GB2345977A

GB2345977A - Component utilization monitoring arangement

Info

Publication number: GB2345977A
Application number: GB0001141A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Yun-Bong Chun
Original assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 1999-01-20
Filing date: 2000-01-18
Publication date: 2000-07-26
Anticipated expiration: 2020-01-18
Also published as: GB2345977B; KR100329925B1; GB0001141D0; KR20000051301A; JP2000227226A; CN1263308A

Abstract

An apparatus comprises means to monitor the operation of at least one component of the apparatus and output means for providing an indication of the utilization to date of the said component. The apparatus may be an appliance such as a microwave oven and the components may be a door switch, a high voltage transformer and / or a magnetron. The monitoring means may be arranged to respond to a command form a button on a key pad or a hidden button to provide an output a signal to a local display or remote monitoring means, which indicates a value of the total number of operations of the component. An associated control method is also disclosed in which the monitor means stores the relevant operational data, such as the number or duration of operations, in a memory which may then be transmitted to a display or remote monitoring means.

Description

Self-monitoring Electronic Apparatus Description The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus.

Generally, an electronic appliance is constructed from a plurality of components, each of which has its own life-expectancy. When one of these components fails, the owner may return the appliance to the manufacturer for repair.

However, different owners user their appliances differently. For instance some may use their appliance every day and others may use theirs once a week, making it difficult to predict when a failure will occur.

According to the present invention, there is provided an electronic apparatus comprising a plurality of components, including monitoring means and output means, wherein the monitoring means is configured for monitoring the operation of at least one of said components and for outputting, by means of the output means, an indication of the utilization to date of said component.

Preferably, the monitoring means is configured to monitor the operation of each of said components.

Preferably, the apparatus includes input means, e. g. a keypad or a data communication terminal such as an RS-232 port or an infrared port.

Preferably, the monitoring means monitors the time of utilization of said component and said indication comprises a value representing the total time of utilization of said component.

Preferably, the monitoring means monitors the operations of said component and said indication comprises a value representing the total number of operations of said component.

The output means may comprise a display and/or a data communication terminal.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a block diagram of a first microwave oven according to the present invention ; Figure 2 shows the microcomputer and memory of the microwave oven of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating a monitoring control method of the microwave oven of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a flow chart for illustrating a display control method of the microwave oven of Figure 1; Figure 5 is a block diagram of a second microwave oven according to the present invention; and Figure 6 is a flowchart illustrating a control method of the microwave oven of Figure 5.

Referring to Figure 1, a microwave oven includes a keypad 10, a detecting section 20, a microcomputer 30, a memory 40, a driving section 50, a microwave generating section 60 and a display 70. The keypad 10 is disposed on a front panel (not shown) of the microwave oven and a user enters control data for the oven by pressing the keys of the keypad 10. The detecting section 20 detects whether a high voltage transformer (not shown) in the driving section 50 and a magnetron (not shown) in the microwave generating section 60 are operating. The output of the detecting section 20 is input into the microcomputer 30. The memory 40 is an electrically erasable and programmable read-only memory (EEPROw and stores information or data processed at the microcomputer 30. The memory 40 stores only the information or data which are programmed.

Referring to Figure 2, input/output (I/O) ports of the microcomputer 30 are connected with input/output ports of the memory 40 for bidirectional communication. A clock terminal of the memory 40 is connected with a clock terminal of the microcomputer 30 and clock pulses are applied to the memory from the microcomputer 30. As a result, the microcomputer 30 and the memory 40 operate synchronously.

The driving section 50 drives the microwave generating section 60 under the control of the microcomputer 30 and, accordingly, microwaves are generated by the microwave generating section 60 to cook food in the cooking chamber (not shown) of the microwave oven.

The display 70 comprises a liquid crystal display (LCD) and displays information or data stored in the memory 40 in the form of characters or symbols comprehensible to users.

Referring to Figure 3, on being switched on, the microwave oven operates and the detecting section 20 detects whether the various components of the microwave oven are being used. The results of this detection process are input into the microcomputer 30 (Step S11). The various components may be the main components which are directly related to the operation of the microwave oven such as the door switch, the high-voltage transformer and the magnetron, although this term is not strictly limited thereto.

While each monitored component is being used, the microcomputer 30 either times its use or notes an operation (Step S12). The operating periods or discrete operations for each component monitored, as appropriate, are accumulated to produce either an accumulated operating time value or an total operations value for each monitored component (Step S13), which are stored in the memory 40 (Step S14). The use of components such as the high-voltage transformer and the magnetron, which operate continuously for periods, is measured in terms of operating time whereas components such as the door switch, which have discrete operations, is measured in terms of the number of operations. More particularly, with respect to components such as the high-voltage transformer and the magnetron, the operating time is counted by a time counter provided in the microcomputer 30, while the number of operations is counted by an operation counter provided in the microcomputer 30 with respect to components such as the door switch (Step S12).

The operating time and/or the number of operations are accumulated by an accumulator provided in the microcomputer 30 (Step S13). The results of accumulation are stored in the memory 40 under the control of the microcomputer 30 (Step S14).

Referring to Figure 4, when the microwave oven is switched on, the microcomputer 30 determines whether the user has operated a hidden key of the keypad 10 (Step S15). If the user has operated the hidden key, the microcomputer 30 displays the accumulated total operating time and/or the total number of operations stored in the memory 40 on the display 70 (Step S16).

