1

eine perspektivische Darstellung eines Ausführungsbeispiels eines erfindungsgemäßen Kochfelds;

Fig. 2

einen Teilausschnitt des Kochfelds gemäß Fig. 1 in einem ersten Bedienzustand;

Fig. 3

eine Draufsicht auf den Ausschnitt gemäß Fig. 2 in einem zweiten Bedienzustand;

Fig. 4

einen Ausschnitt auf den Ausschnitt gemäß Fig. 2 in einem dritten Bedienzustand; und

Fig. 5

einen Ausschnitt gemäß Fig. 2 in einem vierten Bedienzustand.

An embodiment of the invention will be explained in more detail with reference to schematic drawings. Show it:

Fig. 1

a perspective view of an embodiment of a hob according to the invention;

Fig. 2

a partial section of the hob according to Fig. 1 in a first operating state;

Fig. 3

a plan view of the neckline according to Fig. 2 in a second operating state;

Fig. 4

a section on the neckline according to Fig. 2 in a third operating state; and

Fig. 5

a section according to Fig. 2 in a fourth operating state.

In the figures, identical or functionally identical elements are provided with the same reference numerals.

In Fig. 1 a hob 1 is shown. The hob 1 comprises in the embodiment four cooking zones 2, 3, 4 and 5, which are designed angularly with respect to their surface dimensions and limited by area boundaries 6 and 7, which represent two mutually perpendicular boundary lines. Each of the cooking zones 2 to 5 can be operated in different cooking stages. The cooktop 1 comprises a control unit 8 which is shown only by way of example in position and size and which is used to control heating units assigned to the respective cooking zones 2 to 5, which in FIG Fig. 1 are not shown, is formed.

The hob 1 further comprises a single, arranged at a lower end on-off switch 9, which is provided for direct manual operation by a user. This switch 9 may be a touch-sensitive control panel, but may also be a push switch or the like.

The hob 1 also includes in the embodiment more gesture recognizers 10, 11, 12 and 13. The gesture recognizer 10 is the cooking zone 2, the gesture recognizer 11 of the cooking zone 3 of the gesture recognizer 12 of the cooking zone 4 and the gesture recognizer 13 associated with the cooking zone 5. This is functionally and positionally designed accordingly. A gesture recognizer 10 to 13 may have at least one near field detection sensor and / or at least one infrared sensor or at least one camera sensitive to the human spectral range and / or one motion detection sensor. The yesterday recognizers 10 to 13 are preferably each at a distance from each other, which is larger than the length of a hand with outstretched fingers.

The control of the operating condition settings of the cooking zones 2 to 5 and the cooking stages is given in the hob 1 exclusively by gestures and thus by non-contact implementation. But it can also be provided that in addition a touch-sensitive control panel is formed, with which at least some of the operating conditions of the hob 1, which can be adjusted by gestures, can also be selected and adjusted by touching the control panel.

Each cooking zone 2 to 5 is also associated with an individual display unit 14, 15, 16 and 17, which are arranged adjacent to the gesture recognizer 10 to 13 in the embodiment.

In the display units 14 to 17, for example, parameter values of the respectively operated cooking zone 2 to 5 are displayed to a user.

In addition, it is provided that in or below a cooking plate 18 of the hob, which may be glass or glass ceramic, light sources and / or light guides are arranged, by means of which the lines 6 and 7 are individually illuminated.

Depending on which of the cooking zones 2 to 5 is selected, then the respective section of the lines of the boundaries 6 and 7, which then delimit this selected cooking zone 2 to 5, is illuminated with a specific color, so that it is easy for a user to recognize which of the cooking zones 2 to 5 is selected and active.

In the following, an exemplary scenario for selecting the cooking zone 3 will be explained. This is in Fig. 2 an enlarged partial section of the hob 1 according to Fig. 1 shown. First, the hob 1 is turned on, and thereby pressed by a user with a hand 20 and a finger 21 of the switch 9. In the following, as shown in Fig. 3 a preparation vessel 22 are placed on the cooking zone 3. In order then to select the cooking zone 3, the hand 20, which is then extended flat and horizontally oriented, at a certain defined distance, which may be preferably between 3 cm and 20 cm, above the cooking zone 3 and in particular over the Gesture recognizer 11 held this hand, especially for a predetermined period of time, which may be, for example, less than 3 seconds. By means of the gesture recognizer 11, this gesture is then recognized and the desire of the user to activate the cooking zone 3 is detected. In order to make this clear to the user as well, a part of the boundary 6 and a part of the boundary 7 which delimit the cooking zone 3 are then illuminated, for example illuminated red. The correct selection of the cooking zone 3 is thus displayed to the user.

In order subsequently to set the cooking level of this selected cooking zone 3, as shown in FIG Fig. 5 the second hand, hereinafter also provided with the reference numeral 20, also guided in the horizontal extended state via a scale region 23 which is arranged at the front end of the hob 1 and is also designed for gesture detection. Again, in a distance interval, as mentioned above, the hand is guided from left to right on the strip-shaped scale, so that it is recognized how the cooking level is to be selected and set. If the hand 20 is then stopped, the desired cooking level value is also detected and set. In the embodiment, it can be seen that the cooking level is set to "7" according to the display in the display unit 15.

