Camera-Sensed Cooktop Control Without Physical Buttons
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Solution Overview
Problem
Household appliances for housekeeping tasks face challenges in design due to user interfaces, which complicate cleaning and restrict design possibilities, and lack the ability to automatically respond to environmental changes without user interaction.
Innovation Solution
A household appliance with a data input device that remotely senses properties such as object size or temperature, allowing for automatic control of operations without user interaction, and projection means to indicate hot or cold areas, enhancing user safety and energy efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a traditional user interface with display and buttons is provided, then the appliance allows user control, but the appliance becomes difficult to clean and design possibilities are restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the traditional physical user interface (display and buttons) from the appliance surface, extracting only the essential control function and implementing it through a camera-based recognition system that detects gestures or objects in the sensing area, thereby eliminating cleaning difficulties while preserving user control capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical user interface system (physical buttons and displays) with an optical sensing system using a camera and image processing algorithm, substituting mechanical interaction with visual field-based control, which eliminates the need for physical components that require cleaning
2Ease of operation
If a traditional user interface is provided, then the appliance allows user control, but design possibilities of the appliance are restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal control system based on camera-based gesture or object recognition that can serve multiple control functions without requiring physical interface components, allowing the appliance design to be more versatile and adaptable to different form factors and applications
Solution Approach 2:
By replacing the mechanical user interface with an optical sensing system, the patent frees up design space and allows for greater design flexibility in the appliance form factor, as no physical buttons or displays need to be accommodated in the design
3Extent of automation
If the appliance lacks automatic sensing capability, then the device structure is simple, but the appliance cannot automatically respond to environmental changes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables the appliance to automatically detect and respond to environmental conditions (such as presence of objects, gestures, or cooking status) through the camera-based sensing system, allowing the appliance to serve itself by making automatic control decisions without requiring additional complex sensing hardware
Solution Approach 2:
The camera-based sensing system serves multiple functions including user control, environmental monitoring, and automatic response triggering, allowing the appliance to achieve high automation capability while avoiding the need for multiple separate sensing systems that would increase complexity
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables improved cleaning efficiency, energy optimization, and enhanced user safety by automatically adjusting heating based on sensed properties and providing visual warnings, while simplifying the appliance's design and operation.
Implementation Method 1
a two-dimensional imaging sensor viewing said at least one engagement plane from a location outside said at least one engagement plane for sensing light from said illuminator scattered by engagement of a data entry object
Implementation Method 2
the data input device is adapted to sense a temperature in the sensing area. The data input device may for instance sense the temperature of a pot or pan placed in the cooking plate area
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a household appliance for performing a housekeeping task. The household appliance comprises a data input device (16) adapted to remotely sense a property in a sensing area (18), and a controller (22) coupled to the data input device and adapted to control an operation of the household appliance in accordance with the sensed property.