Accordingly, by checking the total operating time and/or the total number of operations displayed on the display 70, the user can determine whether to replace a particular component..

A second embodiment will now be described.

Referring to Figure 5, a microwave oven is substantially the same as that shown in Figure 1 except that it also includes an external communication section 80. The external communication section 80 is for the input of signals into the microcomputer 30 and output of a signals therefrom. The external communication section 80 has terminals for enabling uni-directional and bi-directional communication between a separate device and the microcomputer 30.

The user can enter commands etc. not only by means of the keypad 10 but also by means of the external communication section 80. Also, the accumulation of the total operating time and/or the total number of operations of components can be communicated through the external communication section 80 and displayed on an external device, e. g. a handheld computer.

The external communication section 80 may be disposed on the front panel (not shown) of the microwave oven or directly disposed on a printed circuit board which is arranged behind the front panel in a device chamber (not shown) of the microwave oven.

The control method for monitoring component use of the oven of in Figure 5 is the same as that described with reference to Figure 3. However, the display method differs.

Referring to Figure 6, when the microwave oven is switched on, the microcomputer 30 determines whether a particular command has been input using the keypad 10 or via the external communication section 80 (Step S25). The command will typically be input by an operator. However, a monitoring computer may input the command.

Upon receipt of the particular command, the microcomputer 30 displays the accumulated total operating time and/or the total number of operations of the components stored in the memory 40 on the display 70 and/or transmits the value or values through the external communication section 80 (Step S26).

By checking the total operating time and/or the total times of operation of the certain part displayed on the display 70 and/or on the separate device of his own, the operator determines whether to replace the part or not. As a result, the operator can replace the part in question in a timely manner.

As described above, in the electronic appliance and the control method thereof according to the present invention, since the operator can estimate the replacement time for the respective parts precisely, the operator can replace the parts, timely.

As a result, the quality deterioration caused due to the expired parts, or the inconvenience of the purchaser due to the unexpected error of the appliances, can be prevented, while the manufacturer can also save many inconveniences of having to visit the purchaser's place frequently for after-sales services. Although the microwave oven is described as an example of the electronic appliance in the above embodiment, it is not limited thereto, but can be applied to all types of electronic appliances including the microwave oven.

Further, although the high voltage transformer, the magnetron, and the door switch are described as the certain parts in the above description, it will be noted that such is not limited thereto.

Claims

Claims 1. An electronic apparatus comprising a plurality of components, including monitoring means and output means, wherein the monitoring means is configured for monitoring the operation of at least one of said components and for outputting, by means of the output means, an indication of the utilization to date of said component.
2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring means is configured to monitor the operation of each of said components.
3. An apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, including input means for inputting a command, wherein the monitoring means is configured to respond to said command by outputting said indication by means of the output means.
4. An apparatus according to claim 1,2 or 3, wherein the monitoring means monitors the time of utilization of said component and said indication comprises a value representing the total time of utilization of said component.
5. An apparatus according to claim 1,2 or 3, wherein the monitoring means monitors the operations of said component and said indication comprises a value representing the total number of operations of said component.
6. An apparatus according to any preceing claim, wherein the output means comprises a display.
7. An apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the output means comprises a data communication terminal.
8. An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the input means comprises a keypad.
9. An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the input means comprises a data communication terminal.
10. An electronic appliance comprising a microcomputer, a detecting section, a button manipulating section, a memory, and a display, the microcomputer counts and accumulates an operating time and/or times of operation of a part and stores the accumulation in the memory when the operation of the part is detected by the detecting section, and the microcomputer displays the accumulation of the operating time and/or the times of operation of the part stored in the memory on the display when a signal is inputted through the button manipulating section.
11. The appliance as claimed in claim 10, wherein the signal is inputted through a hidden button of the button manipulating section.
12. A control method of an electronic appliance comprising the steps of: counting and accumulating an operating time and/or times of operation of a part, and storing results of accumulation in a memory when the part is operated; and displaying the operating time and/or the times of operation stored in the memory on a display when a signal is inputted through a button manipulating section.
13. An electronic appliance comprising a microcomputer, a detecting section, a button manipulating section, a memory, a display, and an external communicating section, the microcomputer counts and accumulates an operating time and/or times of operation of a part, and stores the accumulation in the memory when the operation of the part is detected by the detecting section, and, the microcomputer displays results of the accumulation of the operating time and/or the times of operation stored in the memory on the display, and/or transmits the results of accumulation outside through the external communicating section when a signal is inputted through the button manipulating section or the external communicating section.
14. The appliance as claimed in claim 13, wherein the signal is inputted through a hidden button of the button manipulating section.
15. A control method of an electronic appliance comprising the steps of: counting and accumulating an operating time and/or times of operation of a part, and storing results of accumulation in a memory when the part is operated; and displaying the operating time and/or the times of operation stored in a memory on a display, and/or transmitting the result of accumulation outside through the external communicating section when a signal is inputted through a button manipulating section or a external communicating section,.
16. A microwave oven substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1,2,3 and 4 of the accompanying drawings.
17. A microwave oven substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 3,5 and 6 of the accompanying drawings.