It can also be provided that the cooking level is also selected by a gesture in which the other hand 20 is held directly at the position above the scale area 23 at which the desired cooking level value is located. It can also be provided that no horizontal movement of a hand is required for setting the cooking level, but the respective cooking level is set as a function of a vertical distance to a cooking position setting device.

In all versions, it can be provided that the cooking stage setting is displayed acoustically. Thus, depending on the cooking level, a specific sound with a specific frequency can be generated, so that the cooking level value can also be recognized very easily by the user, without the user having to recognize or have to look this up through his eyes on a display area.

The preparation is then carried out on the cooking zone 3 with the cooking level set.

Adjustments to the setting, selection of further cooking zones, deactivation of the cooking zone 3 and the like are likewise carried out by gesture control, using exemplary scenarios as explained above. However, these are not to be understood as exhaustive or restrictive. But the gesture control can be done based on a variety of different orientations, positions and movement patterns of a hand and / or a finger of a hand. The combination of positions, orientations and movements of two hands at the same time or at least temporarily offset from one another can also be used as the basis for operating condition settings.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

hob

2

cooking zone

3

cooking zone

4

cooking zone

5

cooking zone

6

area boundary

7

area boundary

8th

control unit

9

switch

10

gesture recognizer

11

gesture recognizer

12

gesture recognizer

13

gesture recognizer

14

display unit

15

display unit

16

display unit

17

display unit

18

Hotplate

20

hand

21

finger

22

preparation vessel

23

scale range

Claims (17)

1. Hob (1), which has at least a first and a second gesture detector (10 to 13), with which gestures of a user can be detected to set operating conditions, wherein the first gesture detector (10 to 13) is arranged at a distance greater than a length of a hand from the second gesture detector (10 to 13), wherein the first gesture detector (10 to 13) is configured to select a first cooking zone (2 to 5) on the hob (1) and the second gesture detector (10 to 13) is configured to select a second cooking zone (2 to 5) on the hob (1).
2. Hob (1) according to claim 1, characterised in that the respective gesture detector (10 to 13) has at least one near field detection sensor and/or at least one infrared sensor and/or at least one camera sensitive in the spectral range visible for humans and/or a motion detection sensor.
3. Hob (1) according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that it has at least one display unit (14 to 17), on which a setting connected to a gesture can be displayed visually.
4. Method for operating a hob (1) according to one of the preceding claims, in which operating conditions can be set by a user, wherein the operating conditions are set by gestures of the user, and wherein a first gesture detector (10 to 13) for selecting a first cooking zone (2 to 5) is arranged at a distance greater than a length of a hand from a further gesture detector (10 to 13) for selecting a second cooking zone (2 to 5) on the hob (1).
5. Method according to claim 4, characterised in that setting by way of gestures is performed after starting a gesture detection mode.
6. Method according to claim 5, characterised in that the starting takes place by actuating an operating element and/or by performing a start gesture.
7. Method according to one of claims 4 to 6, characterised in that a gesture is detected as a function of the position and/or orientation of a hand (20) of a user relative to a cooking zone (2 to 5) to be selected and/or set.
8. Method according to claim 7, characterised in that a gesture is detected when a hand (20) of the user provided for setting is positioned directly above the cooking zone (2 to 5) and then a movement and/or orientation of the hand (20) or at least a finger (21) of the hand (20) takes place.
9. Method according to one of claims 4 to 8, characterised in that to set an operating condition at least two hands (20) are moved and/or specifically oriented simultaneously or successively.
10. Method according to one of claims 4 to 9, characterised in that to detect a setting of an operating condition correctly at least one hand (20) must be brought into a specific position and/or orientation within a temporally predefinable setting interval.
11. Method according to one of claims 4 to 10, characterised in that a cooking zone (2 to 5) is selected in that a hand (20) is held at a specific distance and/or for a specific duration above the cooking zone (2 to 5).
12. Method according to one of claims 4 to 11, characterised in that cooking levels of a cooking zone (2 to 5) are set by gestures.
13. Method according to claim 12, characterised in that for each cooking level a specific distance is predefined, at which a hand must be held above a cooking level setting apparatus to set the cooking level.
14. Method according to claim 12 or 13, characterised in that a cooking level by raising a finger (21) of a hand (20) or horizontally moving the hand (20) along in a specific first direction brings about an increase in the cooking level and holding down a finger (21) of a hand (20) or horizontally moving the hand (20) along in a specific second direction, in particular opposite to the first direction, brings about a reduction in the cooking level.
15. Method according to one of claims 12 to 14, characterised in that each cooking level is assigned an acoustic tone at a specific frequency and, when setting the cooking level, the tone is generated and/or the setting of a cooking level is displayed visually.
16. Method according to one of claims 4 to 15, characterised in that a cooking zone (2 to 5) is selected with a first hand by gesture and a cooking level of said selected cooking zone (2 to 5) is set with the other hand by gesture.
17. Method according to one of claims 4 to 16, characterised in that at least some of the operating conditions which are set by gestures can also additionally be set by touching a touch-sensitive operating field.

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